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WNEB-AM in Worcester Upcoming Format Change

R

radio zombie

Just heard an announcement on WNEB that as of Friday, April 24th,
their format of political talk will end. The station, which currently
bills itself as The Patriot, not only announced it will be changing to
a new format, they also said WNEB would actually be going off the air
from the 25th until signing back on Monday, May 4th.
I would assume the reason for going dark would be for Xmtr maintenance
(or may even replacing it), and perhaps updating studios, etc. The
announcement did not hint at what to expect for the new format; saying
only to tune in on May 4th for the new WNEB. Just wondering if anyone
has heard anything, and why it's necessary to actually shut down for a
week? I'm not sure where their studios are in Worcester. Maybe they're
moving them to a new location and that's the reason for going off.
 
Maybe a simulcast of WVNE 760, and continued religious broadcasting after sunset when 760 signs off?
That's what they used to do. They did have shows like Brian and the Judge & Sean Hannity, etc.,
also religion and religious poli-talk (Jay Sekulow, not to be confused w/ Jay Severin; he is also on 590
talking about religion and the law)
 
It shouldn't be because of the transmitter. I bought a new Nautel transmitter for WNEB back in the mid-90's when I owned the station.
 
raccoonradio said:
Maybe a simulcast of WVNE 760, and continued religious broadcasting after sunset when 760 signs off?
That's what they used to do. They did have shows like Brian and the Judge & Sean Hannity, etc.,
also religion and religious poli-talk (Jay Sekulow, not to be confused w/ Jay Severin; he is also on 590
talking about religion and the law)
Click to expand...

WNEB stopped carrying the Sean Hannity show sometime late last year. They have been airing Janet Parhall's America since dropping Hannity.

As for their new format, I do agree with your hypothesis that they will most likely simulcast sister station daytime only WVNE. However, it won't really help with anyone trying to listen at night especially outside the city limits with their whopping 200 watts.
 
If that is true JIBGUY (and I have no reason to doubt you seeing you formerly owned WNEB), then can you or Dan tell me why the signal is so much worse at night?

I was always under the impression that they powered down at night. I have no trouble getting the signal outside of Worcester's city limits during daylight hours but it is unlistenable at night. In fact, there are even areas of the city that the signal quality is much worse after dark.
 
DavidZ said:
If that is true JIBGUY (and I have no reason to doubt you seeing you formerly owned WNEB), then can you or Dan tell me why the signal is so much worse at night?

I was always under the impression that they powered down at night. I have no trouble getting the signal outside of Worcester's city limits during daylight hours but it is unlistenable at night. In fact, there are even areas of the city that the signal quality is much worse after dark.
Click to expand...

1230 is a "graveyard" frequency, with hundreds of other stations, mostly running 1000 watts all stepping all over each other at night. Unless you're within a couple miles of one of these stations, then you're not going to get reliable reception.
 
DavidZ said:
If that is true JIBGUY (and I have no reason to doubt you seeing you formerly owned WNEB), then can you or Dan tell me why the signal is so much worse at night?
Click to expand...

As Jeff pointed out, there are several hundred US stations on the 1230 "graveyard" channel, most of them operating with the same power at night as during the day. By day, this situation doesn't cause many problems, but at night, a significant fraction of those stations deliver interfering skywave signals to the environs of each of the other co-channel stations. These signals add up to quite a strong signal modulated by a mixture of those hundreds of audio streams. Unless you are close enough to the station you are trying to pick up, its signal is buried by the combination of interfering signals and the station you want to hear simply disappears into the mud around the time of sunset and doesn't reappear until around sunrise the next morning. Believe it or not, if you were able to make all of those interfering signals go away, you could hear the station you want just about as clearly at night as you can get it during the day.
 
>>Believe it or not, if you were able to make all of those interfering signals go away, you could hear the station you want just about as clearly at night as you can get it during the day.

Didn't WESX reach a lot of areas at night years ago, when they were one of the few stations on those
frequencies--back in the days when they'd broadcast a dance orchestra from a ballroom?
 
There are really good graveyarder signals (1230 Salem before move, 1490 Portland, 1230 Baltimore), and many not-so-good graveyarder signals. WNEB is one of the latter. Don't know why it's not all that good. Tower site is in a lightly wet area but very dry in the summer.
 
why it's necessary to actually shut down for a
week? I'm not sure where their studios are in Worcester. Maybe they're
moving them to a new location and that's the reason for going off.
Click to expand...

Still wondering why a station goes off the air for a whole week; just for a
format change?
 
radio zombie said:
Still wondering why a station goes off the air for a whole week; just for a
format change?
Click to expand...

They probably want to get rid of their 4 or 5 listeners :D and start fresh with the new format.

Hopefully they plan to promote the new format unlike when they flipped to political talk with zero promotion.
 
According to an announcement that I caught on WNEB yesterday, they will be flipping to a Spanish format on Monday May 4th.

I didn’t catch the entire announcement but it has the program director talking over a Spanish music bed about the format and what to expect. The station will include lifestyle/entertainment talk shows, some religious talk, local and national news, and your favorite music.

He asked everyone to tell their friends about the all new WNEB debuting on May 4th.

Yea right, I’m a current listener of a conservative formatted talk station and I’m going to encourage all of my friends to listen to the all new WNEB. It reminds me of the old “WKRP in Cincinnati” when the format changed out of the commercial break from Beautiful Music to a contemporary format. And the commercial (if I recall correctly) was for a funeral home. :D
 
Some conservative talk can be found on WPKZ 1280 Fitchburg now--Brian & the Judge and John Gibson from
Fox News Talk and Hannity from Citadel/Premiere; and WTAG has Beck, Rush, Rodger Hedgecock, and local
talk with Jordan Levy (not sure how the former Worc. mayor & Pike board member falls politically). Plus there are signals from Boston, Providence, Springfield, Hartford, etc. all which offer conservative talk.
 
raccoonradio said:
Some conservative talk can be found on WPKZ 1280 Fitchburg now--Brian & the Judge and John Gibson from
Fox News Talk and Hannity from Citadel/Premiere; and WTAG has Beck, Rush, Rodger Hedgecock, and local
talk with Jordan Levy (not sure how the former Worc. mayor & Pike board member falls politically). Plus there are signals from Boston, Providence, Springfield, Hartford, etc. all which offer conservative talk.
Click to expand...

Apparently my sarcasm was lost on you. I don't think many listeners of anglo conservative talk are going to suddenly listen to a Spanish formatted station.

As for conservative talk, I actually hate most of the shows.

BTW, I would characterize Jordan Levy as an "Ed King" Democrat.
 
No, I got the sarcasm but was just pointing out that despite WNEB changing, conservative talk listeners
would still find stations in the area. They could make some money with Spanish; supposedly CC (CC,
Senor!) is making some money with Rumba.
 
We are very glad that WNEB is giving up talk. Everyone here at WCRN was worried their ratings would be higher than ours!
 
And if I didn't mention them, yes, WCRN is also a conservative talk station in that area (along with WTAG
and WPKZ and the stations from other areas)
 
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