WCRN in Worcester Dropping Oldies??

[gcc83j]

Haven't listened to these guys for a while, but on
Friday I tuned in around 12:45pm and heard a financial
talk show at a time when there used to be music. The
music came on (mid-song off the satellite) at 1pm but
I'm wondering if the talk will be expanding
throughout the day. Assuming their morning show starts
at 6am, that makes 7 hours of non-music programming.
One rumor I did hear was that former 'RKO host Peter
Blute might be added to their line up. So, is all "talk"
the future for WCRN?

 

[Garrett]

> Haven't listened to these guys for a while, but on
> Friday I tuned in around 12:45pm and heard a financial
> talk show at a time when there used to be music. The
> music came on (mid-song off the satellite) at 1pm but
> I'm wondering if the talk will be expanding
> throughout the day. Assuming their morning show starts
> at 6am, that makes 7 hours of non-music programming.
> One rumor I did hear was that former 'RKO host Peter
> Blute might be added to their line up. So, is all "talk"
> the future for WCRN?

Well, first of all, for us to consider this, you need to tell us where you heard this "rumor." Was it AllAccess? Otherwise, a rumor is just a rumor and means nothing (for all we know, you could be making it up). Not that you are in any way, I think we need to draw some limits here.

In any case, Oldies is dying format. I don't know if 103.3 makes it out into the Worcestor area. But if they do, I can imagine there would be little future for a local satellite station, imho.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> In any case, Oldies is dying format. I don't know if 103.3
> makes it out into the Worcestor area. But if they do, I can
> imagine there would be little future for a local satellite
> station, imho.

WODS 103.3 comes in like a ton of bricks in Worcester, as if it's right there. It's the highest rated Oldies station in the Worcester market, beating by far local Oldies competitor WORC-FM 98.9, whose signal is actually not as strong as WODS in areas of Worcester proper. WORC-FM's best signal is in the small towns south of Worcester near the RI and CT borders, such as Southbridge and Webster.

WCRN has made occasional showings in the lower portion of the Worcester book. There is a difference between their "True Oldies Channel" satellite Oldies format and 103.3's format. The "True Oldies Channel" is focused intensively on the 1960's, the entire decade. 103.3 will not play music older than 1964. WCRN also still plays some late 50's hits, an era that 103.3 will no longer touch, and they only venture into pop hits of the very early 70's, while 103.3 has become immersed in disco and soft rock of the 70's and early 80's.

I listen to WCRN sometimes because I'm not interested in hearing late 70's and 80's disco and singer/songwriter pop as Oldies, and I still like hearing the originators of Rock'n'Roll once in a while (Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, 50's Elvis, etc...) all of whom 103.3 will no longer touch at all.

However, I do listen to 103.3 if I want to hear some quality live local DJ's.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> Haven't listened to these guys for a while, but on
> Friday I tuned in around 12:45pm and heard a financial
> talk show at a time when there used to be music. The
> music came on (mid-song off the satellite) at 1pm but
> I'm wondering if the talk will be expanding
> throughout the day.

The financial talk has been going until 1 PM probably for the better part of the past year now. There's no indication that they will be adding more talk, however I'd guess that if someone offers enough money for the airtime, who knows...

> Assuming their morning show starts at 6am, that makes
> 7 hours of non-music programming.

The morning show "Frank's Diner" from 6 - 9 AM does occasionally play oldies in between talk segments. I haven't heard more than a few an hour, though.

> So, is all "talk" the future for WCRN?

I doubt it, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[gcc83j]

> > One rumor I did hear was that former 'RKO host Peter
> > Blute might be added to their line up. So, is all "talk"
> > the future for WCRN?
>
>
>
> Well, first of all, for us to consider this, you need to
> tell us where you heard this "rumor." Was it AllAccess?
> Otherwise, a rumor is just a rumor and means nothing (for
> all we know, you could be making it up). Not that you are in
> any way, I think we need to draw some limits here.
>
Sorry, I didn't realize I had to leave footnotes crediting all
my "sources". Actually, since the "rumor" I heard came from a
non-radio person, I didn't give it a whole lot of credibility
but since it was talked about at recent political event I
attended, where some of those on hand know Mr. Blute,I brought
it up here figuring that someone in the business might authenticate
what I heard. I guess I'll exchange the word rumor for the words
"political buzz".
By the way, am I the first person here to use the word rumor without
listing the source? I don't think so.

 

[WMC2005]

> I listen to WCRN sometimes because I'm not interested in
> hearing late 70's and 80's disco and singer/songwriter pop
> as Oldies, and I still like hearing the originators of
> Rock'n'Roll once in a while (Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry
> Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, 50's Elvis, etc...)
> all of whom 103.3 will no longer touch at all.

However, Oldies 103.3 does have a 1 hour Sunday morning Elvis program along with a Beatles program as well.

I live in the Worcester area and listen to WODS all the time. My preference is WROR but Oldies comes in better in the house for me than WROR for some reason. In the car, it's more WROR than WODS.

If I'm not mistaken, WCRN just lost the rights to broadcast the 2nd season of the Worcester Tornadoes baseball team.

 

[Garrett]

I'm sorry if it bothers you, but I do not think it is too much to ask. This has been much debated (rumors that is) on these very same boards. It's not a personal thing against you or anyone else, but virtually anybody can say something is a 'rumor,' and there have been several that went so far, they made it to All Access (like Oldies comming back to NY, which wasn't true).

And I give other people the same trouble I gave you. If it's just a rumor, that's fine, but I like to know where it came from that's all.

Please don't take it personal. There are a lot less people posting "rumors" than there used to be. And just because there are some, that (imho) doesn't make it right.

Anyway, lets not dwell on this. As the posts below show, I was on the right track about Oldies103 Vs. WCRN.


> > > One rumor I did hear was that former 'RKO host Peter
> > > Blute might be added to their line up. So, is all "talk"
>
> > > the future for WCRN?
> >
> >
> >
> > Well, first of all, for us to consider this, you need to
> > tell us where you heard this "rumor." Was it AllAccess?
> > Otherwise, a rumor is just a rumor and means nothing (for
> > all we know, you could be making it up). Not that you are
> in
> > any way, I think we need to draw some limits here.
> >
> Sorry, I didn't realize I had to leave footnotes crediting
> all
> my "sources". Actually, since the "rumor" I heard came from
> a
> non-radio person, I didn't give it a whole lot of
> credibility
> but since it was talked about at recent political event I
> attended, where some of those on hand know Mr. Blute,I
> brought
> it up here figuring that someone in the business might
> authenticate
> what I heard. I guess I'll exchange the word rumor for the
> words
> "political buzz".
> By the way, am I the first person here to use the word rumor
> without
> listing the source? I don't think so.
>

 

[modulatorman]

WCRN lost the rights due to contract disputes between the team. Apparently, they wanted too much money.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> > I listen to WCRN sometimes because I'm not interested in
> > hearing late 70's and 80's disco and singer/songwriter pop
> > as Oldies, and I still like hearing the originators of
> > Rock'n'Roll once in a while (Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry
> > Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, 50's Elvis, etc...)
> > all of whom 103.3 will no longer touch at all.
>
> However, Oldies 103.3 does have a 1 hour Sunday morning
> Elvis program along with a Beatles program as well.

Those are nationally syndicated weekend specialty shows. I was talking about during their regular live day to day format.

> I live in the Worcester area and listen to WODS all the
> time. My preference is WROR but Oldies comes in better in
> the house for me than WROR for some reason.

Probably because their transmitter is about twelve miles farther west, closer to Worcester. WODS transmits from the FM-128 tower at the Newton/Needham line. WROR transmits from the Prudential in Boston.

 

[DavidZ]

>
> The morning show "Frank's Diner" from 6 - 9 AM does
> occasionally play oldies in between talk segments. I haven't
> heard more than a few an hour, though.
>
I have been going to work much earlier recently so I haven't had much time to listen to "Frank's Diner" (and I have had trouble listening to their on-line feed), but last week I noticed that they seem to have dropped all music from the morning show.

In the past, you would hear from 3 to 4 oldies per hour but now they seem to be completely focused on talk. They have also picked up ABC news (formerly carrying AP network news).

 

[FMRadio1]

About Rumors

Ease up, Garrett. Rumors have always been part of the radio industry and always will be. What All Access releases are not "rumors." They are orchestrated leaks by the parties involved to generate industry attention to them or their stations during a period of change. Sometimes AA gets bad information but it doesn't happen often.

Lets also look at the difference between "rumor" and "speculation." It's often that people in the business hear about impending moves and changes weeks before they actually happen. However, discretion has to be used in revealing this info on these boards. That's where the "rumor" comes in. Someone can post this insider info as a "rumor" under an assumed identity and chances are they won't get in trouble for it. I'd hate to see this information dry up due to disdain for "rumors." Speculation on the other hand is a totally different thing. Joe Gallant has this down to an art form. He and others like him look at market conditions and pontificate on what they think will or should happen. Those things are just opinion and not based on fact.

At the end of the day rumors are just that--rumors. Sometimes they come to fruition and sometimes they don't. If you read these boards with any kind of frequency, you should be able to tell the difference between rumors and speculation.

Mike "not the WZLX guy" Thomas


> I'm sorry if it bothers you, but I do not think it is too
> much to ask. This has been much debated (rumors that is) on
> these very same boards. It's not a personal thing against
> you or anyone else, but virtually anybody can say something
> is a 'rumor,' and there have been several that went so far,
> they made it to All Access (like Oldies comming back to NY,
> which wasn't true).
>
> And I give other people the same trouble I gave you. If it's
> just a rumor, that's fine, but I like to know where it came
> from that's all.
>
> Please don't take it personal. There are a lot less people
> posting "rumors" than there used to be. And just because
> there are some, that (imho) doesn't make it right.