The first station to make the all Christmas flip has changed format. WLAN AM 1390 did not return to it's "Timeless" Adult Standards format from Citadel, which is being retired in February. They are now Oldies or Classic Hits...depending how you look at it. It appears to be a a Clear Channel "format lab"(i heart radio) format. The same outfit that gave us "the Christmas Station" Branded as "The Hits of the 60's and 70's" it is also running on sister station WRAW 1340 in Reading, which used to run Citadel's "True Oldies Channel". My question is....why do you flip an AM station to a mix of music that is available several places on the FM dial? Wouldn't Classic Oldies from the 50's and 60's work better? Another question. Does anybody know why WLAN's night signal is so bad. You can no longer receive a listenable night signal in Lititz, Manheim, or Mt. Joy. Of course WSBA isn't much better in Lititz and Manheim either. WLPA 1490's non-directional signal is much better in these communities.
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WLAN 1390
- Thread starter bossjock 56
- Start date
J
John-Summers
Guest
I first heard this last Saturday, when I punched in and heard the Doors' "Light My Fire." I thought "All right. They're doing Oldies, and not lame ones." Then they went into Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find," a couple of more wimpy 70s songs, and when "Misunderstanding" by Genesis started, I was outta there. As someone else observed, these are all songs you can hear on FM, so why bother. And why would anyone play "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John, one of his more boring, self-indulgent songs. It was a hit? Well, so was "Old Rivers" by Walter Brennan, and I wouldn't advocate playing that either. I would think a straight-up 60s-based Oldies format, with a little classic 50s thrown in, as 96.1 and 99.3 did quite successfully for so many years, might attract some listeners. This boring whitebread format, I doubt it.
John, you hit the nail right on the head....."whitebread" is the perfect word. It seem to me that certain songs just don't sound right coming out of an AM radio. "Get Down Tonight" by KC and The Sunshine Band sounded good coming out of WLAN or WKBO in 1975....but now....it just sounds strange. Walter Brennan's "Old Rivers" would actually fit better on today's AM. But seriously....50's and 60's would be a much better idea. By the way, most of their spots are still for retirement homes. They're really gettin' down to KC at Lancashire Terrace I'm sure! So let's all sing along "do a little dance, make a little love, break a hip tonight!
They were required to pickup an in house Clear Channel format, nothing syndicated by an outside source.
I think the goal at this point is to just keep something on the air at the lowest cost possible. It doesn't really matter what they air if nobody can hear iit. Granted....AM reception is not what it used to be. Their daytime signal is still decent, but at night it hardly gets out of the city of Lancaster. Going north it just about gets to the airport. There is little or nothing to the west. Most people I talk to around Lancaster County ask "are they still on the air?" Most listeners to that format in that area are either on WSOX or WOGL. People are not going to make a huge effort to pull in a station when there are FMs that can be recieved crystal clear. They'd be better off simulcasting WHP. No...wait...WHP comes in better in most of Lancaster County.
than WLAN. WLPA's non-directional signal is much easier to pick up in most of these areas. If there are any "techies" out there who can explain what happened to their night signal...please chime in. It used to be alot better. For the record...WSBA's night signal isn't what it used to be either.
than WLAN. WLPA's non-directional signal is much easier to pick up in most of these areas. If there are any "techies" out there who can explain what happened to their night signal...please chime in. It used to be alot better. For the record...WSBA's night signal isn't what it used to be either.
J
John-Summers
Guest
I believe WSBA is operating on Special Temporary Authority, non-directional, with 1000 or so watts day and 250 watts night, due to tower work involving 1440. They've been under this STA for a couple of years apparently. No wonder the signal is so anemic.
Thanks Rock and John! This sheds some light on some of these issues. WLAN's ground system is probably very old. As far as WSBA is concerened, their lack of a decent night signal over Lancaster County is most likely do to the STA. On Radio Locator I see that they actually have a CP. It looks to be almost the same as the original....but moved ever so slightly. Anybody know anything about this? They seem to be spending alot of time and money on 1440. My question is....WHY?
R
rekcuhc
Guest
lan has to power down at sunset.
WLAN not only powers down at sunset but the pattern changes. (As does WSBA.) In their hayday, if you were at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Rohrerstown Road, near where Lowes is now, when they went to night pattern their signal disappeared. It is a combination of the site, ground system, powering down and pattern changes.
WSBA is still operating under the STA due to issues getting the other signal to work on the towers with 910. I heard second hand that there is just a little more work to do on their tower system to get it finished. If they need to proof the patterns, they best wait until Summer to do that. WSBA never had a great signal in Lancaster at night compared to the daytime, due to the night pattern change.
WLPA many years ago, when still operating on the rooftop tower in downtown Lancaster had a very poor signal to the north and a great signal to the west due to a combination of the steel in the building being the ground system and the Greist building across Penn Square acting as a parasitic tower, making it somewhat directional. When WGAL-TV (Channel 4 then) was also operating from the same rooftop tower, the TV engineers swore that the base current of WLPA changed as the elevators went up and down in the Greist building.
WLPA moved to their current tower site on the north edge of Lancaster in 1988, building a "normal" tower with a "normal" ground system. The signal increase to the north was dramatic. The tower radiates very effectively. The measured signal at 1 mile points from the tower actually match the theoretical signal.
WSBA is still operating under the STA due to issues getting the other signal to work on the towers with 910. I heard second hand that there is just a little more work to do on their tower system to get it finished. If they need to proof the patterns, they best wait until Summer to do that. WSBA never had a great signal in Lancaster at night compared to the daytime, due to the night pattern change.
WLPA many years ago, when still operating on the rooftop tower in downtown Lancaster had a very poor signal to the north and a great signal to the west due to a combination of the steel in the building being the ground system and the Greist building across Penn Square acting as a parasitic tower, making it somewhat directional. When WGAL-TV (Channel 4 then) was also operating from the same rooftop tower, the TV engineers swore that the base current of WLPA changed as the elevators went up and down in the Greist building.
WLPA moved to their current tower site on the north edge of Lancaster in 1988, building a "normal" tower with a "normal" ground system. The signal increase to the north was dramatic. The tower radiates very effectively. The measured signal at 1 mile points from the tower actually match the theoretical signal.
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