marker101 said:
Here is another story on it from The Times Leader. Wow Harry West is 79.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/WARM__once-hot_station__goes_cold_04-16-2009.html
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WARM Gone?
- Thread starter masterg
- Start date
Here is another story on it from The Times Leader. Wow Harry West is 79.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/WARM__once-hot_station__goes_cold_04-16-2009.html
"The Harry West, The Harry West Show, The Harry West, The Harry West Show....."
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
Or maybe a bake sale..my uncle's gotta barn..we could put on a show!! C'mon people, it's sorry & it's sad, but WARM's gone and nothing's gonna bring it back unless Bill Gates suddenly wants to buy a toy radio station to play with. While the people here can debate about when WARM started down the path to no return, it's been on that road for a long time. It was a great station with a huge legacy that emplyed some of the best people in the business. But sorry folks...it's gone. As I mentioned before, somebody should organize a big wake and let the memories be shared. But please...stop the woulda, coulda, shoulda boogie. It's over. Let's share the memories and stop thinking about silly schemes to bring it back.waunderlust said:
Once a station is dark for 1 year the license is deleted. Gone. Toast. An unlicense. The FCC doesn't sell licenses BTW. Someone would have to reapply and start a process that could take years.
FWIW, calling people Nazis seems a bit....overstated, don't you think? Citadel may be run by a bunch of dickheads but they never gassed anyone to death.
FWIW, calling people Nazis seems a bit....overstated, don't you think? Citadel may be run by a bunch of dickheads but they never gassed anyone to death.
oldies4ever said:
As an engineer, I have a hard time believing reports of something being so broke it can't be fixed.
It's "only" 5 kw, there are many used transmitters available that would last another 20 years with some work.
There's more to this, and until I hear that one of their towers fell or something, I'm gong to think Citadel is
pretending something broke so they could take the station out to the slaughter.
Even if a tower fell, they could get permission for a lower power with a temporary omni antenna.
This sounds like "looking for an excuse, any excuse" to cut expenses during hard times.
It's "only" 5 kw, there are many used transmitters available that would last another 20 years with some work.
There's more to this, and until I hear that one of their towers fell or something, I'm gong to think Citadel is
pretending something broke so they could take the station out to the slaughter.
Even if a tower fell, they could get permission for a lower power with a temporary omni antenna.
This sounds like "looking for an excuse, any excuse" to cut expenses during hard times.
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
I have no doubt that the WARM xmtr could be toast. One of the reasons the Great Ronnie Schact left as CE at Citadel is that theyTom Wells said:
refused to put any money into it's physical plant. As I mentioned earlier, it is Citadel company policy to not fund AMs unless they are
producing "significant" revenue. Citadel had been hoping for a buyer when Lloyd Roach came along, but Lloyd's chief engineer Jeff DePolo told Route 81
that the amount of money needed to make WARM's physical plant viable was so extensive that they could do 1 of 2 things. Fix it or buy it, but they couldn't do both. So they opted not to purchase WARM, and bought WNAK instead. Ever since, the station has been on the block but no one would pay Farid's bottom line price of 3.5 mil. Salem had an interest in WARM and 2 of the class-A FMs that Citadel still owned, but Citadel wouldn't budge off the 3.5 for WARM. Citadel does not now, and never had any interest in WARM. When they bought the group they wanted Magic & BHT, they couldn't have cared less about WARM. It just came with the package. It was the same deal in Hazleton..they wanted 97.9, they didn't care at all about 1490. And same deal in Carbondale with 94.3 & 1440 and same deal up in Tunkhannock. (Wash, lather, rinse, repeat.) They didn't want the AMs and they weren't going to put any money in them. WNBF in Binghamton gets money because it's almost always in the top 3 in the ratings and revenue, but AM1360 in Binghamton has been treated the very same as WARM. No dollars..no fix. It's just the way they work. You mentioned using "any" excuse to cut expenses. Citadel needs to do a LOT of cutting. Their stock price this afternoon was 0.059. In 1999 it was $68. Citadel is a financial train wreck. It's a wonder they haven't gone around shutting off a lot more properties that don't produce any cash. WARM will always be near & dear to people's hearts in NEPA. There's nothing at all wrong with that. But way too many people in NEPA-Land go around wishing for WARM to return to the powerhouse days, and for the coal mines to reopen. None of that is going to happen. Hell, I wish they still made the 1972 Buick Electra 225 2-Door. But they don't and they never will again. But I'm sure going to remember the good days I had with the Buick, and people will remember the good days they had listening to WARM. But it's time to stop calling the Citadel people Nazis..and talking about passing the collection plate to get it restarted. Let's mourn the loss of a good old friend and move on.
I hate to read stories of stations dying like this. Especially knowing that Farid earns enough
money to replace anything at any station if he chose to.
If some of you have airchecks, etc. of WARM, maybe you could build a tribute site to the station.
Kind of like "WARM Revisited." If you have enough resources, create an internet stream.
I did something of this sort to country radio and chose WJJD as the tribute, since more people
were familiar with that station than our local country station in North Florida/South Georgia.
The thing took on a life on its own and has been going for several years now.
http://www.wjjd1160country.com
money to replace anything at any station if he chose to.
If some of you have airchecks, etc. of WARM, maybe you could build a tribute site to the station.
Kind of like "WARM Revisited." If you have enough resources, create an internet stream.
I did something of this sort to country radio and chose WJJD as the tribute, since more people
were familiar with that station than our local country station in North Florida/South Georgia.
The thing took on a life on its own and has been going for several years now.
http://www.wjjd1160country.com
Alan McCall said:
Who would have thought that one of the most listed to and ratings giant that WARM was has come to this. There was time when WARM was "the" station to work at in NEPA. Stable, pay was good. I wonder what GG, Ron Allen, Terry McNulty and Tim Karlson are saying looking down on it all. From a radio giant to this is sad indeed.
By the way the Yongster has a Warmland site, maybe he will post a link to it gaian?
Tom Wells said:
A new 5kW transmitter can be had for less than $50,000 let alone $500,000. I would think a brand new efficient transmitter should be in the $10,000 to $25,000 range. There is definately something else going on here. It could be a problem with the phasing network, or perhaps a problem with 1 or more of the top loaded towers. Then again, there might be some kind of funky business going on.
I firmly believe that the owner of a broadcast radio property should make the neccesary repairs. If Citadel has no interest in operating the station they should sell it. Reduce the price until its attractive to buyers. Even if its for as little as $1.00 especially if they have zero interest in operating the station. Then its time to turn the license over to some other entity. This is a federally licensed facility operating on a public frequency. A very rare commodity indeed. Consider the listeners and the communities this station serves and do the right thing.
Make Repairs, not excuses.
marker101 said:
Here's an extensive story (with video) from the WNEP website:
http://www.wnep.com/wnep-luz-warm-radio-ceases-broadcasting,0,5199594.story
They say these things come in threes... first, WYOU's news department, then WARM... who's next?
Don't forget Ron's can of tuna with hot sauce.
This Ron sounds like my kind of engineer.
There's always something that can be done. A new phasor can be wound out of copper refrigeration tubing, etc.
A can of tuna and hot sauce can be used to neutralize a PA. ( Just kidding ) But the can can be one side of a neutralizing cap.
A little epoxy here, a new cap there, some silicone rubber insulated wire, and you're back on the air.
A major fire could take longer to repair....but to me, this sounds like calling in to work and saying you can't make it because you've got
a flat tire. Get off your duff and change the tire already, and get in to work.
I eagerly await further details on just what is so darn broken.
There's always something that can be done. A new phasor can be wound out of copper refrigeration tubing, etc.
A can of tuna and hot sauce can be used to neutralize a PA. ( Just kidding ) But the can can be one side of a neutralizing cap.
A little epoxy here, a new cap there, some silicone rubber insulated wire, and you're back on the air.
A major fire could take longer to repair....but to me, this sounds like calling in to work and saying you can't make it because you've got
a flat tire. Get off your duff and change the tire already, and get in to work.
I eagerly await further details on just what is so darn broken.
N
normhill007
Guest
For those of you who don't know him, Ronnie and to a slightly lesser degree his brother Bob were truly unique engineers-Ronnie was, and probably still is, a licensed pilot who, I beleive was rated twin turbo prop and ifr. He used to have to come from NEP to our FM transmitter site in the dead of winter during a blizzard to put the FM back on because they were first, too cheap to get a backup transmitter, and second, when they did get one, they were too cheap to get one that worked more than 25 percent of the time-Ronnie used to drive up the road to the top of whatever mountain we put the stick on (never was to the site and never wanted to know. Hey, I'm was AM guy who likes the transmitter in the next room so I can glo in the dark) Anyway, Ronnie would come from NEP on his HARLEY, near blizzard conditions, temps in the teens, and climb the "road" that was by then a solid sheet of ice and flip a switch. Ronnie loved AM transmitters. You could play with them. FM..just swap a circuit board..a trained chimpanzee could do that. As a matter of fact, I've heard Citadel is going to do just that to cut costs
In Spring of '75, WARM had a 16.9 (12+) share. Nobody else was in double digits. As recently as '91, WARM was still a Top 3 radio station.
WARM is a classic case of a market outgrowing a signal and maybe the best example of why night-time signals continue to define an AM station's universe.
Great station in its day.
WARM is a classic case of a market outgrowing a signal and maybe the best example of why night-time signals continue to define an AM station's universe.
Great station in its day.
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
100% Correct-O!! Ronnie had a Ph.D. in cobbling and was probably the best inventor since MacGyver. What a super cool dude!Nairda said:
B
BaltimoreJack
Guest
Tom Wells said:
The can of tuna & hot sauce was more often than not, Ron's lunch. Since you never saw Ron, you need to understand he could pick up the front end of a John Deere 4020.
He had guns that would make Robert Irvine look like a weakling.
Now as far as what's so darn broken:
Citadel is what's broken. They are nearly bankrupt, and if they wouldn't put in any money into WARM when their stock was at $68 a share, they are certainly not going to put any money in when their current stock price is 0.058!
There is a story out there about Ron Schacht and Farid which I beleive is true. Ron marched to the music of his own band, period. If he didn't want to do something there wasn't a chance in hell he would cave-in to someone else's wishes no matter what the outcome. Ron hated Farid Suleman. HATED him. When everything boiled down and there was no way that WARM or any of the other AMs were going to be fixed up, Ron decided that he had enough and sought out a job in the midwest. Now for those who don't know, Ronnie was a biker. A devoted biker. In the middle of a snowstorm he'd show up on the bike looking like sasquatch. He was probably the only chief to posess an
FCC 1st Class ticket with a Harley endorsement! Anyway I digress..It has been told that when Ron served his leave notice, Farid took a special interest in his leaving, and supposedly told Ron that if he would stay they would give him a sizeable raise, and that he could go down to Electric City Harley in Scranton, and pick out any Harley he wanted, trick it out any way he wanted it done, and Farid would personally sign the check for the new bike! Ron told Farid to stuff it and moved to the midwest. That ladies and gentleman IS Ron Schacht.
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