WEMR

[kenhawk1160]

I believe the last time that WEMR did adult standards was when Citadel had 1460 WEMR, 1440 WCDL and 1490 WAZL linked doing Standards as a trimulcast.

Add WKQV 1550 AM to that trio. After trying to run Hazleton and Carbondale locals, then a sports station simulcast, they ran "The Music Of Your Life". Started it July 1rst, 1999, 12 noon, first song Sinatra's "Without A Song". Then they let it go to hell. They ran the whole shabang out of a file cabinet in the back area of Citadel broadcasting.

Yonkstur

And let me guess...they had the nerve to look surprised when they didn't make money! I'll say it again...

LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL!

 

[NEPA_radiobored]

I believe the last time that WEMR did adult standards was when Citadel had 1460 WEMR, 1440 WCDL and 1490 WAZL linked doing Standards as a trimulcast.

They ran the whole shabang out of a file cabinet in the back area of Citadel broadcasting.

Yonkstur

Last I heard, WARM was moved into that cabinet for the "Scott Shannon Hit Parade" I really wish the damn station would get bought out already but just like all the rest, the next owner makes the previous one look great. Very sad state of affairs. (With the exception of Ben Smith's place. I had posted sometime last year about how it was great to hear some AC music back on WEMR)

 

[normhill007]

Sorry to say it guys but only one thing works at EMR-and that's classic country. That's the only thing that made money..Music of Your Death didn't do it, nor did the brillient Jeff Laird idea of simulcasting "Bright 107" which was somewhere between Magic and Rock 107, except if the real estate lady downtown didn't like something, then it was pulled from the playlist. It's a wierd market, and thanks to the FM primarily, had a real bad reputation with downtown merchants. The only Tunkhannock advertisers were board members (Keystone Truck Caps, Sherwood Chevrolet, and Bricks Market until he became, if I remember correctly, an IGA and then we had to deal with Co-Op which cost us about 20 grand a year.) Once the TTown merchants lose their trust in you, I don't care if you put the Word of God in God's own voice on the air, they won't listen and they won't support. It got to the point where our only ad revenue came from Towanda and Montrose. Make sure you do a trade with Sherwood for leases for sales people's transportation because they will destroy their cars within a year.

 

[MCNDRWS]

... except if the real estate lady downtown didn't like something, then it was pulled from the playlist.

It Didn't Have To Go As Far As The Real Estate lady Downtown To Get Pulled From The Playlist.

Lots Of Stuff Didn't Make It Past The Reception Desk When I Was There.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Sorry to say it guys but only one thing works at EMR-and that's classic country. That's the only thing that made money..Music of Your Death didn't do it, nor did the brillient Jeff Laird idea of simulcasting "Bright 107" which was somewhere between Magic and Rock 107, except if the real estate lady downtown didn't like something, then it was pulled from the playlist. It's a wierd market, and thanks to the FM primarily, had a real bad reputation with downtown merchants. The only Tunkhannock advertisers were board members (Keystone Truck Caps, Sherwood Chevrolet, and Bricks Market until he became, if I remember correctly, an IGA and then we had to deal with Co-Op which cost us about 20 grand a year.) Once the TTown merchants lose their trust in you, I don't care if you put the Word of God in God's own voice on the air, they won't listen and they won't support. It got to the point where our only ad revenue came from Towanda and Montrose. Make sure you do a trade with Sherwood for leases for sales people's transportation because they will destroy their cars within a year.

In other words, Ben is going to have his work cut out for him. Whether it's classic country or classic rock, I don't think it matters what kind of music you play, just as long as that's not all you have to offer. So few stations are airing classic country these days, that's it's almost a sure bet as a moneymaker...if you do it as cheaply as possible.

You need to air local news in large quantities, cover all the town and county meetings (I knew of one town that actually aired the whole city council meeting live on the air), school boards, air PSA's, high school sports, and as many community-oriented events as possible. I'd keep that AP news affiliation, too. You get that and a Jones format as a package deal these days.

What you do BETWEEN the songs are what will make your station shine.

 

[yonkstur]

What you do BETWEEN the songs are what will make your station shine.

What Smith has done is getting those small stations simulcasting. And as for his sales efforts, I'm hearing a good spot load with a lot of downtown Tunkhannock merchants plus other outlying areas like Dushore (had an old girlfriend there in the 70s) and Nicholson. Plus he's doing remotes from those places and seems to be invading the communities and carrying their events. Dushore Days! Who knew? Not me and the dark haired girl back in 1978 that's for sure!

Yonkstur

 

[kenhawk1160]

What you do BETWEEN the songs are what will make your station shine.

What Smith has done is getting those small stations simulcasting. And as for his sales efforts, I'm hearing a good spot load with a lot of downtown Tunkhannock merchants plus other outlying areas like Dushore (had an old girlfriend there in the 70s) and Nicholson. Plus he's doing remotes from those places and seems to be invading the communities and carrying their events. Dushore Days! Who knew? Not me and the dark haired girl back in 1978 that's for sure!

Yonkstur

I didn't think there were enough advertisers in Nicholson! I've been there. I think I remember Don Sherwood once telling me he was from Nicholson. It's still a pretty good idea, though. Is he selling event sponsorships like billboards or is he selling real spot ads?

 

[wirelessinnepa]

Yonkster.....

Close but no cigar....

I am "the other" Ben Smith....

About 2 or 3 times a year...I pick up the phone after someone has patched through a call to me and I get "BEN SMITH! NO KIDDING! I HAVEN'T TALKED TO YOU IN 20 YEARS! REMEMBER ME? I USED TO WORK WITH YOU AT ROCK 107!"

Well.....

I am not "that" Ben Smith...although I have met Ben 1, and he's a great guy...I think he's doing XM or Sirius still....HE was the one who was at Rock 107 and WKGB in Binghamton...

You can call me Ben 2...or better yet Ben Squared....because I probably weigh 100 pounds more than the "Original Ben" who I understand is an Nth degree blackbelt in Karate....I am not.

 

[wirelessinnepa]

Oh, and I am with a beautiful girl from Dushore...although she has red hair...married her a couple of years ago...the lovely Mrs Smith....

Ben

 

[yonkstur]

Ben,

I know who you are. I met you at Shadow Brook for a C&W night when Jim Petrie was your GSM and the FM was called "The Buzzard".
And Ben Smith, the karate guy, no word of lie, used to pick me up on his back (i was about three bills back then) when we took karate. I got a yellow belt and quit because of that aforementioned woman from Dushore! Ain't nothing like 'em.

Yonkstur

 

[mjrbaseball]

Hope you folks don't mind me jumping in on the conversation. I don't come to this board too often, but when I was told there was a WEMR thread on it, I had to check it out.

I was the second voice ever heard on WEMR, right after Hoyt Keiser. I remember getting the phone call from the FCC on a Friday afternoon, and we did some short bits of programming over the weekend before going on with our full schedule on Monday. I think Hoyt did two hours on Saturday afternoon, I did two hours, and I forget who followed me for a couple of hours. And we did a bit of on-air practice on Sunday, too.

I was originally supposed to do the evening shift, because Stuart West (I never was quite sure if he was one of the owners or just had his name on the license) wanted to do middays. But he was SO BAD that he lasted two days in that spot before Hoyt moved me to middays, where I was at for most of the first year-and-a-half of WEMR. (Actually I was hired a few months before sign-on, helping to build the place. I didn't do any of the wiring though, so please don't blame me!)

There are some fun stories from the early days, and some really awful stuff that happened, too. The biggest problem was that the owners didn't have any broadcasting experience, and wouldn't listen to advice from those of us on staff who did. I probably should have stuck it out, but I didn't.

Anyway, Ben, if you're saying you have "big plans" for the place, I might be interested. My career is in a bit of a flux right now. How can I get in touch with you?

 

[kenhawk1160]

The biggest problem was that the owners didn't have any broadcasting experience, and wouldn't listen to advice from those of us on staff who did.

They learned that lesson the hard way. When I interviewed for the GM/GSM gig there in 1993 (they hired Jim Petrie), I remembered Norm Werkheiser
telling me he was not a radio person and didn't pretend to be. He wanted someone there who would literally leave him with nothing to worry about.

 

[MCNDRWS]

[/quote]

I remembered Norm Werkheiser telling me he was not a radio person and didn't pretend to be. He wanted someone there who would literally leave him with nothing to worry about.
[/quote]


The Only Trouble There Was Normie Would Always Have The Last Word On Everything! ... Just Ask Aldo

Cardoni Or Jim Petrie About That. Werkheiser Knew Absolutely Nothing About Radio, But Figured It Was

The Same As Selling Truck Caps Or New Chevrolets, Like His Board Member Buddy Don Sherwood, Who

Understood The Whole Thing Just As Well.

 

[wirelessinnepa]

MJR....I am hesitant to give out my personal email but if you'd like to send an email to [email protected] I'll look for your response and we can get in touch from there.....

I always love talking to radio guys/gals who might have great ideas...thanks...I look forward to hearing from you...and that goes for anyone who would like to converse with me....respond to the email address above and we can talk.

Ben

 

[normhill007]

I hope whatever happens at WEMR is successful. As I said much earlier, I spent 6 years and it was one of the few stations where I would end my airshift and immediately start planning what I was going to do the next day. The place was close to going dark when I took over mornings as the money hose was about to be turned off. Jim Petrie had much to do with keeping it going as well. Norm Werkheiser was a really great guy but, as other posts say, he wasn't a radio guy. When Jim took over, there was a mountain of past dues. Norm didn't know which bills were important and which weren't, so he didn't pay any of them. I think in the end I had developed the best format and mix(God I hate that word) of old and new country. I would have loved it if we had done what was in the wings until Citadel took over and that was to simulcast the AM. I would have loved to go head to head with FROGGY. But we would have also have needed a generator at the transmitter that would work. The AM always made money, or at worst, broke even. The FM never made money and, in fact, lead to EMR's demise to Citadel. If the FM hadn't been so badly cobbled together in the beginning, it too might have made a few bucks. But when it goes off for hours while Ronnie Schact has to leave 16 and climb the mountain in his Harley (life in hand in Jan and Feb) just to flip the breaker, the station bacame a joke very quickly. To try to save the FM, Jeff Laird would actually undercut the cost of remotes on the AM and actually tell clients that they didn't want to do an AM remote (Got that from a client who was actually told that), that FM remotes would bring in more traffic. The 60 second cutaway's became 5 minutes of "bloviating" (thank you O'Rielly). Then Laird brought in Carol Guild who was a Legend in broadcasting. Only problem was, she didn't know a thing about how to operate a board so I got stuck babysitting her bizarre programming. (first song was Nat King Cole-kind of hard to take coming out of Toby Keith). I had to pick her music, and waste an hour of production time on my own stuff to do this schtick. And it was painful to listen to, but she was out there selling spots for next to nothing for her show, to hell with the station. She was supposed to be selling the station and was just selling her show. Then, when Citadel took over, I had one chance to save the AM and that was to kick up the billing. Without a sales staff that was not an option as I never liked sales. The two times I tried it I was moved to programming within a week. I got Bill Betz to let me get Carol to sell the station, which she did for a week. Then she contacted Betz to bring back her "show", which he agreed to. So, instead of billing the 1000 a week I needed to crack the nut, she is back doing buck a holler for her show and no sales for the station. It wasn't long before Cat was simulcast, but she was still doing her show even after that. I was supposed to stay in Tunkhannock for, at the most 2 weeks while they got FCC approval to move studio location to Baltimore Drive. It took almost a YEAR due to airmiles from studio to transmitter which actually is slightly over the 25 mile limit at the time. it's actually 25.3 according to FAA sectional charts). I kept getting thanks for sticking it out, and don't worry, we'll make it up to you, so I didn't cover my bets and have an aircheck standing by. The day the studio relocation was approved, they brought in an automation system that they had for 8 months that would have possibly saved us, and the next day (Good Friday) I was called in, offered WARM sales, and when I turned that down, was hastily fired because Regina Todd had to run out to make the Good Friday Service. So if anybody wonders why I have disdain for Citadel, there you have it. I decided it was time to hang up my spurs. WEMR was the best place I ever worked from a professional standpoint (And I've worked some big ones, including a 150 KW D/N known as AFN-Europe-Actually, although we were licensed for 150KW, we powered down to 67 KW at night because we blasted Radio Moscow off the dial-in Moscow. I had a captive audience of over 500,000 active duty military. and countless Europeans who found us a good way to learn English. That number was estimated to be over 20 million, although no way to measure) At EMR I was able to experiment to fine tune what I think became the perfect format. But that's water under the bridge. I just hope that the Phoenix will rise from the alleged Indian Burial Grounds (supposedly the AM towers sit on it)

 

[kenhawk1160]

The day the studio relocation was approved, they brought in an automation system that they had for 8 months that would have possibly saved us, and the next day (Good Friday) I was called in, offered WARM sales, and when I turned that down, was hastily fired because Regina Todd had to run out to make the Good Friday Service.

When Norm interviewed me, I had mentioned automating WEMR to him. No disrespect to any of the jocks there, but for a market that small with a tiny retail district, it was a necessary evil. I don't know of any station that can operate like that today. Norm had hemmed and hawed on that issue...he didn't like firing people. Nor did he like the then-$12,000 cost of Digilink II (which I was able to pick up used for $100 on eBay). He was more concerned with getting the billing up before that happened. The question was, would the station ever overcome the mountain of accrued debt in order to spend money on the station's long-term future?

My motto is...never depend on airstaff to sell airtime. It didn't work then, nor does it work now. You're better off hiring multi-talented on-air people who can write and voice news, ad copy, and do remotes, rather than just be someone who sits in a 10 x 10 room each day for four hours, wasting 80 percent of your time between records. Get yourself one or two of those, and the money you save on the jocks you no longer need, use that to pay a real sales force.

Here's how you do it...advertise it as commission-only, but pay them $600 a month base. Start them at $1,000 a month for the first 90 days, if they aren't going to be assigned a list. Then whack it down. If they are getting a list, keep it at $600 a month. That will cover mileage, (I would discourage them making cold calls on the road unless they're on their way to sign another client) cell phone use, and T/E. Offer them 15 percent commission (upon collection only for locals, immediately for agency), with an additional 5 percent if they bring cash with the order.

If you offer a base that's too generous, they're going to get comfortable with it and only sell their quotas. That should never be allowed to happen.