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WARM--ANYONE INTERESTED IN BRINGING WARMLAND BACK????

Charlie,

I've been reading this ever-expanding thread and I am pulling for you in your quest to revive one of America's heritage radio stations.

If I may share a few thoughts...2010 found me working as an anchor at a 50,000 watt all-news station on the west coast. I received a call asking if I would consider coming to a small town outside of Baltimore to manage a 1000 watt AM station. The property had heritage in its one county market but had fallen into a state of malaise.

The interviewer asked me if I felt AM was dead. I said 'no', and proceeded to tell him how the staff and I would turn it around if given the opportunity.

Two years and 3 months later, we have seen the station make strides. 2010 billing inched ahead of 2009 figures. First time the station held its own in gross revenues from one year to the next in 4 years.

In 2011 we grew gross revenues by 3% over 20120.

Thus far in 2012 we are approximately 7 1/2% up over the previous year.

And....we are a music station.

How do we do this? Suffice to say, you need a vision, dedicated staff, and a desire to perceive your station as your market does.

I'm convinced without a doubt that the average person WILL listen to AM, providing the content is relevant to their lives.

By the way, we're a full-service station playing 5 decades of hits (50's-90's), delivering local news, and promoting tons of local appearances and public service.

Charlie, feel free to drop me a line if I can be of help. I for one, think your goal is an admirable and worthy one.

Best,

Bob Mathers
 
Bob...

You and I don't know each other, but I am familiar with and very respectful of your work at WTTR and elsewhere. WTTR sounds great! I program WIOO in Carlisle, and firmly believe in the power of local radio, even in today's media environment.

The problem I have with WARM is not the idea of restoring a local full-service format to the market, I think, done right, it can be as successful as you are in Westminster. The problem is the absolutely abysmal condition of the WARM plant. I've seen the transmitter site. Its been horribly neglected! The building is falling down. The transmitter is on its very last legs. It needs a completely new ground system. That's FIVE 500-foot towers, each needing 120 500-foot ground radials. Figure it out, that's over 50 MILES of copper wire! How many hundreds of thousand dollars would the ground system ALONE cost? Its extremely directional to protect WHP in Harrisburg and WICC and Bridgeport, Connecticut. I doubt it can be reduced to a simple 1 tower, non-directional signal. I am just not sure the revenue potential justifies the astronomical cost of restoring the transmitter plant...
 
So many of us who originally got into radio in the 60s did so after having DXed the AM dial for those 'stations-between-the-stations'.

We in our little high school aged crowd in eastern Queens on Long Island do remember hearing WARM 590 nights, of course, sometimes coming in very well even with very local WMCA virtually next door on 570. Grand times.

And, WTTR was a regular sunrise catch, too! IIrc, they were Country-Western back then, in the mid 60s. 1470 was a terrific DX channel. At sunSET, pop-music daytimer WJDY would boom in from DelMarVa. And one early morning in August 1963 .... still mostly dark out the windows .... co-channel WWHY from West Virginia was rock solid for a half an hour, as loud as WKBW. Really.

Yeah ; to any younger pups aboard here aboard this thread I must sound like some grey-haired, borderline-senile relic who still collects S&H stamps, gets around in a golf cart customized to look like a 1958 T-Bird, and listens daily for inspiration to Bing Crosby 78s from one of those hardcover albums containg four discs.

But no, lol. The hair is white and has been for a while.

What I'm saying is that I offer to do a weekly 3-hour air shift for the new WARM, smiling my Susquehanna smile -- I used to work at a Susquehanna station -- in exchange for a traded-out pizza. Would that be a fair swap?

The Better Half here says it's about time we put all this music and studio equipment and leisure time to some use.
 
Sorry, Roger...doesn't sound like anyone here is tired or wants to go to bed...Thanks for the encouragement...keep 'er going...

Charlie
 
I'm still a believer that if someone catered to an area with the local (keyword: local) attention on AM, it could be profitable, the key is running the operation lean and mean. It would work with WARM but there would certainly need to be some work done on the place to get the signal competitive. WTTR is a good example that AM is still a viable media and CAN work as well as WIOO and WHYL and I'm sure many others. Those that believe AM is dead need to get some new batteries!
 
Charlie,

Has any contracted Cumulus to see if they would like to sell WARM?

How much money does every need to put in? How much are you going to put in? Let say some puts in $5,000.00 dollars and another one put in only $2,000.00. Does the guy that put in the $5,000.00 does he get morning drive or does the guy that gave the $2,000.00 get morning drive? Do you have space for a studio? Who will go to the transmitter when there is some thing wrong with it? Who will get out from bed when the automation goes down?

A DJ from the Hudson Valley told me that people that post on the boards here are want a bees.
 
Roger,

Why do you care? If they do it they do it. That'd be great. If they don't, oh well. Fun to think 'what if', no? Didn't you ever buy a lottery ticket? It's about what if.

Deep breaths.
 
Roger-
We are taking this a step at a time. It will be run like a business, not a personal jukebox. Stay tuned.

As far as the "Hudson Valley DJ " that said this board is "wanna-be's"---maybe some are, but I have worked in local radio since 1986. Whats your resume??

Thanks for your input--I need the input whether it be positive or negative!!

Charlie ;D
 
WHY???? This has been the most active post on this board in MONTHS! I would LOVE to see WARM make a comeback. As a 20+ year radio vet I've seen big broadcasting companies totally RUIN radio both AM and FM. I used to toatally loathe satellites and services like Pandora. Now thanks to my I-phone more than half of my radio listening is on line. Which by the way unless you're plugged in to your car or a dock sounds amazingly like a transistor radio....But one thing radio has lost in general is community contact and relevance. Radio can entertain AND provide a valuable service. Take New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. During the week its a news talker, but on the weekends it's a boss radio type 70s 80s station with regular traffic reports and news and sounds incredible! On the weekend if you're driving around and there's a 5 mile backup on 81, good luck, you won't get that info on a voice track (btw- if your favorite station isn't running a contest and the phone is busy....it's tracked). It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I guarantee you this if it happens and there's an app or if its on tunein radio.I'll be locked in.
 
Not too far away, over in Middletown NY there is a heritage AM station that has made somewhat of a comeback. That station is the legendary 1340 WALL Radio. (Celebrating 70 years on the air!)

After 2 years of Spanish, and another 5 years as Radio Disney and no listeners, they flipped to an oldies format in 2010. A year later, former WALL jock Mark West brokered the morning show (6-10a) from Cumulus.

Mark is in the community every day promoting the station, and selling local advertising in order to fund his show. He makes a modest living, and has kept the show going for over a year. There are many local advertisers on his show. He even has a guy doing a real local newscast. The community loves having "WALL Radio" back, complete with its heritage jingles and sounders.

Last year, for the first time in more than 10 years, WALL began to show up in the ratings..

The one main difference however, between WARM and WALL is the condition of their respective transmitter sites. The WALL transmitter site is pristine, with a new transmitter, good ground system, and an excellent audio chain. The signal is great for a 1kw local. I have seen pictures, and heard horror stories about the condition of WARM. It has been badly neglected, has an ancient transmitter, and was even dark for some time in 2007. It would cost a fortune to properly fix.
 
Bucky, welcome. Thanks for your input. Wall is an amazing story, and LMA'ing it to Mark West and co was a stroke of marketing genius. Thanks


Oldies4ever ;D
 
No Roger YOU need to go to sleep. Its good to see there is some interest out there in trying to get things together to attempt to bring back a station.
 
Nearing five thousand hits and someone wants to get out the big needle and put the WARM thread under?

It wasn't even a year ago where someone posted that this (forum) is dead. Was that you, Roger, lol ?

* * * * * * *

The deal here still holds. Word of honor. One three-hour airshift per week, in return for one large pizza. Veggies on my side ; all that other crap on Pooch's side.

Pooch is from Scranton descent, where cold pizza is considered a great delicacy.
 
I would never discourage anyones dream of owning a radio station. I bet half of you are wannabees.

Hang in there Charlie....Dreams do come true....Need help????? Send me a PM.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
Nearing five thousand hits and someone wants to get out the big needle and put the WARM thread under?

It wasn't even a year ago where someone posted that this (forum) is dead. Was that you, Roger, lol ?

* * * * * * *

The deal here still holds. Word of honor. One three-hour airshift per week, in return for one large pizza. Veggies on my side ; all that other crap on Pooch's side.

Pooch is from Scranton descent, where cold pizza is considered a great delicacy.
Click to expand...


I'll sign up for a 3 hour shift once per week too, in return my pizza needs to come with a beverage :)
 
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