Z97.1

[Oldbones]

Plus, when you pay little for talent, you can't get the type of jocks that know what they should do. All they afford are newbies.

But hasn't it always been that way? I can't imagine a market the size of Rutland EVER being able to pay enough to attract anyone but newbies. Maybe back in "the day" the caliber of newbies was higher, but this market was never anything other than a first or 2nd stop in someone's career path.

 

[NO DAG]

That is a very interesting point. Many on air radio people and even some in sales / sales management used to take a station like a Z 97 and understand that the "Brink's Truck" would be escorting them to the bank on a regular basis. In leau of that, the educational, hands on experience, and the ability to prefect skills would have been much priceless at that particular point in a young and up and coming career. There are lots of talented on-air people that have moved into bigger and better markets once earning the wings to fly out of a Rutland type market.

That appears to by very much in the minority today, certainly computers, voice tracking, fickle advertising climates, increased advertising competition, and companies paying outrageous sums for broadcast properties have impacted options for those who would seek employment in small market as a launch pad.

 

[Still on the Radio]

Ah yes, the heyday of Z97...it was a good time, or so it sounded, which is most of the battle!! The staff loved the station, or at least sounded it, and had a blast, which spread to listeners. There is a reason why great things have happened to some of the old school staff. You are correct, at last check, Keith was in NC, Devon was in Burlington at one point, Amy Ryan went to Providence, Tyler did the same somewhere in the South, Ed went...well, across the street...But the comment that has me still laughing so hard I can barley type is "very talented Judy Anderson"???????? I mean....REALLY??

It is not by luck that the staff that made the station sound great have moved on to bigger and better things, and those who don't, well...have to shovel off their cars before heading into downtown Rutland.

Whenever traveling through the market, I try to tune in to all the stations, and get a feel for how the market sounds. It usually sounds very....uh....much like you expect a small market to sound. That is, by no means, a compliment. There is no reason small market stations have to sound that way, but alas, that is another post all together. When you work hard to overcome the limitations and roadblock put in place by management, lack of sales, bad equipment, whatever, it shows.

Z97 has such potnetial...50000 watts on top of one of the largest peaks in the NE...with exposure to millions annually...It should sound, and reflect the people who listen...at lot of times, the well to do flatlanders from the larger towns. The mighty Z could be a powerhouse a slammin station...you can get it over 4 states on a good day. What a place to be! Instead over the last 15 years, the morning shows have been dreadful, the other shows voice tracked and limited so much by management that it is like watching an old grandmother waste away in a nursing home.

Nuff Said.

 

[NO DAG]

Good recall on all those people. If you were putting together a radio station, you would want 10 Judy's on your staff.. Her great work goes well beyond cracking the mic ! She works very hard, and give a hoot to what she is going..

 

[NO DAG]

Ed Kelly's once famous, well written, and professionally produced tongue and cheek Z 97 sweeper.. "From North Adams to North Troy... Yeah right, only on a good day.. Z 97". Out of the three 50,000 watters that reside above the peaks of Killington, Z 97 has a huge signal advantage over WEBK and WJJR.. It's great to be driving to Keene and watch 98.1 turn from Bette Middler into Weezer, since WEQX has a translator on 98.1 that blankets Keene.. The Big Z still is audible there.

 

[Dudeman2000]

Yes...the Big Z! In New York you can hear Z from Ballston Spa to the borders of Plattsburgh, including Saranac Lake and Lake Placid...the signal skips over Plattsburgh...but you can here it clear as a bell in Champlain and Rouses Point..Killer signal!

 

[FM Boy]

I remember when Z was KISS, last summer...they had, and i shutter when i say this, TRAFFIC REPORTS? LMAO!!! Betsy the Cow has tipped over on Rte 7, causing backed up delays from all the hay trucks making their way thru town. Please take alternate routes, lol. J/K. No but seriously, if Judy is gone, which i had no idea she was (thank god), who is left? Is John doing mornings himself? That must sound like a trainwreck.

 

[NO DAG]

Once in the total dungeon in the absolute skankiest basement around, lurking about in the engineer's office, which was designed to be a bomb shelter to broadcast just in case the big one was dropped, was an engineering study to take Z 97 from 50kw to 100kw from the top of Killington.

This was before some of the first adjacent 97.3's signed on in Schoharie NY, and near Amherst MA.. 100kw of of Killington would have been quite the blowtorch !!

 

[CrankyYankee]

The former location of WTSA AM/FM in Brattleboro also had a bomb/fallout shelter studio. (This was the building on Putney Road.)

 

[NO DAG]

I'm trying to recall how many sump pumps there were in that basement. Certainly more than one. Besides the fact, the basement was poorly ventiliated, and getting down to it, you can find yourself decapitated ( or at least a monster headache) if you're not careful on the stairs.

You have to walk through this nasty, musty smelling basement, and way on the other end of the basement is this room that looks like it totally does not belong.. Once a studio, this Sherman Tank of room is where the engineers call home. It's funny that in radio stations, things do not get thrown out when the break, and somehow many useless things found their way into that basement.

If Pamal decides to tear the current palatial estate on Dorr Drive, and erect a new Taj Mahal broadcast facility, it's going to be bad for the neighborhood over there, since the current building has kept the mice population out of the nearby homes and attracted them into the current ediface !!If that's the case, and you're a neighbor there, may I suggest a trip to the humane society and get yourself a feline.

Wonder if a new buildng does indeed go up, will Pamal invest in repairs to WSYB's ground system. I'm sure the neighbors will be barking about hearing WSYB through the phones, radiators, toasters, microwaves, dental fillings, and aluminum foil in the building permitting process.