• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

The Eagle has landed in Burlington

R

radio_vermonter

Eagle Country 97.5 launched this morning on WTNN. A brief sample indicates that it is running jockless at this point playing "today's best country and all time favorites".
 
Seems like a good move, certainly the dial position works for them considering country WOKO is the neighbor right up the dial. The signal has to be competitive in the market, that will be the key to any success.
 
The signal is competitive in Burlington. They signed on doing "10,000 songs in a row" and they sound good. They do have jocks on the air...as a matter fact I just heard them do a remote cut-in from the town library in Bristol to clelebrate their first day on the air. They said they are not corporate radio and will be run locally and programmed locally with a full staff. They said they had hired some people including ex-STAR 92.9 midday person Jennifer Fox (who has a country background from Spfld, MA). They have jingles, sweepers, jocks and a good playlist on the air with a presentation that sounds very good for day one. All they have to do is stay the course and, over time, they will start to penetrate some of the armor of WOKO. The country format will do well in the bristol/middlebury area where they can gain some advertising revenue while waiting for the greater Burlington area to gain some momentum. It'll take some time but they will if they keep on doin' it. A logical move for them. Best of luck!
 
I think WTNN may be onto something good here, anyone know where the antennna is ? Radio-locator via google puts the antenna in St George, just south of South Burlington.. That's a great spot, if that indeed is the case.
 
I guess CHOM's signal would become a bit more challenged in Burlington, seemed to be tough to pick it up in the city. Always heard it quite well going north of Burlington and in the Stowe area. WGMT in Hooterville takes away CHOM in most of the NEK.
 
Agreed with Ray D. Oh--I heard their "live from Bristol" remote, etc., and the music and jingles/sweepers
were uptempo and punchy.
 
Not an aficionado of the Country Music genre… But the Eagle has a good signal. I like the imagery and Jingles –which seem a lot fresher and easier to relate to. And you cant beat the calls for that format WTNN what a homerun.

I don’t know from country, but my friends at Hall have a real contender to deal with. The free ride is over… but I’m certain they have a well-planned response.
 
I think The Eagle should have picked another frequency/station. Chom 97.7, a classic rock station, has been here for over 25 years! Now I cannot listen to them because The Eagle bleeds into Chom's signal. Nice work FCC...NOT! :mad:
 
I wonder if you can still pick up CHOM a bit further north. I've visited St. Albans Bay Town Park on the lake and used to be able to pick up CHOM on my Walkman. Not sure if that'll still be possible (far
enough away from the WTNN stick in St George...?)
 
Once again The Eagle has landed. Who cares about a station in Montreal that has not been a player in this market for years. Listen to them on line
 
CHOM is a great station and not a player simply because, well, no one cares about Canadian radio in the US.

I do find it interesting that supposedly there's "Now a country station to take on OKO" when there are already two in the area. Seems like AC or Hot AC would have been the way to go.

However, neither of those are at all the point of my post. I've read more than one story, including a great story in the Bristol newspaper about a year ago, that this great new local station is coming to town. When I checked the ownerships, however, I found the FCC records show the owner as:

ARTHUR V. BELENDIUK, 5028 WISCONSIN AVENUE, N.W., #301, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20016
 
A Google search shows that Belendiuk works as an attorney specializing in FCC regulations. He's merely partnered with John Fuller, who, while based in New London CT, is an avid skier and holds Burlington near and dear to his heart.
 
Country was the right choice for wtnn. Yes there are other country stations on the fringe of the market but with this signal, with a full staff and full marketing, a big time country consultant behind them, plus 10,000 songs in a row to get some water cooler talk, OKO has some real competition. The real battle will be in the New York metro where OKO has 30 plus shares. If not for that they would be just another radio station in the Burlington metro. Their numbers in Vermont are nothing to write home about.
 
I think it'll be interesting. From what I understand 97.5 has a decent signal in Burlington which will help them... WOKO has a much broader audience than BTV. Their ratings are so large that BTV isn't all that important if they keep their outside the metro numbers strong.

As for two other country stations being in the market already.... eh.... I guess. This seems like it'll be a station that tries and doesn't just flick a satelite switch and sell $1 ads like the others.

IF this station keeps and FULL NON-VOICE TRACKED staff and PAYS ATTENTION to what's going on outside their building walls they'll probably take a few shares away. This market needs to know you're there and you care about them...

Hmmmm interesting idea... connecting with the audience on a personal level... Naw, let's just save money.

Wait!!! Maybe THAT has something to do with OKO's success?

Nevermind, I'm just board-op anyway.
 
WEL, WELL, WELL, the FCC has finally done it again, put another crappy Vermont radio station in the northwestern market next to a lengendary Montreal FM Frequency. What as happened to the Cross
Border rules and regulations of the FCC ( United States ) and the CRTC ( Canada ) to not allow stations
to be next frequency within a 75 mile radius of the US/Canada border. I came back from Florida the other
week and found another Country Station that Burlington needs like a hole in the head. There's WOKO
98.9, WLFE 102.3 and 93.7. This Eagle station has knock out CHOM reception in the north end of
Burlington and a good 15 mile northend radius. Chom is 97.7 still puts a strong signal into
St. Albans and north that this Eagle station can not over run. CHOM was broadcasting rock music
starting in the early 60's that I grew up with long before any station in the Burlington market.
If you go to the CRTC site you can see the grade A signal circle that just south of St. Albans
and just north of Plattsburgh. Lets petiton the FCC to move this station to another spot.
 
I feel your pain, I recall "CHOM nation" folks in the NEK quite livid when WGMT made the move from 98.3 to 97.7 right on CHOM's frequency ! CHOM was even carried on the local Simmons Cable system at the time. My reccomendation would be to purchase an FM only antenna, and aim that puppy right at Montreal and see if you have any luck. Any radio geek would be thrilled to know that you are havign success picking up CHOM with your antenna set up. CHOM streams as well ! The Eagle is not going anywhere, and that allocation has been there for quite a while before the Eagle has landed. This is one brand new radio station to keep an "Eagle Eye" on, out of the gate they seem to be doing the right things to get themselves noticed in the marketplace while going head-to-head with a well established competitor almost 20 years ahead of them in the format..
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom