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Thurmont's WTHU now "Cool 1450" with Oldies

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DXingRadio

This format change happened a month ago, playlist goes from 50's to 2000's. Funny Frederick County now has 2 eccentric music AMs (this and 820 The Gamut).

This is the 3rd format on ole 1450 since Christian Radio Coaliton's 2008 purchase. They tried Christian programming for a year or two, then news/talk as "The Source" until recently. Looks like WTHU did try to apply for a FM translator (96.7) but something fell through.
 
The WTHU format is really a more focused version of The Gamut despite the "Cool" branding - a blend of Classic Hits, country, rock and alternative album tracks, including songs that WHFS made popular (Joe King Carrasco & The Crowns' "Party Weekend" for example). THU has commercials unlike The Gamut. They have a webstream, but with a limited signal and no FM presence, one wonders how long this format lasts before someone gets tired of paying the electric bill. Meanwhile, it's something different to listen to while driving in Frederick County & southern PA.
 
In their promos they mention the stereo stream and mono AM. I suppose I could drag out my AM Stereo tuner sometime, though I'm not sure I can receive an adequate signal strength with Braddock Mountain between me and the station.

Interestingly, the station's format description on Wikipedia has reverted from 'adult alternative' back to oldies, and the station does now sound like it's focusing on 60s-80s oldies selections, at least during the daylight hours. Perhaps the boss came back from vacation and regained control of the music computer. Bummer.
 
To your question about AM stereo. WTHU is not currently broadcasting in stereo on the terrestrial side. Stereo may return at some point in the future, but currently only the web stream is in stereo.
 
I remember WTHU's AM stereo being off balance when they were "Timeless Favorites" years ago under the previous owner. My old car had AM stereo ('91 model), and when it would flip to stereo around 80% of the audio was the right channel. No AM stereo 'off' setting so that's just how it was. Even after the religious flip I remember it triggering my Sangean HDT-1X tuner which usually indicates an AM stereo exciter. Probably for the best they removed it, didn't work and who has AM stereo anymore?
 
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