How about 1500 in Washington DC? For many years, it was occupied by WTOP, the all news station. It was a perennial market leader, battling for the #1 station in town. Then Bonneville made the gutsy move from AM to FM. Now WTOP FM is the #1 station in town. The AM frequency is near the bottom. Almost overnight, this frequency went from almost a 6 share to a .6 share. A huge swing in numbers! And Bonneville has no idea what to do with 1500. I suggest they offer some variation of all-news. Perhaps the same stories but on a different clock, so if you missed it on the FM, you can hear it on the AM. Because unless you have Rush & Sean, a talk format isn't going to win in DC. Not when you're also competing against two strong NPR stations.
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Wasted 50KW AM Signals
- Thread starter MediaBoy4Radio
- Start date
TheBigA said:
Would being called "Federal News Radio" (aka WFED) count? It may not be a general-interest format, but I'd think it would work in Washington DC. Like financial news radio (such as KFNN here in Phoenix), the raw ratings may be miniscule, but I'll bet the ad dollars are coming in.
Prais said:
Perhaps all current Radio Disney stations are successful, but has that always been the case? How many Disney O&O stations have dropped the Radio Disney format or been sold off because they couldn't pull listeners? I know our local Radio Disney O&O dropped the format and sold off the station about 3 years ago and was never resurrected on another frequency. The problem with the station was it had poor coverage of the market. It covered about 15% of the land in the DMA and maybe 30% of the population.
poledo said:
What market? I was not aware that Disney itself had pulled the plug on any affiliates, so am interested in knowing where this happened.
Minor point, but radio does not pay any real attention to the DMA, which is the Nielsen TV market area. Radio operates, programs and sells almost exclusively in the Metropolitan Survey Area or MSA. There is DMA data for certain markets in two out of the four yearly surveys, but in all my involvement with Arbitron data, dating back 38 years, I've never seen anyone use it. We very seldom even look at TSA data.
DavidEduardo said:
Poster's profile shows location as Pensacola.
SuperRadioFan said:
Then I think that this was an independent station, not an O&O.
DavidEduardo said:
...Chicago, where Radio Disney had been on two frequencies, WRDZ/1300 Chicago and WDDZ/1500 Zion. Disney/ABC took WDDZ silent in January 2000; the station subsequently became WBJX in 2001 and has been owned by Polnet since 2006...
Ultimajock said:
I think that they got 1500 as the CrackerJack prize from Lotus when they got the old WTAQ. While it may be useful for some kind of neighborhood niche format, it certainly would not have helped Disney just as it never helped WTAQ.
They did not pull out of a market here, they just got rid of what can only be called one of the worst AM facilities in the Western Hemisphere... 250 watts daytime at the high, high end of the dial.
Of course, WDDZ is/was "really" WNIZ, the AM outlet for Chicago's WNIB, also long gone.
I was never, ever able to pick them up anywhere, even driving right by Zion on my way to/from Wisconsin.
Don't know what their problem was/is, I could hear AM 1080 from Valparaiso, IN just fine at 55 miles when they were only a 250w daytime.
I was never, ever able to pick them up anywhere, even driving right by Zion on my way to/from Wisconsin.
Don't know what their problem was/is, I could hear AM 1080 from Valparaiso, IN just fine at 55 miles when they were only a 250w daytime.
Tom Wells said:
...nor do I, and I was news director there in '85, when it was known as WRJR (which, with its "Format of the Month" programming policy under then-owner Joe Wrona, came to stand for "We Replace Jocks Regularly"). We were getting callers from Evanston and Skokie for our talk shows at the time, so getting the signal out wasn't a problem then...
It's a mystery for sure, I can remember in the '70's, when I lived in NW Indiana, and could hear WLTD 1590 Evanston, now WONX,
despite being off to the side of the N-S directional signal. That's sure enough at top end of the dial.. I used to catch Chuck Shaden's shows.
I 'member tying to hear WNIZ to hear how the classical music sounded on AM and I always made these faces: ??? :-\
This was late 80's through early nineties, and I was 3 blocks south of Evanston at the time.
I was using my "hottest" radio, a 1936 Philco 116-X, with a tuned, loose-coupled loop.
Can't explain it. It wasn't a noisy area.
I also remember being in Florence (Y'all) Kentucky one time and hearing WBEE 1570(?) Harvey Illinois coming in clear as bell one night,
with an ID in a little girl's voice that cut throught the ether like a razor blade. I called 'em up just to let them know they were
kicking a** that night. They are directional for sure but I can't recall what/who their pattern protects.
despite being off to the side of the N-S directional signal. That's sure enough at top end of the dial.. I used to catch Chuck Shaden's shows.
I 'member tying to hear WNIZ to hear how the classical music sounded on AM and I always made these faces: ??? :-\
This was late 80's through early nineties, and I was 3 blocks south of Evanston at the time.
I was using my "hottest" radio, a 1936 Philco 116-X, with a tuned, loose-coupled loop.
Can't explain it. It wasn't a noisy area.
I also remember being in Florence (Y'all) Kentucky one time and hearing WBEE 1570(?) Harvey Illinois coming in clear as bell one night,
with an ID in a little girl's voice that cut throught the ether like a razor blade. I called 'em up just to let them know they were
kicking a** that night. They are directional for sure but I can't recall what/who their pattern protects.
I know there's another 1570 in Northwest Illinois. I want to say the town is Freeport and calls are WFRL but I'm not 100% sure, so the former WBEE may be protecting them. There's also a 1570 in Fairfield Iowa (KMCD) but they used to sign off at 6 pm until the late 80's when they would go until 9 pm, by the mid 90's they were 24 hours.
Tom Wells said:
...well, that's probably your problem right there. Joe Wrona bought WNIZ from Bill and Sonia Florian in December 1984 and turned it into WRJR. By the late '80s, Chuck Schaden had been gone from AM 1500 for several years already...
billyg said:
An awesome addition to the thread (which I'm just reading now). ;D
Demos, schmemos, that station was an absolute legend when it was oldies KOMA! So good that Renda bought an FM to simulcast the AM format! Even with that arrangement, 1520 had far more listeners (yes, in market) with the simulcast than it does now with its shell of a talk format. Radio as it was in the 60s, it kept me company during many a long drive through the west.
As for the more recent format - it's a loser. Hey, I like a good talk station too and spend plenty of time listening to them. But KOKC has little to offer. Truly a waste of a fine 50 kw signal....
Another wasted Radio Disney 50 KW signal is WQEW in New York, formerly The New York Times' classical station, QXR and later as QEW with Adult Standards, before Disney did an LMA and eventual purchase.
C
Channel Surf
Guest
G5-G6 said:
Maybe more of a waste than ever. It now signs off between 11PM and 6AM....That is no loss though!!!!! Perhaps they can pull the plug the other 17 hours of the day, too...
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