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WXTK 95FM Cape Cod

N

naughtytalker

I launched WXTK, New England's first FM News/Talker in 1991 at the dial position of 94.9 for then-owner Ernie Boch. I chose the call letters, designed the format and studios, hired the staff, anchored the morning news, hosted a talk show, signed the syndication agreements with Rush, Dr. Joy Browne, etc. and almost killed myself physically with a 20 hour workday.

Today, this FM powerhouse has moved up the dial position to 95-point-something and is the top rated radio station on Cape Cod and most likely anywhere in New England with consistent arbitron ratings of of 12-plus... for almost every other radio station that's a demographic, not an audience level.

Ernie called almost every winter morning from his estate on Martha's Vineyard to remind me his wife wanted to hear a countdown to spring. After a few months of owner interference with programming and after he fired all my employee's who actually earned enough income to survive because early advertiser commitments fell through, I'd had enough.

One day Ernie Boch, now deceased, called me into his office and said to me: Do you know why I had all these windows installed in my office? No, I said. Boch responded; I draw my power from the sun. Great I thought, Ernie's a rich whacko and I was tired, so I told him so. Even Boch's generous 50% raise couldn't keep me there. I quit and moved to Providence, Rhode Island where I took a TV gig and I hated TV.

Thoughts?
 
naughtytalker said:
I launched WXTK, New England's first FM News/Talker in 1991 at the dial position of 94.9 for then-owner Ernie Boch. I chose the call letters, designed the format and studios, hired the staff, anchored the morning news, hosted a talk show, signed the syndication agreements with Rush, Dr. Joy Browne, etc. and almost killed myself physically with a 20 hour workday.

Today, this FM powerhouse has moved up the dial position to 95-point-something and is the top rated radio station on Cape Cod and most likely anywhere in New England with consistent arbitron ratings of of 12-plus... for almost every other radio station that's a demographic, not an audience level.

Ernie called almost every winter morning from his estate on Martha's Vineyard to remind me his wife wanted to hear a countdown to spring. After a few months of owner interference with programming and after he fired all my employee's who actually earned enough income to survive because early advertiser commitments fell through, I'd had enough.

One day Ernie Boch, now deceased, called me into his office and said to me: Do you know why I had all these windows installed in my office? No, I said. Boch responded; I draw my power from the sun. Great I thought, Ernie's a rich whacko and I was tired, so I told him so. Even Boch's generous 50% raise couldn't keep me there. I quit and moved to Providence, Rhode Island where I took a TV gig and I hated TV.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Obviously, the station has succeeded in making a following. WXTK is now on 95.1. I was rather surprised that a full-powered 50,000 watt FM Stereo station went to an all-talk format. But it did go talk and you did well with it. I do wonder why WXTK is operating in mono. They were originally operating in Stereo up until they lost power one night and never returned to Stereo. Even when they run Patriots games (which are produced in Stereo) and during Christmas Day music are broadcast in mono?

Oh well. I also thought Ernie Boch was unusual. From what you have said about his "windows" and his power trip, this kind of proves it.
 
And I was the guy who recommended to them they they move to 95.1. They were getting creamed most summer nights by troph from Mount Washington. It was so bad that at times they didn't carry to the Sagamore bridge.

Their moving to 95.1 also allowed 94.3 to be allocated on the Cape. WGBH-FM overpaid for it at auction and uses it as a satellite station.

The irony is that not only did they not pay me for my study, analysis and suggestion-they hired Bob Smith to do all the work!
 
Hey LA Guy,

Was your generous consulting work ripped-off by Ernie Boch, the new group owner or WGBH? I wasn't hired to do everything I did for zip either, in fact I ended up working a few weeks for nothing because the guy that hired me didn't tell Boch I was coming to the Cape, and as so often happens in radio, promises mean zero to the guy with the cash. But once I got on scene the incompetent's who were already hired left me no choice but to do everything myself. Everybody was a failed disc jockey and arrived totally clueless about News/Talk.

...and Marc B.,

Sorry to hear about Judy Jarvis' death. All I can say is she was a head-strong woman who thought she knew it all and happily exercised her mouth. The mark of a great talk host. RIP
 
Boch ripped me off. Their attitude was that since I had been paid for some studio work I did, that was good enough. Oh well-that was a long time ago.

My friend Joe has been engineer there for years now (Quantum now owns it, along with WCOD, WCIB and 96.3). He does good work for them and they treat him pretty good. Another old friend, Steve is OPs Manager. It's a well run cluster-and I believe quite profitable too.
 
Hardly a day goes by when there isn't an item in the FCC applications and actions section for an FM translator on 95.9, 95.3 or 95.1 in Gloucester, MA. I think they've finally settled on 95.1. How many translators are there in Gloucester, a City seemingly unable to support a regular station for years. (Wasn't there a plan to put a daytime AM on-the-air there after WWII?) I guess it's far enough away from West Barnstable so as not to bother WXTK in their home market, but some folks on the North Shore soon won't be able to hear Rush and Howie on FM any more.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
Hardly a day goes by when there isn't an item in the FCC applications and actions section for an FM translator on 95.9, 95.3 or 95.1 in Gloucester, MA. I think they've finally settled on 95.1. How many translators are there in Gloucester, a City seemingly unable to support a regular station for years. (Wasn't there a plan to put a daytime AM on-the-air there after WWII?) I guess it's far enough away from West Barnstable so as not to bother WXTK in their home market, but some folks on the North Shore soon won't be able to hear Rush and Howie on FM any more.
Click to expand...

Yes they will. If I understand what's happening up there correctly, you're seeing the groundwork being laid to get that translator on a frequency (95.1, IIRC) that will be able to be hopscotched west so it can become a Fitchburg translator for WEIM 1280 there. (Yes, I know WEIM has new calls. No, I don't remember them.)

So while the translator might actually operate on 95.1 in Gloucester, it will be only for a very brief time, just long enough to get licensed so it can make the next move.

It's all a game...but that's how this game is played.
 
Scott Fybush said:
Yes they will. If I understand what's happening up there correctly, you're seeing the groundwork being laid to get that translator on a frequency (95.1, IIRC) that will be able to be hopscotched west so it can become a Fitchburg translator for WEIM 1280 there. (Yes, I know WEIM has new calls. No, I don't remember them.)

So while the translator might actually operate on 95.1 in Gloucester, it will be only for a very brief time, just long enough to get licensed so it can make the next move.

It's all a game...but that's how this game is played.
Click to expand...

What's the purpose of that? Just to get WPKZ (formerly WEIM) onto the FM band in their COL?
 
How did this thread get hijacked by techno-talk... ick, ick.

For too brief a time, hungry readers were privey to a sensitive session about the passing of WXTK FM pseudo-legends Ernie Boch and Judy Jarvis, who were apparently both thorns in the side of Naughtytalker, who fashioned New England's first FM News/Talker from his own blood, sweat and tears.

Isn't anybody still living who once had something to do with this station or remembers the real genius behind the handle Naughtytalker. You don't have to name names, but shall we try getting back to the riveting life and death radio drama unfolding on Cape Cod.

Is Provincetown still gay?
 
Silly Super Scribbler,

Don't bother trying to satisfy your rabid curiosity about Cape Cod's popular FM News/Talk radio station or who Naughtytalker might be, afterall, it was nearly 20 years ago and most of the people I encountered couldn't find their backside with both hands if someone else unzipped their pants. I hired two young women, who will go nameless, one had a BA in journalism from Boston College and the other had a Masters in Communications from another Ivy League Institute and both were as useless as tits on a boar. I've never seen anything like it since.

Although I appreciate you've recognized my sheer genius, you must realize New Englander's typically react to every request for anything like they're doing you a favor by letting you breathe... and they walk around like they've got something stuck up their a** all the time. It's simply who they are and have been since the moment they landed on Plymouth Rock, which is the most unremarkable monument to anything in the history of the world. And the rock ain't much to behold either.
 
I think former Providence radio personality Jeff Ryan board-opped at WXTK during its infancy.
 
Howie Carr's sidekick, a Mr. Giles E. Threadgold of Falmouth, used to do a Sat morning show there, I believe. Though he worked best as Howie's sidekick and maybe was not so entertaining just on his own...he doesn't do Howie show anymore (as far as I know he's still with us), supposedly because his wife didn't want him heading up to Boston all the time.

The shtick Howie did with Giles was to accuse him of being drunk. He got Giles to say "My name is Giles and I'm an alcoholic" and the drop was played several times. One memorable Howie show took place on a Friday just after the news broke that Clinton's Surgeon General, Jocelyn Elders, was forced to resign after she had said "masturbation is something that pershaps should be taught". There were many risque jokes to follow with Howie, Giles, and the gang. (Howie said he was convinced the news was released just before 3 pm on a Friday so not only would it wind up in the little-read Sat. newspapers, but it would be too late for Rush to talk about...)
 
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