WOSU-AM to leave Air Today

[gabigley1]

The new WOSU logo... No more "AM":

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1207773714/WOSU_stack1_4-color_vFIN.png

Found this older article on why WOSU-AM is leaving the air:

http://www.current.org/tech/tech1014-expansion-and-AM.shtml

AM proves to be a hard sell, even for news radio

Published in Current, Aug. 9, 2010
By Karen Everhart

Quotes from this article on WOSU:

The AM station, which launched Ohio State’s broadcast service in 1922, will simulcast the FM news service.

Decisions about audience service priorities have never been easy for public radio stations that broadcast both news and music programming, but they’re especially confounding for those with AM stations. AM’s low audio fidelity and interference problems make the frequencies more suitable for news/talk than music, but listeners’ habits of scanning the left end of the FM dial for public radio are so deeply ingrained that building a loyal audience on AM would be a Sisyphean labor.

WOSU first tried to expand its news footprint by introducing a new local midday show All Sides with Ann Fisher, while previously all-classical WOSU-FM picked up NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. But this dual-service strategy didn’t build enough audience.

“We invest a lot in our local news,” said Tom Rieland, g.m. of WOSU Public Media. “It’s been a struggle for us, getting people to the AM dial to listen to us in this community.” The move back to FM will bring a much bigger audience to WOSU’s local news programs, he predicted.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

check is in the mail.

Got it, thanks, del!

Reminds me a little of the loop the old WJER-FM/101.7 in Dover-New Philadelphia played before the station moved north (under Clear Channel) to become Canton market AC WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7".

Clear Channel left WJER/1450 behind, resold it to the former owner of both stations, who operates it today in Dover-New Philly.

 

[del_griffith]

check is in the mail.

Got it, thanks, del!

Reminds me a little of the loop the old WJER-FM/101.7 in Dover-New Philadelphia played before the station moved north (under Clear Channel) to become Canton market AC WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7".

Clear Channel left WJER/1450 behind, resold it to the former owner of both stations, who operates it today in Dover-New Philly.

I'll try to snag the actual sign off today at 9.

 

[gabigley1]

As advertised, they turned off their transmitter at 9:00 AM today. This was during the loop they have been running since Friday evening.
WOSU-AM is now silent forever and no specially sendoff at 9:00 AM was heard. Kind of like they were saying, "Good Riddance 820AM".

 

[del_griffith]

As advertised, they turned off their transmitter at 9:00 AM today. This was during the loop they have been running since Friday evening.
WOSU-AM is now silent forever and no specially sendoff at 9:00 AM was heard. Kind of like they were saying, "Good Riddance 820AM".

I'm Mandy Trimble W..............................no carrier.

I caught it on MP3. It's a bit hot because I was recording out of the ear piece of a radio into a micro recorder and had no volume control, but I got it.

Another piece of Columbus radio history now gone in the past 15 days. First BC, now WOSU.

 

[gabigley1]

Update from WOSU and why they don't want 820AM anymore. The rest is here:

http://beta.wosu.org/news/820-am-signs-off/

Why did you sell 820 AM?

The sale of the AM station by WOSU is part of the station’s plan to build listenership on the FM dial that began in December 2010 with the purchase of 101.1 FM and the launch of Classical 101, which allowed WOSU’s 89.7 FM to shift to an all-day NPR and local news station. The sale of the AM station was always planned to help defray some of the cost of acquiring 101.1 FM.

AM listening has declined considerably over the past 20 years across the country. In fact, a new study found that only 3 percent of listeners access their public radio station on the AM dial in America. New listeners inevitably seek the lower end of the FM dial. WOSU AM was also hampered by a FCC rule that forced the station to go to low power from dusk to dawn.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

WTVN sure is bucking that trend of AM decline, at least 6+. In November it had the second-highest all-format PPM share in the nation -- even higher than flamethrower WLW in Cincy.

 

[del_griffith]

WTVN sure is bucking that trend of AM decline, at least 6+. In November it had the second-highest all-format PPM share in the nation -- even higher than flamethrower WLW in Cincy.

Most markets seem to have an AM that seems to have bucked the trend and does well. Especially if it has a big signal. But everyone after that is in the tank.

Some large markets have more than one. But if largest AM signal has power or directional limitations, then they don't seem to do well. TVN is probably one of the exceptions with their severe tightening of their night signal, yet they still do well.

 

[del_griffith]

So since Mandy Trimble is the last WOSU voice heard on 820 before the plug was pulled does she become a broadcasting Trivial Pursuit answer?

 

[XtraXtra]

WTVN sure is bucking that trend of AM decline, at least 6+. In November it had the second-highest all-format PPM share in the nation -- even higher than flamethrower WLW in Cincy.

Most markets seem to have an AM that seems to have bucked the trend and does well. Especially if it has a big signal. But everyone after that is in the tank.

Some large markets have more than one. But if largest AM signal has power or directional limitations, then they don't seem to do well. TVN is probably one of the exceptions with their severe tightening of their night signal, yet they still do well.

I was in Southern Italy a few years ago and hit the scan button on the radio for fun. There was a wide variety of stations on the FM dial, but only one I could pick up on the AM. AM here is starting to remind me of AM over there. There is merit to having Rush, it's still a good show. I still don't get how Beck and Hannity retain such a large following. I would have thought people would tire of these two by now.

 

[gabigley1]

A memorial to WOSU-AM 820 of sorts:

http://beta.wosu.org/tomrieland/announcers-gather-to-remember-wosu-am/

Announcers Gather to Remember WOSU AM

Tish Davis, Ken Keller and Bob Schweikart look over a scrapbook Bob's career at a mini-reunion of AM announcers.(Photo: WOSU)

December 14, 2011
by Tom Rieland
WOSU General Manager
Contact the Author:
Share this article:

"Last Friday, we gathered a dozen past staffers of WOSU AM as the station went off the air. See previous blog post for more information on the shutdown of WOSU AM. It was a time to reminisce about the old days of AM radio in Columbus. We ended up having Fred Andrle moderate two recordings with the announcers and we’ll try to make them available soon. Our thanks go out to Dale Ouzts, Don Davis, Fred Andrle, Tom Wiebell, Ken Keller, Charlie Pickard, Jim Varga, Bob Schweikart, Bill Cohen and Jo Ingles for joining us on short notice to commemorate this occasion."

 

[del_griffith]

A memorial to WOSU-AM 820 of sorts:

http://beta.wosu.org/tomrieland/announcers-gather-to-remember-wosu-am/

Announcers Gather to Remember WOSU AM

Tish Davis, Ken Keller and Bob Schweikart look over a scrapbook Bob's career at a mini-reunion of AM announcers.(Photo: WOSU)

December 14, 2011
by Tom Rieland
WOSU General Manager
Contact the Author:
Share this article:

"Last Friday, we gathered a dozen past staffers of WOSU AM as the station went off the air. See previous blog post for more information on the shutdown of WOSU AM. It was a time to reminisce about the old days of AM radio in Columbus. We ended up having Fred Andrle moderate two recordings with the announcers and we’ll try to make them available soon. Our thanks go out to Dale Ouzts, Don Davis, Fred Andrle, Tom Wiebell, Ken Keller, Charlie Pickard, Jim Varga, Bob Schweikart, Bill Cohen and Jo Ingles for joining us on short notice to commemorate this occasion."

I don't remember Varga or Schweikart. The others do ring a bell. I think Don Davis was around the longest. Pickard's time dates back to mid to mid late 60's, although he left for WRFD-FM/WNCI after a few years.

 

[gabigley1]

I'm sure this achievement is a relief for St. Gabriel Radio.

http://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b13170

St. Gabriel Radio Closes on WOSU/Columbus for $2M

 

[xmusicmatt]

Apperently they plan to use a RF based STL to get signal to the WOSU site.

 

[gabigley1]

Heard them(St Gabriel radio) testing last night with religious music and open carrier. No IDs heard and they are now officially WVSG,

From the Ohio board:

St Gabe Catholic radio was quoted in the November, 2008 Portsmouth newspaper that they were buying WVKO-AM for 1.5 million dollars. It's been
almost three years now and St Gabriel Catholic radio has yet to buy WVKO-AM 1580. Anyone know whats holding St Gabriel Catholic Radio back?

In order to buy something for 1.5 million you have to have 1.5 million. They can barely make the monthly LMA payments.

St Gabriel Catholic radio paid $2.0 million for WOSU-AM yesterday. They also will pay tOSU about 1,000 a month to lease the land at the tOSU golf course where the WVSG-AM daytime tower site sits.

Maybe the reason they didn't buy WVKO-AM is because it wasn't a reasonable asking price? 820AM is a much better deal considering the coverage of the signal.

 

[del_griffith]

I wonder what prohibits them from using the night site as the day site too? Just use one tower @ 5kw instead of 6 @ 720 watts.

 

[markbohach]

I wonder what prohibits them from using the night site as the day site too? Just use one tower @ 5kw instead of 6 @ 720 watts.

Stay Tuned Del...will be more like 6KW ND from that site...

 

[xmusicmatt]

I wonder what prohibits them from using the night site as the day site too? Just use one tower @ 5kw instead of 6 @ 720 watts.

Would not be surprised if they do not try to move the daytime signal to the night time site since they purchased that land. That way they could shead the $1000 a month tower lease on tOSU Golf Course.

If anyone can pull it off -- they can .. They have one of the top notch engineers in my opinion as their contract engineer.

 

[gabigley1]

Actually, they are paying $1,500 a month tower lease on tOSU Golf Course. Checked the FCC application(see below) today.
Which begs the question, why didn't tOSU move the daytime stick over to the their new nighttime site they built in 1987 to
accommodate the new nighttime operation for then WOSU-AM?
One of the reasons may be because tOSU owned the land at tOSU Golf Course where the daytime tower site sits.
But it still costs more money to operate and maintain two towers sites vs just one tower site.

More on that WVSG AM820 tower lease is here:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101443185&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1

More on the new 1987 Nighttime operation is here from 1986 Cplumbus Dispatch article:

WOSU RADIO PLANS TO EXTEND BROADCASTING HOURS BY 1988
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Monday, November 10, 1986
Author: David Jones, Dispatch Radio-TV Critic

WOSU ( 820 AM ) will be broadcasting 18 hours every day by 1988 and possibly as early as next September. And 24-hour programming may not be far off.

The word came down Friday from the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, which approved the use of 96 acres of land in southwest Franklin County and employment of a firm to erect a new transmitter on that sight. Construction and testing of six 300-foot transmitter towers will take about a year.

While no plans are carved in stone at this point, WOSU - AM will surely offer more of what it's already doing.

 

[gabigley1]

I wonder what prohibits them from using the night site as the day site too? Just use one tower @ 5kw instead of 6 @ 720 watts.

If anyone can pull it off -- they can .. They have one of the top notch engineers in my opinion as their contract engineer.

That explains why St Gaberal Radio was able to get on AM820 so quickly and without any technical problems and/or glitches.
That were using Greg Savoldi as their consulting engineer. He was a guest on their local show at 5:00PM for the sendoff of
WVKO-AM. Yes, he is certainly one of the best broadcast engineers in the country.