In new Jack city, tiny oldies outlet thrives
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
When the National Association of Broadcasters presents its annual Marconi Awards tonight, there's a one-in-five chance the 2006 Oldies Station of the Year could be tiny WGHT (1500 AM), a 1,000-watt station in Pompton Lakes, N.J.
"It's like winning a Grammy just to be nominated," says program director and morning co-host Jimmy Howes. "This is the award WCBS-FM won every year."
Howes, a veteran radio personality who grew up listening to top-40 WABC, is among the oldies fans who think WCBS-FM (101.1) made a "huge mistake" dropping that format last year.
But he's quite happy to take advantage of it.
WGHT is one of several New Jersey AMs, like WMTR (1250 AM) in Morristown, WHTG (1410 AM) in Eatontown and WNNJ (1360 AM) in Newton, filling the oldies breach.
WGHT patterns itself on WCBS-FM and the old WABC, says Howes. It stays upbeat, uses a deep echo and plays mostly '60s and '70s songs, with two '50s and two '80s songs each hour.
WGHT has played oldies since 1993, but after WCBS-FM switched to Jack last year, says Howes, "We really took off."
"Our phones ring off the hook," he says. "On the Internet, we had 81,000 listeners last month. Before 'CBS switched, we had a couple of thousand a month."
The station also has no trouble finding advertisers, says Howes. "Local businesses like car dealers are glad to reach our 35-plus audience."
The last critical element is live deejays - "the way radio always used to sound."
So WGHT has John Moultrie and Greta Latona with Howes in the morning and veteran Art Rooney in afternoon drive after John Silliman, Teisha and others. Jon Fass is the sports director, and Deborah Valentine, formerly of WCBS-FM, is news director.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/454251p-382274c.html
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
When the National Association of Broadcasters presents its annual Marconi Awards tonight, there's a one-in-five chance the 2006 Oldies Station of the Year could be tiny WGHT (1500 AM), a 1,000-watt station in Pompton Lakes, N.J.
"It's like winning a Grammy just to be nominated," says program director and morning co-host Jimmy Howes. "This is the award WCBS-FM won every year."
Howes, a veteran radio personality who grew up listening to top-40 WABC, is among the oldies fans who think WCBS-FM (101.1) made a "huge mistake" dropping that format last year.
But he's quite happy to take advantage of it.
WGHT is one of several New Jersey AMs, like WMTR (1250 AM) in Morristown, WHTG (1410 AM) in Eatontown and WNNJ (1360 AM) in Newton, filling the oldies breach.
WGHT patterns itself on WCBS-FM and the old WABC, says Howes. It stays upbeat, uses a deep echo and plays mostly '60s and '70s songs, with two '50s and two '80s songs each hour.
WGHT has played oldies since 1993, but after WCBS-FM switched to Jack last year, says Howes, "We really took off."
"Our phones ring off the hook," he says. "On the Internet, we had 81,000 listeners last month. Before 'CBS switched, we had a couple of thousand a month."
The station also has no trouble finding advertisers, says Howes. "Local businesses like car dealers are glad to reach our 35-plus audience."
The last critical element is live deejays - "the way radio always used to sound."
So WGHT has John Moultrie and Greta Latona with Howes in the morning and veteran Art Rooney in afternoon drive after John Silliman, Teisha and others. Jon Fass is the sports director, and Deborah Valentine, formerly of WCBS-FM, is news director.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/454251p-382274c.html