Waterbury 1590 History (was WFNW 1380 ...)

[bub]

I came to Connecticut in 1981 and don't remember any of the Waterbury franchise's games ever being on radio, right up until the franchise left town in 1986.

I'm looking at a 1983 Waterbury Reds program right now, and there's an ad for WATR boasting that it's the home of Yankees baseball, and an ad for WTXX (Ch. 20) boasting that it carries New York Mets weekend games. There are even ads for WQQW, WLAD and WADS (featuring its midday lineup of Father John, "Psychic" Ronnie Gann, "Luvable" Ed Smith, and two hours of Swap Shop), but none claim to be the radio home of the Reds.

If you can scan those ads and post them somewhere, that would be cool.

The last time WATR was a Yankees affiliate, the Yankees finished in last place that year. The next year, WATR went to MLB Game of the Week off the CBS Radio Network. WADS, still a daytimer in 1983 from the days when it was owned by Ken Dawson, who also owned WKND in Windsor. It is believed the WKND call letters stood for Dawson's initials.

Now back to 1590...

 

[MarcB]

Now back to 1590...

1. What year did 1590 go off the air for good 91 or 92?

2. What was their signal like? I never heard of them. And even tho I had my own radio when I was small I don't remember the station. I grew up in Bristol. My parents lived in New Britain until moving to Bristol in 83 and they don't remember the station either. They were vaguely familar with WATR and WWCO. (More WATR because of WATR-TV 53).

3. When the construction permit (now long gone) was issued for the new 1590 in Oakville, how come they couldn't build a tower for the new 1590 on the site where the old 1590 stood?

 

[Bill-in-CT]

>1. What year did 1590 go off the air for good 91 or 92?

The last week in March, 1992. I was the Sunday morning announcer then.

>2. What was their signal like?

Excellent 5k signal day and night into the Torrington and New Haven areas, but nulls east and west.

>3. When the construction permit (now long gone) was issued for the new 1590 in Oakville, how come they couldn't build a tower for the new 1590 on the site where the old 1590 stood?

Probably because the property wasn't available for sale.

 

[bub]

Additional info on the history of WQQW can be found here:
http://www.hartfordradiohistory.com/WQQW__WBRY__W1XBS_.html

John

John:

Excellent stuff but I can't find a link to it on the menu bar of the homepage. Can't find it on the silent stations either.

Found it. It's in the silent stations folder. See what happens when you eat high sugared cereal for breakfast?

 

[Bill-in-CT]

2011 Update ....

I recently found out the old 1590 transmitter site is little neighborhood on a semi-circle street. There are quite a few large houses there, and the semi-circle street has two entrances on Boyden Street.

 

[shepaug]

I was in the area about a month ago and took some pictures of WWCO and WATR antennas. BUT...where o where the old 1590 ??


On this any help where the old towers were ??


https://picasaweb.google.com/shepaug/1590?feat=directlink


I might note WATR refused to allow me to take a picture. Some guy said 'talk to the owner' rather nastily.


So took a few pictures 'off their property'. All I wanted was a 'general shot'.

 

[Bill-in-CT]

I was in the area about a month ago and took some pictures of WWCO and WATR antennas. BUT...where o where the old 1590 ??

The exact address for WBRY/WTBY/WQQW was 499 Boyden Street, on top of a steep hill in the Waterville section, not far from the Thomaston town line. They used to say "BRY Mountain" in the 60s when giving the temperature.

 

[ka3zci]

I just found the site again. Does anyone have information about the floor plans at 136 Grand Street? I tried to describe them as they were in the mid-70's, years after the station moved, but it was difficult after thirty years or more to recall it vividly. Another thing is that WBRY was owned by a newspaper so presumably scores of photos were taken through the years. So, what might have become of them? So much history has either disappeared or become lost over the years, not only this station but stations in general.

 

[freightliner]

After reading this thread, I pulled an old loose-leaf binder containing QSL cards I collected from '68 to '70. I have one from then-WTBY. (The signature is hard to make out but it looks like John Lomasiewicz or Tomasiewicz who was the C.E. at the time.)
Anyone familiar with him ? It's dated 6/27/69 where I received the station at 2210. (I was in the 10th grade !) Says on the card that WTBY was a CBS affiliate. I was living in Gales Ferry at the time--just a couple miles North of the Groton line, near the Sub Base.

Years later, I recall visiting the Boyden Street site late at night. Don't recall exactly when but the station has just installed a new transmitter--a Harris SX-series 5KW. With the station signing off in 1992, someone probably wound up with a pretty good transmitter at a bargain. Bill1820's description of the site is spot-on... (I felt like Richard Dreyfuss walking in looking for the Wolfman....Not much lighting in the place...) I don't remember who I met but we spoke of Ed Flynn. I don't remember ever meeting him but I believe he worked for a short period at WICH in Norwich which was managed by my father (Richard Reed) who was there from '51 to '01.

There was another guy named Johnny Palmer who did nights

 

[freightliner]

(whoops..hit send...)

Johnny Palmer did nights at 'ICH but I'm vague on the year. He came from then-WQQW. Anybody recall him ? (Maybe he went under another name.) At any rate, he was good on the air---but best known around here for hitting everyone up for cigarettes !

 

[mikedow]

I so glad to see this thread kept alive.

Ed Flynn moved over to WATR sometime after WQQW left the air and hosted a midday talk show until his retirement a year or so ago.

Your post about the transmitter got me thinking: once the station moved downtown, what was left at the transmitter site? What did happen to WQQW's equipment?

Also, if anybody can go back far enough, why would a station leave downtown to move to a rather inaccessable location on the edge of the city limits? The sales people must have hated it, and the location was no in any was presentable for clients.

 

[freightliner]

Mike,

I believe it was the owners of adjacent-channel WWRL (1600) in NYC that purchased the license of WQQW and took it dark in order to allow WWRL to relax their pattern. I could be wrong, but I also recall hearing something where this later allowed co-channel WARV in Warwick RI to upgrade. Years ago, WLNG's Paul Sidney spoke of some sort of arrangement taking WLNG (AM) dark. (It was a 500-watt daytimer on Long Island's east end.) That was said to have provided some benefit to WWRL as well.

Perhaps the WQQW Harris SX wound up as a back-up for WWRL or just sold off. I'm told it's not a major job to modify a box if it's close in frequency. (The former WICH "aux" was purchased from WKAP in Allentown and was modified from 1320 to 1310 and was a "clone" to the former "main" XMTR which has since been replaced.)

WQQW's move back to "the hill" might have been due to economics. Many find it cheaper to operate out of a combo studio/transmitter site. (In our case, the parking is better than downtown.)

Decades ago, a lack of zoning allowed for many stations to locate nearly anywhere. In our case, WICH operated downtown until 1955 where a move to a "hill" came with a change in frequency, power and a directional antenna system with several acres of land . (and great deer hunting !) Many of these sites are "grandfathered". It goes without saying that with the advent of zoning, things have changed.

Nowadays, even at "grandfathered" sites, you can't hunt NIMBY OR deer !!

 

[WPHA]

It was the 1600 in NYC that bought it to kill it. Same with WLNG, although I heard rumor that it's owner was intending to just turn in the license, and shut it down... but before he could, he was offered a cool million and change to sell it. Talk about a deal one can't refuse!

 

[GlennO]

WQQW was profitable under owner Marshall Pite in the late seventies and undoubtedly into the eighties, and putting the studios and offices at the no-frills Boyden Street transmitter site must have saved them money. During my six month stay there, I was impressed by what engineer Fred Santore was able to do with the sound of that station. Although a few of us tried to spruce up the studio, there was no getting around the fact that it was still basically a transmitter building with a small basement and a trailer next door as the main office. I remember going in for the morning show on a snowy Christmas Day '78 and having to park way down on Chase Avenue a mile away and trudge up that hill through almost two feet of snow. I was probably turning blue by the time I made it there. Of course there was the toilet that liked to overflow down the concrete floor toward the studio. Ah, fun memories...

 

[Bill-in-CT]

In the mid 90s, the parent company of WWRL 1600 in NYC bought the WQQW license, WLNG-AM and WERI 1590 in NJ in order to increase RL's power. Here is an FCC Word Document (doc) file regarding the transaction.
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Databases/documents_collection/let19961205.doc

During WQQW's last few years, the station was downtown in an art-deco palace with separate on-air, production, news and talk studios. The station also had a large conference room with a mahogany table, and a kitchenette with microwave oven and full-sized refrigerator. What a difference between downtown and the hill.

 

[WPHA]

During WQQW's last few years, the station was downtown in an art-deco palace with separate on-air, production, news and talk studios. The station also had a large conference room with a mahogany table, and a kitchenette with microwave oven and full-sized refrigerator. What a difference between downtown and the hill.

Oh, I love those old Art Deco buildings for radio stations! I would so love to have one built (or refurbished/renovated) for a modern station! Make radio FUN again!

 

[pqgeorge]

Who was the Chief Engineer of WQQW during the Summer of 1975? The reason I am asking is that I received WQQW quite well in Randolph, MA (15 miles south of Boston) during a Sunday night/Monday morning test transmission (during the experimental period). They were doing a DX test using actual programming material, complete with jingles and Top-40 music. The CE was doing some "jocking" saying "This is 1590/WQQW in Waterbury, Connecticut conducting equipment tests using actual program material". I recall him playing "One Of These Nights" by The Eagles. At the end of the tests. he came back on mike and said "This has been WQQW in Waterbury, Connecticut conducting equipment tests using actual program material. Keep those cards and letters coming and 73's!". I did send a QSL request for this transmission. (Never did get the QSL card. Oh, well.....).

It was a shame that 'QQ did not make it after '92. This was an historical station in its' own right. I believe that it was one of those AM high-fidelity stations back in the 1940's that the FCC was sanctioning on the THEN "expanded band" (1500-1600). I believe that only today's WQEW/1560 (originally W2XR and WQXR) is the only existing station left of that "experimental" group of stations that were operating for "high-fidelity" use.

I must say, even back in '75, this signal was really strong and vibrant, even on skywave. Wish I taped it.

 

[radiowizard101]

I must reply to freightliner. I am the 'Johnny Palmer' of which you speak. I was at WQQW for a little while in 1973 and then went on to WICH in the Fall of 1973 through June of 1974. This was a very unstable time in my life. My most treasured memory in Norwich was the birth of my daughter. She is now a successful Real Estate agent in Tucson. WOW! That's 36 years ago.

My travels brought me to Tucson, Sacramento, Roswell NM, Portland OR, Silver City NM, Las Cruces NM, and Globe-Miami AZ. I have been here since 1990 and currently work for KQSS FM (Gila 1019). We do all the typical small market stuff like local news, Board of Supervisor and Town Council News, dog gone reports, and obits too. Very LOCAL here. I also operate a Mobile Music Entertainment service.

I'm a true radio survivor and quit the cigs many years ago.

It's nice to see that WICH is still going strong. Say hello to Stu Bryer for me. Hall Communications is a class act. But, you already know that.

BIG John Libynski
Golden Sounds

 

[freightliner]

Wow Big John !

Great to hear you're doing LOCAL radio ! Both Stu & Bob Edwards say "hi". Stu is starting his 41st year here and is still doing mid-days. (Still shelves of "vinyl" in the original jackets for his daily "oldies" segment.) I hear from Ken Main from time to time...Cassidy Driscoll passed away about a decade ago. Dick Legare "The Beachcomer's Beat" passed away about five years ago. Alex died in '80. His son Dan is Senior VP/GM of Hall's Burlington stations. Dennis Riley retired and is doing well. Charlie Smith (Sales since '66) retired about three years ago... My Dad passed away in '01 and Karen (since '68) is still here !!

This place is still as fun as when you were here... (But no more wiffleball games in the parking lot--we finally paved it !) Lots to catch up on...

Glad you replied !

Jim

.

 

[rcs]

John Tomasiewicz (sp?) was indeed a CT broadcast engineer in the 60/70s. I believe he worked at WIOF and perhaps WPOP.

I took over as CE from Fred Santore for a short period time when he went to WELI. He sure did have that station sounding nice!

Buckley took posession of the former WQQW transmitter. They still have it in storage.

Being near the top of the dial the station had a great skywave signal at night. We used to get dozens of reception reports a year . . . I think in a one year period reports came in from ten different states!

John