This is for the people on this forum who are from the Pittsburgh, PA area.
1. Late last week Clear Channel dumped the all-talk format from 104.7 FM and flipped it to Country as BIG 104.7
2. Clear Channel teamed up with the new owners of WJAS AM 1320 and put the former talk programming from 104.7 onto WJAS AM 1320, replacing the Big Band and Swing Format.
3. Radio Disney has announced it is selling 23 or its 24 stations across the USA including AM 1250 in Pittsburgh. Radio Disney will be ending on AM 1250 on September 26th. If they don't yet have a buyer for AM 1250 (or any of the other stations for that matter) by that date, they station(s) will go off the air until a buyer is found. The on station RD is keeping is KDIS in Los Angeles.
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
Similar things are happening in radio in all markets, be they Detroit, Pittsburgh or wherever.
This news affects you as well since WFDF is one of the 23 Radio Disney stations up for sale that is likely to go dark.
Scarcely a decade ago Disney ripped this station away from Flint, built a very expensive 50,000 watt directional array
south of Detroit, and bought a station in Ohio and shut it down to remove interference. Now it's all about to become an
expensive junkpile.
Already Detroit has seen the legendary Keener 13, which later became a liberal talk station, go dark as the license was donated to a nonprofit that can't seem to come up with a new transmitter site.
My father was quite upset to lose his standards on WJAS. As a talk station they are pretty awful.
Lousy sound quality and all brokered garbage on the weekends.
Personally I am saddened by the pending potential demise of 1250.
I had friends who worked there during its heyday in the late '70's.
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 14, 2014, 09:35:59 PM
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
Actually quite a lot of people with Pittsburgh ties should be hanging out on an Ames board.
GC Murphy Company, one of the key chains acquired by Ames as it expanded from its New England base,
was based here in McKeesport. I met many old time Murphy managers during my time at Ames who were
from the Pittsburgh area.
For a chain that seemed to prefer small town and rural locations, Pittsburgh was probably one of Ames'
best markets. Certainly the largest and most urban.
Although headquartered in Boston, the real nerve center for Hills Department Stores was the old Ops Center
in the Green Garden Plaza in Aliquippa. Hills was fantastically successful in this market. Those stores all became
Ames locations after the merger.
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 14, 2014, 09:35:59 PM
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
This board is basically made for East/Northeast-Coasters...
Quote from: Ameskid on August 29, 2014, 10:58:53 PM
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 14, 2014, 09:35:59 PM
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
This board is basically made for East/Northeast-Coasters...
...possibly as far west as Wisconsin?
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 31, 2014, 08:47:52 AM
Quote from: Ameskid on August 29, 2014, 10:58:53 PM
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 14, 2014, 09:35:59 PM
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
This board is basically made for East/Northeast-Coasters...
...possibly as far west as Wisconsin?
And as far south as Florida. But that is besides the point, as most posters here seem to hail from somewhere in New England.
Quote from: Ameskid on October 01, 2014, 03:46:42 PM
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 31, 2014, 08:47:52 AM
Quote from: Ameskid on August 29, 2014, 10:58:53 PM
Quote from: Hudsons81 on August 14, 2014, 09:35:59 PM
I doubt this will see much activity...the only regular I know of who is from Pittsburgh is TheFugitive. In fact, I don't even think a "Detroit, MI Radio News" thread on this site will work at all, since I'm the only regular from that region.
This board is basically made for East/Northeast-Coasters...
...possibly as far west as Wisconsin?
And as far south as Florida. But that is besides the point, as most posters here seem to hail from somewhere in New England.
Makes sense as Ames was headquartered in New England.
As were two of its key component companies, Hills and Zayre.
Couple of local updates:
- WWCS-AM 540 in Canonsburg has dumped Fox Sports Radio and replaced it
with Yahoo! Sports Radio.
- WDDZ-AM 1250 has remained on the air despite Radio Disney's previous announcement
that it would go dark on Sept. 26 (apparently none of the Radio Disney stations have to this point)
- The wife of Frank Dittig (a.k.a. Frankie Day, host of the Frankie Day Oldies Show on WKFB-AM 770)
passed away last week.
Quote from: TheFugitive on October 06, 2014, 12:17:27 PM
- WDDZ-AM 1250 has remained on the air despite Radio Disney's previous announcement
that it would go dark on Sept. 26 (apparently none of the Radio Disney stations have to this point)
WFDF 910 is remaining on the air too despite that announcement.
And actually, their signal does still reach Flint, even though it's in rural Monroe County. However, none of their operations are in the Flint area any more-they moved their last-remaining Flint-area offices to Southfield in 2006, dismantled their transmitter in Flint and changed the city of license to Farmington Hills (both it and Southfield are Detroit suburbs).
When I lived in Flint WFDF was playing big band music. The studio was actually
in a house in Burton. Transmitter down on Center Road someplace.
The strange one was WTRX. The towers and transmitter/studio building were in the middle
of a trailer park. Looks like at some point the station was losing money and they began
leasing out trailer lots all over the transmitter property.
I don't know if it qualifies as "news"....since it happened in 1972....BUT....
Rush Limbaugh was telling a story the other day about his first radio job, which was right here
in Pittsburgh at 1360 WIXZ (pronounced "thirteen sixty wick-see") in McKeesport. He worked
there for a few years under the name Jeff Christie, before heading across town to work at KQV
for a couple more.
He was doing the morning show and Lily Tomlin was in town to appear at some stand-up club.
This was in her Laugh-In days (or immediately afterwards) and she would have been a big draw.
Her promoters were calling around asking to bring her on morning radio shows to promote the
appearance, and WIXZ management said "sure!"
So Rush worked out an on-air phone comedy bit with Lily Tomlin. Rush would pretend to make a crank call and Tomlin would pretend to be an employee at a local supermarket. He asked her if they had TV dinners with raccoon meat. (what prompted this story was a news item about a grocer in L.A. being shut down for selling raccoon meat for human consumption) She would then become indignant and outraged, threaten to report him to the ASPCA, and then Tomlin would switch to her Ernestine character (who had been eavesdropping) to dump on him some more.
Wow, Rush Limbaugh doing a comedy routine with Lily Tomlin? Whoda thunkit??
She of course is one of Hollywood's leading Liberals, so likely she had to go into hiding
the next day after he told this story. He claimed that tape of this bit convinced his mother
that he would actually make it in the radio biz. "I had no idea you could be funny!"
I was also impressed that when posting this to Rush's website they were able to dig up the
actual 1360 WIXZ logos from that time.
AM 540 which I believe is a Sports Station is up for sale, making it the 2nd Pittsburgh-area station that is currently for sale. The station is owned by Birach Broadcasting whom reportedly selling all their stations. It should be noted that most of Birach stations are a technical nightmare and most are not broadcasting within the legal parameters of their FCC licenses. The vast majority of their stations run leased-time Ethnic Programming. One interesting station they have is WNZK in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. During the day they operate on 690AM, but at night they switch to 680AM.
I remember WNZK from when I lived in Michigan. At the time a lot of their ethnic
programming was in Arabic (Detroit and Toledo have the largest ethnic Arab populations
in the US). Was like tuning your dial to Radio Baghdad. I became convinced that this
language could not be spoken, only shouted.
Did not know 540 in Canonsburg was for sale. They did get fined some time ago for allowing
part of the protective chain link fence around their transmitter to collapse without repairing it.
Scary! This was formerly on the grounds of a state hospital and way out in the boonies.
Today the land has been developed and there are $500,000 homes that come up right to
the edge of this transmitter property. I sure as heck would not buy one.
The other station I know is for sale is 1250, once the legendary WTAE. These are two
of the best AM signals in the Pittsburgh area if anyone out there has a plan for what to
do with them.
I do believe that Mr. Birach is quite elderly, so not surprised that he is selling off his stations.
Did he ever get 1460 WPON back on the air? That one had quite a following amongst the
oldies community.
Quote from: TheFugitive on February 17, 2015, 11:37:34 AM
Was like tuning your dial to Radio Baghdad. I became convinced that this
language could not be spoken, only shouted.
A lot of those leased-time ethnic stations are like that. And the owners don't care as long as the check doesn't bounce. ---- I was once an "intern" - READ UNPAID EMPLOYEE at WXCT 990 in Southington, Connecticut. (They were running an all-talk format). My boss lost the lease of the station in May 2007 and the new group leasing the station - a Spanish language Christian network out of NYC called Radio Cantico Nuevo had horrible sounding programming. A lot of the times is was over modulated and distorted. And one Saturday night a now former buddy of mine were riding around Southington and my buddy says to me "Marc, whatever happened to that station you used to work at 990 AM?" I punched up 990 on the car radio and there was woman yelling rapid-fire Spanish at the top of her lungs. This went on for at least 20 minutes. Every few minutes my buddy and I were like "Calm down lady, you're going to give yourself a heart attack." Aside from the fact they weren't using the local studio in Southington, I kept imaging myself picking up the newspaper the next morning and seeing a headline
"Woman Found Dead of Heart Attack at Local Radio Station." - Of course that never happened. - The station now simulcasts the Spanish Contemporary format of their sister station WSPR 1270 from Springfield, Mass Monday-Friday. They still run Spanish Christian Programming on the weekend outside of 8:30AM-3PM on Sundays.
Then there's WRYM 840 in New Britain, Connecticut. Their studio and antenna are on Willard Avenue in Newington. They mostly play Spanish Music and go by the name "La Gigante". One night after Midnite I picked up the station (they forgot to cut to their low-power night time power) and I heard the creepiest thing I had ever heard. It was a Spanish language preacher talking really loud and in the background they were playing a sound effect of someone crying.
QuoteI do believe that Mr. Birach is quite elderly, so not surprised that he is selling off his stations.
Did he ever get 1460 WPON back on the air? That one had quite a following amongst the
oldies community.
Yes he is quite elderly. Plus he's been taken advantage of by several people including his own son. There's a disclaimer on his website about it. I don't know if he ever got WPON back on the air. I should ask on one of the radio forums I belong to. He doesn't keep his website up-to-date. http://www.birach.com/
The website http://www.radiostationsforsale.net/ had this ad on in:
QuoteFrom RadioStationsForSale.net: Chicago AM ~ St. Louis AM ~ Buffalo NY AM ~ Suburban DC AM ~ Grand Rapids MI AM, Louisville KY AM ~ Flint MI AM ~ Ann Arbor MI AM ~ Little Rock AM ~ Tulsa AM, Detroit AM ~ Beaumont-Port Arthur TX AM ~ Sarasota Bradenton FL AM, Johnstown PA AM ~ Norflok-Virginia Beach AM ~ Pittsburgh AM ~ Des Moines AM stations available for lease or sale with significant seller financing to qualified parties For info contact Harold Bausemer 781-848-4201 or email radio@beld.net (2/15/15)
These are all markets where Birach owns stations which leads me to believe he is selling his stations.
Wow, sad to hear he was taken advantage of by his own son.
Made me sick when it happened to Ted Williams and equally so here.
I had Lebanese next-door neighbors for a time. They were a nice family, but
on summer evenings they'd invite a bunch of their cousins over and they'd
all sit outside enjoying beverages and chatting. Until a very late hour....11,
midnight, 1AM. They were having what I presume to be ordinary conversations
in Arabic, as no one seemed upset or angry. But they were loud! I got the
distinct impression that late-night confabs were part of the culture, and their
language was typically spoken at a very loud volume.
I'd take them back in a second over some of the screwball renters who have
been in that house since they left.
Quote from: TheFugitive on February 17, 2015, 11:37:34 AM
The other station I know is for sale is 1250, once the legendary WTAE.
I don't know what Disney wants for them but the 1250 The Pittsburgh Station, 1260 The Boston Station, and 640 the Philly station are the 3 biggest markets where Disney hasn't found a buyer yet. Most went to Religious Broadcasters, but 990 in Miami went to a Hispanic Broadcaster and is planning on putting Spanish language spoken word programming on it. The FCC approved the sale of Disney's 1560 in NYC last week to Family Radio Religious Group and the station is off the air as I type this.
The most interesting station on that Birach sale list is WKGE in Johnstown, PA.
For many years this was WJAC, the big Johnstown full-service station. 10kW
in a very directional pattern that is shaped like an hour glass pointing north
and south. That required some massive nine or ten tower array. A few years
ago one of the towers failed or fell down, causing the signal to wobble and
interfere with WKNR in Cleveland. The station has been off the air for a good
two years, as at this point the fact that they are on AM (and the local economy
in Johnstown has basically collapsed) means that likely you'd never recoup
the cost of the repairs.
So who is putting in a bid?
Quote from: TheFugitive on February 18, 2015, 01:43:38 PM
The most interesting station on that Birach sale list is WKGE in Johnstown, PA.
For many years this was WJAC, the big Johnstown full-service station. 10kW
in a very directional pattern that is shaped like an hour glass pointing north
and south. That required some massive nine or ten tower array. A few years
ago one of the towers failed or fell down, causing the signal to wobble and
interfere with WKNR in Cleveland. The station has been off the air for a good
two years, as at this point the fact that they are on AM (and the local economy
in Johnstown has basically collapsed) means that likely you'd never recoup
the cost of the repairs.
So who is putting in a bid?
9 or 10 towers? Yikes. That would likely be too cost prohibitive to fix. Not to mention the NIMBYers. There was a station down in New London, Connecticut WNLC 1510 AM. They played Big Band, Swing, and Adult Pop Standards. 10KW used something like 8 towers. About 18 years ago one of the towers caught fire knocking the station off the air. They determined that it would be too cost prohibitive to rebuild the site and the turned in the license to the FCC and bulldozed the remaining towers. They moved to 98.7 FM in East Lyme and have since flipped to Classic Hits.
Here in Pittsburgh there is a 50kW daytimer on 1080. When I was a kid their
call letters were WEEP and they were the big country station here in town.
They are daytime only because they have to protect WTIC up there in Hartford.
They apparently got a construction permit to go 5000 watts, 24 hours directional
with a huge array of ten or eleven towers. It was never built, I suppose because it
would have been such an incredibly expensive project. Even though enough people
were still listening to AM at the time to make it viable.
Supposedly this was going to be built in Mt. Oliver. One of Pittsburgh's
worst neighborhoods.
1080 is still 50kW daytime only and runs religious programming as WWNL.
The Radio Disney affiliate in Pittsburgh has been sold to Salem Media Group for $1 million. They already own WORD/WPIT. Radio Blog Northeast Radio Watch expects Salem to install its Conservative Talk format on AM 1250 and will most likely be known as "1250 The Answer" as most of Salem's talk stations are known as "The Answer."
http://www.fybush.com/nerw-extra-disney-sells-in-pittsburgh/
You know, I had a strange feeling that was going to happen.
Salem currently owns WPIT-AM, which airs their talk lineup (Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved)
in the evenings.
However, WPIT only runs a post-sundown power of 25 watts.
I'm frankly amazed that makes it to my house.
The former WTAE runs 5000 watts directional, day and night, and has one of the
best AM signals in town.
Though it would have been nice to see them go back to playing Top 40 as they did
in their heyday. I have a good friend who was a DJ there at that time.
Lots of speculation here as to whether Quinn and Rose will be offered the morning slot if, as expected, Salem turns 1250 to a Conservative Talk format.
Their show was canceled by WPGB 104.7 over a year ago, shortly before that station
flipped from talk to country. Supposedly they had a deal to do mornings on 1320 WJAS
when they flipped to talk, but Quinn reportedly scotched the deal in a dispute over
internet streaming rights.
Jim Quinn has had a long, colorful, and at times checkered career on Pittsburgh radio
(including prior stints as a DJ on both 1250 and 1320 back when they were playing music).
As Salem is an ostensibly Christian organization, there is some thought that Quinn may be a bit too rough and tumble for them. They should like Rose though. She worked for the local Christian television station, WPCB, for many years.
Quote from: Marc B on February 25, 2015, 11:16:31 AM
The Radio Disney affiliate in Pittsburgh has been sold to Salem Media Group for $1 million. They already own WORD/WPIT. Radio Blog Northeast Radio Watch expects Salem to install its Conservative Talk format on AM 1250 and will most likely be known as "1250 The Answer" as most of Salem's talk stations are known as "The Answer."
http://www.fybush.com/nerw-extra-disney-sells-in-pittsburgh/
Salem Media confirmed in their quarterly earnings conference call with investors yesterday
that is indeed their plan for 1250.
And in more Pittsburgh radio news, WRRK (BOB-FM) has landed atop the ratings for the second
month in a row.
http://www.pbrtv.com/wrrk-reaches-the-top-for-the-second-month/
This is notable because WRRK is one of a dwindling number of stations that are under local ownership
(not owned by IHeartMedia, CBS or Cumulus). WRRK and it's sister station WLTJ (Q 92.9), along with
the alternative weekly City Paper, are owned by Steel City Media.
In other local radio news, long-time Pittsburgh radio personality Jim Quinn, and his sidekick Rose Tennant, return to the airwaves April 1 when they relaunch their conservative morning talk show. The ironic thing is that it does not appear the show will be aired in Pittsburgh, at least initially. WYSL in Rochester, New York looks like their flagship station (although the show will be based here in Pittsburgh). It will also be available (for a fee) over a web app.
For many years Quinn and Rose held down morning drive at WRRK, before leaving about a decade ago to join Clear Channel (now IHeartMedia). Guess in hindsight that did not work out so well.
AM 1250, recently sold by Disney to Salem Media, will re-launch as a Conservative Talk
station on May 13, under the call letters WPGP.
http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/92803/pittsburghs-answer-to-launch-may-13/
WAMO-100 in Pittsburgh has suspended a DJ for 2 weeks. Something about what he did or said or posted online about the guy in Baltimore who died in police custody.
http://foxct.com/2015/04/29/station-suspends-dj-over-posting-in-baltimore-mans-death/
Quote from: Marc B on April 29, 2015, 07:56:03 PM
WAMO-100 in Pittsburgh has suspended a DJ for 2 weeks. Something about what he did or said or posted online about the guy in Baltimore who died in police custody.
http://foxct.com/2015/04/29/station-suspends-dj-over-posting-in-baltimore-mans-death/
I did not hear this, as I don't listen to WAMO. But it is interesting.
Apparently the guy cross-posted a list of Freddy Gray's criminal priors that has been going around the internet. Pretty lengthy, but mainly drug possession and petty thefts. Nothing certainly that would justify the death penalty.
It looks like this guy posted the info trying to point out that Gray was no angel, and he suffered a brutal
blowback from the station's mostly black audience. According to the article this included death threats, which is quite disturbing.
AM 1250 The Answer now on the air in Pittsburgh, featuring the conservative talk lineup from
the Salem Network (Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, etc.), along with Mark Levin and one
local show, hosted by Rose Soma Tennent, former co-host of Quinn and Rose.
This puts her in head-to-head competition with her former partner Jim Quinn, who has
launched a new morning show on 2 affiliates (Rochester, NY and Latrobe, PA), plus a paid online webstream. Salem is ostensibly a Christian company, and likely they had some issues with Quinn's
checkered and colorful past as a DJ (the lawsuit he got involved in for cracking an oral sex
joke at the expense of his newscaster in the 80's being chief among them). I presume that
Rose working solo looked like the safer bet.
Changes at Q92.9
John Cline, Dave Cook and Maria D’Antonio are out from the morning show of last week.
Jim Krenn formerly of WDVE 102.5 takes over mornings at Q92.9 on Monday July 6th. He will be joined by 3 people from his weekly podcast plus Q92.9 Midday DJ Debbie Wilde.
http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/93315/q92-9-pittsburgh-morning-shakeup-brings-in-jim-krenn/
Krenn had been making weekly appearances on the morning show on KDKA-AM prior to this announcement.
I know because I had to listen to my mom complain about him all the time. His humor is a bit
edgy for her, and for most of KD's audience.
As part of lay-offs nationwide CBS Radio Pittsburgh makes the following cuts.
Y-108 - Jimmy Roach is out from the morning show.
Star 101.7 Midday Jock Scott Alexander is out as is Night time personality Lindsay.
Quote from: Marc B on July 21, 2015, 04:34:11 PM
Y-108 - Jimmy Roach is out from the morning show.
That is sad news. I am not a huge country music fan, but Jimmy Roach has been a fixture on
radio in this town for over three decades. And by all accounts is a very nice guy.
He and Steve Hansen were the morning team on WDVE when I was a kid. I wonder if he
might go back to the Forever Broadcasting "Froggy" country stations where he worked in
the interim? The guy has got some fabulous pipes.
WAVL AM 910 in the Pittsburgh suburbs is off the air until they find a buyer. Prior to the station going off the air they were a Religious station. $150,000 is what they want for it which is 5,000 watts by day, but only 69 watts at night. The station is licensed to Apollo and was located in Kittanning.
I don't think they'll get $150K for it. Not when WZUM, with a signal centered in a much more
highly populated area, was sold for the price of a gently used sedan. Apollo/Kittanning area is
comparatively lightly populated, especially for a 70w. night signal.
At one time this church had an agreement to swap licenses with 1360 AM (then WPTT) in
McKeesport and move 910's transmitter to the Bridgeville area in southern Allegheny County.
This would have given them better signal coverage over Pittsburgh for their talk lineup.
Of course that station hit the skids financially and took Renda Broadcasting with it.
Though a construction permit was granted the deal never went through, and 1360 was
eventually donated to another church.
WBGG AM-970 (ESPN Radio) has put an FM translator on the air at
106.3
WEDO 810 in Mckeesport a station featuring a mix of Religious Programming, Talk Programming, and Music programming might be getting an FM translator at 92.3 FM. WEDO was just sold for $175,000. Programming most likely will be changing somewhat. And although 810 will still have to sign off at night, being on 92.3 will allow WEDO to feature 24 hour programming.
http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmckeesport/yourmckeesportmore/9096547-74/wedo-stevens-station#axzz3luHp6JdM
Same owner who owns WKHB (620AM and 94.1FM), WKFB (770AM and 97.5FM), and WKVE (103.1FM)
WKVE is a classic rock station that was licensed to Waynesburg, PA about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh.
He moved it to the east and put a transmitter atop Chestnut Ridge, with an elevation of about 3000 feet.
As a result it puts out a killer signal over most of Western PA.
WKHB mainly runs brokered medical shows. There is a local chiropractor who buys about 20 hrs. per week on there. Overnights though they play commercial-free music from the 70's and 80's. WKFB plays mostly doo-wop and oldies, primarily spun by local businessman Frank Dittig who goes by the name of Frankie Day. The FMs for both of these stations allow me to get commercial free music in the evening and overnight hours.
I wonder what they are planning to program in that spot for WEDO? I listen to the old time radio shows they run before signoff. That would be an interesting choice.
WEDO is one of two local stations (the other being WAMO) which have actually had their towers cut-down by vandals.
Another thought....
How is a low-power FM in McKeesport on 92.3 going to affect the University of Pittsburgh's
campus station on 92.1?
As it is that station only runs 17 watts off the top of the Cathedral of Learning.
And it is very directional, having to try and protect WPKL in Ellwood City.
Back in the 90's they already had to move off of 98.5 when 98.3 in Charleroi
got a change of license and moved in closer to the city.
Pitt fought a 25 year battle to get on the FM dial, and now low-power FM stations
appear to be a dime a dozen.
Authorities in Connellsville, Pennsylvania are moving ahead with the demolition of the former
studio building of WCVI.
http://triblive.com/news/fayette/9288359-74/wcvi-connellsville-projects#axzz3pEKMTJce
The station broadcast at 1340 AM before going dark (as WBGI) in 2012.
Reportedly as WCVI they operated illegally (and apparently unknowingly) for several years
after station owners failed to file the proper FCC license renewal paperwork on time. WCVI
was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates Radio Network and was playing syndicated oldies at
the time it went dark.
As you can see the studio building had seen better days.
(http://thebell.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DSC_5490.WCVIam.NEF_.jpg)
It's a battle of the ugliest buildings that used to house radio stations. The building below is located at 610-620 Main Street in New Britain, Connecticut and was the first home of WPRX 1120 AM in 1993 after they moved out of Bristol. The building has been abandoned for almost 20 years. Many buyers promised to rehab/demolish it but they never did. The City of New Britain owned it for a while and sold it to a developer in July 2015. They were given a stipulation that the building must be finished by a certain date or ownership would revert back to The City of New Britain.
(http://images.vgsi.com/photos/NewBritainCTPhotos//%5C00%5C02%5C07/90.JPG)
Photo Credit: Vision Government Solutions.
I first saw this building several years ago driving by. I remember seeing a For Sale Sign in front of it and looking up at the smashed out windows. I remember thinking to myself "No thanks. If I had the money to buy a building I'd want to buy one with windows. ::) "
A couple years ago a friend of mine was staying at an alcohol treatment facility near this building. He said one of the neighboring buildings was rundown with shady looking people hanging out there. I wonder if this was the building.
There is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh called East Liberty that was absolutely overrun with
these types of buildings a decade ago. Known mainly for gang shootings and dilapidated run-down
properties, you never went there after dark.
Flash forward a decade and Google decides to locate their regional headquarters in a former
Nabisco bakery in this neighborhood. Voila! Almost overnight it becomes the cool, hip, happening
place to be. Lots of buildings like these that seemed beyond salvage were suddenly snapped-up
and renovated. Cool old Victorian houses are being renovated and the whole neighborhood is
coming back to life.
The only downside to this is that the gentrification is pricing the former criminal element out
of their former hovels, so they are now infesting a couple of nearby suburbs.
WZUM, the little station that could (play music on the AM band), is on the market.
http://www.pbrtv.com/wzum-on-the-market/
I have some mutual acquaintances with the current ownership. They bought it out of bankruptcy
a couple of years ago for the price of a gently used sedan. I don't suspect they are letting it go for
the same price.
Pittsburgh radio legend Wendy King has reportedly passed away at age 92.
King and her husband Ed hosted the Party Line program on KDKA radio from 1951
until his untimely death from a heart attack in November, 1971.
Party Line was a nightly call-in trivia show where callers could win small prizes like KDKA
can openers for having the correct answer. Perhaps unique among radio talk shows in that
the caller's voices were not put on the air. Only Ed and Wendy's side of the conversation was
heard by radio audiences. With KD's 50kW clear channel signal they were widely listened to
throughout the Eastern US and Canada.
After his death Wendy King declined to continue Party Line on her own. Though she continued to voice commercials for many years, primarily for AAA.
(http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2013/10/21/Ed-and-Wendy-King.jpg)
Quote from: Marc B on August 29, 2015, 09:24:50 PM
WAVL AM 910 in the Pittsburgh suburbs is off the air until they find a buyer. Prior to the station going off the air they were a Religious station. $150,000 is what they want for it which is 5,000 watts by day, but only 69 watts at night. The station is licensed to Apollo and was located in Kittanning.
No buyer yet, but WAVL is back on the air broadcasting a syndicated Classic Hits format
called The Mountain.
WZUM-AM 1550 has been sold.
The new owners are Pittsburgh Public Media, which operates a jazz formatted station
on 88.1 FM from just over the border in Bethany, WV. (the former campus station
for Bethany College, which they sold a couple years back).
Looks like their plan is to ring the area with small jazz stations.
Reported sale price was $75,000. The current owners bought this station
for around $16,000 a couple of years back.
Pittsburgh Public Media has completed it's purchase of AM 1550, WZUM in Braddock.
It intends to simulcast the jazz format it has been broadcasting on 88.1 FM out of
Bethany, WV for the past couple of years, and eventually to add an FM translator.
The switchover to jazz from the current Motown/R&B format is slated to happen
at noon on Saturday.
Stations WLSW-FM, Scottdale, PA and WQTW-AM, Latrobe, PA, have been sold to Broadcast Communications, Inc., which already owns a cluster of suburban stations that include WKHB, WKFB, WEDO and WKVE. WLSW has applied for a power increase, and the two acquired stations are currently running automated hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's (the same package used by WKHB in the evenings after their infomercial programming is done for the day).
The stations went up for sale after long-time owner Stan Wall passed away.
From Radioinsight.com
Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation sells Gospel 1150 WMNY New Kensington/Pittsburgh PA to Bhavna Gupta and Gagan Deep’s Radio 1150 LLC and Cambria Hill Realty for $180,000. The Gospel format will shift back to sister 1360 WGBN McKeesport.
WGBN was originally WMCK, which became WIXZ for much of its history.
This is the station where Rush Limbaugh launched his radio career.
They had a strange two-site tower arrangement. The day signal came from a tower in the
Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh. The night signal came from the original tower site near
the Olympia Shopping Center in McKeesport. The Pentacostal Temple was evicted from the
daytime tower, reportedly for nonpayment of rent. The nighttime site is reportedly in very bad
repair and is hardly useable. WGBN has been off the air more than they've been on in
recent months.
Speculation is that WMNY was sold to raise money to repair the McKeesport tower site for WGBN.
WMNY was sold to a real estate developer so likely it will go dark and the tower site will
be developed for housing.
The Pentacostal Temple is run by The Rev. Loran Mann, a onetime DJ and longtime reporter
for WIIC/WPXI Channel 11 in Pittsburgh. Originally the call letters were swapped with WMNY being on 1360 and WGBN on 1150. Renda Broadcasting donated the license to the Church several years ago and took a tax write-off. Likely they knew what rough shape that tower site was in.
"Broadway" formerly of WWYZ Country 92.5 in Hartford takes over mornings at Y-108 in Pittsburgh.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/120098/y108-pittsburgh-goes-broadway-mornings/
KDKA radio is reporting that Dr. James Winer has passed away.
He was a local chiropractor who for many years ran a holistic treatment clinic
called the Winer Wellness Center. He promoted his unorthodox views on health
by buying up 30+ hours per week on local radio stations to plug his clinic and
answer listener calls.
His show would run on as many as five stations. His passing is sure to create some
frantic situations for radio ad sales people who now have to go out and rebook
all of that time.
I will say this for the guy, he could filibuster with the best of them. He could ramble
on and on about a whole assortment of offbeat topics while waiting for the next caller
(which, on a 500 watt suburban station, could be quite some time). Topics he'd typically
discuss included:
*Vitamins and Supplements (he had a store in his office, it was a sales pitch).
*Vegan Diet (he was a strong proponent)
*Anti-Vaccines (he was dead-set against them and would advise callers on getting around mandatory school vaccinations)
*Politics (he didn't like Republicans one bit)
*Brandeis University (his alma matter, which he would state was "more selective than Harvard" then expound on it for 30 minutes at a time).
*France (he studied there and apparently came away thinking that they did absolutely everything better than Americans).
*The "Medical Model" (he was dead-set against prescription meds and standard treatments for serious diseases like cancer, pushing natural alternatives instead).
* Various conspiracy theories on how big pharma companies + the government were conspiring to suppress knowledge of natural treatments that actually work.
One of the disturbing things about him was that despite being host of a talk show, he was incredibly rude to callers. (except on KDKA where apparently they read him the riot act). He would get some 85-year old lady calling who was probably hard of hearing to begin with. He would call in from his office on a five-dollar phone he probably purchased at Big Lots and mumble the very long names of various supplements. The caller would not understand and would ask him to repeat himself, which caused him to become exasperated, whereupon he would begin shouting.
(This would cause me to think about a girl I dated in high-school whose name was also Winer, and to hope for her sake that this guy wasn't a relative)
I have occasion to drive past his clinic from time to time, and the parking lot is nearly always full.
Though I suppose that having the doctor who runs the Wellness Clinic suddenly drop dead is not good for business.
WMNY-AM 1150, New Kensington-Pittsburgh, is now broadcasting a Hindi music format.
There are a lot of Indians living in Pittsburgh (we don't have a very large Hispanic population
so they may be our largest immigrant group). So this could be a pretty successful format choice.
The new owners are Indian and have applied for an FM translator. They purchased the station
from the Pentecostal Temple, a large church that also owns WGBN 1360. Supposedly proceeds
of the sale will go to fund badly needed transmitter repairs at WGBN.
On the far edge of the Pittsburgh area market (yes, a little sliver of Maryland is included in that)
WFRB-AM in Frostburg, Maryland has flipped formats from News/Talk to Classic Country.
It was a country station when I discovered them back in the mid-70's so in a sense
they are coming full-circle.
A Pastor on WTYM 1370 has been arrested for sexually assaulting a minor.
http://www.pbrtv.com/wtyms-croyle-arrested-and-charged/
This story has unfortunately been blown off the front pages
by the release of a Grand Jury report detailing incidents of sexual abuse
carried out by over 300 Catholic Priests in Pennsylvania.
The Quinn and Rose in the Morning Show will be returning to Pittsburgh airwaves on Sept. 24.
They will be airing on WBGG, the local ESPN radio affiliate, weekdays from 8 to 10 AM (I find it interesting that they are willing to bump the national Golic and Wingo show. Quinn must be paying well for the airtime. They do politics and it will be total break from the ESPN sports format).
Rose was released from her solo show on the local Salem station a few months back.
Quinn and Rose worked together for many years on WRRK-FM before going to then-Clear Channel
and being syndicated for a few years.
For the past few years Quinn has been doing a solo show heard on just 2 stations
(WYSL in Rochester, New York and WAVL in Avella, PA) along with a subscription podcast.
Quote from: Brammy on October 05, 2017, 01:06:57 PM
"Broadway" formerly of WWYZ Country 92.5 in Hartford takes over mornings at Y-108 in Pittsburgh.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/120098/y108-pittsburgh-goes-broadway-mornings/
Broadway is apparently out at Y-108.
http://www.pbrtv.com/y108-lacking-morning-show/
Classic Hits WQZS-FM in Meyersdale, PA has left the air after the FCC revoked their license.
The station's owner, Roger Wahl, had pled guilty in 2020 to having hidden cameras in the home of his former girlfriend and then using photos of her undressed to recruit men on internet dating platforms to come to her home and rape her. FCC rules state that you must be of good moral character to hold a broadcast license and since Wahl had pled guilty to a felony they began the process of revoking his license. He fought a four-year legal battle filling appeals, and at one point attempted to sell the station to his daughter for $10. The FCC issued a final revocation order on April 4 and the station went off the air later that day, posting to their Facebook site that they had signed-off for good.