I tuned in for a while today(first time in at least a year and a half) and it sounds totally different, like a satellite based oldies format. I haven't heard any on air personalities, only liners and the old school classic oldies WMTR jingle. Is this just temporary, a format change or selling in the works, or just another cost cutting measure?
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Northwest Jersey WMTR 1250
- Thread starter Joey Anthony
- Start date
Definitely not temporary, unless you know of advertisers who are looking to spend more money on an AM station with an aging and declining audience.
They have to adjust their budget to the reality of falling revenues. They can't do anything about rising utility and insurance bills, so they cut personnel.
While @TheBigA's reply is a legitimate one, looking at WMTR's website
Home
Tune in to WMTR AM for classic hits, local news, community events, and NJ radio favorites. Music you love and stories that matter.
wmtram.com
it appears that the station still has two personalities, one for weekday mornings and one for weekday afternoons. The website doesn't show a satellite format (though most radio station websites don't), so I'm betting that while the music is automated, it's being done in-house. Also, it looks like the station has nabbed New York Rangers (hockey) and New York Knicks (basketball) games for the northwestern suburbs in hopes that it can get more companies to advertise during those games when they are in season.
Correct, and I'm sorry to have implied that it was. You're right, it's all in house. They've been running the NY sports for about two years.
Beasley Media Group Partners with Good Karma Brands and ESPN New York to Broadcast Knicks and Rangers Games
“We are so excited to provide our listeners and fans of these iconic teams broadcast coverage across the state of New Jersey."
barrettmedia.com
They've cut back on local hosts. Alan David Stein was laid off in May of last year. All this as Beasley heads towards some form of bankruptcy:
Beasley Reaches Refinancing Pact That Could Hand 95% Equity To Creditors.
Beasley Media Group has reached a deal with key creditors to restructure its balance sheet, including a steep cut on second-lien debt and new governance provisions that give noteholders board
They've been on autopilot for a while, apparently using some AI-based method. Kind of surprised they don't just go to Fox Sports, like WCTC and the HD subchannel translators on the shore. If nothing else, it would be cheaper and a logical fit with the sports play-by-play they carry. But maybe the local advertisers still support this format? There are certainly better options for oldies online, and the "local" component is very limited at this point, but I suppose a lot of their target audience must still primarily look to terrestrial for their listening.
There are no on-air personalities on WMTR anymore, except if you count the paid programming on weekend mornings. Like WCTC, they carry regular news, weather, and traffic reports during the weekday drive times. So I guess that counts as the "Morning Team" their jingles still claim them to have.
Funny story: Former WNEW-FM & WFAN Program Director Mark Chernoff is now one of the DJs. He played some of those oldies as currents!!
Veteran DJ joins WFDU-FM lineup — Pascack Press & Northern Valley Press
NORTHERN VALLEY—Teaneck native and longtime radio personality Mark Chernoff has joined WFDU-FM (89.1 FM, RetroRadio) as the host of a new Wednesday morning show, airing from 9 a.m. to 1 [...]
thepressgroup.net
I'm looking at several coverage maps for WMTR, and on paper the signal both night and day appears to cover most of the New York metro, including the boroughs, and Manhattan with a usable signal. Actually, the night directional gives even better coverage than during the day. 5 KW day (D), 7 KW night (D).
Not being in the area, is WMTR the "de facto" oldies station for New York?
Not being in the area, is WMTR the "de facto" oldies station for New York?
The WMTR 5 mV/m contour doesn't make it to the Hudson River, never mind into the sea of electrical noise that is NYC.
It's a DX catch in most of the city.
Those outer lines you see on Radio-Locator? They're deep fringe reception, if at all, in today's RF environment. Even the 5 mV/m contour (the inner one shown on FCCData) isn't really sufficient for reliable reception these days. It's generally accepted that 10 or even 15 mV/m is the minimum needed for average listeners to find an AM signal reliably usable.
New Jersey is interesting, because you have Beasley and Townsquare each with clusters of suburban stations. The difference is that Beasley is stuck with almost $200 million in debt created when they acquired Greater Media over ten years ago. Townsquare has made a very good transition into the digital age, and Beasley is still operating as primarily a broadcasting company.
It is listenable on a good radio in Brooklyn/Queens BUT only for someone who doesn't mind a little noise. For the completely average listener, WMTR might as well not exist in the city. Perhaps if they played their cards right, they coulda snagged that much-beloved 107.9 signal in Manhattan years ago. Maybe, but who knows.
Isn't an FM translator required to be within 25 miles of the AM transmitter? Cedar Knolls to Manhattan is about 24 miles as the crow flies, so depending on the exact coordinates, that might be beyond the limit.
Also it's doubtful a station that still calls itself "New Jersey's Oldies Authority" would want to have a transmitter in NYC, anyway.
25 miles, or within the predicted daytime 2 mV/m contour. So WOR gets more freedom for translator placement than WMTR.
By my map, WMTR could have a translator on Staten Island if they wished, or the a few spots on the western edge of Manhattan (the portal of the Lincoln Tunnel, for instance). But of course, channel availability would be a bigger problem than the 25 mile rule.
You're misconstruing the 25-mile rule, though. The entire 60 dBu contour of the translator has to be contained within the 25-mile radius.
Oops. That's what I get for not looking up the rule every time.
youre comparing station run and programmed by volunteers with far less expenses to a business? apples/oranges, night/day
I have to thank you guys for turning me onto this station. I never knew it existed. I could pick them up faint but at night when they have the jukebox, I have to stream online great stereo separation and plenty of oh wow tunes Doo Wop British invasion Motown country, funny how a station could still exist in this area where apparently they think it’s not oldies friendly, I did notice many jukebox stations are popping up over the country mostly in CA on AM with the tag along FM translators California has KJBE and a little north is KRRB, TN has WKCE these outlets run cheap just music and occasional nostalgia tidbits from the area and they have liners that say thanks for playing B 17 and they play a song it’s really refreshing and the oldies are not the same top 200 they really go deep one of these Philly struggling AMs should try it….i know many…
yeah which ones are struggling in both ratings and revenue and have a cluster to prop them up?
Eureka, CA is KEJB and North Bend, OR is KBBR
They are both owned by the same company, logs are probably the same if not similar, and they have a cluster to prop them up
The station used to sound polished and had just the right mix of hits and some occasional nuggets. After Mark Mitchell passed, it had been left to languish. Even before the talent was let go, the music mix had been chaotic at best. It sounds more like someone’s jukebox than a strategically programmed radio station.