I hav been listening to WMLB 1690 the past couple of days and I have to give the folks at WMLB some props. Ok I know WMLB is not a major player in Atlanta radio but it seems (in my opinion) the station is some where between a college station and a Z-93 in regards to the types of shows....Variety. The station seems to have filled out a niche in the atlanta area. Feel free to discuss and disagree
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WMLB 1690
- Thread starter jhead
- Start date
From the looks of their website, you'd think they're a public radio station or something:
http://1690wmlb.com/
http://1690wmlb.com/
DToTheJ said:
Are you saying that is a bad thing?
jhead said:
Thanks, Jhead. I think their slogan, "The Voice of the Arts" sounds kind of stuffy and public radio like. I honestly believe that if they emphasize their unique and sophisticated format and lean less on "the arts" (which makes you think of all of the force feedings of culture you got in grade school) they would attract a decent sized audience. I have even said to station management that I am amazed the station is not a bigger factor on web.
I would be nice if WMLB had a setup like WFMU http://blog.wfmu.org/
or WFUV:
http://blog.wfuv.org/
http://blog.wfuv.org/
I also noticed that this thread has about 340 views. Now if all of you thread viewers would go listen to 1690 AM or stream it at http://www.1690wmlb.com and tell a few friends, then maybe an unique format won't get lost in all the clutter. Atlanta should support it's own non-comformists. I'll get off my soap box now.
llewow said:
I did click the link and listened live. They were playing a song from "The Wizard of Oz". I turned it off. I might sample it again later. But if they're playing something about "The Merry Old Land of Oz", I don't think I'll stay tuned, unless it's a heavy metal cover or something equally as new and interesting.
It's worth noting that not even PPM can seem to find WMLB's listeners, while its predecessor liberal talk format, shut down with extreme prejudice by Mr. Weber, DID make the Arbitrons. As for its sister station the conservaclone format on WCFO, also a no-show.
I highly doubt Joe Weber killed the liberal talk format because of "extreme prejudice." He wanted a station for his arts format that had a good signal in Midtown, and he wanted to be on that signal playing his records. That's the only reason he bought the station. He never would have purchased 1160 had 1690 been available at the time.
1690 was put on by an engineering company for the sole purpose of selling it. Air America was a placeholder. The station did not sell time locally.
1690 was put on by an engineering company for the sole purpose of selling it. Air America was a placeholder. The station did not sell time locally.
RoddyFreeman said:
I read that post differently than you did. I don't think he was saying Joe Weber is a person with extreme prejudices.
There is a legal terminology about dismissing a court case "with prejudice" which has to do with whether you can ever file the same case again. For whatever personal reasons Joe Weber may have had, I think the poster was saying that when the liberal format was shut down, it was done with the idea it would not come back, could not come back on his station or any other station.
Sooner or later such a discussion reaches the point where people ask: Can anyone ever make Liberal Talk work in the Atlanta market? Georgia does not appear to be a fertile garden for such an undertaking.
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
My guess (and it's purely a guess) is that there are enough people who like conservative causes who also like to hear them talked about for conservative talk radio to draw enough of a market segment to survive. It's not like they can attract a majority, but they can carve out a profitable niche. I suspect that the people who are most likely to agree with liberal talk show hosts would rather listen to music. I can't prove it, but I suspect it. Call it a gut-level hunch, and nothing more.
I also suspect that a music format station whose disc jockeys talked a little more than is usual between records, and who made mostly liberal agenda supporting jokes and comments would do better at attracting an audience than a station with the exact same music but totally non-political disc jockeys.
I doubt that anyone running a major station would take a risk on that kind of hybrid programming, unless they were a rich Charles Foster Kane running a radio station as a hobby. Also, such a station would absolutely fail on AM, regardless. It's one thing for an AM station to pull listeners away from other AM stations. I believe that is possible. But pulling listeners from the FM band over to AM would, I think, but an almost impossible task.
D
DuckBlue
Guest
I never understood why Joe Weber sold WGKA-AM 1190 to Salem before moving his diversified format to 1160 and then to 1690. He should have kept it on 1190. Back when WGKA was classical, the station identified itself as "The Voice of the arts." Weber kept that ID.
I think that liberals do not listen to talk radio because they get bored hearing the same thing over and over. In contrast, conservatives can listen to the same thing repeatedly and never get bored, as long as it gets their blood to boil. I work with a conservative who talks about the same things over and over every time he enters my office. Despite my efforts, I can never change the topic. Listening to Boortz or Limbaugh is like listening to a stuck LP. I found them interesting when I first heard them, but they bore me now.
I think that liberals do not listen to talk radio because they get bored hearing the same thing over and over. In contrast, conservatives can listen to the same thing repeatedly and never get bored, as long as it gets their blood to boil. I work with a conservative who talks about the same things over and over every time he enters my office. Despite my efforts, I can never change the topic. Listening to Boortz or Limbaugh is like listening to a stuck LP. I found them interesting when I first heard them, but they bore me now.
Weber apparently just got tired of radio and wanted to be on his yacht or whatever people with his kind of wealth do. So he sold 1190. Yes, in retrospect, he should have kept it. Then a few years later, he got the radio itch and purchased 1160. Mike Rose is the real expert on all this.
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