WPHY 920 to flip... away with sports talk

[hykos1045]

How is 950 doing in the ratings against 610? Have they been able to put a dent? When is 920 going to become a religious station? Ever since Philly got its third sports station, 920 has had very little place for sports fans, and it is hard to get in from anywhere within the city limits.

 

[DG02816]

WPEN finally ghot out of the cellar in the last book, but they're still far behind WIP. WPHY has a built in disadvantage with their tight DA-2, which needs to protect the 920 in Providence, and WKVA Lewistown. They're listenable here in Oreland, but but pretty much go in the tank signal-wise going south on the Blue Route.

 

[GSP163]

Looks WCHR is going to move from 1040 to 920.....Radio Ink is reporting that Nassau is entering an LMA with ABC and 1040 WCHR Flemington is going to simulcast 1050 WEPN New York later this month.

 

[Jul]

The WPHY sports format failed because of the signal, that's the simple reason.

 

[Rockin Rob]

Looks WCHR is going to move from 1040 to 920.....Radio Ink is reporting that Nassau is entering an LMA with ABC and 1040 WCHR Flemington is going to simulcast 1050 WEPN New York later this month.

While it may be a good move for ABC for the areas WEPN cannot reach, and for Nassau getting the cashola from the Mickey Mouse network, they will lose listenership and revenue from the South, as many Philadelphia sports fans up that way will not give a crap about New York teams.

 

[aindik]

Looks WCHR is going to move from 1040 to 920.....Radio Ink is reporting that Nassau is entering an LMA with ABC and 1040 WCHR Flemington is going to simulcast 1050 WEPN New York later this month.

While it may be a good move for ABC for the areas WEPN cannot reach, and for Nassau getting the cashola from the Mickey Mouse network, they will lose listenership and revenue from the South, as many Philadelphia sports fans up that way will not give a crap about New York teams.

Well, the station can't be a Philly station and a New York station. It has to pick either one, the other, or neither (i.e., no local content at all). In that area, there's a mix of people who consider themselves New York people and people who consider themselves Philly people. Neither wants a national-scope station, so, the station picks one locale to focus on over the other. It makes sense to pick New York over Philly because a) Philly has two sports stations that reach that area, and New York only has one, b) the play by play of the Philly teams all reach that area, while the Knicks and Rangers aren't (WEPN airs the Jets, but I think those games are also on WABC as part of a holdover from a contract that was signed when WEPN was still WEVD, but I'm not sure if that's true going forward), and c) there's an already-built (somewhat) New York-focused station for them to just flip the switch and put on the air. Now people in Trenton can hear the radiocasts of all the local teams from Philly and New York. I think it's a smart move.

 

[marcus250]

why did 920 flip so early? when's 1040 gonna change to WEPN?

is there something on the screen of car radios to tell 1040 listeners to go to 920? i wish 1040 would flip already cuz now there's no ESPN Radio in the area in the dady time! i'll listen to chicago tonight but what to do tomorrow morning?

 

[John1]

Re: 920 Now Simulcasting 1040

Driving to work Monday morning 920 was still 'Philadelphia's Real Sports Station', but driving home they were simulcasting WCHR from 1040. Looks like they will simulcast for a few days to get people to switch over. This makes sense - the idea of 920 as a competitor to WIP was never going to happen, and WCHR was always a Trenton-based religious station and moving it out from 920 to 1040 in Flemington alienated a lot of their audience (still upset that they moved from 94.5).

 

[DG02816]

I'm noticing the 920/1040 simulcast here at home n Oreland, and it seems 920's audio level is up a bit with the switch. 1040 is almost local-like here during the day. Will be interesting to see what its new DA-3 setup will have for signals.

 

[DG02816]

just checked again tonight and 1040 is a jumble. Sounds like WCHR way under WHO Des Moines. Not sure if the extra 500 watts will do nay good when the CP is built out. But we'll see...

 

[super-g]

I tried listening to 920 last night and this morning while driving. No signal at all in Fort Washington, Ambler, and Blue Bell areas.

 

[DG02816]

If you were listening last night, 920 is pretty much a jumble ue to WPHY needing to protect Providence and Lewistown.There have been times when CKNX Wingham ON pops up...

 

[marcus250]

ok i just heard that 1040 will still be wchr until january 28 which means 3 weeks of this crap! i also heard a game on 920 yesterday i guess they are still under contract with certain sports teams to broadcast their games!

 

[marcus250]

did 1040 WCHR increase their power today or yesterday?

ok i just heard that 1040 will still be wchr until january 28 which means 3 weeks of this crap! i also heard a game on 920 yesterday i guess they are still under contract with certain sports teams to broadcast their games!

i notice i get them a lot better at night now!

 

[amfmsw]

Q?: Who owns 920? Radio-Locator has link to Nassau Broadcasting, with Office mailing address of 224 Maugers Mill Road, Pottstown.

That's WPAZ's "Broadcast Lodge", HQ for Scott Broadcasting, former owners of WCHR. Do they still own the old sister AM?

 

[DG02816]

Taking a look at the FCC's website, I get the following ownership info.:

NASSAU BROADCASTING II, LLC
Address: 619 ALEXANDER RD
Address 2: 3RD FLOOR
City: PRINCETON
State: NJ

 

[Band-Scanner]

It's deja vu all over again. When Nassau originally purchased WCHR/WTTM I believe they moved all the religious programming to 920 and they put classic rock on 94.5.

Just as an aside....back in the late 60's I heard a little pirate on 1610. They gave out a street address in Yardley Pa. When we showed up there they directed us over to the WTTM/WCHR vicinity. Turned out it was a kid who lived VERY close to them. He picked up the radio bug hanging around Chuck Zauker (or something like it)

Back then WCHR had their studios at the xmtr site while the AM studios were in the City of Trenton at the Carteret Arms, primarily an apartment complex.

BTW the kid's 1610 transmitter was contained in a vertical "Erector set" with lots of alligator clips!!

 

[DG02816]

Bob Galerstein just put this on the National Radio Club's listserver, about 1040's new call:
Better log WCHR - 1040, Flemington, NJ, this week. It'll change to WNJE next week when it starts its 24/7 LMA with WEPN - 1050.

Bob Galerstein WB2VGD
Monroe, NY

 

[John1]

It's deja vu all over again. When Nassau originally purchased WCHR/WTTM I believe they moved all the religious programming to 920 and they put classic rock on 94.5.

Actually they first switched 94.5 to WNJO as an oldies station when they moved the WCHR calls to 920 (and the WTTM calls ended up on 1680 as a sports station). Classic Rock as the Hawk came along later. WNJO was a popular alternative among posting oldies listeners to WOGL and even picked up Mike St. John for a short time, but again the 'older demo' idea doomed the oldies format and they went to the (slightly younger demo) classic hits format.

 

[Phillyradiogeek]

I LOVED WNJO! They definitely were a better oldies station than OGL. In addition to Mike St. John, they also featured Bobby Sharpe, another OGL refugee. Like other oldies stations, NJO dropped most pre-1964 titles from their library, but they had a better blend of musical styles than the R&B-heavy OGL. I was very disappointed when they flipped to the Hawk, a station that seeked to fill a hole that I don't think existed.