WKCW 1420: The Lumberyard East?

[nocomradio]

I honestly don't know what to think of this station anymore. I listen to them off and on and wonder how on earth they:

A) Make any money at all running only two commercials (one for a church night, the other for a religious retreat) sometimes all night in a repeating loop.

B) Manage to stay on air at all more than a few minutes.

C) Manage to hold on to more than me as a listener with the probably 50 songs in their playlist (I'm not exaggerating)

D) ID whenever they feel like it sometimes near the TOH, other times at random with only the Calls and no frequency or city of operation without getting heat from the FCC.

E) Stay afloat with the regular and daily engineering issues such as dead air, skipping music, and forgotten power ups and downs.

On the lighter side, they do provide a lot of entertainment in the sense of how poorly a station can be run and still somehow manage to keep going for nearly two years now. They have no functioning webpage, no contact information, two sister stations which also seem to be run in equal fashion with dead air on one of them all day today. Also, someone over there seems to love hearing Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" so much that it sometimes gets rotated in three or four times a day. Several Sinatra songs also enjoy the same treatment too.

This is a 20,000 daytime/60W nighttime with a really decent pattern in the day covering a large chunk of Northern VA and Washington D.C. I know its AM, but geez, what a mess.

 

[murphy123]

The AM band is D-E-A-D. Please don't come here and point to a station here or there and say there is life to be hand - (and continue with the dog tired..."had it not bene for CC or CBS or whatever").

The greatest majority of AM stations are going the way of the station mentioned here. I saw on DCRTV where someone commented that the first AM station in the 6+ ratings for Norfolk came in at 17th. A great example of many markets - little if any measureable listening.

Other than the handful of stations that currently have audience for whatever reason - there is little way on the green earth that anyone under the age of 30 will give the band a try...most under this age do not and many have not ever listened to a station on the band...D-E-A-D.

 

[nocomradio]

Who said anything about trying to save the AM band? I don't think in this case there is any life to be had at this rate. In fact, I think this is a good example of the inattention that is or has been killing small stations. I am merely pointing out this station, because in the entire Mid Atlantic area, I can't say I've ever listened to anything quite as poorly managed as this little place is. It is truly a comedy of errors, and apparently no one else (especially the owners) are listening to it. They obviously have an electric bill and someone occasionally stops in to smack the transmitter back into order when it really goes on the fritz, so its a real mystery why its treated the way it is.

Oh, and by the way they've had the stereo input feeding the transmitter, but only the right channel is being broadcast so you get half the music all the time! Been that way for a week now. Again, no one who has any power to do anything is listening.

 

[murphy123]

My post wasn't so much about your initial post as about the follow ups that might occur.

My broader point is that it wouldn't matter if this station suddenly turned into a beacon of broadcasting. The "AM" ship has sailed (again unless you are one of a handful of stations that have listening on this band - and how many of them are now repeated on FM to guarantee their further existance by wary owners?)

But to your further point about AM stations being poorly run in the mid-atlantic. There are many that may be slightly better programmed, but MANY who have the same amount of listening as the station you site.

 

[islanddxer]

Oddly enough I picked up this station here on Long Island (in Westbury) tonight, fairly steady too. Odd mix of music, the TOH was 5 minutes late, and those 2 commercials. Suprising they came in at their low nighttime power of 105 watts. Sounds like a high school station, but I've heard HS stations that sound more professional. Odd that there's just dead segues between the commercial and the song, no station id..

 

[ddsparxx]

I have, too, noticed the erratic programming of WKCW, with repeat of couple of commercials, the music that AM Toronto plays and later hits including Fleetwood Mac's "Tell Me Lies". I have no idea what's going on at the station.

 

[nocomradio]

I am a regular listening, and honestly, that place is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in an onion roll......or something.

Last Thursday morning, they had added about 5 new songs to the rotation, and all of those songs played that morning between 6 and 8AM when I commute by their studio. When I left the school I attend on Thursdays, I heard the same songs, albeit in a different order. Later that night, I was doing a little DX'ing, and could faintly pick them up at their blazing 20 or so nighttime watts. The same songs once again were played within the hour or so I scanned by them. Along with the same two commercials.

When I drive by the studio, which is located in an older 60's era brick house, there is sometimes a vehicle to two parked out front. Someone mows the grass from time to time as well, so there is some sort of human presence there, but I am not sure in what capacity. Janitor? Sleeping Maytag man?

 

[nocomradio]

I had a little time in the office this afternoon between 4 and 6 PM to get some paperwork done and decided to turn on the Transoceanic and dial up 1420 Khz.

I heard no less than 5 Elvis songs in a row, followed by Sammy Davis Jr, then Frank Sinatra, coupled with Eric Clapton and Kenny Rogers. The odd thing this afternoon though, was that every two songs, and sometimes every song, they aired one of their two commercials. Only one ID the whole time and that was about :10 after 5.

I think someone needs to load a few more ID's in the 'ol iPod and synch it up with the laptop clock.

 

[nocomradio]

Driving up the road this morning, expecting to hear 'The Big K" and didn't. No worry, as usually they forget to power up after sunrise, then sometimes do as I get nearer the spacious studio/house. Upon approaching the studio, all I could pick up was dead carrier. Same thing all day long. Finally about 4:45 they popped back on with I.D's every 4 songs or so. One even mentioned the website (which has a dead link) at 1420wkcw.com. Still the same two commercials running.

I also noticed that WKDL 1250 was coming in very strong when 1420 was gone and for a while feared that maybe they'd traded towers with their other frequency! There is a banner on the fence around one of the towers at the 1420 site with "1250 AM: The Laura Ingraham Show" on it. Its a pretty homemade looking affair too. I can't imagine life without "The Big K"..........

Oh and now they've rotated in the Doobie Brothers Long Train Running. Could changes be afoot?

 

[klutch00]

The AM band is D-E-A-D. Please don't come here and point to a station here or there and say there is life to be hand - (and continue with the dog tired..."had it not been for CC or CBS or whatever").

I wouldn't write the band off as D-E-A-D yet. I feel it can still be saved although I feel it needs a major overhaul... And that does NOT mean using it for another type of broadcasting! Maybe perhaps limiting the number of stations and creating an expanded FM band of 60 more channels might be necessary. Having more AM clear channels might be an option worth considering. I hate to tell ya, but many of these mega-broadcasters have done a great deal to sabotage the band!

The greatest majority of AM stations are going the way of the station mentioned here. I saw on DCRTV where someone commented that the first AM station in the 6+ ratings for Norfolk came in at 17th. A great example of many markets - little if any measurable listening.

Other than the handful of stations that currently have audience for whatever reason - there is little way on the green earth that anyone under the age of 30 will give the band a try...most under this age do not and many have not ever listened to a station on the band...D-E-A-D.

I'm assuming the station in Norfolk you speak of is WTAR (Funny 850)www.wtar.com/. Well, for a comedy station to have ratings in the low "2"s isn't all that bad! I see where the band could also be used for non-commercial, educational purposes. Allow some of these smaller outlets to be run by schools or other small community groups. Allow a place for some of these young people to get their feet wet.

 

[nocomradio]

"The Big K" is still around, so no worries about their demise yet.

They have dumped a few more songs onto the iPod though. I heard Jackson Browne and The Eagles "Best of My Love". Of course alongside Sammy Davis Jr's "The Candyman" they seem a bit out of place. The banner isn't on the fence anymore, but early last Thursday morning before sunrise, the big light that used to shine on the now missing calls on the tower, was on for the first time in years. Someone has mowed the grass around the place too. No lights on in the house/studio though.

 

[KFodor]

Or...here's a great idea:

Get rid of ALL small AM's that can no longer prove financial viability. (Back in the old days you had to prove you had money to operate for 3 years just to be granted a license.)

Then, create 2 classes of stations: (and a limited number of them)

Class A: Your 50K Blowtorches

Class B: Regional/Local stations limited to a minimum of 5 to 10 KW non-directional 24/7.

Let them all transmit wideband...(to improve what used to be called " high fidelity")

Tough love for AM? Yes, it is. But a station that has no ratings, and little in the way of revenue and no profits has no business being in business. I see no effort on the part of most of these station serving any sort of public "interest, convenience or necessity."

Shut a few hundred of the teakettle AM's off, and maybe you could improve the signals of the ones that still can make money.

I'm not anti local radio. But one of AM's serious problems (besides demographics), is interference from local operators who can't/won't properly engineer their stations, and don't give a hoot about the rules. If running high school sports is the only thing that keeps a station making money, and you have to operate illegally to do it...you've got a bigger problem with your programming and your connection to your community than you think.

 

[nocomradio]

Like any business, no one can tell you how to run it as long as you don't break the law, or violate any rules or regs in place in the particular industry. In the case of WKCW, the worst I've seen from them is that they don't do their TOH ID's. Other than that, they are just like a million other businesses out there that may not make money, may not care about their customers, or seemingly run their business into the ground, but that is their choice, like it or not.

The owners of the station also own WKDV, and WTNT. The first broadcasts WWRC programming. I am sure those other stations are the money makers and I'd wager a few cents that they are just keeping 'KCW alive for its license, given that it covers a wide swath of Washington DC, and its suburbs North and can be heard very reliably in as far South as Fredericksburg, even if the programming is just plain weird.

I just get a real laugh out of them is all.

 

[klutch00]

Or...here's a great idea:

Get rid of ALL small AM's that can no longer prove financial viability. (Back in the old days you had to prove you had money to operate for 3 years just to be granted a license.)

Then, create 2 classes of stations: (and a limited number of them)

Class A: Your 50K Blowtorches

Class B: Regional/Local stations limited to a minimum of 5 to 10 KW non-directional 24/7.

Let them all transmit wideband...(to improve what used to be called " high fidelity")

I could go along with this to some extent. Awhile ago, I'd suggested a plan for overhauling the AM band. It involved the following: A possible change from 10kHz to 9kHz; Keeping 540 kHz as a Canadian clear; 550 to 630 kHz (549-630) as regional channels (whether or not they should be non-directional 24/7 is another matter); 640-1220 (639-1224) & 1500-1580 (1503-1584) as clear channels (all class II-Cs and II-Ss (class Ds) on these channels will revert to daytime status unless it's proven that they don't interfere with the dominant clears), have no more than one channel per 100kHz as a regional channel between those frequencies; 1230-1490 (1233-1494) & 1590, 1600 (1593, 1602) as local channels. 1600-1700 kHz can be used for amateur broadcasting. Some stations in the marginal channels could be used for community/non-commercial broadcasting.

Tough love for AM? Yes, it is. But a station that has no ratings, and little in the way of revenue and no profits has no business being in business. I see no effort on the part of most of these station serving any sort of public "interest, convenience or necessity."

Shut a few hundred of the teakettle AM's off, and maybe you could improve the signals of the ones that still can make money.

I'm not anti local radio. But one of AM's serious problems (besides demographics), is interference from local operators who can't/won't properly engineer their stations, and don't give a hoot about the rules. If running high school sports is the only thing that keeps a station making money, and you have to operate illegally to do it...you've got a bigger problem with your programming and your connection to your community than you think.

Some of these smaller outlets shouldn't be run by these huge corporations and are quite overvalued!

 

[nocomradio]

Tuned in to the "Big K" today after a few weeks away and was rudely awakened to a surprise!

Now they are running several commercials and some PSA's along with a pretty wide playlist. What a shocker! Seems the old iPod has been dumped (or at least shuffled with some new MP3's) and some advertising dollars have been dragged in the door to keep the "Big K" up and running strong. It did feel like old times though when they went from a commercial break back to the music with a 5 minute silence in between. ;D

It will be fun to see if the power up/down times are consistent or even adhered to at all.