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diamondj
Guest
Salem flips call letters between their NYC (970AM) and Boston (1150AM) markets.
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diamondj said:
I've always wondered why Salem hadn't, umm, re-christened WWDJ as WWJD. There is a WWJD on FM in Kentucky (Class C3 at 91.7 with 7.3 kW@544' AAT licensed to Pippa Passes KY)--a non-comm owned by a college--most likely a Christian college. But if Salem had wanted the WWJD calls badly enough and wanted to use them on an AM, the company most likely could have come to terms with the college, which could have retained the calls for its FM. Now, what is the Spanish translation of the phrase, "What would Jesus do?" Something tells me the first two words don't begin with W.
Is WWDJ changing format; it either is about to increase to 50 kW-D or it did so rather recently. A new format could be coming to go with the higher power. One would think that if WWDJ is getting a new format and Salem wants the WTTT calls there, the new format would be the right wing talk that failed on 1150 here and is failing on WNTP 990 in Philadelphia, which runs 50 kW-D/10- kW-N. Or is Salem about to sell 1150 outright to the Florida Spanish Christian outfit that is LMAing it? If so, maybe Salem didn't want to let the calls go with the signal.
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spilot113
Guest
diamondj said:
I wonder why they would do that....?
diamondj said:
Even before this flip, I believe that 1150 held the Boston-market record for most calls over the station's history. I can't remember the number of different call signs, but I think it was close to 10 (can't remember whether it was more or less and there is zero chance that I can remember all of them, much less list them in chronological order, but here are a few): WCOP, WTTK. WMEX, WHUE, WROR (AM), WSNY, WACQ. WTTT, WWDJ. All I can think of at the moment. Heck; I can't even recall what the calls were immediately before WTTT. For sure, a bunch of people reading this thread will know THAT! The person who can present the complete list, in chronological order, with dates (well, years, anyhow) should win some sort of prize. No, I'm not volunteering to buy the prize, but you gotta admit that a correct answer would be worthy of a prize.
DanStrassberg said:
No need for anybody to go mental even trying to attempt this
here: http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/25051 8)
radiorama1 said:No need for anybody to go mental even trying to attempt this
here: http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/25051 8)
But the article contains an error. AFAIK, 1150 was never WBPS. WBPS, then on 890, is correctly mentioned in the body of the article as having been co-owned (by Mega) with 1150, which was then WAMG. But WBPS then appears in the list of 1150 calls at the end of the article and I don't think it belongs there. IIRC, at some point, the WAMG calls moved from 1150 to 890, which retains those calls today. Did 1150 become WTTT when WAMG moved to 890? Doesn't seem correct to me, but I could be wrong. OTOH, if the WAMG calls moved to 890 BEFORE 1150 became WTTT, what were 1150's calls between WAMG and WTTT? The fact that I can't think of what 1150's calls might have been between WAMG and WTTT suggests that 1150 did go straight from being WAMG to being WTTT. Somebody MUST know whether it did or didn't, and if it didn't, what calls were on 1150 between WAMG and WTTT.
radiorama1 said:DanStrassberg said:
No need for anybody to go mental even trying to attempt this
here: http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/25051 8)
Now I thought that WWZN had the record, however after looking it up at the same site, they apparently only had 8 instead.
What is the reasoning behind the call letter swap? Did the New York station tweak or change formats at all?
DanStrassberg said:
I think the article's right. 1150 was WBPS, if I recall correctly, for maybe a week after WAMG headed to 890 (displacing the "Boston Talk Party", remember that?) but before the WTTT calls and format were installed on 1150. Salem also filed for WYTS and WJTK for 1150 but those never officially made it onto the station.
encarta95 said:
Wasn't the Boston Talk Party on 890 (WBPS) the first home of Michael Savage in Boston? And it might also have been the first home of Sean Hannity in Boston as well. Did Chuck Morse also have a show on the Boston Talk Party? Morse has run brokered-time talk shows on a lot of stations. He was on 1510 at one time--I'm more sure of that than I am that he was on 890. BTW, the WBPS calls were a holdover from 890's first sports-talk incarnation--Boston's Prime Sports.
DanStrassberg said:radiorama1 said:No need for anybody to go mental even trying to attempt this
here: http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/25051 8)
But the article contains an error. AFAIK, 1150 was never WBPS. WBPS, then on 890, is correctly mentioned in the body of the article as having been co-owned (by Mega) with 1150, which was then WAMG. But WBPS then appears in the list of 1150 calls at the end of the article and I don't think it belongs there.
NERW, 6/2/2003:
NERW, 8/25/2003:
NERW, 11/3/2003:
Scott Fybush said:
So if we are to believe the postings on the New York board, which say that WWDJ 970's new (to it) WTTT calls are only temporary and will soon give way to the, umm, resurrection of the little-remembered and hardly-classic WNYM (used on what is now WWRV when Salem owned it before selling it--in pre-duopoly days--so it could buy WMCA), Salem is preceding its New York format flip to ultra-right-wing talk with more indecision about call letters. Given all of the false starts with the 1150 calls before a similar (and ultimately disastrous) format flip five years ago, you'd have to say that Salem definitely does not believe in bad omens. I guess you might also call them stupid, but I won't do that!
It must be re-assuring to Prager, Medved, Hewitt, and the others on the Salem Talk Network, that regardless of how pathetic the ratings are,
the deep pockets at Daddy Salem will not only keep them employed, but buy them a New York metro signal.
Heard Hewitt a few months ago making fun of "Air America, who nobody listened to".
Probably the single most ironic thing I have heard on the radio in many years.
the deep pockets at Daddy Salem will not only keep them employed, but buy them a New York metro signal.
Heard Hewitt a few months ago making fun of "Air America, who nobody listened to".
Probably the single most ironic thing I have heard on the radio in many years.
Retro said:
Something I've pointed out many times. However, 1) Salem's pockets are not so deep these days. The company has been reported (in Tom Taylor's column at Radio-Info.com a few weeks back) to be experiencing significant financial stress. The stock is WAY down--percentagewise, it's down more than that of several other radio companies--and Salem has sold off quite a few stations in recent months. 2) Scott Fybush, in this week's NERW column, offered what sounds to me like the most reasonable explanation for why the format flip on 970 makes a lot of sense for Salem even though similar flips in Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, have pretty much been disasters: Salem will now be able to clear spots on its entire talk lineup in New York. This will allow them to increase substantially the rates for national spot buys on the network. Even if 970 can't sell any of the local avilabilities, the added revenue from the national spot business will probably more than pay for the cost of running the network on what is about to become a big New York-market AM signal.
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