Just wanted to say that I'm very happy that WMDH 102.5 New Castle/Muncie never got the memo that weekends must be voice tracked and after 7PM on weeknights you have to carry Lia or another syndicated program. A live jock taking requests on weeknights...if all radio stations followed that road map, the dial would be a MUCH better place that was actually in touch with the community. Good job guys!
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WMDH
- Thread starter BobOnTheJob
- Start date
WMDH does a very good job! They interview local artists too.
Better enjoy WMDH while we can. Per Radio-Info "Cumulus is in "exclusive negotiations" to buy Citadel, says CNBC". If that happens, you can bet WMDH will get the memo and some cookie cutter syndicated crapola will take the place of the live & local evening request show.
BobOnTheJob said:
Cumulus can hardly afford to run the stations they have now. How do they propose to operate the citadel properties?
This is a train wreck in the making.
I shudder to think what will happen to WLS AM if this happens.Bengalsfan said:
If it happens, some wealthy foundation ought to commission a study of who is in worse shape, WLS-AM post-Citadel or WGN-AM after the Randy Micheals fiasco.
I think upper management at KI in Kokomo, and MDH both should be updating resumes - no offense, and I'm not wishing this on anyone, but I think it's reasonable to believe that Cumulus will consolidate management in Central Indiana and have Chris Wheat responsible as GM for these stations as well.
PTBoardOp94 said:
WGN was a mess before Michaels. He updated the audience and air staff as with WLW many years before. The knee jerk reaction from some staffers was "we don't want that."
WLS was never in the poor shape that WGN was, either financially/facility/audience. I never liked the shift to talk on the AM but it was a decision that has kept them viable. Unlike WIBC shifting the audience to Fm with poor performance and using the AM as a poor bitrate ESPN feed.
Nashville has a huge building at the Cumulus stations. Formerly over 100 staffers and now there are piles of office equipment stacked in the now vacant facilities. The few staffers now working are surrounded by cubicles that are vacant. Shadeland Avenue is the same way. Fortunately Smulyan is hiring them all.
Cumulus has a method that they accept and continue: Fire airstaff, utilize sat feeds, keep a few salespeople. This results in positive cash flow. Fewer staff, loose a few accounts as a result, but not enough to affect the new cash flow scheme. The "upper management" like Chris Wheat don't have the influence of the past. Can they tell a sat jock to sound different or do something extra for the local audience? They are limited to cash flow issues with the local sales staff and making do with 6 airstaff.
In the long run as they say we all die. The short run is that Cumulus makes LOTS of cash. Job losses are your problem. The poor audience connection will come but for now cash flow is still enough that they don't care.
I would say this is a sad thing but it doesn't seem that there are enough of us left to fight the German Army.
I recall WMDH was a 1987 or 88 move in to Muncie. There was a fella named Steve that sold time in Indy that inherited some money and grabbed a few investors and moved that stick with higher antenna from an adjacent county. Bernie Kvale had WWWO-FM 93.5 at about the same time, and it was a move-in that occurred around the same time. WWKI was run by a man named Dick (I forget his last name) and he had a very well managed operation in Kokomo.
All were stomping grounds for me in the 80's. Hope that WMDH doesn't fall into bad corporate hands. It was a station that had much going for it the last I heard. Not sure what became of Bernie's station or WWKI. Lost track of those stations managers a few years ago.
All were stomping grounds for me in the 80's. Hope that WMDH doesn't fall into bad corporate hands. It was a station that had much going for it the last I heard. Not sure what became of Bernie's station or WWKI. Lost track of those stations managers a few years ago.
I climbed the current WMDH tower to install a ham repeater antenna in 1988...not sure how long it had been there at that time, but I do recall that the STL had a lot of hiss...it was like that for some years. I do recall that there were already abandoned antennas on the tower (leading me to believe that the tower was there well before 1988--but was WMDH there before then??) and that the pole that holds the WMDH antenna had (and still has) a slight bend in it. But the real zinger at that site is that the transmitter's directional coupler--including the wattmeter slugs--is outdoors in the rain and snow and has been for at least 23 years now.Les Hollister said:
Bernie Kvale passed away a few years ago and the station is now part of the Backyard Broadcasting group and is a classic rock knockoff of Q95 without Bob and Tom.
Les Hollister said:
I worked there, in the lat 80's through early 90's; to the best of my knowledge they had been well established, already as 50,000 watt FM. They were licensed to New Castle, had their transmitter/tower in Sulpher Springs. The legal ID's we ran always went WMDH New Castle/Muncie, and they had done that even when I was listening during my school days of the late 70's/early 80's. They were never really a move-in, as far as I know, though when I started there, they did have an office in Muncie, but the studios were (I'm assuming still are) in New Castle with the old WCTW-AM. The Steve you mention, I'm guessing is Steve Mohr. He was co-owner at that time; I think the other owner was named Engledow. He eventually (if memory serves correct) sold to some people in Michigan. That station has had a great history as a country music station, which I think started around '76; at least that's what I recall being told when I was there.
R
RadioRetired
Guest
WMDH has made a lot of improvements. They really improved their morning show and seem to be on the right track. The last ratings numbers listed from '09 showed a multi-book trend of WMDH making gains in "muncie-marion" against WLBC....who lost ground over multiple books. Wonder why they don't post those numbers anymore.... :
http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb422
http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb422
The morning show has changed the playing field in East Central Indiana. Michelle Cook was already a known personality and Shane and Sluby have become known to the area as well. Friendly people and non ego driven, unlike somebody else who has to create a fantasy land to call his listening audience. Isnt that like Peter Pan?
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RadioRetired
Guest
Fantasyland or not, you can't argue with consecutive ratings books. When WMDH in New Castle was showing improvements over periods and WLBC in Muncie/Marion was losing ground in their own market...something is wrong. Wonder if that's why no one is posting/releasing or buying those numbers now? Who wants to pay for bad news...
Sounds like "Captain Hook" might be winning this one in Neverland
Sounds like "Captain Hook" might be winning this one in Neverland
RadioRetired said:Fantasyland or not, you can't argue with consecutive ratings books. When WMDH in New Castle was showing improvements over periods and WLBC in Muncie/Marion was losing ground in their own market...something is wrong. Wonder if that's why no one is posting/releasing or buying those numbers now? Who wants to pay for bad news...
Sounds like "Captain Hook" might be winning this one in Neverland
I just peaked at the Muncie-Marion book from Fall 10. LBC beats MDH in AM Drive in 25-54 quite handily. Almost double the AQH. 10-3 goes to LBC as does 3-7. My gut says there are too many country stations and that is diluting it for MDH. If you add FMS and LHK and CJC to the MDH number you tie LBC. I subscribe to all Indiana books
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RadioRetired
Guest
Many thanks, Radio Radio. We all know the 12+ numbers are useless, but that's about all the general public can see these days. Even those are scarce. You would think they would send the numbers to the trade pubs or something.
Just to note that Lange started his career in New Castle at the previously mentioned WMDH when it was still WCTW and there was no AM, just the FM, which was then 4kw with studios and a self-supporting tower, located downtown. Martin Williams was the first CE, and put that FM on the air in 1946.
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