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WQQQ local programming to be silenced....
- Thread starter marshall miles
- Start date
I hate to see a live and local independently owned station go...guess somebody hit Dennis just right with an offer he couldn't refuse....RIP WQQQ................shame
oldies4ever :'(
oldies4ever :'(
Wow! That is too bad. WQQQ was a good station. They did a nice job with limited resources. With big market stations struggling life for an independent small town station must be very hard .With WKZE in reality being a Red Hook station, now the area will be without a commercial station serving it. Local service will be left to non- commercial WHDD, which has very limited range.
I guess this is the day for very bad news. After 41 years with the same employer I was laid off today, for the first time in my life. This economy is really bad and I don’t care what the experts say, it is getting worse .WQQQ probably won’t be last local station to fall.
I guess this is the day for very bad news. After 41 years with the same employer I was laid off today, for the first time in my life. This economy is really bad and I don’t care what the experts say, it is getting worse .WQQQ probably won’t be last local station to fall.
Another local station bites the dust... btw, don't they also own WRIP in Catskill? That's a pretty good locally-owned station too 
There's a lot of locally-owned stations in the Mohawk Valley (including WSDE, WENT, WIZR and WFNY) which have been around for many years (and WFNY and WIZR both have AM-to-FM translators)... and WIZR recently went back to independent ownership after a decade or so under Pamal ownership (why? they should've spun it off much earlier... think they only really wanted 104.9, which is a waste of a signal)... and also WCKM/WCQL/WWSC in the Glens Falls area are the only Glens Falls stations not owned by Pamal
There's a lot of locally-owned stations in the Mohawk Valley (including WSDE, WENT, WIZR and WFNY) which have been around for many years (and WFNY and WIZR both have AM-to-FM translators)... and WIZR recently went back to independent ownership after a decade or so under Pamal ownership (why? they should've spun it off much earlier... think they only really wanted 104.9, which is a waste of a signal)... and also WCKM/WCQL/WWSC in the Glens Falls area are the only Glens Falls stations not owned by Pamal
"now the area will be without a commercial station serving it. Local service will be left to non- commercial WHDD, which has very limited range."
WHDD 91.9 FM just installed a new tower, and will. be just about doubling its power output in the next few days...that means WHDD FM will cover from the Cornwall's up thru Falls Village, to Canaan to the east..and from Copake, down thru Millerton, thru Amenia to the west. Our retransmission on WBSL FM in Sheffield, MA has us covering all of South County MA. Our AM WHDD AM 1020 can be heard from Poughkeepsie to Torrington, From Stockbridge, MA to New Milford...we think thats great coverage for our area..it's the area we focus on, and it's the area we cover.
WHDD 91.9 FM just installed a new tower, and will. be just about doubling its power output in the next few days...that means WHDD FM will cover from the Cornwall's up thru Falls Village, to Canaan to the east..and from Copake, down thru Millerton, thru Amenia to the west. Our retransmission on WBSL FM in Sheffield, MA has us covering all of South County MA. Our AM WHDD AM 1020 can be heard from Poughkeepsie to Torrington, From Stockbridge, MA to New Milford...we think thats great coverage for our area..it's the area we focus on, and it's the area we cover.
Between Miles's enmity toward WQQQ and the Waterbury newspaper, you'd think WQQQ was going dark! That's false, of course. Rather, we are changing the direction of our programming to provide a menu of professional, intelligent, non-commercial news, talk, and interview programs and music programs that for the most part have not been available in our Tri-State area.
WQQQ operates the most powerful signal between Hartford, Albany and Poughkeepsie, and the WSHU group is one of the most respected and successful public radio groups in the country. We're excited about partnering with them. In some dayparts, they lead all other stations in affluent Fairfield County. From 9 to 10 AM on Monday, February 7 we plan to broadcast an extended "Q Morning Show" with Joe and Marie, the WSHU team, and myself to introduce the new program lineup to the community.
Dennis Jackson, Founder/Owner
Ridgefield Broadcasting Corp.
WQQQ operates the most powerful signal between Hartford, Albany and Poughkeepsie, and the WSHU group is one of the most respected and successful public radio groups in the country. We're excited about partnering with them. In some dayparts, they lead all other stations in affluent Fairfield County. From 9 to 10 AM on Monday, February 7 we plan to broadcast an extended "Q Morning Show" with Joe and Marie, the WSHU team, and myself to introduce the new program lineup to the community.
Dennis Jackson, Founder/Owner
Ridgefield Broadcasting Corp.
If I can record an aircheck of the last day of WQQQ's "Q-103" as of next Monday, I might be posting it afterwards. I listened to a little bit on WQQQ and it does come out well in Kingston. It's on 103.3, but it is spattering WJGK's "The Fox" at 103.1 in Newburgh when I was on my way to New Paltz to my job.
I have said nothing about WQQQ going dark, as a matter of fact, when questioned by newspapers, I welcomed WSHU to the air and wished them good luck....but, as you will read in the following article, The GM, and Assistant GM of WQQQ are the ones passing around the "obit" of WQQQ
http://www.registercitizen.com/arti...4d430510da4b7092075863.txt?viewmode=fullstory
And for those of you who are Facebook members, here is the releae from WQQQ's Assistant GM
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=493729028586&id=1244704871
For those of you not Facebook members, here is Marie's post
On October 7, 1993 WQQQ signed onto the airwaves and instantly came to be the voice of the Tri-State Region. Q103 has informed you, kept you posted, laughed with you, cried with you and became your neighbor and part of your family. We have had many changes over the years, but we have always been your Tri-State Leader. We have been with you through many events, some nationally, many local, some good, some bad, we have been there to help you through… Sept. 11, 2001, Housatonic Valley Relay For Life, Chili Cook Offs, Parade of Lights and Hometown Holidays, Rail Road Days, Sing Your Heart Out 2007, United Way Food Drive and Shred It Days, Tri Sate Chamber Festival, Community Days, Husdon Valley Dock Dogs, Lime Rock Park Races, Pet Adoptions, Salisbury Ski Jumps, CT Children’s Medical Center Bake Sale, Run, Walk and Roll, Stuffed Animal Drive, Amenia Out Reach Program, Festival of Trees, Sharon Hospital Health Fair, Grand Opening of Salisbury Bank Offices, The New Birthing Suits at Sharon Hospital, Sunday In The Country and their food drive, and so many more. We kept you informed during our Storm Watch, helped find your lost pets with our Pet Patrol (remember Calypos and her trek through two states?). We celebrated anniversary and birthdays with you and even birth announcements of new arrivals as it is happening. We have kept you, the community informed. We have kept you healthy with Dr. Zelman and Health Matters. We have brought you interviews with authors such as Dean Koontz, Tami Hoag, Janet Evonovich, Nelson DeMille, Benjamin Tripp, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Jeffrey Deaver. We have also highlighted local artists like Steve Dunn Band, Chris Cassone and his Route 22 song, Donny Sawyer, Phil Milano, Sam Kaplan, Christina Dellea and many more. We had the American Art Mural Project on along with Tri Arts Sharon Playhouse, Falls Village Children’s Theatre, and Macey Levin with Aglet Theatre.We have brought it all to you through the years. As we find out in life, all things good and bad must come to an end. It is with very heavy hearts that after 17 years Q103 will no longer be broadcasting. On Monday February 7, 2011 the airwaves will no longer be broadcasting your live, local, community station. At this time we would like to thank all of you for your continued support through these years.
Friday February 4th will be the last broadcast of Joe and Marie on Q103.We would like to invite anyone who wants, stop in that morning and say hello and visit with us.
http://www.registercitizen.com/arti...4d430510da4b7092075863.txt?viewmode=fullstory
And for those of you who are Facebook members, here is the releae from WQQQ's Assistant GM
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=493729028586&id=1244704871
For those of you not Facebook members, here is Marie's post
On October 7, 1993 WQQQ signed onto the airwaves and instantly came to be the voice of the Tri-State Region. Q103 has informed you, kept you posted, laughed with you, cried with you and became your neighbor and part of your family. We have had many changes over the years, but we have always been your Tri-State Leader. We have been with you through many events, some nationally, many local, some good, some bad, we have been there to help you through… Sept. 11, 2001, Housatonic Valley Relay For Life, Chili Cook Offs, Parade of Lights and Hometown Holidays, Rail Road Days, Sing Your Heart Out 2007, United Way Food Drive and Shred It Days, Tri Sate Chamber Festival, Community Days, Husdon Valley Dock Dogs, Lime Rock Park Races, Pet Adoptions, Salisbury Ski Jumps, CT Children’s Medical Center Bake Sale, Run, Walk and Roll, Stuffed Animal Drive, Amenia Out Reach Program, Festival of Trees, Sharon Hospital Health Fair, Grand Opening of Salisbury Bank Offices, The New Birthing Suits at Sharon Hospital, Sunday In The Country and their food drive, and so many more. We kept you informed during our Storm Watch, helped find your lost pets with our Pet Patrol (remember Calypos and her trek through two states?). We celebrated anniversary and birthdays with you and even birth announcements of new arrivals as it is happening. We have kept you, the community informed. We have kept you healthy with Dr. Zelman and Health Matters. We have brought you interviews with authors such as Dean Koontz, Tami Hoag, Janet Evonovich, Nelson DeMille, Benjamin Tripp, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Jeffrey Deaver. We have also highlighted local artists like Steve Dunn Band, Chris Cassone and his Route 22 song, Donny Sawyer, Phil Milano, Sam Kaplan, Christina Dellea and many more. We had the American Art Mural Project on along with Tri Arts Sharon Playhouse, Falls Village Children’s Theatre, and Macey Levin with Aglet Theatre.We have brought it all to you through the years. As we find out in life, all things good and bad must come to an end. It is with very heavy hearts that after 17 years Q103 will no longer be broadcasting. On Monday February 7, 2011 the airwaves will no longer be broadcasting your live, local, community station. At this time we would like to thank all of you for your continued support through these years.
Friday February 4th will be the last broadcast of Joe and Marie on Q103.We would like to invite anyone who wants, stop in that morning and say hello and visit with us.
Re: WQQQ programming to change....
Marie and Joe's piece was beautiful, heartfelt, and expressed the way thousands of people feel. How does one recap a 17 1/2 year heritage of hometown radio? It's certainly not an easy decision for an owner to change the direction of a radio station like Q-103 after all that time, with so many people having put so much of their hearts, minds, and lives into it - and no one more than Joe Loverro. But at the same time, our new programming includes local news and public service and will have a broad local following. At the end of the day, the FCC mandates that commercial radio is a business, and the programming change was a business decision.
Marie and Joe's piece was beautiful, heartfelt, and expressed the way thousands of people feel. How does one recap a 17 1/2 year heritage of hometown radio? It's certainly not an easy decision for an owner to change the direction of a radio station like Q-103 after all that time, with so many people having put so much of their hearts, minds, and lives into it - and no one more than Joe Loverro. But at the same time, our new programming includes local news and public service and will have a broad local following. At the end of the day, the FCC mandates that commercial radio is a business, and the programming change was a business decision.
Nobody said 103.3 were going dark, just that WQQQ will no longer be local. I am sure this is very difficult for you. Being local was something Q103 did well despite the limited resources of being in a mostly rural small town area. Your sales team did a good job reaching out to small business , selling those co-op adds , where 4 business in one area got 15 seconds to describe their business . That was something unique I had not heard elsewhere. I know by necessity Q103 was automated much of the time but the station still did plenty to support and report on local events. In fact you did a better job than the bigger stations owned by groups in my hometown Hyde Park NY, near Poughkeepsie, which mostly had somebody read the headlines from the local paper and called it news. I know some people will trash you for this business decision , but financially thing are tough for a small station. I first discovered WQQQ at my home in Hyde Park long before my job got transferred to the Grand union in Millerton, a job ironically; I was laid off from yesterday after 41 years with the company, so I share the pain.
Is it correct that 103.3 will be mostly simulating WSHU? The newspaper article says mornings will be from NPR, which WHDD does not carry, because they have their own local show. But what about when WHDD has the NPR programming like All Things Considered? Don’t they have the rights to that?
Is it correct that 103.3 will be mostly simulating WSHU? The newspaper article says mornings will be from NPR, which WHDD does not carry, because they have their own local show. But what about when WHDD has the NPR programming like All Things Considered? Don’t they have the rights to that?
Re: WQQQ programming to change....
Thank you very much for the appreciation, MHVRadiofan. It's GM Joe Loverro, Marie, Ron, Judy, and so many others who get the credit for the good work of Q-103. Their dedication has always been what made it happen. And when a founder holds on to a station, they have the luxury of no debt, investors, or lenders to answer to. Once there's a sale, a new agenda called "maximizing profit" may take precedence over what the Register-Citizen called "the fairy tale" of good old-fashioned community radio. That even affects marginal non-commercial stations that are under financial pressure and constantly begging for any money they can get from listeners, advertisers, CPB, etc.
WRIP, BTW, is another model community station, thanks to GM Jay Fink, and the legacy of Guy Patrick Garraghan, may God rest his soul. To answer an earlier conjecture, we won't be making any changes at "The Rip" except to keep growing.
WSHU Public Radio produces programming for their station group as well as NPR, so there are many available program choices to fill out the schedule. I'm not sure they've even decided what that will be, but it will certainly include local news and public service.
Meanwhile, I hope you land on your feet, and wish you well.
Thank you very much for the appreciation, MHVRadiofan. It's GM Joe Loverro, Marie, Ron, Judy, and so many others who get the credit for the good work of Q-103. Their dedication has always been what made it happen. And when a founder holds on to a station, they have the luxury of no debt, investors, or lenders to answer to. Once there's a sale, a new agenda called "maximizing profit" may take precedence over what the Register-Citizen called "the fairy tale" of good old-fashioned community radio. That even affects marginal non-commercial stations that are under financial pressure and constantly begging for any money they can get from listeners, advertisers, CPB, etc.
WRIP, BTW, is another model community station, thanks to GM Jay Fink, and the legacy of Guy Patrick Garraghan, may God rest his soul. To answer an earlier conjecture, we won't be making any changes at "The Rip" except to keep growing.
WSHU Public Radio produces programming for their station group as well as NPR, so there are many available program choices to fill out the schedule. I'm not sure they've even decided what that will be, but it will certainly include local news and public service.
Meanwhile, I hope you land on your feet, and wish you well.
And by the way, for those of you who loves the oldies music on Friday nights, Friday is your last chance to hear "Friday Night Gold" with Joe Loverro on "Q103". I haven't listened to this show in quite some time, but I'm going to missed the oldies so much. I will record this aircheck starting at 7 PM until midnight when the show is over. After this, I will post an aircheck of the last "Friday Night Gold" on WQQQ's "Q103". It starts this Friday.
I hope it will do the same as Rick McCaffery did on his final "Solid Gold Jukebox" show on WBPM's former "Cool 92.9" back in early 2007. I can't wait! Oldies will live on forever, and it will be heard on WKNY on Saturday afternoons with Warren Lawrence with his oldies show.
I hope it will do the same as Rick McCaffery did on his final "Solid Gold Jukebox" show on WBPM's former "Cool 92.9" back in early 2007. I can't wait! Oldies will live on forever, and it will be heard on WKNY on Saturday afternoons with Warren Lawrence with his oldies show.
http://www.tcextra.com/news/publish/lakevillejournal/WQQQ_affiliates_with_NPR/1647400.shtml
I think this article in the Lakeville Journal clarifies where WQQQ owner Dennis Jackson
is coming from. After reading it I can’t really fault him for what he is doing. It’s just a shame. Even though I live in Hyde Park close to the bigger stations in Poughkeepsie I liked Q103 because it was small town radio. Although by necessity it was automated much of the time it reminded me of radio the way it used to be. It served the community, like the license say they should.
I think this article in the Lakeville Journal clarifies where WQQQ owner Dennis Jackson
is coming from. After reading it I can’t really fault him for what he is doing. It’s just a shame. Even though I live in Hyde Park close to the bigger stations in Poughkeepsie I liked Q103 because it was small town radio. Although by necessity it was automated much of the time it reminded me of radio the way it used to be. It served the community, like the license say they should.
Re: WQQQ programming to change....
Here's an intelligent article in The Litchfield County Times:
http://www.countytimes.com/articles...4d4acf505866b218593221.txt?viewmode=fullstory
It was not an easy decision because doing local radio was a passion for all who came through Q-103 FM over the years. However, no responsible group was apparent to carry that tradition forward. So given the choice between selling to a corporate conglomerator and allying with a responsible and respected regional public radio group operator who would bring professional public radio to the entire region for the first time, the choice was obvious.
Here's an intelligent article in The Litchfield County Times:
http://www.countytimes.com/articles...4d4acf505866b218593221.txt?viewmode=fullstory
It was not an easy decision because doing local radio was a passion for all who came through Q-103 FM over the years. However, no responsible group was apparent to carry that tradition forward. So given the choice between selling to a corporate conglomerator and allying with a responsible and respected regional public radio group operator who would bring professional public radio to the entire region for the first time, the choice was obvious.
Here is an aircheck that I'm going to be planning on. Starting at 5:30 until 9:00 AM, I will be recording the last morning show on "Q103" with Joe & Marie. And after this, I will be posting an aircheck of the show. And then afterwards, I will be recording the last "Friday Night Gold" with Joe Loverro playing your favorite oldies from the 50's and 60's one last time. And then, starting on Monday, I will be recording the last morning show until the format flips to NPR with a special "Q Morning Show" from 5:30 until 10 AM at a special time. This will be three specials on this station. So be prepared.
This morning, I posted an aircheck of the last morning show on "Q103" and it went on for 6 hours where they had guests and people from the station paying respects and gave their final goodbyes to the stations. The aircheck is now being posted in the "Aircheck Collectors" section of this board. Check it out!
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=184589.0
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=184589.0
The morning show going on right now is mostly routine music. It would be much better if you ,or somebody could distill the air check of the flip to something that is just a few minutes either side of the approximately 10AM change over.disney fanatic said:
I have the full aircheck of the last day of "Q-103". I recorded this morning at around 5:30 AM until it finally ended at around 10 AM until the station becomes WSHU Public Radio. The airchecks are now complete. I will be posting it later on.
MHVRadiofan said:
Here you go!
Part 1
http://www.mediafire.com/?68de4g11r68rmc5
(90 Minutes)
Part 2
http://www.mediafire.com/?3d3pjanrzkja1jj
(60 minutes)
Part 3
http://www.mediafire.com/?pge309j0y4qvpq8
(55 minutes)
Part 4
http://www.mediafire.com/?80a6p0uclgltl29
(70 minutes)
I checked the WQQQ's website that they are still streaming online playing the music, so you can listen to the stream at this link:
http://www.q103online.com
Re: WQQQ programming to change...
Disney Fanatic, did you happen to catch the 9 to 10 hour when we introduced the folks from WSHU? I had it recording at home off the stream, but the program apparently crashed and didn't get it. :-[ TIA.
Disney Fanatic, did you happen to catch the 9 to 10 hour when we introduced the folks from WSHU? I had it recording at home off the stream, but the program apparently crashed and didn't get it. :-[ TIA.
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