S
Shadow Catcher
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1520 WSVX signed on 12a Sunday. Localy owned and operated. Community radio ain't dead just yet.
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Just checked their website, looks like it's still under construction. Are they music, or talk?
S
Shadow Catcher
Guest
Music format with strong community ties. (You gatta fishfry, we're there w/ a 2 hour remote). County highschool sports. Partyline. News.
Is it live or is it memorex?
radioho said:
Maybe - but more likely not... Consider the local ownership and their initiative to literally keep this station alive.
http://www.shelbynews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=49074&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=&S=1
This is one of the tightest fits ever forced into a dress - and it's AWAY FROM INDY with NO chance for a modification because of second-adjacent WBRI at 1500kHz.
Is it so very difficult to imagine a group of local guys who actually wish to provide a growing community with decent local radio service? I hope not!
BEST WISHES, WSVX
hipporadio said:
No. There are a LOT of TRUE radio people that can not only provide good local programming, but profit as well.
I'm referring to the WKLU, ZPL, Shirk, and all the others out there that have bastardized local radio by taking the voice away from local communities only to be cookie-cutter INDY market stations (don't try to act like there's a difference between one rock station or the other - all the same).
They should NEVER have been allowed to boost their signals strong enough to reach outside their counties of license. If they can't profit in their licensed county, they should sell to someone who can. And owners should be REQUIRED to reside in their county of license - like the communities they ARE LICENSED IN! Not just millionaires blowing in, dropping a lot of cash, and stealing a communities' voice.
But anytime the goverment is involved - it's about politics and big money (and who pays/bribes the most!)
Radio in this state has suffered BECAUSE of these stations in the surrounding counties shooting into Indy.
hipporadio said:
radioho said:
AGREED, radioho! I suspect those four Shelbyville guys with Three Towers may have more altruistic intentions with the 1520 frequency and its C.O.L. then did Cecil Heftel [with 50kw on 99.5 from Greenfield].
Interesting and somewhat ironic [Shelbyville considered] that you missed the actual FM frequency [97.1] which motivated the migration of many sub-politan FMs into nearby Indy back in 1980. That’s when Emmis [on their maiden voyage] purchased then-WSVL-FM from its local owner [John Hartnett], hoisted steel near Fairland, and launched the “Lite-Rock/Less Talk” revolution. That would be a “revolution” of sorts in more than one respect... The very-successful WENS model became the basis for what later would become massive abuse of the Commission's “then-sacred” Table of Allocations intended to provide for a “fair distribution” of FM service. Today, the very existence of that T.O.C. has become little-more than a “hypocritical nuisance” at the “corporately-inspired” FCC. Make no mistake... “Grandpa Emmis” conformed to the letter and spirit of the rules at that time, and many similar “move-ins” that followed were in the public interest. What has become “business as usual” in recent years IS FAR from ANY public interest qualification... They are shameless and self-promoting misadventures [rubber-stamped by a comatose Commission] that only benefit the coffers [and “clusters”] of those who have raked havoc on a once-fine industry.
All we can hope for is success to the “brave” who attempt to re-serve communities like Shelbyville – even if such requires use of the “anciently-modulated” band. This will depend on the realities of a true mathematical equation: good broadcasting [plus] a reciprocal appreciation within the local business community [equals] “service” and “success”.
radioho said:
Another word for “bribe” might be “campaign contribution”. Unfortunately, it IS about “politics and big money” – there is nothing new about that - EXCEPT the public’s growing distain for this escalating conduct – especially when it involves a public asset [a radio frequency] effectively-LENDED [in trust] to a licensee who later treats such as a form of legalized counterfeiting. Despite my strongly-Libertarian philosophy and [diminishing] Republican politics – it’s high-time for a healthy re-injection of “real regulation” :'(
""Make no mistake... “Grandpa Emmis” conformed to the letter and spirit of the rules at that time"".
Very true...As the first employee of Emmis & CE at WENS for 2 decades, I'll vouch for the integrity of the way things were done. Indeed the most used studio was in Indy, but there was a fully functional STL delivered studio at the old WSVL studio site complete with "management presence". The Sunday Night public affairs programming was all run from that studio, even though no one would have known the difference. Jeff knew the rules & played fully by them. I still recall when we turned the Fairland monster on, the new Indy studio was not ready. We ran WSVL programming on that big stick for about 10 days. Talk about something that sounded out of place inside 465! That sign on is coming up on it's 26 year anniversary here in a couple of days.
Very true...As the first employee of Emmis & CE at WENS for 2 decades, I'll vouch for the integrity of the way things were done. Indeed the most used studio was in Indy, but there was a fully functional STL delivered studio at the old WSVL studio site complete with "management presence". The Sunday Night public affairs programming was all run from that studio, even though no one would have known the difference. Jeff knew the rules & played fully by them. I still recall when we turned the Fairland monster on, the new Indy studio was not ready. We ran WSVL programming on that big stick for about 10 days. Talk about something that sounded out of place inside 465! That sign on is coming up on it's 26 year anniversary here in a couple of days.
I will miss the AM side of the Rural Co-Op owned 1520am... I worked with their on-line and website trade as WKWH... The processing was splended, and it was a 'jack of local trade' before the Jock in a box Jack came along... VERY DIRECTIONAL... It will be a North-South dominate station with Anderson to Seymour signal and just about Greenwood/Franklin over to Rushville.... I loved seeing their presence at the local business fairs at the high school and such... What are they playing as music???? Their old PD had a fishtank of guppies and a paranah.. The paranah never ate the mom and pop guppies, only the offspring, every few days... Smart fish.....
BobOnTheJob said:
Hard to believe it's been that long, Bob. I'm sure there are lots of us that have fond memories of the much-beloved "Hawthorne Radio Center" (regardless of what station was there at the time) with that "someplace special" bumper sticker in the men's room urinal. ;D
Back on topic, I wish WSVX all the best..good to see some communities with local voices.
I guess the feds could have started by not making the stations in Greenfield and Shelbyville 50 kW. Its kind of silly to think that people needed to hear the Greenfield obituaries 70 miles away. So would Indy radio be better with only those few stations licensed to Indianapolis operating as Indy market stations? Could WSVL-FM keep a substantial part of Shelbyville listeners away from the Indianapolis stations? Even with iPods and satellite radio a factor?
gr8oldies said:
It's NOT about the listeners. They have to able to reach 70 miles away so the OWNERS and STAFF can hear their station in the OFFICES 70 miles away! It's quite a distance between Brownsburg and Castleton, Shelbyville and the Circle, etc.
gr8oldies said:
Why do you watch WTHR or any other local newscast when you have Fox News, CNN, etc?
I thought the point of radio was SERVING THE PUBLIC - not the owner's wallet?
If the 50 kw was not allowed in Shelbyville, Brownsburg, etc., then there would theorically be MORE signals available in the outlying areas - wouldn't there? Less impeding signals would result in more geographic areas available.
The way it is now, of course you're going to compete in Indy - why wouldn't you? My point is it SHOULDN"T have been allowed to get to this point.
Obviously there is no reversing this AWFUL situation, and listeners suffer. Which is why more and more seek their entertainment elsewhere. Big radio is destined to go the way of newspapers. Too generic and no personality.
Remember all the personalities of the 70s here in Indy? When radio stations had PERSONALITIES? Not just DJ personalities, but an overall STATION personality? Those same people would be gagged and ordered to read liners today - such a shame.
S
ScatzerFan
Guest
Am I missing something? Was AM 1520 dark for a time...or did it just change ownership, call letters & format?
I worked there 15 years ago. I remember Bob on the Job cruising in to update the WENS public file.
It wasn't WSVL or WKWH in my day........it was the WOOO !!!!!
Wayne Thomas, Mark Gravely & Dene Britt's Party Line!
Nothing was bigger than the Shelbyville Sectional (5 teams....all from Shelby County....before this harrible Class Basketball thing) or of course the Shelby County Tourney in January.
I worked there 15 years ago. I remember Bob on the Job cruising in to update the WENS public file.
It wasn't WSVL or WKWH in my day........it was the WOOO !!!!!
Wayne Thomas, Mark Gravely & Dene Britt's Party Line!
Nothing was bigger than the Shelbyville Sectional (5 teams....all from Shelby County....before this harrible Class Basketball thing) or of course the Shelby County Tourney in January.
BobOnTheJob said:
1520 WSVL – next WOOO [country or oldies?] – then WKWH [fairly-good classic hits] – now WSVX... More calls than towers – but oh so directional nonetheless! I’ll always remember a couple trivial points about that electrically-tall array... On S.R. 44 east of the I-74 intersection, you can see the tower lights at night across the barren cornfields in winter, but hear very-little from Shelbyville on 1520. During the WOOOOO era, there was a six-month period when the center obstruction light on the middle tower was out... Passing the site on I-74 at S.R. 9, the “rectangle” formed by the remaining lights may have led the uninitiated to believe that our nation’s largest drive-in theater screen was being highlighted for all the interstate passer-bys to marvel at. The width of that inline array appears to just slightly exceed its height – YIKES! I may have been “challenged” [putting it mildly] in high-school algebra, but 1520’s facility appears to be the product of some mad scientist in AM antenna design.
I’ve also heard the many horror stories about bandwidth and audio quality associated with these diabolical directional creations [I understand a similar situation exists at 1350 WIOU in Kokomo]. It’s been a few years since I’ve listened to WKWH [on an analog-tuned Tivoli table radio with exceptional AM audio potential from Greenwood]. While its sound seemed better than “typical”, it appeared to fall well-short of maximum modulation level. I found this puzzling, considering they were so tightly-spaced to then-WSAI [Cincinnati] with its IBOC chainsaw ripping into everything from 1510-1550 kHz... Has anything changed since then [certainly the I-BUZZ from 1530 hasn’t], and should Bob-be-on-that-job also?
Could that inline "notch-master" allow for an audio impression remotely-similar to the awesome display at 1580 WIFE in Connersville that Bob created? If so, the four guys with three towers seeking a second chance for Shelbyville’s first radio voice might be well-served by kicking things up to the max – with some “hot ‘n nasty sidebands” to enhance their vital local listening [and “get even” with 1530’s HD experiment over Decatur County]... OOPS [I forgot], NO HD reception from Cincy’s 1530 exists there – lots of “buzz” but no “bang”
After listening to an hour of the WSVX morning show, I'm impressed. It is chock full of local content and the product is surprsingly smooth & polished. Very few songs used as filler. This is Shelby County Fair week, so it will be interesting to see if they keep that level of localism up when life settles down to a dull roar. Technical sound is better than from Rushville...sounds less mashed. So far, they get a passing grade from BOTJ.
I wish WSVX all the best...but are listeners in Greenfield and Shelbyville really "suffering"? Is it at all possible that a station that doesn't sign off at 10pm might be on the air for a severe weather warning, even if the main focus is the larger market? Certainly, if WSMJ and WSVL-FM was 3000 watts, not 50,000 (or the potential to go 50,000), they may wellbe doing lost dog reports and obituaries to this day. then again, they might be K-Love affiliates.
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