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WALE 990

LOL. Looking at the number of views more people cared about this topic than any other on this page and ironically no one is going to care about the station as usual. Sorry but other than Steve Bianchi the English speaking programming is amateur hour.
 
Moonstruck said:
LOL. Looking at the number of views more people cared about this topic than any other on this page and ironically no one is going to care about the station as usual. Sorry but other than Steve Bianchi the English speaking programming is amateur hour.
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The fact that there have been so many views and replies on this topic is not so much a sign of interest in WALE as it is a sign of glaring DISINTEREST in the rest of the stations in this market right now.

Is there anyone here who can honestly say that things in this market are anything other than boring and predictable?......WELL???

The other factor is that 990 has been beaten down so badly and for so long......first under the Battaglia family's "Reign of Error", and the long...slow soap opera of thier bankruptcy and finally slithering away to Arizona......Then comes THIS "ownership group", and things really don't get any better......the station just sort of continues to stagger along...

THEN comes 990's "sounds of silence" period at the end of 2006 and lasting into much of 2007, and you start thinking to yourself that this poor little station may never catch another break for the rest of eternity......LOL.

Is most of the English language programming just a notch above pirate radio?...Probably...but I don't really care......at least it's live and local, and not just more syndicated fare off the bird, or voice-tracking!

With 990 having been beaten down so badly, and for so long......it's hard not to have a little sympathy, and to root for them just a little bit.

Besides......if they mess this up....we'll all have great fun taking our pot-shots at them again!! ;)
 
We may have fun taking potshots at 990, but Steve will do his damndest to give 990 a tinge of respectability. At least, despite the tech problems, they're trying the live/local slant rather than birdfeed! I'd love seeing this work. I was overnights there when the place was WEAN, running MOYL. Tweaking the format for more local stuff and personality, we made it into the Providence book......
 
DG02816 said:
We may have fun taking potshots at 990, but Steve will do his damndest to give 990 a tinge of respectability. At least, despite the tech problems, they're trying the live/local slant rather than birdfeed! I'd love seeing this work. I was overnights there when the place was WEAN, running MOYL. Tweaking the format for more local stuff and personality, we made it into the Providence book......
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Dave:

It's been over 20 years...but I still remember a couple of really funny commercials you guys at 990 WEAN did for a particular local dentist. One was a spoof of "The Honeymooners", with some decent voice impressons of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Another spot for the same dental practice spoofed "All in the Family"...with voice impressions of Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor.

Ahhhhh......the power of LOCAL radio. ;)
 
We did a couple of Mr. Rogers-themed spots for a lawn care company; I was the brass-voiced neighbor. In one spot, we simulated a balky lawn mower by me kicking a vacuum cleaner a few times......
 
alfieradioguy said:
Is WALE owned by Paul Arpin?? And are the talk hosts actually getting paid??
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Do you mean are the hosts getting paid with checks that won't bounce? Let's face it people if you've been around the block in radio awhile you know there are instances where you go "gung ho" over some new venture just because it's new. It can be some new format or direction at an established station or some job you took just because there weren't any others around. Then it all fizzles out after the new wears off. Who is going to listen to this station? The Latinos already have their listening habits established elsewhere. Same goes for the English speaking population. Providence may be a crappy market but it isn't crappy enough so that potential listeners are going to abandon the stations they listen to and flock to WALE for this. The economic climate isn't such that it's a good time to launch this anyway. I give them credit for some creativity in programming even if some is bad programming, but maybe Steve Bianchi live mornings then Scott Shannon might be a better bet. By the way does anyone know where any of the other people on the air there came from?
 
These are strictly my opinions. As we all know know the present state of broadcasting and our economic state are very similar. The ecomomy will bounce back. With broadcasting, the depressive state will likely last much longer unless digital media disappears or broadcasters give us a reason for listening. I feel locally, there aint much that makes me wanna toss my iPod. WALE could be a great alternative. I mentioned in a previous post about Craig Rapoza, the man who is running the 6 tower circus on 990. He is a great guy to hang with, have a few drinks and listen to his very crazy stories. He is a marvelous story teller. He will tell you just what you want to hear, when it comes to actions, it is guaranteed that he will fall short. All I can say from experience, is on most paydays, he gets sick, or has to leave town for an emergency meeting. If you are elusive enough to catch him around pay time, your check is likely to be from a realty company that comes from an account with insufficient funds. If you have a passion for radio as a hobby or to learn, WALE is perfect! (As long as you have another income) They may have a larger staff than other stations in the market, but at least the other station compensates the remaining employees that are left. My take: Put the station out of it's misery. 2 of the 6 towers are ready to fall. I could go on and on. In short, it could take up to $250,000 to fix most it's problems and make the station legal. How the hell do you expect to make that $$ back? Have the super heros as your marketing staff? Maybe in Rapoza's mind! P.S - Good luck Steve Bianchi!
 
wiggums said:
My take: Put the station out of it's misery. 2 of the 6 towers are ready to fall. I could go on and on. In short, it could take up to $250,000 to fix most it's problems and make the station legal.
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OK......Fair enough. So, maybe sinking money into repairing the Burrillville site is not the best long-term solution for what is ailing 990, but what about the possible options?

Do they have any estimates for the cost of doing a diplex off the 1290 site in North Providence, or the Falls Pond North Attleboro 1320 site?

The blunt reality is that if one of those "Leaning Towers of Burrillville" actually decides to do a suicide run, then these guys are right back to "The Sounds of Silence". I would find it really hard to believe that they don't have some sort of plan already in place for the long term future of WALE......

Unless, of course...Arpin & friends are so short-sighted that they've deluded themselves into thinking that they'll be able get away with doing nothing, and hope to hang on long enough until they can find a way to sell the dump......
 
I think anyone who ever gets involved with WALE always has the best intentions. But even the best intentions arn't enough to rescue a dying skunk on the side of the road. WALE will soon take it's last Gasp of air and fade away. This current revival will end up being another one where staff doesn't get paid, where Management can't afford the bills and in the end will have been a big waste of time. I'm not even blaming anyone either. But they've got crap equipment which is on it's last leg. Ratings are non-existant, they have Zero money for marketing and promotion. Things are going to end the same way that they always do with this station. You don't even need to be a master Psychic to see that. It's just common sense.
 
The postings I'm seeing now are definitely realistic. While WALE is up & running it would be a great place for a beginner to get his feet wet. Other than that it's a hobby for anyone who doesn't have to rely on the paycheck that may not come or may bounce. You have to have a real passion for radio and almost a need to be involved in a station some way. I have to wonder why the most delusional people in the world always pick radio stations to run and own. I think it's a psychological dependency thing.
 
It could be a pure ego thing too. Honestly, I can only wish the best for 990 and wish I was in the middle of it......
 
Ego, yes. Everybody has one and sometimes the biggest ones belong to people who shouldn't have one. I still think there's a dependency. Ask anyone who has been on the beach for any length of time. The loss of income is second to the loss of a radio station to show up at daily regardless of what your job was or how little you might have been paid. Ask a weekender who does one four hour shift a week and works a well paying full time job elsewhere what he does for a living. He'll mention the weekend shift first.
 
VelvetR said:
When the engineering was done to shoehorn a new AM into Providence it was determined that the two ways that would "work" would be the monster directional array at 50,000 Watts or very low power, in the 1,000 Watt or less range, provided a roof-top site could be found somewhere in downtown Providence. Otherwise extremely difficult to perhaps impossible to put the required FCC minimum acceptable signal over the city of license (Providence itself).
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Not having an engineering background, this question might sound silly to some of you...but...here goes: Would it be less expensive for 990 to do a non-directional diplex instead of the directional ones that have gotten kicked around here from time to time?

If the reputation for cheapness of 990's "ownership group" is true, they may be having "sticker shock" at the idea of doing a directional diplex at the 1290 or 1320 site.

Would it just be easier to do...for example...1000 watts days (lower at night) from a tower as close to downtown Providence as possible?

The two examples that come to mind are the 1220 tower sitting in the seekonk river, or one of the 1110 towers.
 
They should use the station as a place for college interns to learn the business. As a matter of fact, put the interns on the air! That way the station can avoid a payroll too. Isn't this basically what WBRU does? It might not be such a bad idea if they can pull it off. If they could enter into an agreement with local colleges perhaps the colleges can all fund the station to help with expenses to keep it on the air.
 
Skynet74 said:
They should use the station as a place for college interns to learn the business. As a matter of fact, put the interns on the air! That way the station can avoid a payroll too. Isn't this basically what WBRU does? It might not be such a bad idea if they can pull it off. If they could enter into an agreement with local colleges perhaps the colleges can all fund the station to help with expenses to keep it on the air.
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That idea makes sense. In fact it makes too much sense and that's why the current ownership of the station won't do it. The way I figure it you only need one person on payroll and that's an engineer to make sure all the equipment remains functional and perhaps to fix the technical issues with the station.
 
Skynet74 said:
They should use the station as a place for college interns to learn the business. As a matter of fact, put the interns on the air! That way the station can avoid a payroll too.
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Funny you should mention interns......

This morning, at about 8:50am, Steve Bianchi was making an on-air appeal for interns who could perform all sorts of functions to help out at WALE, including......get this......"Account Executive"...LOL.

I can just see it now...local businesses being relentlessly hounded by an army of high school kids, college kids, and just about anyone else who's ever harbored a dream about being in radio.

True to form, it looks like these guys are trying to do it like they always do it...on the cheap.

Somehow, this 990 revival is starting to lose some of its appeal. ;)
 
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