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Waiting for New CHR for Bangor....

B

benwnn91

I guess i might be impatient, but I really want to know when (if at all), Bangor will get a new CHR to replace the former WWBX B97. Bangor has always had 2 CHR's in the market, even the former WWFX was a CHR that competed with WBZN. Since '99 they had WWBX. Hmm.... :-\

Would 101.7 become CHR? or 102.1? or another frequency??
 
Don't hold your breath waiting. CHR is expensive to do properly and the low ad rates in small markets make it very tough to make money. If there was decent money in it the stations would still be doing it. Most small-market CHR's have some heritage to work with like WFTN Franklin and WJYY Concord that allows them to sell it more easily. Problem is they sound like...small-market CHR's.



benwnn91 said:
I guess i might be impatient, but I really want to know when (if at all), Bangor will get a new CHR to replace the former WWBX B97. Bangor has always had 2 CHR's in the market, even the former WWFX was a CHR that competed with WBZN. Since '99 they had WWBX. Hmm.... :-\

Would 101.7 become CHR? or 102.1? or another frequency??
Click to expand...
 
benwnn91 said:
I guess i might be impatient, but I really want to know when (if at all), Bangor will get a new CHR to replace the former WWBX B97. Bangor has always had 2 CHR's in the market, even the former WWFX was a CHR that competed with WBZN. Since '99 they had WWBX. Hmm.... :-\

Would 101.7 become CHR? or 102.1? or another frequency??
Click to expand...

i doubt Bangor would get another CHR, but I'm hearing that Augusta/Waterville might have a shake up. All I was told was a format returns, one station gets blown up and WEEI has an affiliate for A/W
 
Actually Ben, WBZN didnt switch to CHR until after WWFX was sold and turned country as the Bear. There was a period when there was no CHR in Bangor, tho we did run Rick Dees Top 40 on Saturdays while we were still Greatest Hits of the 70s. (The mindset was that if a CHR could have an oldies show, why not have an oldies station with a current music show.) In the mid 80s, there were 3 CHRs. WZON Z62, WGUY Rock 100 and Fox104.7 which signed on in 86. WGUY later was sold and became WKIT playing a lite AC and moving from 100.9 to 100.3 and going to 50,000 watts. WZON became free form non commercial rock/blues before Stephen sold it in the early 90s. He later bought it back in bankruptcy. He also bought bankrupt WKIT and eventually put them together. Kudos to Bobby and the crew for doing an exceptional job 24/7 AM & FM!
 
it's still kind of not the same, I mean WBZN plays kind of a top40/hotac type music (not that that's a bad thing), but if you want some rythmic, you actually cannot find ANYTHING in the state of Maine. I like WWBX because they had that rythmic and some top40 that wasn't soft like "Love Song", etc. Plus some of the shows they had like Mix @6, B Mine at 9, etc...
Right now, i hate sports .... :p
 
i doubt Bangor would get another CHR, but I'm hearing that Augusta/Waterville might have a shake up. All I was told was a format returns, one station gets blown up and WEEI has an affiliate for A/W
[/quote]

Seems like Augusta is covered pretty well with WEEI on 95.5 & 97.1.B97.1 did pretty good 12+ numbers in Augusta considering how far away they were,so their mono signal would cover the market even better.97.5 could fill in whatever holes there are & will probobly go with WEEI.Is there no money to be made with am stations having seperate formats? .Why would 910 in Bangor & 1440 in Portland simulcast their FM's.Seems like waste of an electric bill.How about something like Radio Disney on those am's.

a format returns??Is it something on 1280?Maybe standards.
 
that 2, what a waste of airwaves, if I really wanted to listen to WEEI then I would go to 97.1 because it sounds better and probably a better signal. Pftt... WABI-AM gone after 80+ years of service, hopefully the calls go somewhere else soon!
 
Andy Taylor said:
i doubt Bangor would get another CHR, but I'm hearing that Augusta/Waterville might have a shake up. All I was told was a format returns, one station gets blown up and WEEI has an affiliate for A/W
Click to expand...

Seems like Augusta is covered pretty well with WEEI on 95.5 & 97.1.B97.1 did pretty good 12+ numbers in Augusta considering how far away they were,so their mono signal would cover the market even better.97.5 could fill in whatever holes there are & will probobly go with WEEI.Is there no money to be made with am stations having seperate formats? .Why would 910 in Bangor & 1440 in Portland simulcast their FM's.Seems like waste of an electric bill.How about something like Radio Disney on those am's.

a format returns??Is it something on 1280?Maybe standards.


[/quote]

the problem is Somerset County is not considered part of the Waterville/Augusta market (only Kennebec Country is part of the metro, somerset is considered in the TSA) so if Somerset were in the Bangor or Augusta metro, you'd see better numbers for 97.1, or the somerset country licensed stations (97.5, 107.9 93.5, 1160 and maybe 99.3 WKTJ would show up in the ratings)

there must not be money being made in maine on solo AMs...it seems like there's more simulcasting an FM than going with their own these days
 
CHR's are tough in the MP3 world. When kids can burn music right to their phone, they don't need to listen to the radio 18 hiurs a day.

Thery would be better off with an adult hits or soft rock approach.
 
who really cares if you have an iPod with Top40 music on it, the point of a radio is to listen to new songs that you DON'T have, and when u don't have an iPod nearby.

We have enough soft rock stations, WEZQ and WNSX come in pretty well
Adult Hits can be found on WKSQ and the 107.9 for Skowhegan, WFMX
But Top 40? WBZN and.... what else? 92 Moose is too far away to be picked up well, and plays more 80's and 90's than rythmic top40
 
1280? Standards?

Augusta and Waterville are already well served with standards/AC/Oldies on "Cool-AM" WJZN-1400 Augusta and WTVL-1490 Waterville simulcast.
 
well lets see what it could be (without overlapping other existing stations)

The Party 108 returns (B97 no longer exists...there's your new CHR)

Talk returns on 107.9 (no talk station in the Augusta market, other than to the south with 96.7 WCME)

93.5 goes back to the AC they were throughout the 90's

Blueberry flips 101.3 to something not served in the Augusta market
 
i wish this COULD happen..., is their any possibility to this or did u just make it up?

If that 107.9 would become Top40 then they might have to increase their signal, they barely make it to Bangor, plus their CP has it right near Waterville, probably Waterville will not have 2 CHR's (92 moose).
I'm going to let time go by, but i am certain in the next 6 months hopfully something will switch to CHR or something near Bangor............
 
benwnn91,

I wish that everyone in your age bracket had the passion for radio that you do. Thanks for that. This industry is hurting for listeners -- and industry innovators -- under the age of 25 or so.

But you know what? (And we all know this is not YOUR fault.) It's the people in your demographic who have abandoned radio and have caused stations like B97 to have to switch to more adult formats. So when you have a company like Blueberry join or rejoin the radio game and look $11 million of debt square in the eye, can you blame them for wanting to program their properties with something that people will actually listen to... and respond to their advertisers' messages... so that these new owners can pay their bills and also pay down their senior debt which is likely well into six figures every month?

CHR listeners are fans. Sports radio listeners are paying customers. When payday comes, that's the difference.

I've been reading your posts, and there have been times when I've wanted to (gently) flame you and ask, "Hey kid, don't you get it?" But I don't think that any of us in this business wants to douse your enthusiasm. It's good. I see a lot of me in you back when I was your age.

Keep challenging. Keep asking "why?" But while you're doing all of this, try also to tune in to the fiscal realities of radio station ownership. It's more challenging now than ever before.

But anyway, let all of us here know if you ever start streaming. You've got the fire. And I bet that your programming sure as hell wouldn't be boring!

Ray
 
Thanks for that ray ting, I just know there are people out there, like me, who like the Top40 format rather than another ac or rock station who would love something different and to actually use the radio. The radio where I live, people say, is terriable. 1 Hot AC station that plays dried out songs, 1 Oldies/AC station, and a country and rock station the rest is canadian. So when I go to Bangor, I always loved going there because of the two CHR stations, one better than the other but it is something I always listen to. Now there's only 1 and it's kind of sad. I liked Clear Channel, the websites had the last played songs and PLAYLISTS, plus some even had RDS which is a great feature for the radio.
Who knows, later in life I might put up a Top40 station, that is if I am still into "the top40"
 
Now it's even got to a point that WBZN is now playing "Backtracks USA" instead of AT40 w/Ryan Seacrest

It's honestly too bad, is AT40 just too expensive to have? Or is WBZN trying to become a 90's station?

Honestly!

I still like WBZN alot.... but it doesn't cut it for a CHR... Backtracks USA usually belongs on an AC station, not Top-40.
 
benwnn91 said:
Now it's even got to a point that WBZN is now playing "Backtracks USA" instead of AT40 w/Ryan Seacrest

It's honestly too bad, is AT40 just too expensive to have? Or is WBZN trying to become a 90's station?

Honestly!

I still like WBZN alot.... but it doesn't cut it for a CHR... Backtracks USA usually belongs on an AC station, not Top-40.
Click to expand...

80's or 90's version? 90's works on the weekend on a CHR/Adult Top 40 for its retro feel, 107.9 out of waterville was running BT 90's for a while but then switched to running AT40 the 80's edition
 
hmm... i think it was the 90's because they were playing that Aerosmith song "I don't want to miss a thing"
It's not a terrible program, no, but when Calais has AT40 and Bangor doesn't, then that's a little bit of a problem
and when I mean Calais, I mean WCRQ, which carriers AT40 as well, the Top40 version.
 
Backtracks 90s has been running on WBZN for about 4 years. I think the 80s vers was on WWBX. Seacrest was replaced by another countdown show last summer.
 
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