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The new 1540 The Farm!!

Nathan Obral said:
I read that WEXC switched to K-LOVE right after the conclusion of a high school football game last night. It's a shame, WEXC clearly fared better when they aired secular formats. Mr. Glunt had his reasons to air CCM on such an extreme rimshot for Youngstown, I can understand that. But at the same time, WEXC's overall viability in the Youngstown/Sharon region was badly impaired by carrying such a niche format.
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I don't have the numbers handy, but I recall that WEXC did well in the Meadville-Franklin book during its oldies/classic hits format of 2003-2005. That's astounding when one considers that it was done with virtually no promotion and on a signal that was, up to that time, invisible to most area listeners. Not long after this period, Mike Arch lured Mr. Glunt into the fold and the format went bye-bye.
 
If I remember correctly, it was around 2004 or 2005 when WMVL cool 101.7 came on the scene, I hear they are doing real well in the ratings i've heard the station several times when I have been up in the area and that is a great example of what "local" radio should be.
 
So, Chris:

Do you have any plans to acquire WLOA/WGRP from EMF if the price is right? I'm sure you could make them shine with great programming. Otherwise, it would also be a good buy for Joe Vilkie and his Cool radio programming. However, he just acquired the old WWCB 1370 in Corry, PA, which is now Cool 1370 WHYP but operated independently of WMVL.

Ohio Media Watch: Didn't Joe Vilkie simulcast WMVL on 940 WGRP under a LMA quite a few years back and plan to purchase the station before some issues entered into the unsuccessful deal?

I've been listening to WRTK online occasionally this weekend, and it sounds great. Is WANR streaming online? I could not find the link on the new Fox Sports website you created for it. The button is there, but it does not work for me.

As for EMF buying WEXC, I would have liked to see someone else uncover its hidden potential, unlike the attempts Beacon made over the past years. However, WEXC has been on the market for a while, and no one seemed prepared to buy it. I think the station was actually headed in the right direction under adult contemporary/variety hits format C-107.1, but the owners seemed to target the wrong market. Youngstown is nearby, but WEXC covers greater Mercer country and most importantly Greenville. This is where the focus should have always been.
 
I recall WGRP and WEXC being lite/soft rock with network news on the hour followed by local news and network headlines at :30. This was back when Merle had the station. Both the AM & FM were simulcast. I understand about 25k was as good as they could do, even after the station changed hands.

I never consider their on air presentation as 'competitive'. They always sounded like a small market station to me, however, I thought they were credible because they did serve their community.

I suspect the change on WEXC was not just a personal decision, but one that could be made because the billing under the oldies format was likely not over that $25,000 a month threshold. I figured they would have stayed the local station if there was little chance to bill more money with the youth oriented Christian format.

I always liked these stations and always felt they were prime for improvement.
 
In my humble opinion, WGRP could easily churn out a small, modest full-service format. Probably more along the lines of adult contemporary, with a live, local morning host from 7am - 11am, and one or two local news readers. Affiliate with either CBS or ABC, and take as many of their news features and vignettes as possible to intersperse with the music. At night, some national talk programming can suffice (i.e., Jim Bohannon) or jockless music.

WGRP is still very much serviceable to Greensville alone (although it would be far better off if it had an FM translator to compensate for the puny 2 watts at night). Simply super-serve the listeners to Greensville, and make it their station.

At the very least, put forth some effort to the stations, which could not be said at all for how the Harold Glunt-era Beacon Broadcasting treated WGRP.
 
Yes, Joe Vilkie simulcast WMVL on 940 for a while (under a year?) and was working to buy it from Beacon.

Something got in the way, and it wasn't Harold Glunt.

The Vilkies met with Mr. Glunt later, and he decided to keep the station.

I don't know if they're still interested, but I wouldn't be shocked if they decided to pick up 940 from EMF now.
 
I think the issue on WGRP was the old vstudio/tower site for the AM. WGRP and WEXC were on McCracken Road years ago. When the station was sold, I think the land and building were retained by the previous owner. That may have been the issue.
 
That may have been true, but the issue I was talking about was a human being. Long-time Beacon watchers know what that means. That human being wasn't Harold Glunt.

In what was an amazing coincidence, I was actually at WMVL the day Mr. Glunt met with the Vilkies. This was long after their original agreement to buy 940 fell through, and they were talking with Mr. Glunt that day about the future - as I mentioned, in the new Beacon firmament, Harold Glunt wanted to hang onto 940. The problems happened before he took over full control of all what became 5 stations.
 
bturner said:
I think the issue on WGRP was the old vstudio/tower site for the AM. WGRP and WEXC were on McCracken Road years ago. When the station was sold, I think the land and building were retained by the previous owner. That may have been the issue.
Click to expand...

The McCracken Road studios were somewhat less than spectacular, at least when I worked there. Both transmitters were on their last legs, severely hampering any ability to be heard outside of Mercer County. The studio equipment amounted to broken-down antiques, which also affected the quality of the product. Given all that, I'm surprised the previous owner would have wanted to hold onto the property. It certainly didn't seem to be worth the amount of money that was needed to upgrade the facilities. All of this was shortly after Beacon bought the Greenville stations in 2001.
That said, Glunt apparently invested some sorely-needed cash into the place to bring all of his stations into the 21st century. I know the overall sound of each station improved dramatically after he entered the fold, even if the programming wasn't exactly compelling.
 
I do know a rather significant station in Youngstown is also in the process of being sold. I won't say what it is. But the buyer isn't Mr. Lash.

Looks like some wheelin'-and-dealin' is in the works!
 
1250WTAE said:
Gentlemen. Its cold in here. Your not warm. No FM in the immediate future.
Click to expand...

Ah. Kinda seemed too lofty a goal right now, anyway. I can think of at least one or two other stations, however, that could be added to the Lash camp.

At least it can be confirmed: Chris is clearly not the only one that's going to be making a big splash in the Youngstown market very soon. That I consider a very good thing.

Plus, I just noticed that WRTK has added the Wheeling Jamboree (formerly WWVA's "Jamboree USA," and now originates on WKKX/1600 Wheeling) on Saturday afternoons. Great move! :)
 
1540 The Farm, WRTK welcomes Michael J. Daniels from Pittsburgh to Youngstown as the new host of the "High Noon Saloon", a this day in country music history lunch feature weekdays beginning in mid November. We're also talking with several other former Youngstown personalities for afternoon drive.

Marc Means joins 1570 WANR and 1540 The Farm from WBBW ESPN 1240. Marc was a former play by play voice of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball club. He'll be wearing a variety of hats including sports, sales and overseeing 1570 WANR. 1570 WANR can also confirm that we have picked up the Pittsburgh Penguins, and will begin airing them in the next week or two, with their season already in progress.

Whiplash Radio's President Chris Lash can confirm that 1570 WANR is dropping the Fox Sports Radio format, and will be going in a different direction, focusing WANR towards Warren, with a new format, heavy with local news, sports and information. "All I can tell you, is there's a Blizzard coming to Warren soon, featuring legendary personalities, news, and sports" said Lash
 
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