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WPAZ - ARBITRON RATED? PHILLY NUMBERS?

J

joshzz

As you know WPAZ in Pottstown is for sale. It's a 1 k daytimer with 53 watts nightly.

Has this station had any Arbitron ratings in Philly or Allentown in recent history?

Also, did the station have any kind of following prior to the plug being pulled in November?

Appreciate your input! josh
 
josh said:
As you know WPAZ in Pottstown is for sale. It's a 1 k daytimer with 53 watts nightly.

Has this station had any Arbitron ratings in Philly or Allentown in recent history?

Also, did the station have any kind of following prior to the plug being pulled in November?

Appreciate your input! josh
Click to expand...

Do you happen to know the asking price and the correct contact person for WPAZ?
 
I can't release the asking price for the station as that is confidential information, however, you may contact the owner directly for more information. The property is owned by Great Scott Broadcasting.

224 MAUGERS MILL ROAD
Pottstown, PA 19464



Phone: 610-326-4000
Fax: 610-326-7984
 
Ratings for WPAZ?

It had a LOCAL listener following. Ratings mean nothing in that regard.

And the asking price for a DARK station shouldn't be much.
 
HI I'm new to the board. Worked at WPAZ on weekends for just over 54 years, was hired at age 16 by its founder Herb Scott and witnessed all by 4 years of its history including the plug pulling. I'd be glad to add my couple of cents for anyone that's interested about its history and demise and what it was all about and can still be. Drop an E mail. Jim Brownback [email protected]
 
I remember Herb Scott interviewed me at WPAZ in 1969. It was upstairs over an old 5 and 10 cents store in Pottstown. I had just finished the Geators Broadcasting School in Philly. He offered me a job at his WJWL station in Georgetown, Delaware for $75 a week. I kinda rolled my eyes when he gave me that low figure. Then he said, let me tell you something, "you'll learn more in one hour on the air, then you learned in 3 months of a broadcasting school". You know, the man was right. I took that job and 41 years later I'm doing radio in Las Vegas.
I just recently visited Georgetown, where it seems his sons have built a cluster of stations there. At one time he was the largest independent owner of radio stations in the country. He left this world at too young an age.
 
Big Bob Eppiheimer gave me a live audition. Terrified, I recorded a three minute tape with copy and news on a Gates Yard. Despite the dreadful outcome, he hired me anyway, running 'High Fidelity time' and the 'E.J.Sweeney Little Billboard' between Sunday preachers. Herb stopped in the first day, and sternly told me: If the check isn't in the box (with the reel of taped gospel show), it doesn't air. Fill with Sinatra. And sign off after the last spot on the log.
 
That is blatanly untrue we did not sign off before sunset. We carried Phillies, High School Sports and Penn State if we did not have local programming we signed off at 7 pm weekdays 6 pm Saturdays and Sundays. We tried I have my own theories on what did and didn't work at WPAZ but will not share them publicly,
 
I don't believe Sam means recently.

But in days of yore, it did. We did what we were told by the owner, Herb himself...but remember, this was some 30+ years ago. And usually in DST, long before they acquired Phillies rights. He would leave the building through the studio, grab the log, give a glance. If the last spot was at 7:05, and sundown was 7:45, his orders were to sign-off after the break.

That was ages ago.
 
rasmith2001 said:
That is blatanly untrue we did not sign off before sunset.  We carried Phillies, High School Sports and Penn State if we did not have local programming we signed off at 7 pm weekdays 6 pm Saturdays and Sundays.  We tried I have my own theories on what did and didn't work at WPAZ but will not share them publicly,
Click to expand...

To some people the history of radio began 10 minutes before they reached part time status.
 
Given the number of posts, it is obvious that several people have memories of WPAZ, fond and otherwise. It is apparent that some things were done right, some things done hideously wrong. But going back to the original question of whether or not this would be a good investment, the point is the same. You do not buy a radio station because of the past; you buy it for the future.

Once an AM station goes dark, it is DEAD. I won't get all religious on you, but while I believe in a past resurrection of a person, I do not believe in it for AM radio stations.
When an AM station dies, it dies. If the community has a particular ethnic group with a significant business and listener base, it could rise again. Using it for a not-for profit operation, such as EWTN, could work. But remember, you will not make much money.

To simply restore it as a general purpose radio station is a dream that won't come true. No matter how cheap the price, it is a very bad investment. And buying a radio station is an investment Putting your house, retirement plan or first born up for collateral is just plan dumb. You could get a potential better return on the slots.
 
Sam,

I am schoked at your response to my post. I have the greatest regard for the history of the medium from the glory days of the radio networks to the glory days of Top 40 where it was what's between the music that counts. I was perhaps a bit defensive but you dont put 18 years into something such as I have and not be a little defensive. I am sure your dad would have been the same way if someone had implied something about wibbage that wasnt positive. I didnt sell I was on the air and the traffic director and I did sports and burned myself out doing it. Trust me I have heard enough stories about WPAZ in the past and I know some of them seem out there but most of them are true I was merely saying that was not how we did things at the end.
 
rasmith2001 said:
Sam,

I am schoked at your response to my post. I have the greatest regard for the history of the medium from the glory days of the radio networks to the glory days of Top 40 where it was what's between the music that counts. I was perhaps a bit defensive but you dont put 18 years into something such as I have and not be a little defensive. I am sure your dad would have been the same way if someone had implied something about wibbage that wasnt positive. I didnt sell I was on the air and the traffic director and I did sports and burned myself out doing it. Trust me I have heard enough stories about WPAZ in the past and I know some of them seem out there but most of them are true I was merely saying that was not how we did things at the end.
Click to expand...

I was just kidding.

Still, old man scott never kept 1370 on the air past 6pm. It probably took his passing to keep WPAZ until local sundown.
 
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