WXCT - 31st Place In Baltimore PPM's!

[DToTheJ]

I'm surprised our buddy Marc hasn't posted this to the board yet... The website DCRTV.com regularly posts the rankings of the Baltimore radio stations in the weekly PPM's. And wouldn't you know it, what should be listed in 31st place but the one and only "WXCT"! That signal must be very, very directional to get into Maryland. I guess there is an audience for Spanish Christian programming at 12 kpbs after all!

(In full disclosure... it's possible that the station that was actually in 31st place was country station WXCY... but still, I saw that and did a double take - and I'm sure Marc would, too... : )

 

[MarcB]

Take a look at your keyboard. The letter "T" and the letter "Y" are right next to one another. DCRTV Dave isn't perfect and when typing quickly his finger hit the "T" instead of the "Y" and he didn't proof-read it before he put it on his site. Other typos Dave has made in the past including mixing up the call letters of stations with similar call letters. A story about the morning show at New Jersey's WTKU 98.3 FM was reported as a story about WKTU 98.3 FM.


As for the WXCT call letters themselves I don't know if you knew this or not, but sometime between the time 1220 AM in Hamden became WQUN in 1996 and the time WNTY 990 became WXCT in 2003, the WXCT call letters resided on 100.7 FM in Louisiana. Tiger Country 100.7 WXCT. What the WXCT call letters have to do with Tiger Country is beyond me.


As for 990 AM themselves, I think their transmitter is dying. They've been having problems. At first I though the problem was related to the internet feed they run for programming, but then I heard the same problem during "local" programming - The Italian Show, The Taped Church Mass from the Lutheran Church in Bristol, and Patti Ann's Polka Party (which airs over a phone-line from The Bristol Polish-American Citizen's Club). The problem goes away for a while, but then it comes back. Right now the problem is gone, but it was there on Saturday.

Nearly 3 1/2 years running Radio Cantico Nuevo (or as I call it Radio Can't Make it Go Nuevo). Sadly this is the longest any format has aired on 990 AM since they dropped their Adult Contemporary format in 1999 when The Stevens Family sold the station to Peter Arpin (who sold it to Peter Davidson in 2004).

 

[MarcB]

That station is so inconsequential it isn't even worth talking about. What a dump.

It's like an abandoned building a heavily traveled commercial strip - it has potential that's going to waste.

 

[necrat123]

It's a typo on DCRTV's part. No big deal.
#31 in the market is WXCY

http://www.radio-info.com/markets/baltimore

 

[DToTheJ]

...Other typos Dave has made in the past including mixing up the call letters of stations with similar call letters. A story about the morning show at New Jersey's WTKU 98.3 FM was reported as a story about WKTU 98.3 FM...

I had read that when they first went oldies, they applied for the WKTU calls but something forced them to change to WTKU...

...sometime between the time 1220 AM in Hamden became WQUN in 1996 and the time WNTY 990 became WXCT in 2003, the WXCT call letters resided on 100.7 FM in Louisiana. Tiger Country 100.7 WXCT. What the WXCT call letters have to do with Tiger Country is beyond me...

I don't know... C for "country," T for "tiger", and the WXTC call letters were unavailable?

Nearly 3 1/2 years running Radio Cantico Nuevo... Sadly this is the longest any format has aired on 990 AM since they dropped their Adult Contemporary format in 1999...

Bitter observation from a former 990 employee? ???

 

[MarcB]

Bitter observation from a former 990 employee? ???

Not at all. Just stating the facts. And I have nothing against Hispanic radio stations or Religious radio stations or Hispanic Religious radio stations. I just have a problem with the way Radio Cantico Nuevo is run. In my opinion there's no excuse for running an internet feed over the airwaves of any radio station 24/7. In the 3 1/2 years Radio Cantico Nuevo has been on 990 AM I've brought up several times about the internet feed crashing and the station running dead air. And someone from New Jersey - probably Pastor Selgado himself or his son comes up a couple times a week to check on things. The on-air product doesn't sound that great running an internet feed over the air. As far as I can tell from the few times I've been able to pick up WNSW 1430 up here (the flagship station of Radio Cantico Nuevo) it's run the same way with an internet feed.

My mom - knowing I had an interest in radio clipped articles out of the newspapers every time something was going on with AM 990. That's how I am able to remember all the changes.

Formats on 990 AM since The Stevens Family sold the station in 1999:

Summer of 1999 - September 2000: Spanish Tropical "La Brava 990" - format ended after the court ordered them off the air. They stopped paying for their LMA, etc.

September 15, 2000 - September 29, 2000: Station is off the air due to damaged equipment including the control board and transmitter.

September 29, 2000 - October 22, 2000: Station is running various music on a loop. First couple days it was Spanish Music. Later switched to R&B Music and R&B Oldies on a loop. Along with my favorite CD "Game Show Network's Favorite TV Game Show Themes Volume One". Plus Regular Friday play-by-play of The Southington High School Blue Knights Football team and their regular ethnic and religious programming on Sundays.

October 23, 2000 - December, 2001***: Format is Hip-hop, R&B, R&B Oldies, and Caribbean Music. 72 hours/week (6AM-6PM Mon-Sat) is leased to Blaze Communications for this format. Lease terminated in July 2001. Charlie Profit becomes the new GM of the station. Mr. Profit begins making changes in September including ending the all Caribbean Block on Saturdays and replacing it with NCAA Football and Football talk from Westwood One. Overnights 9PM-6AM are leased to a Spanish Religious Outfit. That ends quickly and the station begins running the audio of The FOX News Channel overnights.

December 2001 - February 2002: Station is in a transitional period. FOX News Channel is running around the clock outside of play-by-play of NCAA Football from Westwood One, NFL Football and Ethnic/Religious Programming.

February 2002 - May 2004: Station is News/Talk. First as NOTTY 99. Becoming 990 The X WXCT in April 2003. Station begins having a decent local following.

Station is sold to Davidson Media Group.

May 3, 2004 - July 2005: Station is Spanish AC and is leased to Anda Productions. Initially Anda Productions are only Leasing 6AM-6PM. Infomercials, left over talk shows, and local people are given time slots for their own shows. Anda Productions takes over the remainder of the broadcast day in August 2004. Studios move to the penthouse of 3 Constitution Plaza in Hartford.

July 2005 - October 2005: The Lease Between Anda Productions and Davidson Media Group is terminated. DMG launches Spanish Tropical POWER 990 and it's programmed in-house by DMG.

October 3, 2005 - May 10, 2007: Format is talk. Talk Radio 990: Talk Radio for Women. Charlie Profit is brought back in to run things. He enters into a 2 year Time Brokerage Agreement with DMG in July 2006. Not as successful with the talk format this time around. Station fails to attract enough advertisers. Mr. Profit's TBA is cancelled.

May 10, 2007 3:30PM - Present: Spanish Christian Formatted Radio Cantico Nuevo take over right in the middle of Dr. Laura at 3:30PM.

 

[CTListener]

February 2002 - May 2004: Station is News/Talk. First as NOTTY 99. Becoming 990 The X WXCT in April 2003. Station begins having a decent local following.

Oh? Did it start showing up in the Hartford-New Britain ratings? Or is this just "I know a half dozen people who really liked this station during those years, so it must have had a decent local following" illogic?

 

[bub]

I don't know how long the couch was with the station, but it's the same one slept on by Luz Lebron back in the Fall of 2000 when her company El Principe Communications was in a dispute with station owner ADD Radio Group. They took turns locking each other out of the station after El Principe stopped paying ADD for the air time.

Actually, that's not true. What they were really doing was engaging in their own game of musical chairs. They would do this with the Macarena playing. When the music stopped, whoever was left inside the building got to lock the other one out.

I don't know how long the couch was with the station, but it's the same one...several months later when I walked into the station to see a friend of mine who was doing work for Blaze Communications - the next group that LMA'd the station I walked in on he and his girlfriend getting it on on the couch. - That's why they call it a loveseat.

Was Luz Lebron his girlfriend? ;D

I believe that couch dates back to when the cat used to sleep on it. And the cat died in 1997.

Ah, yes, just another day at Cinderblock Central. :

 

[MarcB]

Oh? Did it start showing up in the Hartford-New Britain ratings? Or is this just "I know a half dozen people who really liked this station during those years, so it must have had a decent local following" illogic?

2002-2004 I was interning on and off down there and I was a regular listener to the station anyway and everyday there were the regulars who called in to voice their opinion on The Charlie Profit Show. Part of my job as intern was help organize the list of all the contest winners. Several of those who won multiple times were not the regulars who called in daily so they can be thrown into the decent local following - one guy won so many times they had to impliment a policy to how many times you can win a prize.

Actually, that's not true. What they were really doing was engaging in their own game of musical chairs. They would do this with the Macarena playing. When the music stopped, whoever was left inside the building got to lock the other one out.

Hahaha. Good one. You made my morning.

Was Luz Lebron his girlfriend? ;D

Ugh. Hell no. Her and Irene Nieves were two of the ugliest woman I never met. (Both of their pictures appeared in the newspapers several times while the whole thing was going down).

Is this the elusive Ghost Cat we are speaking of?

Yes.


I still remember the idiotic lawyer El Principe Communications had. THEY (ADD RADIO GROUP) ARE CRYING THEY WANT TO GET PAID, BUT THEY CUT OFF OUR ONLY SOURCE OF INCOME (REFERRING TO ADD RADIO CUTTING THE POWER TO THE BUILDING). IT'S LIKE A GUY ON TRIAL FOR MURDERING HIS PARENTS, THEN BEGGING FOR LIENIENCEY BECAUSE HE'S AN ORPHAN


Personally I blame ADD Radio for their trouble with El Principe. If they had done their homework they would've seen as owners of WMMW 1470 in Meriden they (El Principe) ran out of money and had to sell the station to Buckley Broadcasting.

 

[nd2023]

Well, an HD2 station made the Baltimore PPMs one week. It doesn't have an analog translator.

 

[Silkie]

Been awhile, but I am pretty sure that WXCT was a Washington, DC station, somewhere around Bethesda. At least it was when I used to travel to DC, recognizing that it is also a station's call in Connecticut.

 

[DToTheJ]

Station begins having a decent local following.

Did it start showing up in the Hartford-New Britain ratings? Or is this just "I know a half dozen people who really liked this station during those years, so it must have had a decent local following" illogic?

I'd be curious to know how much share/cume WXCT would have today in the PPM's.

 

[MarcB]

I'd be curious to know how much share/cume WXCT would have today in the PPM's.

Good question if they were still news-talk. And I'm not talking their Talk Radio for Woman phase 10/05-5/07.

I doubt they'll even encode, but I seriously doubt they'd show up in the PPMs with their Spanish Christian format. They're largely a simulcast of WNSW 1430 from NYC and they don't show up do they? I don't even know if WNSW (or any other of the stations in NYC owned by Multi-Cultural encode).

PPM's going live in Hartford soon. Even though they're separate markets I wonder if the New Haven stations will encode too. If not that's really gonna mess with the ratings of WPLR, WYBC-FM, and WKCI-FM in Hartford.

 

[bub]

Station begins having a decent local following.

Did it start showing up in the Hartford-New Britain ratings? Or is this just "I know a half dozen people who really liked this station during those years, so it must have had a decent local following" illogic?

I'd be curious to know how much share/cume WXCT would have today in the PPM's.

I'd be curious to know how much share/cume WXCT would have today in the PPM's.

Good question if they were still news-talk. And I'm not talking their Talk Radio for Woman phase 10/05-5/07.

I doubt they'll even encode, but I seriously doubt they'd show up in the PPMs with their Spanish Christian format. They're largely a simulcast of WNSW 1430 from NYC and they don't show up do they? I don't even know if WNSW (or any other of the stations in NYC owned by Multi-Cultural encode).

PPM's going live in Hartford soon. Even though they're separate markets I wonder if the New Haven stations will encode too. If not that's really gonna mess with the ratings of WPLR, WYBC-FM, and WKCI-FM in Hartford.

Gentlemen: I realize that past performance is no indication of future performance. That said, if the old Arbitrons are any indication, I give this station 2 chances of scoring in the PPM's:

1. Slim
2. None

NOTE: And Slim is already out the door.

I was the Saturday Afternoon jock there in the spring of 1997 when the station finally appeared in the ratings for what is believed to be the first-ever time in station history (after more than 27 years on the air) - and this was back when the old mail-in paper diaries were still in use. And that's to say nothing of the fact that we had the station's old call letters at the time. I only know of one other time the station scored. That was in the Blaze 990 days just prior to 'ZMX blowing up whatever format they had at the time to go Urban.

To digress, regarding spring of '97: For years I've had a standing challenge available and open to anyone who can prove to me that the station made the ratings prior to spring, 1997. To this day, no one has taken me up on the challenge. Provided certain terms and conditions are met, my challenge still stands.

 

[DToTheJ]

@bub - IIRC, WZMX was previously "Dancin' Oldies" before their current format.

(Ha! Beat ya to it, Marc. )

 

[MarcB]

@bub - IIRC, WZMX was previously "Dancin' Oldies" before their current format.

That's what Infinity called their stations running the format, but the industry term was Jammin' Oldies.

 

[kms575]

@bub - IIRC, WZMX was previously "Dancin' Oldies" before their current format.

That's what Infinity called their stations running the format, but the industry term was Jammin' Oldies.

It was "Dancin' Oldies - Z 93.7." I actually found it kinda catchy at the time!

 

[CTListener]

@bub - IIRC, WZMX was previously "Dancin' Oldies" before their current format.

That's what Infinity called their stations running the format, but the industry term was Jammin' Oldies.

It was "Dancin' Oldies - Z 93.7." I actually found it kinda catchy at the time!

It brought a lot of songs back that had been discarded by oldies-formatted stations. It was a lot of fun for a few months, then the lack of depth in its playlist -- it was extremely tight -- quickly made the station less and less interesting.

Before Dancin' Oldies, ZMX was, very briefly, The Point, a "quality rock"-type format. It came and went very quickly.

 

[necrat123]

I will say, that when WZMX, was a fun format, the flip was a smart move. It seemed to me that there was a large gaping hole in the market for a true Urban FM station. I was and still am, suprised at how long it took for the flip to happen.

I remember when they were broadcasting NOAA weather radio! Imagine a mid-market full B signal doing that, in this day and age??

 

[nd2023]

I will say, that when WZMX, was a fun format, the flip was a smart move. It seemed to me that there was a large gaping hole in the market for a true Urban FM station. I was and still am, suprised at how long it took for the flip to happen.

I remember when they were broadcasting NOAA weather radio! Imagine a mid-market full B signal doing that, in this day and age??

I'm sure the announcers on the weather radio station must have been excited to be radio stars. It might have gotten good ratings if it were done during the winter when there were lots of snowstorms.