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WVKO's WEB SITE IS UP...sort of

I like their company name "Cowtown Communications, LLC." How appropriate, how true.
 
Interesting... are they just simulcasting WCPT out of Chicago?

I have heard the beginning of several liners for WCPT, then once you notice that it is a station in Chicago... it gets abruptly cut off and you hear a dry WVKO legal ID (Or at least their attempt at a "legal" ID)
 
Right now according to Gary Richards the guy who runs WVKO AM says that the station sat. uplinks should be on by the end of the week.
 
DaBeyers said:
Interesting... are they just simulcasting WCPT out of Chicago?

I have heard the beginning of several liners for WCPT, then once you notice that it is a station in Chicago... it gets abruptly cut off and you hear a dry WVKO legal ID (Or at least their attempt at a "legal" ID)

That would support my guess that whatever Bernard Ohio/DB Zwirn put on the air would be done "on the cheap".
 
They are apparently taking the internet feed directly from WCPT AM 820 in Chicago.
This morning, on the hour, I was hearing five minutes of news and local traffic for Chicago
from this station http://www.wcpt820.com/ on WVKO-AM 1580.
Also, I was hearing several liners each hour for WCPT, 820-AM in Chicago.
There was only one short ID for WVKO-AM each hour that was inserted into the internet
feed from WCPT in Chicago. You certainly get the 'feel' that you are listing to a station from Chicago right here in Columbus.
 
gabigley1 said:
They are apparently taking the internet feed directly from WCPT AM 820 in Chicago.
This morning, on the hour, I was hearing five minutes of news and local traffic for Chicago
from this station http://www.wcpt820.com/ on WVKO-AM 1580.
Also, I was hearing several liners each hour for WCPT, 820-AM in Chicago.
There was only one short ID for WVKO-AM each hour that was inserted into the internet
feed from WCPT in Chicago. You certainly get the 'feel' that you are listing to a station from Chicago right here in Columbus.

Sigh...
 
I am shocked there isnt more reaction to the launch of the new WVKO....let me first say I am willing to give Gary Richards (PD) a chance. I heard his interview during Stephanie Miller's show and understand he is right now a one man show. He did state the station's satellite would be up by the end of this week.

That being said, let me just say I was disappointed in what I heard during the day...sloppy inserting of the WVKO ID and poor audio quality...I did hear one ad that seemed to be local for a "day spa" and that seemed to be randomly inserted.

Hearing the constant liners for WCPT out of Chicago was also kind of sad....kind of keeps up the stereotype that we cant handle the big time and need to rely on a "big boy" (Chicago station) to hack it. I know that the fans of progressive talk didnt want to wait any longer to get their heroes back on the air--but couldnt Mr. Richards and "Cowtown Communications" made sure they were absolutely ready before putting on the garbled broadcast I heard today??

It had the same poor audio that the spanish format aired...so I am a little scared that nothing will change. Also, I am skeptical about the claims of local news and sports based on what I heard. Prove me wrong, please...
 
redsfan1966 said:
I am shocked there isnt more reaction to the launch of the new WVKO....let me first say I am willing to give Gary Richards (PD) a chance. I heard his interview during Stephanie Miller's show and understand he is right now a one man show. He did state the station's satellite would be up by the end of this week.

That being said, let me just say I was disappointed in what I heard during the day...sloppy inserting of the WVKO ID and poor audio quality...I did hear one ad that seemed to be local for a "day spa" and that seemed to be randomly inserted.

Hearing the constant liners for WCPT out of Chicago was also kind of sad....kind of keeps up the stereotype that we cant handle the big time and need to rely on a "big boy" (Chicago station) to hack it. I know that the fans of progressive talk didnt want to wait any longer to get their heroes back on the air--but couldnt Mr. Richards and "Cowtown Communications" made sure they were absolutely ready before putting on the garbled broadcast I heard today??

It had the same poor audio that the spanish format aired...so I am a little scared that nothing will change. Also, I am skeptical about the claims of local news and sports based on what I heard. Prove me wrong, please...

If you read the information on the forums on the official site there is a lot more information. It basically boiled down to a) not launch and wait for the satellite or b) launch with an internet stream on their promised launch date. They opted for the second option for better or worse.
 
Personally I would had wait for the Starguide boxes and a satellite dish then launch with an internet feed but then again they are going after the die hard Lib Talk fans who would likely listen to a muddy 8khz real audio stream pumped out over the air if it meant they could get to hear their talk.

My heart goes out to Mr Richards, may he be able to pull off success for this station, even if lib talk is not my thing, I would like to see him turn this AM station around and succeed.
 
CBusDave said:
DaBeyers said:
Interesting... are they just simulcasting WCPT out of Chicago?

I have heard the beginning of several liners for WCPT, then once you notice that it is a station in Chicago... it gets abruptly cut off and you hear a dry WVKO legal ID (Or at least their attempt at a "legal" ID)

That would support my guess that whatever Bernard Ohio/DB Zwirn put on the air would be done "on the cheap".

Bernard/Zwirn has nothing to do with it. The station is operating under an LMA. As for WCPT, that should all change today, when satellite feed issues are (hopefully) resolved.
 
Well, as far as audio quality goes, the satellite won't matter because of the bad STL audio. As far as the Chicago stuff goes, as far as I'm concerned there is no excuse for that and it's just bad radio for whatever the reason, and it portends the future if changes are not made. It's stuff that would have never been even thought of years ago. I remember hearing WWST Wooster ID's during Indians games and all of us thought that was a crime!!! Hell, 1KHZ full time audio would have never been thought of, even this 8KHZ crap stations are giving us wouldn't have been thought of, not to mention the AM noise floor and the increasing power line noise when you drive around, or in my case while I'm being driven around.

I wish WVKO all the best, and would help if I could, but if things sound like well cheap and poorly done, not good. But, the Progressive Talk core won't care about any of the stuff I've disscribed. Things have changed, I'll figure that out some day.
GR said:
CBusDave said:
DaBeyers said:
Interesting... are they just simulcasting WCPT out of Chicago?

I have heard the beginning of several liners for WCPT, then once you notice that it is a station in Chicago... it gets abruptly cut off and you hear a dry WVKO legal ID (Or at least their attempt at a "legal" ID)

That would support my guess that whatever Bernard Ohio/DB Zwirn put on the air would be done "on the cheap".

Bernard/Zwirn has nothing to do with it. The station is operating under an LMA. As for WCPT, that should all change today, when satellite feed issues are (hopefully) resolved.
 
I wish WVKO all the best, and would help if I could, but if things sound like well cheap and poorly done, not good. But, the Progressive Talk core won't care about any of the stuff I've disscribed.

If that were the case, then it would have succeeded on 1230 and everywhere else.
 
For the last couple of months, WVKO has had issues with sub par audio. They had good audio quality when
they first signed back on the air last July. Some audio equipment broke down three months ago casing chronic dead air at the station.
After the equipment was fixed, the problem with the dead air was fixed but the flip side was the horrible
audio quality ever since. So, this this had been an issue long before Progressive Talk signed on the air at WVKO.
For some reason, they don't want to fix the problem even after I complained to the station two
months ago. If they don't fix this poor audio soon, most of their listeners will tune away from the station
after sampling it.
 
That "duh" a few posts ago wasn't from me. Incredibly, someone somehow has posted using my codename, and I've written to the adminstrator to assign to me a new password. I just thought I better notify everyone at this time in case this person uses my identity again and writes something stupid.
 
I'm glad to see I am not the only one disturbed by the poor quality audio on VKO.
Listened a little today (12/4) and noticed a slight improvement. No more CPT liners; just intro music playing overly long--obviously where local spots should be. Seems that the internet streaming continues--but not from CPT...odd hearing ads during the Air America telling listeners to click on ad banners for special offers...seems things are improving a little; but I must admit the novelty has already wore off and I went back to listening to my usual programs. I will be listening on Wednesday to hear Ed Schultz's takes on being back in C-Bus.
 
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