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What would you do with 660 AM?
- Thread starter LA_Guy
- Start date
K
KeyTimes
Guest
> I'm curious....what would you do with 660 AM?
>
An interesting question. I probably wouldn't run it the way it's being run now, with an eclectic mix of national talk shows mostly done by unknowns, though I might keep USA Radio Network news.
I would try to localize it in some manner, at least to plug in weather reports and community announcements.
As a daytimer, the format would have to be one that would attract listeners in offices during the week and at recreational activities on the weekend.
One possibility: Bloomberg News during the week, Sporting News Radio over the weekend (although WURP, in whose studios WPYT-660's signal is conveyed to a tower in Forest Hills, is the local SNR affiliate).
Local sports? Still possible, though Friday night high school football and winter nighttime basketball obviously are out.
Given an owner now again tied up with an erstwhile Boston property, I suspect he might be open to an LMA that would be mutually beneficial.
>
An interesting question. I probably wouldn't run it the way it's being run now, with an eclectic mix of national talk shows mostly done by unknowns, though I might keep USA Radio Network news.
I would try to localize it in some manner, at least to plug in weather reports and community announcements.
As a daytimer, the format would have to be one that would attract listeners in offices during the week and at recreational activities on the weekend.
One possibility: Bloomberg News during the week, Sporting News Radio over the weekend (although WURP, in whose studios WPYT-660's signal is conveyed to a tower in Forest Hills, is the local SNR affiliate).
Local sports? Still possible, though Friday night high school football and winter nighttime basketball obviously are out.
Given an owner now again tied up with an erstwhile Boston property, I suspect he might be open to an LMA that would be mutually beneficial.
Why can't the night pattern covering a less urban area be moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
K
KeyTimes
Guest
> Why can't the night pattern covering a less urban area be
> moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
>
WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in Braddock Hills.
Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but they're still there, still protected (for the most part) and still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO), though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to get a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis, WBZ-1030.
I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best answer.
> moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
>
WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in Braddock Hills.
Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but they're still there, still protected (for the most part) and still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO), though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to get a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis, WBZ-1030.
I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best answer.
B
BarryMcCockiner
Guest
Man... what would I do with an AM station on a decent band... well let me just tell you.
I'd get an engineer. Have him tweak everything. Make sure my RFs and CFCs are all doin' what they're supposed to, in the most ERP way possible.
I'd cut whatever crap is on the air now, off. I'd stunt for a while, maybe just play a heartbeat for two days. Then I'd blow it up and go news/talk. Call it, Hot Talk.
But all my hosts would be local. They may or may not be bigger names. By local I mean they would broadcast from my studios. Not necessarily that I'm hiring hometown talent. I'm hiring GOOD talent. I wouldn't pay my hosts very much, because my hosts would sell their own shows. They would get sponsors and we'd do lots of live local spots. We'd have remote broadcasts. The evening host would take contest-winning listeners out to dinner on scrip on Friday nights to sponsor's restaurants. The more spots they sold, the more money the host would make. Its that simple. He could have people sell him, like a sales team he somehow compensates, or he could go out and pound the pavement himself. Hi, I'm Steve Bell, I do middays on 660, maybe you've heard about my show.
I'd have a liberal host do mornings. Then a guy who hangs up on people and chews them up doing midday. In fact, I think I'd do midday. He/I would be controversial and attention-getting, but piercingly well-informed on all the issues and highly opinionated. I'd be acerbic but intelligent, picture everything you love about Mark Madden's attitude plus a college education befitting a Jeopardy champion and a fiercely intuitive understanding of politics. After my show, afternoon drive would be a liberal too. Maybe a female, someone to clear the air after I call people things like Neanderthalic cretin and put their dial tones on the air for 4 hours. Early evening for an hour or two I'd have a highly conservative host, followed by a night host who was neither conservative nor liberal, neither confrontational nor opinionated, just a genial friendly guy with maybe a Boston accent and Irish charm. The kind of guy the women call with recipes. He's the one who has a psychic on taking calls. Or high school students. Or guest hosts from the audience. He'd be rather popular, I presume. Overnights would be the domain of an eclectic personality, he'd be young and new to the radio business, but interested in learning the ropes. But he would be GOOD. He would be like Liz Day could have been if her show didn't suck. He'd probably be hired locally, or be a former producer. Late late night I'd probably run the Art Bell show. Weekends: Saturday would be part time hosts and Sundays would be mostly brokered. We'd have the garage sale show and the auto mechanic who takes your calls about your car, and the lawyers who talk about legal issues. No quacks. Saturday night I'd have a local sports guy, give him two hours to do a show. My studios would have an open door policy, and overlaps. That is to say, my hosts would be ENCOURAGED to disagree with one another on the air. They would be encouraged to come to the station half an hour early to walk in on the outgoing talent and attack him for something he/she said on the air before. I would purposely schedule liberals followed by conservatives. Several days out of the year, we'd have Battle of the Talk Show Hosts day. All war, all the time. Scheduled cohosting going on all day. My talk show hosts would be groundbreaking, they would be on top of news stories as they happen. If Karl Rove got indicted, within ten minutes one of my hosts would either be defending Karl Rove or attacking him. With any luck, an off duty talk host would call in and confront him or her. Hell, I'd even let each of my hosts decide whether or not they wanted to empower their producers to weigh in on the air. But there'd be a mike in the control room too in case they did.
If a host could not sell his show, that would mean he/she sucked. So they'd be replaced with someone who didn't suck. Nothing would suck on my station. Nothing would sound like its addressing old fogies, because my target audience would be 25-54 baby. Women AND men. Talk radio with an edge.
We'd have news on the top of the hour brought to you by a real live newscaster who would talk for five minutes and then throw to a real live traffic guy. After his minute the news talent comes back, gives the short weather brought to you by Verizon Wireless, can you hear me now? And then throw back to the talent, with updates on the half hour, and "breaking news at once". Yeah baby.
All my intros and pads and rejoins would be cut hard. A real deep voiceover with a slick attitude and some hard rock or razor-sharp production sound under it. My call letters would be WPCC. Nobody would know why, but I would know: Pittsburgh's Contrived Controversy. We would have call screeners and producers. An executive producer would oversee all; real guests would be booked for real appearances. Not just people selling crap either. We'd do issues of national, state and local import. We'd be highly politicized and highly divisive. Exceptionally sharp. Compelling. We'd tackle topics other stations are afraid to touch. For example, how about having a woman on who promotes drinking urine as a health supplement. Yes, really. Maybe one of my hosts would be gay, he might advocate on behalf of NAMBLA. (if you don't know, look it up.. or give me 660).
My program director would be concerned with the overall success of the station. He wouldn't be a Pig Vomit chasing my hosts around, telling them what to say on the air. Free and creative expression would be promoted on my station. Controversy valued. And license granted to be extreme. My station motto would be, if this radio station is interacting negatively with your pacemaker, you're too damn old.
That's what I'd do with 660. I'd blow KDKA and WPTT off the dial. Dunno how I'd fare against the signal of the FM, but at least I'd be live and local 20 hours a day. And once you listened, you couldn't turn it off. C'mon Powerball.
Oh yeah: and one more thing. SCREW AFTRA. My station would be a non-union shop. No, you don't have to pay two grand a year for the right to crack my mics. Everybody would be happy at my station, no one's going to strike any time soon. And if a host has a problem, well, we'd just work it out.. ON THE AIR of course!
And if it came down to it, On-air firing = great radio!
660 WPCC. Not suitable for children, small animals and some household appliances.
PS: Billboards!
> I'm curious....what would you do with 660 AM?
>
I'd get an engineer. Have him tweak everything. Make sure my RFs and CFCs are all doin' what they're supposed to, in the most ERP way possible.
I'd cut whatever crap is on the air now, off. I'd stunt for a while, maybe just play a heartbeat for two days. Then I'd blow it up and go news/talk. Call it, Hot Talk.
But all my hosts would be local. They may or may not be bigger names. By local I mean they would broadcast from my studios. Not necessarily that I'm hiring hometown talent. I'm hiring GOOD talent. I wouldn't pay my hosts very much, because my hosts would sell their own shows. They would get sponsors and we'd do lots of live local spots. We'd have remote broadcasts. The evening host would take contest-winning listeners out to dinner on scrip on Friday nights to sponsor's restaurants. The more spots they sold, the more money the host would make. Its that simple. He could have people sell him, like a sales team he somehow compensates, or he could go out and pound the pavement himself. Hi, I'm Steve Bell, I do middays on 660, maybe you've heard about my show.
I'd have a liberal host do mornings. Then a guy who hangs up on people and chews them up doing midday. In fact, I think I'd do midday. He/I would be controversial and attention-getting, but piercingly well-informed on all the issues and highly opinionated. I'd be acerbic but intelligent, picture everything you love about Mark Madden's attitude plus a college education befitting a Jeopardy champion and a fiercely intuitive understanding of politics. After my show, afternoon drive would be a liberal too. Maybe a female, someone to clear the air after I call people things like Neanderthalic cretin and put their dial tones on the air for 4 hours. Early evening for an hour or two I'd have a highly conservative host, followed by a night host who was neither conservative nor liberal, neither confrontational nor opinionated, just a genial friendly guy with maybe a Boston accent and Irish charm. The kind of guy the women call with recipes. He's the one who has a psychic on taking calls. Or high school students. Or guest hosts from the audience. He'd be rather popular, I presume. Overnights would be the domain of an eclectic personality, he'd be young and new to the radio business, but interested in learning the ropes. But he would be GOOD. He would be like Liz Day could have been if her show didn't suck. He'd probably be hired locally, or be a former producer. Late late night I'd probably run the Art Bell show. Weekends: Saturday would be part time hosts and Sundays would be mostly brokered. We'd have the garage sale show and the auto mechanic who takes your calls about your car, and the lawyers who talk about legal issues. No quacks. Saturday night I'd have a local sports guy, give him two hours to do a show. My studios would have an open door policy, and overlaps. That is to say, my hosts would be ENCOURAGED to disagree with one another on the air. They would be encouraged to come to the station half an hour early to walk in on the outgoing talent and attack him for something he/she said on the air before. I would purposely schedule liberals followed by conservatives. Several days out of the year, we'd have Battle of the Talk Show Hosts day. All war, all the time. Scheduled cohosting going on all day. My talk show hosts would be groundbreaking, they would be on top of news stories as they happen. If Karl Rove got indicted, within ten minutes one of my hosts would either be defending Karl Rove or attacking him. With any luck, an off duty talk host would call in and confront him or her. Hell, I'd even let each of my hosts decide whether or not they wanted to empower their producers to weigh in on the air. But there'd be a mike in the control room too in case they did.
If a host could not sell his show, that would mean he/she sucked. So they'd be replaced with someone who didn't suck. Nothing would suck on my station. Nothing would sound like its addressing old fogies, because my target audience would be 25-54 baby. Women AND men. Talk radio with an edge.
We'd have news on the top of the hour brought to you by a real live newscaster who would talk for five minutes and then throw to a real live traffic guy. After his minute the news talent comes back, gives the short weather brought to you by Verizon Wireless, can you hear me now? And then throw back to the talent, with updates on the half hour, and "breaking news at once". Yeah baby.
All my intros and pads and rejoins would be cut hard. A real deep voiceover with a slick attitude and some hard rock or razor-sharp production sound under it. My call letters would be WPCC. Nobody would know why, but I would know: Pittsburgh's Contrived Controversy. We would have call screeners and producers. An executive producer would oversee all; real guests would be booked for real appearances. Not just people selling crap either. We'd do issues of national, state and local import. We'd be highly politicized and highly divisive. Exceptionally sharp. Compelling. We'd tackle topics other stations are afraid to touch. For example, how about having a woman on who promotes drinking urine as a health supplement. Yes, really. Maybe one of my hosts would be gay, he might advocate on behalf of NAMBLA. (if you don't know, look it up.. or give me 660).
My program director would be concerned with the overall success of the station. He wouldn't be a Pig Vomit chasing my hosts around, telling them what to say on the air. Free and creative expression would be promoted on my station. Controversy valued. And license granted to be extreme. My station motto would be, if this radio station is interacting negatively with your pacemaker, you're too damn old.
That's what I'd do with 660. I'd blow KDKA and WPTT off the dial. Dunno how I'd fare against the signal of the FM, but at least I'd be live and local 20 hours a day. And once you listened, you couldn't turn it off. C'mon Powerball.
Oh yeah: and one more thing. SCREW AFTRA. My station would be a non-union shop. No, you don't have to pay two grand a year for the right to crack my mics. Everybody would be happy at my station, no one's going to strike any time soon. And if a host has a problem, well, we'd just work it out.. ON THE AIR of course!
And if it came down to it, On-air firing = great radio!
660 WPCC. Not suitable for children, small animals and some household appliances.
PS: Billboards!
> I'm curious....what would you do with 660 AM?
>
> > Why can't the night pattern covering a less urban area be
> > moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
> >
> WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after
> the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in
> Braddock Hills.
>
> Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but
> they're still there, still protected (for the most part) and
> still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO),
> though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
>
> And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to get
> a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis, WBZ-1030.
>
> I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best answer.
>
I'd apply for a nightime signal, hire local heritage jocks if any are left and play nothing but early doo-wop, blues, rock-a -billy ,and early rock'n'roll. I'd have PAMS jingles and create the ideal station for babyboomers to play all day and live in the past. Take me home, country roads. I'd program for 60 year olds, the hell with demos, and make us happy to remember when we were young and Dave Scott greeted us home after school.
And I don't care what anybody thinks.
> > moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
> >
> WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after
> the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in
> Braddock Hills.
>
> Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but
> they're still there, still protected (for the most part) and
> still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO),
> though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
>
> And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to get
> a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis, WBZ-1030.
>
> I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best answer.
>
I'd apply for a nightime signal, hire local heritage jocks if any are left and play nothing but early doo-wop, blues, rock-a -billy ,and early rock'n'roll. I'd have PAMS jingles and create the ideal station for babyboomers to play all day and live in the past. Take me home, country roads. I'd program for 60 year olds, the hell with demos, and make us happy to remember when we were young and Dave Scott greeted us home after school.
And I don't care what anybody thinks.
K
KeyTimes
Guest
> > > Why can't the night pattern covering a less urban area
> be
> > > moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
> > >
> > WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after
>
> > the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in
> > Braddock Hills.
> >
> > Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but
>
> > they're still there, still protected (for the most part)
> and
> > still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO),
> > though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
> >
> > And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to
> get
> > a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis,
> WBZ-1030.
> >
> > I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best
> answer.
> >
>
> I'd apply for a nightime signal, hire local heritage jocks
> if any are left and play nothing but early doo-wop, blues,
> rock-a -billy ,and early rock'n'roll. I'd have PAMS jingles
> and create the ideal station for babyboomers to play all day
> and live in the past. Take me home, country roads. I'd
> program for 60 year olds, the hell with demos, and make us
> happy to remember when we were young and Dave Scott greeted
> us home after school.
> And I don't care what anybody thinks.
(1) Good for you.
(2) A "mea culpa." That should have been 810 (WGY), which of course is the reason WEDO fades into the sunset each evening.
>
> be
> > > moved into Pittsburgh? WFAN?
> > >
> > WFAN. Which, by the way, comes in as clear as a bell after
>
> > the local 660 goes off the air at the WPYT/WURP tower in
> > Braddock Hills.
> >
> > Clear channels aren't as important as they used to be, but
>
> > they're still there, still protected (for the most part)
> and
> > still booming in after dusk at 770 (WABC) and 810 (WEDO),
> > though 1080 (WTIC) isn't so dominant.
> >
> > And, of course, there's the most famous clear channel to
> get
> > a nighttime Pittsburgh pickup on a regular basis,
> WBZ-1030.
> >
> > I doubt that helps, but that's regrettably the best
> answer.
> >
>
> I'd apply for a nightime signal, hire local heritage jocks
> if any are left and play nothing but early doo-wop, blues,
> rock-a -billy ,and early rock'n'roll. I'd have PAMS jingles
> and create the ideal station for babyboomers to play all day
> and live in the past. Take me home, country roads. I'd
> program for 60 year olds, the hell with demos, and make us
> happy to remember when we were young and Dave Scott greeted
> us home after school.
> And I don't care what anybody thinks.
(1) Good for you.
(2) A "mea culpa." That should have been 810 (WGY), which of course is the reason WEDO fades into the sunset each evening.
>
J
jkf
Guest
> I'm curious....what would you do with 660 AM?
>
How about all paid programs about supplements, weight loss, balding cures, and miracle pills? Sometimes one can't catch the program on 770/620/590 or 103.9. Am I forgetting someone else that airs this junk?
>
How about all paid programs about supplements, weight loss, balding cures, and miracle pills? Sometimes one can't catch the program on 770/620/590 or 103.9. Am I forgetting someone else that airs this junk?
K
KeyTimes
Guest
> > I'm curious....what would you do with 660 AM?
> >
>
> How about all paid programs about supplements, weight loss,
> balding cures, and miracle pills? Sometimes one can't catch
> the program on 770/620/590 or 103.9. Am I forgetting someone
> else that airs this junk?
>
AM 810 and, on Saturdays, FM 104.7.
Oh, yes, depending on the night in question, or Saturday in question, or Sunday in question, AM 1410 or FM 92.9.
> >
>
> How about all paid programs about supplements, weight loss,
> balding cures, and miracle pills? Sometimes one can't catch
> the program on 770/620/590 or 103.9. Am I forgetting someone
> else that airs this junk?
>
AM 810 and, on Saturdays, FM 104.7.
Oh, yes, depending on the night in question, or Saturday in question, or Sunday in question, AM 1410 or FM 92.9.
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