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WCKL Returns as "Family 560" on June 15th

D

disney fanatic

According to this week's Scott Fybush that WCKL is returning to the airwaves on June 15th as "Family 560". Which means that WCKL is not simulcasting WCTW and WCZR on 560 AM. I remember back around 2002 or 2003 when WCKL pulled the plug after it was LMA'd to Black United Fund of New York, it has no programming, just dead air. When it came back in 2004, the station began simulcasting WBPM's former "Cool 92.9" under "560 Rock". Remember the liners used during or after the top of the hour while the song was played, it would say the following:

1. "We're burning up the AM dial, this is WCKL Catskill, 560 Rock!"
2. "This is 560 Rock, WCKL Catskill. Crank it up, and rip the knob off!"
3. "Rock & roll and a whole lot of static! This is 560 Rock, WCKL Catskill, crank it up!"

That lasted about a year in 2005, and then a few months later, they simulcast another station which is WCZR's "Cruisin' 93.5" and it goes on and on and on until it went off, and came back on, it came back, and came back on, and finally came off again! That is a waste of space! Black United Fund should commit suicide once and for all. I remember the last time I listened to was 560 simulcasting WCTW's "The Cat" from last Summer. That ended so abruptly, but I guess that 560 should get a new format. It's not going to be another Family Radio due to last week's Judgment Day pranks made by Harold Camping, it's going to be something else, it is going to be family oriented with live and local, not the piped in syndicated garbage as far as I'm concerned.

WCKL, get the Black United Fund people and throw it in the garbage! "Family 560" is coming June 15th.

Anyone?
 
MusicRadioUSA said:
Anyone know if WCKL will be streaming ?
Click to expand...

Not yet! We'll have to see if it comes back on June 15th. WCKL has problems over the last 10 years when it was an adult standards station until BUFNY decided to pull the plug and it went on hiatus for 10 years since it never came back on the air when it was doing it before, Clear Channel decided to simulcast WBPM's former "Cool 92.9", and then "Cruisin' 93.5" which is WCZR and WCTW's former "Lite-FM" and "The Cat" which is currently now until it went off again due to the "Keep the License Alive" promotion where it went to go dark or coming back on the air for a short period of time. That has going to change by June 15th when WCKL comes back on the air under a new ownership, it would be family-oriented not another religious network like Family Radio where Harold Camping did his End of the World prank about a week ago. That has never happened at all. Let's hope if WCKL goes religious or not.
 
read this at North East Radio Watch....seems like they won't be a religion station....

"“We’re going local, live, 24 hours a day, June 15, ” Dodge told the Daily Mail, promising an ambitious schedule. “Our proposed programming will be family-oriented — everything from music to talk shows, and we’ll bring back some of the old things that WCKL used to do — like the Swap Shop, and the Talk of the Town, with people invited in.”
 
For residents of the Catskill- Hudson area I hope this new option to listen to. However, if you read Scott Fybush's North East Radio Watch this week he had less than complimentary things to say about the new owner and potential licensee, Brian Dodge, Owner of Family Broadcasting & Media, LLC. According to Scott, there have been numerous complaints about Brian Dodge’s operations sketchy operations dating back to the mid ‘90’s. Scott even cited his predecessor ‘The June 21 1997 Scott Fybush” ;D detailing a list of problems. Nevertheless, it has to be an improvement, over the brief keep the license alive broadcasts of The Black United Fund over the past 7 years. Then again, I think Mr. Dodge’s statements that WCKL will be live & local 24 hours a day are a bit over the top. Who does that these days, even in mid -sized market such as, Albany, much less a tiny AM stand alone in a small village, like Catskill. ‘Family Radio’ is often used as pseudonym for religious radio. Contemporary Christian is music, and of course, conversation about Christianity is ‘Talk Radio’, so technically he would be telling the truth.
 
I was in the Catskill area over the weekend .WCLK is apparently testing, using like before, 98.5 WCTW ‘The Cat’ as program source. On Friday afternoon, the signal seemed rather weak but was stronger later in the weekend. About 10AM Monday WCKL shut down presumably to do further work on the system.
 
I wish him the best of luck. We need more local broadcasters serving local communities. CKL was once live, local and relevant. Why not again?
 
A few hours ago, when I was on my way home from work, I listened to WCKL that they are still on the air simulcasting WCTW's "The Cat" on 98.5 FM. I hope that starting tomorrow, WCKL is dropping its simulcast completely to go either all religious, or probably another format. Will see what happens tomorrow as WCKL becomes the new "Family 560".
 
I just listened to 560 AM this morning that I've heard that they dropped its simulcast of WCTW's "The Cat" and flipped to Standards/MOR as "Family 560", not a religious station, but it's a standards format, sorta like the "Music of Your Life" format from 10 years ago when it was heard on all four stations like WKIP, WHUC, WELV and WGHQ. This means that Family Broadcasting has took over one of the CC stations after the failed Black United Fund of NY in which WCKL pulled the plug for 10 years and went live & local again. I hope WCKL did a very good job dumping the simulcast of other CC stations including the former "Cool 92.9", "Cruisin' 93.5", "Lite-FM" and "The Cat" are both on 98.5 with the exception of rock music loop thrown in. WCKL had enough, so goodbye to the simulcast garbage and those "Keep the License Alive" promotion , and say hello to "Family 560". Is back to stay!

There is a link to it that is not up yet. Stay tuned!

http://www.familybroadcasting.net/
 
I listened in this morning as best as I could with the static driving into work between 7:30 and 8 from Latham to downtown Albany. I did hear some religous references by the morning host between the pleasant "Music of the Life" sounds. Also the link to the developing web site shows a photo collage including someone who appears to be preaching. Is the ownership of WCKL a Christian group?(not that there's anything wrong with that). I wish them the best and look forward to listening more when they hopefully start streaming. Every station like this is an oasis in the desert of corporate radio.
 
Are they live and local as promised, at least during drive time? I realize it will take time to put a staff together, for the whole day, if that is even realistic .
 
MusicRadioUSA said:
Will WCKL be adding live streaming ?
Click to expand...
Since there has been no announcement, nobody knows except the handful of people working there. IMO getting the new station up and running is their first priority, not streaming; perhaps that will come later. If streaming were the most important thing to Family 560, they would have gone with that instead of starting with a tiny AM station, in a small town, that for all intents has been off the air for 7 years.
 
I see...Can someone post some airchecks of the new WCKL here...Thanks...

MHVRadiofan said:
MusicRadioUSA said:
Will WCKL be adding live streaming ?
Click to expand...
Since there has been no announcement, nobody knows except the handful of people working there. IMO getting the new station up and running is their first priority, not streaming; perhaps that will come later. If streaming were the most important thing to Family 560, they would have gone with that instead of starting with a tiny AM station, in a small town, that for all intents has been off the air for 7 years.
Click to expand...
 
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