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WPLY-AM Dark????

P

plooker

Anybody know the status of 960-AM in Mt.Pocono. I was driving up to Syracuse the other day, and as force of habit, whenever I see an antenna that I know, I pop on the station to see whats up. So I tuned in, and was picking up a 960 from Sayre, Pa. (poorly)
I think this is a Nassau Broadcasting station, and was wondering if it was sold, or shut off due to the bankruptcy. It isn't much of a signal, so no great loss, but I was just curious....
 
H Plooker,

From what I can gleam from the FCC wbsite, this station has been silent since 06/28/2011, no other information known at this time!

James
Austin, Texas
 
Thanks James....


Funny, went to FCC.gov myself, just got the same answer, although no other info. I have a client who wants a signal in that area, so was curious as to the status. Also heard from a friend a few minutes ago that the property needs a ton of work! Its a directional array, and my friend said that the signal has been runnin omni for awhile, that might be why it got shut off, not sure tho.

Anyone out there know if this signal is for sale?????

Thanks,
Paul L.
 
I can you what I remember, as I worked there for not quite two years in the ‘80s when it was WPCN. I replaced Stosh, who’d left for Z-95 in Allentown. It was owned by Emil Wagner (who owned Mount Airy Lodge), Al DeHope and George and Janet Buynak. It went through several format changes. I think its last one was oldies. It’s a daytimer. If I remember correctly, it’s 250 watts. WPCN applied for, and received, pre- and post-sunset authorities, but it was only for about 10 watts. I did afternoon drive and I remember I used to have to switch the headphones input to program audio rather than air monitor in the fall and winter because we’d get buried by a station from Connecticut. You couldn’t hear yourself in the headphones! WPCN shut down sometime around 1990. Entercom either owned it or leased it briefly, as it put WILK on the frequency for a short time, though it later pulled it and ran, I believe, Fox Sports. Shortly there after, around the mid ‘90s, WVPO/WSBG bought it – ironic, as WVPO was WPCN’s main competition. It used 960 AM as a WVPO translator. When Nassau bought VPO/SBG, it got 960 AM as well. PCN’s studios were in Mount Pocono. I don’t remember the names of the roads, but it was right off Route 940, maybe a quarter to half mile from the junction of 940 and I-380. At the time, and this is 1984, it was a nice, new building. I stopped to look at it a handful of times since. There was a real estate office in it for a while, and last I saw, it was vacant. Ironically, sitting outside of it, near the side entrance, like a piece of unwanted junk was our old commercial cart rack. Nobody made any money; with a weak signal, you couldn’t charge much for ads. But I have many pleasant memories from my time there, as it was a fun place to work and a lot of nice people worked there – the Buynaks, for example, were great people. But the signal was horrendous. I remember I couldn’t get it any further west than the Blakeslee exit of I-80 at its peak. So, if it is dark, it probably isn’t much of a loss, unless it could be upgraded. And I do remember talk of it back in the ‘80s, but I don’t think it was possible because of the pattern of that very Connecticut station I mentioned, and that it was close to WILK 980 and the old WIBG/WZZD (990) in Philadelphia. But from what I know, which admittedly isn’t much, Nassau either was the last owner or is the current owner.
 
I have talked with close sources at Nassau. It wasn't oldies, it was just syndicated talk shows. Apparently, Nassau let WPLY slip completely down the drain. The transmitter was never maintained and they had been running off a lower power than what they were authorized to use (I couldn't even pick it up in Mountainhome, which is only about 4 miles from the transmitter). I'm not sure what lies in WPLY's future. Was hoping the FCC would allow another company to buy them out or hell even donate. I bet a pair of votech students would take better care of it than Nassau ever did.
 
When I lived in the Poconos I lived about two blocks from the building. By the time I moved there, early to mid 90’s, WPCN was no more and was known as WPMR AM/FM . A gentleman from Mt. Pocono owned the station. At first it was only the AM station which he started as a rock station (it sounded a little like WZZO) until he got the transmitter up and running – that is another funny story in itself! Once he had the transmitter up the AM did a simulcast the FM. The FM transmitter was about 20 feet from the studio door. (I was able to pick up 107.9 on everything including the baby monitor.) By 1995 or 1996 the FM became KRZ’s Pocono station while the AM was part of the WILK Network. By late 1996 or 1997 they moved the FM transmitter to the top of Big Pocono (or so I was told). The AM went dark for a short period of time and than somehow Nassau picked it up. I seem to think they did do sports for a while until they began to simulcast WVPO. I may be a little off with the dates but I think they are rather close to being accurate.

I was never at the AM transmitter site but I have been told by a former radio engineer, who worked for Nassau, that the site is a disaster. He told me that it should have been designated a Superfund site. I was never sure if he was joking. I can say the signal for WPMR was very limited. It could not be heard much past Swiftwater, Gouldsboro or Pocono Pines.

I will say that for a small station they did a great job. I know after the station some ended up at WZZO and I think I heard one or two on WNNJ.
 
L.A. Let's see what i can fix from what you said.............i didn't 'leave' WPCN; i was told by the secretary that i was going to be 'fired' by janet when i came back from vacation; so i 'quit' but wound up collecting anyway...............i didn't see that wonderful atmosphere at WPCN but i did meat a ton of 'p1' listeners (people who were dedicated to listening and supporting the station) and a few people at the station that i loved and had a lot of fun with plus it was one of the best learning experiences ever..............i sat around for a few months; went to WEJL, was let go after it was automated; was hired by WEAB AM and worked there for 3 years BEFORE i worked at WZZO.....is that you i hear on WILK on sunday's???

by far my favorite memory of WPCN is the night that i was drunker than drunk and was driven by the towers on 380N (or west at that time) and i blurted WTF one of the towers was missing and everybody else laughed.............the next day i didn't have to come to work because someone did cut the tower down in the middle of the night................
 
Hey Stosh:
Sorry, I never knew the details of your departure. At the time, they told me you’d left for a bigger station! Later, I heard you on Z-95 so I assumed that was the “bigger station” for which you’d left. I worked there from ’84 to ’86 and I did have a good time there. A handful of us used to hang around together – you could find us many nights at the Little Brown Jug on Route 611 in Mount Pocono, which I’m sure you remember, or the occasional stop at Ho Ho’s in Stroudsburg. But there were some run-ins. I don’t remember the details, but once in ’85 there was a story about some kind of chemical or something having been found on the Mount Airy grounds. The story’s on the front page of the Pocono Record and we were told not to run it! They had the news director at the time, Andrea Litz (who later worked at WNNJ), the guy who did news in the afternoon John King, and me, screaming at them we looked like fools if we tried to spike the story, but we had to. And there were a few others like that. But overall, it was still a fun place to work. There were a few people who worked there who later moved on to "bigger and better" things -- you, Dawn Timmeny, later of WBRE and Philly TV, George Roberts, for years the anchor on Blue Ridge Eyewatch News. I quit to work in retail after a format flip to country, then was at KRZ a year or so later. And I never heard the tower story before. That IS funny! Yes, that is me on WILK on Sundays and fill-ins.
 
Just stumbled on this thread. Had no idea my old station had finally met its demise...

For background, I purchased the station around 1990 from a Mount Pocono couple (already mentioned) and the majority stockholders (who were the principles in the old Mount Airy Lodge). Mount Airy invested in the station years before when the prospect of casino gambling was floating around. Guess they figured it'd be a good investment...

For a standalone AM, it had a pretty tight following. As Stosh mentioned, lots of folks were pretty into the station. Unfortunately, that really never translated into profit, so the station pretty much stumbled along for years.

I started the process to secure the license for 107.9 around 1983. I bought the then WPCN after I won the license and was looking to build. The STL tower on the studio property of WPCN suited me just fine to hang the FM element and get going. My former neighbor above was correct...some folks were getting 107.9 on their fillings. (!)

The tower site for 960 was a beautiful piece of real estate just north of 380s junction with 80. Never had confirmation of 'superfund' action, but I had my suspicions. The color of the fluid oozing out at the foot of that hill was something to see...

As the station had never really been too profitable for the Mount Airy folks, maintenance suffered. Ground screen was exposed and missing in some spots and the underground coax ran through pipes filled with water. Getting that station to proof was impossible...even with a brand new transmitter that I put in shortly after taking over.

Nassau's involvement is kind of a joke. They bought it primarily to be able to sell the towers to Pinnacle and walk away from maintenance. They never did anything to bring the directional back into compliance, in spite of what was at one time pretty deep pockets.

And here we are.

Like many directional AMs, 960 isn't even worth the land it occupies. Only now, it doesn't even own that land.

:-(
 
"i blurted WTF one of the towers was missing and everybody else laughed.............the next day i didn't have to come to work because someone did cut the tower down in the middle of the night................"

"Nassau's involvement is kind of a joke. They bought it primarily to be able to sell the towers to Pinnacle and walk away from maintenance. They never did anything to bring the directional back into compliance, in spite of what was at one time pretty deep pockets."


Case solved! :D
 
Paulk01, can you tell us the exact location of the studios when you lived there? Might be worth a drive by to see if the building still stands.
 
Northeast corner of Heath Lane and Mountain Drive in Mount Pocono. Building and STL/FM tower still there.

Jack Williams Tire on the corner of Heath Lane and PA 940.
 
stoshman said:
C'mon Jeff I'm offended you didn't give the number of the address; i'd bet a quarter you know it by heart...........
Click to expand...

Trying to discourage Jehova's Witnesses. :)

We stopped saying "Heath Lane" on the air because nobody was getting it. Weiners would call and ask for directions. When we'd say "Heath," they'd repeat it as Heat or Heap.

Turn in at Midas and make your first left.

Everybody got that. LOL..
 
Thanks Jeff Woehrle for the info! I actually talked to an engineer who worked at the site a few years back and he corroborated the situation. Basically the antenna system is in such disrepair that it wasn't practical to spend money on it. This fellow I talked to said it wasn't really Nassau's fault, fixing a low watt AM was just not financially feasible. The terrain is quite challenging where the towers are, part swamp, part mountain top.. so its either rocks or water, and that wreaked havoc on the ground system. He told me it wouldn't be worth saving if Nassau gave the station away, the repairs would cost into the 6 figure area...
And moving the signal isn't an option because it is so short spaced... So unfortunately, it looks like another AM signal goes dark.

But if anyone out there knows of any other signal being sold here in NEPA, at a reasonable price, could they please post the info here. It would be greatly appreciated...
 
From the FCC file 6/2011

NASSAU BROADCASTING II, L.L.C., LICENSEE OF WPLY(AM), MOUNT POCONO, PENNSYLVANIA (THE STATION), REQUESTS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY (STA) TO REMAIN SILENT FOR 180 DAYS. IN ORDER FOR WPLY(AM) TO OPERATE AT ITS CURRENTLY LICENSED PARAMETERS, TECHNICAL WORK IS NEEDED TO DETERMINE IF THE STATION'S SEVERELY DETERIORATED ANTENNA SYSTEM SHOULD BE REPAIRED OR REPLACED. WHILE TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS ARE BEING EVALUATED, WPLY(AM) REQUESTS STA TO REMAIN SILENT.

The FCC file shows them as 1000 watts day, 20 watts night.
 
I have no idea if PLY means anything, but its previous call letters had significance. WPCN was Pocono with the "o." The Buynaks told me several times that's why they picked them. WPMR was Pocono Mountain Radio. Don't know what PLY could mean.
 
Is this a case of someone parking the old calls of Y-100 100.3 in Philadelphia in hopes of them being resurected and then they can be sold? Didn't know they were dark, I'm surprised it took this long!! WHYL 960 in Carlisle PA came in better in Hunterdon County than this Mt Pocono station did. I remember when they got permission to broadcast at night in the 1980's.
 
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