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WCRB - WKLB SWITCH

C

Casablanca

Guest
Country and Western 99.5 did a nice fade out with a country version of The Star Spangled Banner which was picked up on their new dial position 102.5.

WCRB played Rodeo by Aaron Copeland as it faded from 102.5 and picked up with the Alleluia Chorus on 99.5.

Unfortunately, WCRB new signal is crap compared to the booming 102.5 and is a disgrace that the only commercial Boston Classical Music format should have a low quality and reception signal.
 
For me at work at least, 99.5 was a better freq for country than 102.5, though it depends what part of my building I'm in. At home, as I taped 102.5 (in Beverly) I had to put it on mono to cut off some high fuzz.

It was expected WCRB would finish at 99.5 with their own orchestral version of the anthem but there was just dead air after that last announcement ("join us..."). "Rodeo" shows up btw in that ad "beef. It's what's for
dinner."

As for the classical moving to a signal that's weaker or further away from downtown, it's happened in other
cities too, like Cleveland. At least we still have classical. Hey, Charles River Broadcasting decided to sell,
Greater Media decided to buy, and they decided country would be a better bet. WCRB has actually gotten
pretty good ratings (in the 12+s that I see) but so has country at WKLB--in fact they're #6 or so in that demo
from what I've seen: higher than WRKO, WTKK, WBCN, WMKK, and many other stations! Maybe even higher
at the new freq...this in a town which once was considered Death Valley as far as country radio was concerned.
 
Maybe WKLB is finally done with the changing of frequencies. The station launched at 105.7 as WCLB in 1993 and in 1995 became WKLB due to the calls being too similar to WCRB and WCVB. September 5 1996 was the date that WKLB moved to 96.9 with a merger of Greater Media's Boston country signals. At Noon on August 22 1997 Greater Media launched Smooth Jazz on 96.9 and moved WKLB to their newly acquired 99.5 signal. Now on December 1st 2006 at high noon WKLB makes the move back to Boston on 102.5fm.
 
Now it is WCRB 99.5 Lowell-Boston. Where is the transmitter located ie. the license?


raccoonradio said:
By the way the call change must not be official yet: just before 3 pm, "WCRB-FM Waltham/Boston" was heard on 102.5
Click to expand...
 
Rick Rose, thank you, it's good to get those dates to jog the memory. Appreciated.

I tuned in on Route 93 North and WCRB on 99.5 just didn't sound great. My friends like Classical, I'm ok with it.
Country is a huge format that has taken awhile to catch on here, but catch on it has. There's a place on
Route 1 - I think it's TEQUILA'S, that can pack them in. Not my cup of tea and that Chicken with the Train song is Exhibit A why. Big N Rich producing some here today gone tomorrow singer...
 
Casablanca said:
Now it is WCRB 99.5 Lowell-Boston. Where is the transmitter located ie. the license?
Click to expand...

The station at 99.5 is and has always been licensed to Lowell, ever since it began as WLLH-FM many decades ago.

Raccoon is correct that the tower is in the Wood Hill area in Andover off of Route 495, just west of the Route 93 interchange.

The transmitter doesn't have to be in the actual City of License as long as it's close and strong enough to put an adequate signal over the City of License.

FM-128 is actually (just barely) in Newton by the Needham line, not vice-versa.
 
Right--just like WMKK licensed to Lawrence w/ stick in Peabody

Oh OK on FM-128...I know when I take the Highland Ave. exit (19-B) to, say, go to the NE Mobile
Book Fair I'm in Needham as I take the exit, but I believe I cross over to Newton when I cross the little stream--otherwise
known as the Charles River!...so I thought it was on the Needham side. guess not!
Though a look at bostonradio.org lists the transmitter address as: "ATC Newton (FM-128)
1165 Chestnut St.
Newton, MA 02464-1308"

BUT...just under it: "the FM-128 tower (shown right) in Needham."

Reader's Digest condensed version of the flip:

WCRB moves to 995 http://microfurry.250free.com/Switch995.mp3

WKLB moves to 102.5 http://microfurry.250free.com/Switch1025.mp3
 
raccoonradio said:
Oh OK on FM-128...I know when I take the Highland Ave. exit (19-B) to, say, go to the NE Mobile Book Fair I'm in Needham as I take the exit, but I believe I cross over to Newton when I cross the little stream--otherwise known as the Charles River!...so I thought it was on the Needham side. guess not! Though a look at bostonradio.org lists the transmitter address as: "ATC Newton (FM-128) 1165 Chestnut St. Newton, MA 02464-1308"

BUT...just under it: "the FM-128 tower (shown right) in Needham."
Click to expand...

You're correct that the Charles River itself is actually the line between Newton and Needham, for the entire length of which the two cities meet.

The Charles actually winds around just behind the FM-128 tower on the Needham side, making the tower actually in Newton, and the access path is off of 1165 Chestnut St., Newton. The caption "the FM-128 tower (shown right) in Needham" is incorrect.

I grew up living in Newton from age five to my early twenties, and I've poked around the whole city at some point. Also, I work for a station that broadcasts from FM-128 (WBUR), and they call the tower location Newton.
 
I have to say I was really upset by this switch. I hate classical music, and when I first heard about the sale to Greater Media, I was hoping WCRB would be lost. And if people were to settle for some nice, quiet relaxing music while they work, they would turn on WMJX. That's the station I always turn to if I want quiet music. Either that, WSRS, WZID, WPLM, or WWLI (Well, at least during the rest of the year). Why is it that people prefer classical over soft rock/AC? And another thing: I actually miss the old WSSH 99.5. Believe it or not, I think I even have a tape of it somewhere from about 1995. The song is "Back for Good" by Take That, and after the song is over, the announcer (I don't know the name) says, "The new WSSH Nnnnnnnnnninety-nine point five and 'Back for Gooddddd'", and then the recording cuts off. I've never heard of a pop or country music station changing to a classical station. Has it happened anywhere else?
 
ssetta said:
I have to say I was really upset by this switch. I hate classical music, and when I first heard about the sale to Greater Media, I was hoping WCRB would be lost. And if people were to settle for some nice, quiet relaxing music while they work, they would turn on WMJX. That's the station I always turn to if I want quiet music. Either that, WSRS, WZID, WPLM, or WWLI (Well, at least during the rest of the year). Why is it that people prefer classical over soft rock/AC? And another thing: I actually miss the old WSSH 99.5. Believe it or not, I think I even have a tape of it somewhere from about 1995. The song is "Back for Good" by Take That, and after the song is over, the announcer (I don't know the name) says, "The new WSSH Nnnnnnnnnninety-nine point five and 'Back for Gooddddd'", and then the recording cuts off. I've never heard of a pop or country music station changing to a classical station. Has it happened anywhere else?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of, but 99.5 didn't exactly "change" to classical: the intellectual property of WCRB just moved to a weaker position on the dial. Just like what happened in Cleveland (WCLV) and Washington (WGMS).

I have to say that not as a fan of classical music either, I personally wasn't too excited when it was announced that WCRB would be moving to 99.5. The radio industry is all about the "survival of the fittest", and quite frankly, WCRB wasn't fit. The station's billing was terrible for a station with such a prime signal, and it was continuing to drop; had anyone other than Charles River owned the station, WCRB would have been canned a while ago. And with the sale of WCRB to Nassau, we're losing the chance to fill one of the market's many niches... we would be seeing something new like urban AC, smooth jazz, or Spanish get a chance. Certainly the staff at the station worked hard to put together a decent station, but now, with Nassau promising a tighter playlist, the departure of several veteran air personalities, and the weaker signal on top of it all, it's hard to believe that the new WCRB's revenue is going to increase. And further, a large amount of the old WCRB's listeners, people who are passionate about classical music, just aren't going to listen to the station if they're just going to play the same 40 pieces over and over again. A station in the situation of WCRB really can't afford to lose any of its listener base.

With GM's relaunch of WJJZ in Philadelphia, Boston again becomes the largest market not to have a smooth jazz station - SJ outlets do typically take a good share of the "dentist office", relaxing music audience. With WCRB having less variety and a weaker signal, they're in a vulnerable state if someone else wanted to bring SJ back.
 
I've kiddingly referred to smooth jazz as "Weather Channel Music" because that's usually what you hear
on that channel during the local forecast...And while I did listen to some of the classical during the
switch, it somehow reminded me of what you hear shopping at certain bookstores...or eating at
fancy restaurants. Country music, Borders, and the 99 are more my style :)
 
The new 'KLB website still needs a little fine tuning but it's pretty good. It still does say 99.5 in a couple
spots, and curiously enough right now it says, under "On Air":

Laura Ingraham
Saturday
12 AM - 1 AM

Oops, wrong station guys! Actually it's Dave Anderson...Laura of course is a syndie talker on sister station WTKK...whose website currently has a big pic of Fenway Park on it. Trying to make us think you're
the new flagship of the Sox, eh, with that pic? (As it is, WRKO is running promos for the Sox games
a LOT--OK, guys, we got it! You're the new flagship for the Sox...)
 
Hey! I just realized that both WCLV 104.9 Cleveland and WGMS 104.1 Washington D.C. both used to be Top 40 stations! Well, WGMS was WWZZ, as Z104, which I think was a Modern AC station. and the 104.9 frequency in Cleveland used to be Kiss 104.9, which moved to 96.5. Can anyone here tell me what happened with those flips?
 
Hello Radio World - Just to clear things up.
WCRB Formerly owned by Charles River Broadcasting was sold to Greater Media of Boston
see http://www.greatermediaboston.com. Greater Media of Braintree Ma, Owns stations in 4 markets, Boston, Philladelphia, Detroit and New jersey. for more information, visit the Greater Media Parent Web site at: http://www.greatermedia.com/
Greater Media then Sold the Call Letters "WCRB" the Format "Classical" and the Frequency "99.5" to Nassau Broadcasting.
see: http://www.nassaubroadcasting.com/ in exchange for a station in Philladelphia (97.5FM WJJZ SmoothJazz)
see: http://www.greatermediaphiladelphia.com/ (site not fully functional yet) for more info

WCRB studios are the same, The transmitter site is located in Andover (the former WKLB Site, still owned by GM and Leased to Nassau)
WKLB studios are the same, The transmitter site is located in Newton (the former WCRB Site, sold to GM)

WCRB's coverage will be the same as the old WKLB and the same with WKLB
WKLB will be gaining many listeners in the South and West of the state and points in RI. but unfortunatelly they will be lossing listeners in New hamsphire and Points North.
For those listeners in NH, VT and Points North, SORRY but the coverage wont be as good as it was before.
so for those listeners, PLEASE dont call, we know the situation but there is nothing we can do to alleviate the problem. you can still listen to our Internet Stream at www.WKLB.com
as for those new listeners in Western Mass, The South Shore, Cape Cod and RI. WELCOME to the New Country 102.5
I hope this clears things up

Thank You,
Engineering Department
Greater Media Inc - Boston
 
Love hearing KLB in RI now, but it's amazing the stories uninformed people can concoct. I was in a restaurant in Northern RI Sunday & the people at the table next to us were obvious Sunday WCRB listeners. One guy complained about the shock of hearing country music when he tuned in that day & another said it's probably cheaper to renew licenses when stations change call letters or move frequencies. At least I hope that's a misconception.
 
>>the shock of hearing country music when he tuned in that day

If he were a reg. listener and had paid attention, he would have heard "WCRB is moving, Dec. 1.
Move with us..." at least twice an hour for the three weeks previous'. Is classical music so much
of a "background music" that people don't pay attention to stuff like that? I would hope not and
I'd hope the advertisers are also not being "tuned out" by the listeners.

"People only half-listen to the radio. I'll show you: if I got on here today and said, 'Gene Burns
would turn over in his grave if he weren't still alive', I'd get calls from people asking me,
'Is Gene Burns dead?'"--Tom Leykis during his WRKO days.
 
ssetta said:
I have to say I was really upset by this switch. I hate classical music, and when I first heard about the sale to Greater Media, I was hoping WCRB would be lost. And if people were to settle for some nice, quiet relaxing music while they work, they would turn on WMJX. That's the station I always turn to if I want quiet music. Either that, WSRS, WZID, WPLM, or WWLI (Well, at least during the rest of the year). Why is it that people prefer classical over soft rock/AC? And another thing: I actually miss the old WSSH 99.5. Believe it or not, I think I even have a tape of it somewhere from about 1995. The song is "Back for Good" by Take That, and after the song is over, the announcer (I don't know the name) says, "The new WSSH Nnnnnnnnnninety-nine point five and 'Back for Gooddddd'", and then the recording cuts off. I've never heard of a pop or country music station changing to a classical station. Has it happened anywhere else?
Click to expand...


If you listen to classical music actively, it is much more than "nice quiet relaxing music while you work." This is why people will go to a two hour classical concert and sit silently and reverently. It is not just elevator music.

The fact that Boston has had a top rated classical station for so long is something of which to be very proud. I don't live in Boston anymore, but I'm sad to hear that they've switched frequencies. Too bad.
 
<<Why is it that people prefer classical over soft rock/AC? >>

For the same reason that some people prefer the "music" of 'AAF or 'JMN.
 
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