• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WHITHER NOW, WILD?

blackgold

blackgold

Ever since Radio One took over WILD(and sold off its FM side to Entrecomm), AM 1090 has languished in every possible way. It's a former shell of its once glorious urban past. Weekdays are taken up with the mindless Tom Joyner morning show and their Urban Talk Network(the remainder of it being reserved for classic soul & rhythm and blues). On the weekends, it's a mix of classic soul "from back in the day" and gospel(including a preacher named Brother Andre!) on Sunday mornings.
The station's lost its urban edge in the 1980s when Sonny Joe White moved to KISS 108 FM. Jam'n 94.5 made some inroads later in the decade, and then Hot 97.7 tried to capture the flag. (Radio One bought that and drove it into the ground!) Now, it's in the shadows of two pirate radio stations called Touch 106.1 and Hot 87.5. Both of these stations have siphoned off WILD's audience and are truly dedicated to serving the black community. Also, WERS-FM's urban programming at night and WHRB-FM's weekend urban programming are making inroads in reaching out to urban music lovers. And of course, we have all kinds of pirate radio stations serving Caribbean audiences and others who appreciate the rich fabric of ethnic music.
I must regretfully conclude that Radio One is trying to make WILD-AM 1090 die a slow death. If it were given 24 hour operating status by being moved to a new frequency on the FM or Extended AM band, it might have a chance of survival and revival. The way I see it, that's not possible.
 
MarcB said:
Radio One doesn't care about the station. They way I understand it, it's for sale and no one wants it.
Click to expand...
That because Radio One want too much money for 1090.
 
MarcB said:
You're probably right. Besides there's not much you can do with a daytimer and make money. As much as it's needed I don't see a new owner flipping the station back to full Classic Soul/Classic R&B. They would probably turn the station into a "dollar-a-hollar" format.
Click to expand...

If WILD was to go back to a full-time music format, Radio One would have to invest in some equipment, or at least some engineering work, to restore the audio quality. It sounds terrible for music these days.

About ten years ago during the heyday of the "Classic Soul" format it was in wideband C-Quam AM stereo, and it sounded as good as an AM station could sound. The AM stereo was dropped when they moved the studios from Roxbury to Quincy. Then, when they dropped most of the music and went to talk a few years ago, they briefly broadcast in HD digital.

The HD was dropped on 1090 around when Radio One sold 97.7 to Entercom and began running 1090 on a shoestring. The audio quality since then deteriorated to (barely) adequate for talk, muddy and muffled sounding for music.
 
Sorry, I mis-spelled Entercom's name. You're right; Radio One's trying to run it to the ground. People are turning to Touch 106.1, Hot 87.5 or the pirate Caribbean stations for their soul or soca music. Corporate radio sucks!
 
blackgold said:
Sorry, I mis-spelled Entercom's name. You're right; Radio One's trying to run it to the ground. People are turning to Touch 106.1, Hot 87.5 or the pirate Caribbean stations for their soul or soca music. Corporate radio sucks!
Click to expand...
Amen !
 
Has WILD ever tried to apply to move to the expanded AM band?

I always thought the "X"-Band was set aside for the purposes of reducing congestion on the band, and also allowing daytimers the chance to have a 24 hour signal.
 
MarcB said:
Hundreds of stations in New England applied for X-Band stations. Only one got it. There was supposed to be a 1700 AM in New Hampshire. I forgot which station it was for. For whatever reason it got canceled. Right now there are 5 stations on 1700 AM if you count the one in Mexico. Several people in NY also applied for 1700 including WRCR.
Click to expand...

I believe that the station that was granted 1700 in NH (and then decided not to construct it) was 930 in Rochester NH.

As for adding stations to the X-band--aside from a grant that I believe is imminent on 1700 in Rockland County NY (west side of the Hudson River just north of the NY/NJ border)--the FCC has ruled that there will be no more X-band grants for the foreseeable future. The Rockland County grant is being made because of public outcries about the lack of means of communicating with the public should there be an emergency at a nuclear power plant in the Hudson Valley. If memory serves, the name of the power plant is Stony Point.
 
DanStrassberg said:
MarcB said:
Hundreds of stations in New England applied for X-Band stations. Only one got it. There was supposed to be a 1700 AM in New Hampshire. I forgot which station it was for. For whatever reason it got canceled. Right now there are 5 stations on 1700 AM if you count the one in Mexico. Several people in NY also applied for 1700 including WRCR.
Click to expand...

I believe that the station that was granted 1700 in NH (and then decided not to construct it) was 930 in Rochester NH.
Click to expand...

I think part of granting an asignment in the extended band, was that the station had to agree to shut down it's original frequency (daytimer) sometime in the future.

I think many stations such as Rochester saw that as too high a price to pay...as the 930 facility (albeit a daytimer) was worth more than a full time signal on 1700AM.
 
Don Juan said:
I think many stations such as Rochester saw that as too high a price to pay...as the 930 facility (albeit a daytimer) was worth more than a full time signal on 1700AM.
Click to expand...

The Rochester 930 hasn't been a daytimer for must be close to 50 years. The station is 5 kW-U DA-N three towers, with a nice, simple, figure-eight night pattern beamed north-northwest and south-southeast. Excellent daytime signal. The night signal probably does take it on the chops from WBEN Buffalo, however. WBEN is WAY older and doesn't protect much, if anything to its east. Still, the Rochester station is a nice facility and you've gotta wonder why they applied for X-band. Same for 980 in Troy NY, which covers its market (New York's Capital District) beautifully.
 
Don Juan said:
DanStrassberg said:
MarcB said:
Hundreds of stations in New England applied for X-Band stations. Only one got it. There was supposed to be a 1700 AM in New Hampshire. I forgot which station it was for. For whatever reason it got canceled. Right now there are 5 stations on 1700 AM if you count the one in Mexico. Several people in NY also applied for 1700 including WRCR.
Click to expand...

I believe that the station that was granted 1700 in NH (and then decided not to construct it) was 930 in Rochester NH.
Click to expand...

I think part of granting an asignment in the extended band, was that the station had to agree to shut down it's original frequency (daytimer) sometime in the future.

I think many stations such as Rochester saw that as too high a price to pay...as the 930 facility (albeit a daytimer) was worth more than a full time signal on 1700AM.
Click to expand...

Is there an X-band station anywhere that's making money, or even making a splash in the ratings? Being in New England, I only scan that band every couple of months (if that) just to see what's going on. Do people in those stations' markets listen to them in numbers comparable to their 540-1600 competitors?
 
1660 in NYC is Radio Korea.
1680 in Philly is Spanish
1650 down in Virginia is dark was Radio Disney (RD sold the station). I think there's a Foreign Language 1650 North of the Border.
1690 in Maryland was CNN Headline News, but I don't know if they still are or not.
1630 in Iowa is Talk
1670 in Waterbury and Southington, CT are T.I.S.
1610's are T.I.S. in this country north of the boarder there's a Foreign Language I believe
1680 in Michigan was Urban, but I think its Radio Disney now
1700 in Alabama is Urban.

So nothing exciting north of 1600
 
You forgot Chicago's 1690, formerly "real oldies" WRLL, now talk WVON.
 
all the time I post something here, everyone always get mad and say bad things about me, I don't ask that


If anything, Radio Management should change 93.7 to (Funkytown=which is currently their HD2 station) and switch (MIKE FM) to their HD 2 station. And get a better signal inside all of Boston, because other posts I mentioned you can not hear that station on a walkman inside Boston (Comm Ave and Downtown Boston to name a few)
If anything, that's the cloest thing they can do.


or


switch 92.9 to Urban AC, 92.9 has the BEST signal inside and outside Boston.
 
LAUROJRM said:
all the time I post something here, everyone always get mad and say bad things about me, I don't ask that
Click to expand...
Your post is always welcome. Dont worry about the haters ( I dont ).
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom