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WICC now ABC News

R

RobertAnthony

After about the last few years as an IRN-USA affiliate for top of the hour news, WICC 600, as it is owned by Cumulus and since Cumulus and Citadel/ABC merged, well it would only make sense for the station, to carry ABC.

Before IRN-USA, WICC carried AP Radio News as far as I can remember listening to the station.
 
They actually did the switch last week, which caught me off guard except for Jimmy B pre-announcing it before the top of the hour.

Of course the problem is for any sort of traffic report during the day or on weekends there's nowhere else to tune to but WCBS-AM 880. Pretty sad to have to get Connecticut traffic from a New York station.
 
This makes total sense. When Cumulus purchased Citadel they also acquired the assets of ABC Radio. It probably costs them next to nothing to use the new product. Same reason why they switched automation to the OP-X product, as Cumulus owns BSI as well.
 
How SAD and PATHETIC... WICC used to be *THE* station for ANYTHING going on in or around BPT... live traffic updates with a plane or chopper in the air. A REAL NEWSROOM with reporters and teletype machines clacking 24/7. All gone. :(
 
Now that bean counters run the show it's unlikely tired and true community radio will ever be around unless the station is sold. Cumulus has to be cash strapped after buying Citadel considering the skeleton air staff. Remember when WICC news was LOCAL and not dependent on any radio network? How about a real morning show with colorful banter, music AND information all delivered by people live and in the studio? Those days on AM 600 are long gone. And don't get me started on the automation screw-ups.

Some might think just tune the FM sister station, but they would be wrong again. I remember when WEBE had the same thing - a colorful, well paced and entertaining morning show with traffic, news and friendly banter from a variety of people in the studio. Norm does a yeoman's job doing everything in his shift in spite of having to deal with pre-recorded news and doing his own traffic.

It's sort of sad as I can only assume morale has taken a new low when the owners don't infuse cash into either station. The funny thing is, I remember a similar thing happening just a mere 28 years ago on the same FM frequency. Could it be an omen ... or a curse?
 
28 years ago, wasn't it automated? I remember it was WDJF then became WEBE.

A fair amount of history is there... sigh. So much MORE history at WICC, and so much forgotten.
 
WPHA said:
28 years ago, wasn't it automated? I remember it was WDJF then became WEBE.
Click to expand...

March 1984 was when WBAB's then owner Franz Alina took it over and it because WEBE 108

Prior to the sale, WDJF ran "live assist" with live jocks. I worked with a few of them when I was C.E. at WMMM. WDJF was automated in 1978 after the failed attempt of an alternative rock format the station when automation with Century 21's reel service - some of the WDJF history is covered at the WMMM Tribute Site

WICC wasn't just a community station but even more of a regional station. Even with communities like Ansonia having their own station many people turned to WICC for things like significant weather events. Now, with a part-timer for a news "director" and using the PM Drive hosts for the AM and FM as news "presenters" that doesn't equate a news department by any means. You rarely hear an actuality from anyone involved in any LOCAL news story - why have news at all?

The topper in recent years was when the fuel oil truck got into an accident on I-95 and the resulting fire melted the bridge - it seemed WICC was too busy to report it ... as they were broadcasting a Yankees game from Japan.
 
WICC isn't even a shadow of it's former self. No excuse, either... it was making money. It consistently placed in the top 3 of Arbitron, competing against two flamethrower FM's!

I wonder what their ratings are like, these days. :(

During that Yankees game, they probably only had a minimum-wage "Board Op" on the shift, who had no clue as to what was going on. All he or she knew to do, was "click here" when they tell stations to take their breaks.
 
MarcB said:
Perhaps whoever buys WCUM 1450 can make it how WICC used to be. Yes WCUM is for sale.
Click to expand...

The problem with that is the signal is the pits for 1450. From what I've been told the ground system has been allowed to deteriorate and the coverage is far from stellar. I also heard the asking price was on the unrealistic side as well.
 
The Somerset Patriots baseball team airs their games on WCTC-AM 1450 of New Brunswick, NJ. Somerset County, NJ can't be that far from Bridgeport, CT. I know there are also stations on 1450 AM in Springfield, MA and Brattleboro, VT.
 
1450, WCUM (Radio Cumbre) has been for sale for some time now, actually... and last I heard, they were asking 1.2 million for it! IT IS TO LAUGH! My former employer bought a 5K day 2.5K night station in the Hartford market (1550) for only 500K! It covers Hfd 24/7 with a decent signal. (Kudos to whomever sited it and developed that pattern!)

Way back in the 1980's, 1450 was off the air for a few weeks, as it transitioned from one owner (WJBX) to another. I believe Cumbre bought it, and had to build a new antenna because the original tower site's lease was up, and they didn't want to renew.

1450 is a "graveyard" channel, as we know... so while it was off the air, I found that TWO other stations were coming in with relatively good signals. They were at an angle, such that one could easily null either/or by rotating the radio. I did this experiment several times, in the middle of the day each time. I was surprised by how clearly listenable those other two stations were. The NJ station was a bit clearer than the RI station.

In it's WNAB & WJBX heyday, only 4 miles across town at night, there was noticeable noise. With the compromise antenna it's using now, the signal is even less. I wonder if 300K would be a reasonable price, all things considered.
 
WPHA said:
In it's WNAB & WJBX heyday, only 4 miles across town at night, there was noticeable noise. With the compromise antenna it's using now, the signal is even less. I wonder if 300K would be a reasonable price, all things considered.
Click to expand...

Looking at recent Connecticut radio sales, WSHU purchased BOTH WNLK as well as WSTC for a mere $500K - and that was for TWO full time AM stations with decent coverage (boy, talk about a waste to program NPR crapola instead of something the townspeople could use). Both those facilities were properly maintained and operating as they should. Is Radio Cumbre operating operating with a "real" antenna or under one of those never ending STA's?

On an aside, pulling the thread kinda back on-topic, I was happy to hear former FM News New York anchor Daniela Bilotta doing the top of the hour newscast recently
 
Re: WICC now WCUM

WPHA said:
Way back in the 1980's, 1450 was off the air for a few weeks, as it transitioned from one owner (WJBX) to another. I believe Cumbre bought it, and had to build a new antenna because the original tower site's lease was up, and they didn't want to renew.
Click to expand...

Although, not on my watch, I recall the move to Chopsey Hill was during the WJBX era for reasons I'm not privy to. By the time Cumbre entered the picture, Chopsey was a done deal. Corrections anyone?

This was the *worst* move WJBX could have made. That old tower was a 180 deg. radiator with a broadbanded ATU. It worked great! It sounded great! You gotta do what you gotta do when it's 1450!

The Chopsey tower is a disaster. Vertical height is less than the old tower, resulting in a reduction of groundwave. A shunt feed should NEVER have been used. The drive point impedance is very highly reactive, resulting in a very narrow bandwidth and a very dangerous voltage at the ATU.
Many others using the site over the years have had little concern for the WCUM installation. Ground system??? What's a ground system. Hmmm... buried chicken fence? Must be from an old farm.

Although, during its brief period, WJBX had a good sound, this move and the "geniuses" they brought in to wire the studios in 1985 were a couple notches short.
One "genius" even had the on air studio monitor speakers wired out of phase. When I brought it to his attention he swore it was wired correct. He checked the red and black wires. He even put a battery on the speaker to determine whether the cone pushed out or pulled in. Would he have used a photocell to determine if the sun is shining? If you can't simply put your head between the speakers and hear out of phase audio, you're in the wrong business, PERIOD!!! McDonalds might be hiring. I later found the Crown amp was in mono bridge mode. Problem solved.
Of course, allowances should be made for those with legitimate hearing or vision issues.
I was also called on the carpet by mgt for connecting the EAS to the audio chain as required by FCC rules. They wanted it to be on a pot on the board.

Ahhh... the good ole days. :/

We now return to the original WICC thread...
 
@BobRadil: I'm just wondering if the tower move was really while it was operating under WJBX. I remember meeting with their staff as they wanted an engineer for remote, but for the insulting pay they offered along with the responsibilities of my full-time gig and engineering Westport's WMMM I decided it wasn't a prudent career move. I remember visiting the transmitter site on Reservoir Avenue and seeing the SX-1 tripping with errors and being thankful that the only problems I ever had with my MW-1 was balancing replacement transistors for the output modules. Visiting the 'JBX studios I was equally unimpressed with the Medalist console.

I might be wrong, but I thought the tower move was when JBX pulled the plug, but I honestly don't recall.

@Bill1820: Bob Gilmore actually worked at both incarnations of 1450 and has a tribute page for WJBX - http://www.bobgilmore.com/wjbx.htm
 
I remember the old WNAB tower. It was a guyed tower on the opposite side of the lake from Beardsley Park. Although I never got closer to it than that, I could see that it was built on a hillside. I wonder if the river & lake helped their coverage, any. The shunt-fed antenna they're using, now, I would guess is only about 1/2 to 1/3 as efficient.

Asking $1.2 mil for it is insanity. Even $500K is too much.

I also agree with the comment about the NPR crapola. Do they REALLY NEED yet ANOTHER (pair) of repeater stations?! Perhaps as more and more of the "big conglomerates" continue to run various radio stations into the ground, they will become affordable to locals, again... and LOCALISM is the BIGGEST advantage that terrestrial radio has over Internet streaming.
 
Here there is not much as to 'local' AM Radio. I often tune to WELI 960 not that I go for all the _______________ talk. Usually you can't hear them at night but until they get their old antenna back you can hear them with a little interference.

WICC 600. I do not even listen to it. I do not know why but something about it does not attract my ears.

WCUM 1450 seems to cover Bridgeport 'nights' but never really snooped that much. Old WNAB I enjoyed the local content.

WICC Yankees ? Why ? WCBS is about as strong.


WICC once had a reputation for a good signal. A very good signal for the power. It could be just me but the signal seems not as 'good'. Once it seemed everywhere regional one could pick up WICC if it be I-84 out of Scranton,PA.

Did they not change their antenna at one time ? Once a vertical wire between 2 towers ?


I hear them at nights in a car in Vermont and Maine but not much on 600. Get to Connecticut most 600 is Cuba and sounds like WICC lacks ground wave. Maybe old 'music' just made them sound louder.

Bridgeport once had WLIZ which nobody seems to know the history of. Antenna by Bridgeport Harbor. WNAB had a tower in area also. (1950's)


I think the last time I tuned to WICC to actually listen they had TRAFFIC with a report about some problem on RT 8 and was was there with a car and saw NO problems.
 
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