WCPT AM 850

[fallon847]

I have noticed with interest that WCPT AM 850 has been getting consistent ratings with their Air America talk programing. While I am not a liberal, I have been listening a bit and offer these observations:

The station sounds really good technically. It comes on at sunrise and off at sunset legally. There have been no technical glitches. Programs run properly and commericals play properly. There has been no dead air. The management there seems proficient.

This is stark contrast to the previous talk format as WAIT AM 850 when it was owned by NextMedia. The station never achieved any ratings due to the horrid local morning host (Glynis Walker), terrible technical glitches such as two programs at once, dead air, illegal sign on/off on occasion and talk shows running which were many weeks old and dated.

I thought the programming was better then but the incompetent local Operations/program director was the main driver to the failure, which caused the station to be sold. That Operations/program director is still in the market but was removed from management to avoid future damage. Comments are most welcome, including different points of view.
Thanks.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> I have noticed with interest that WCPT AM 850 has been
> getting consistent ratings with their Air America talk
> programing. While I am not a liberal, I have been listening
> a bit and offer these observations:
>
> The station sounds really good technically. It comes on at
> sunrise and off at sunset legally. There have been no
> technical glitches. Programs run properly and commericals
> play properly. There has been no dead air. The management
> there seems proficient.
>
> This is stark contrast to the previous talk format as WAIT
> AM 850 when it was owned by NextMedia. The station never
> achieved any ratings due to the horrid local morning host
> (Glynis Walker), terrible technical glitches such as two
> programs at once, dead air, illegal sign on/off on occasion
> and talk shows running which were many weeks old and dated.
>
>
> I thought the programming was better then but the
> incompetent local Operations/program director was the main
> driver to the failure, which caused the station to be sold.
> That Operations/program director is still in the market but
> was removed from management to avoid future damage. Comments
> are most welcome, including different points of view.
> Thanks.
>

I agree. WCPT is run very well.
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[RockManAC]

> The station sounds really good technically. It comes on at
> sunrise and off at sunset legally.

Are they signing off at local sundown? IIRC they're allowed local sunrise to roughly 45 min after sunset (sunset Denver, I think)

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[JSS]

> I thought the programming was better then but the
> incompetent local Operations/program director was the main
> driver to the failure, which caused the station to be sold.
> That Operations/program director is still in the market but
> was removed from management to avoid future damage. Comments
> are most welcome, including different points of view.
> Thanks.
>

Tom-

Give it up, my friend. Do you really think nobody notices that 90% of your posts on this board complain about the same guy over and over? This schtick of yours grew old a long time ago.

 

[RadioDoc]

"I thought the programming was better then but the incompetent local Operations/program director was the main driver to the failure, which caused the station to be sold"

Having been employed at NM at the time, and knowing the whole picture, all I can say is...

Back up that statement with facts, please. I don't believe that to be true.

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[burbs]

> This is stark contrast to the previous talk format as WAIT
> AM 850 when it was owned by NextMedia. The station never
> achieved any ratings due to the horrid local morning host
> (Glynis Walker), terrible technical glitches such as two
> programs at once, dead air, illegal sign on/off on occasion
> and talk shows running which were many weeks old and dated.
>
>
> I thought the programming was better then but the
> incompetent local Operations/program director was the main
> driver to the failure, which caused the station to be sold.
> That Operations/program director is still in the market but
> was removed from management to avoid future damage. Comments
> are most welcome, including different points of view.
> Thanks.


My Thanksgiving wish for you, Tom, is that you will once and for all move on.

There couldn't be any reason for this sort of attack.

 

[CubsFan]

I think Tom makes a valid point. How come 850AM sounds so much better under the new ownership? It's a sure sign the previous owners just didn't really care. That's the difference between having professionals run a radio station to having a bunch of inexperienced people playing radio. (i.e. Donut Boy)

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

> My Thanksgiving wish for you, Tom, is that you will once and
> for all move on.
>
> There couldn't be any reason for this sort of attack.

 

[NorthwestBobby]

Boy...the memories of spinning Oldies at WAIT circa 1989.......

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> I think Tom makes a valid point. How come 850AM sounds so
> much better under the new ownership? It's a sure sign the
> previous owners just didn't really care. That's the
> difference between having professionals run a radio station
> to having a bunch of inexperienced people playing radio.
> (i.e. Donut Boy)
>
> Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
>
NextMedia has a low suburban budget. Its obvious by just listening to the stations. Its just your average suburban radio. Thats most likely why it sounded the way it did. Its not a matter of care, its a matter of resources. If you have listened to stations in even smaller towns with smaller owners you'll know what I mean.

Newsweb is a major market company (though locally owned) that just happens to own a bunch of suburban sticks and has the resources to run/program them better. Plus it doesn't take much to run either since its basically all syndicated.

Take 92.7 WCBR for example. Before Big City Radio bought it it was brokered/AAA/Dance. The station sounded soooo small/low budget. I heard a program on there that was basically recorded onto a handheld tape recorder. The studio equipment was just as old. Big City bought it, ran Kiss FM from the old studios for awhile (sounded ok) and then got their new studios in downtown Chicago and it sounded very pro. Same with SBS. Same with Newsweb (however Newsweb was dealing with bad equipment in the early days)

WNTN in Newton, MA is a brokered station. It is owned by the PD (Or GM?) I got an aircheck of an Irish/Celtic music show on there called "The Sounds Of Erin" I never heard anything more unprofessional sounding in my life. Then I saw some photos of their studios and they were running it off of vintage 60s-70s equipment with a couple CD players and cart decks.

WDOR in Sturgeon Bay, WI is a small town ma/pa type station. Its run off a crappy looking computer, CD players and vintage studio equipment from at least the 40s or 50s. When the DJs go on the air it sounds old fashioned like they are talking into cans. It also runs a lot of syndicated/talk programming. Thats probably one of the reasons why.


WZSR used to be programmed off the bird in the 90s. I can tell by listening that they've come a long way from what they used to be.

WKKD (Now WERV) was first programmed off the bird, then went local oldies "Kool 95.9" then The River (Locally programmed) was born when NextMedia took over.



If Clear Channel, Infinity, or any company with more resources were to buy these stations, they'd probably sound more professional as well.



What I don't get is why NextMeda changed the format from standards to talk anyway. The ratings were just fine.

Thats my 2 cents.

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[RF_Insider]

> > The station sounds really good technically. It comes on at
>
> > sunrise and off at sunset legally.
>
> Are they signing off at local sundown? IIRC they're allowed
> local sunrise to roughly 45 min after sunset (sunset Denver,
> I think)

Nope - the FCC hasn't authorized "LSS" signoffs like that for many decades, and only a few older daytime authorizations still have them. 850 Crystal Lake's nowhere near old enough for that.

They may have some low-power post-sunset and/or pre-sunrise authorization; the FCC granted those beginning in the 1980s, but subsequently lost all its authorizations data in a computer "upgrade," which means the only records that now exist of those authorizations are the paper copies received by stations at the time.

 

[Large_106]

> > This is stark contrast to the previous talk format as WAIT
>
> > AM 850 when it was owned by NextMedia. The station never
> > achieved any ratings due to the horrid local morning host
> > (Glynis Walker), terrible technical glitches such as two
> > programs at once, dead air, illegal sign on/off on
> occasion
> > and talk shows running which were many weeks old and
> dated.
> >
> >
> > I thought the programming was better then but the
> > incompetent local Operations/program director was the main
>
> > driver to the failure, which caused the station to be
> sold.
> > That Operations/program director is still in the market
> but
> > was removed from management to avoid future damage.
> Comments
> > are most welcome, including different points of view.
> > Thanks.
>
>
> My Thanksgiving wish for you, Tom, is that you will once and
> for all move on.
>
> There couldn't be any reason for this sort of attack.
>

Very true; you're coming off like a cyber-stalker.

When you're dealing with automation, mistakes can happen and frequently do. Anyone who works in radio can attest to that. It can't be blamed on a single person, and it's wrong of you to blame Bagel Guy for all the technical SNAFUs at the station while NextMedia owned it.

Bagel's other dealings with the GM up there is something that should raise the concern of NM execs, but that's something for NM to deal with, not you.

 

[RockManAC]

> They may have some low-power post-sunset and/or pre-sunrise
> authorization; the FCC granted those beginning in the 1980s,
> but subsequently lost all its authorizations data in a
> computer "upgrade," which means the only records that now
> exist of those authorizations are the paper copies received
> by stations at the time.

Are you sure? I thought during the whole NextMedia/staying on well after sunset period the GM came on here and explaned they were allowed to stay on 45 min after sunset (roughly).

Now.. I know 820 is allowed to stay on until sunset Dallas and it was taken to a daytimer in the 80s or 90s.

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[adz]

> Look at www.nextmediaradio.com and check out their earnings statements and S-E-C filings..and that fact that they just sold 200 million of their long term debt...its not a pretty picture by any means..
>

 

[uncamark]

> > They may have some low-power post-sunset and/or
> pre-sunrise
> > authorization; the FCC granted those beginning in the
> 1980s,
> > but subsequently lost all its authorizations data in a
> > computer "upgrade," which means the only records that now
> > exist of those authorizations are the paper copies
> received
> > by stations at the time.
>
> Are you sure? I thought during the whole NextMedia/staying
> on well after sunset period the GM came on here and explaned
> they were allowed to stay on 45 min after sunset (roughly).
>
> Now.. I know 820 is allowed to stay on until sunset Dallas
> and it was taken to a daytimer in the 80s or 90s.

820 got a 24-hour authorization in 1981, shortly after Century flipped WAIT from easy listening to standards. They remained 24-hour from there to Transtar soft AC (WCZE) and the simulcast with 100.3. When someone made an offer on the land the transmitter was on in Elmhurst to Century, what was then WPNT-AM was taken off. Since the transmitter was in a different location, Diamond could never get 24-hour authorization for 820 when they started the Score and Newsweb has not attempted since they took over the frequency.