Finally, some good news regarding AM radio

[radiotvnut]

I first heard talk radio locally in the early '90's when the local AM station started carrying Rush Limbaugh from 11-2 everyday. From 2 PM on, it was still music. Then, more talk shows started airing until finally the station went 100% news/talk. This was around '95 and they have not looked back.

Despite what the "know it all" radio programmers believe, I think there would be an interest in an oldies station. I have a large stash of records and CD's that contain oldies that are not heard even on the "oldies" stations. Sometimes, I'll play something for someone that comes over and they will get all excited and tell me that they have not heard that in years. These struggling oldies stations could do better if they'd play more than the same 300 (or less) songs over and over. From what I hear on most oldies stations, they mostly play top 10 material. Who wants to hear "My Boyfriend's Back" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 50 times in a day! How about "1900 Yesterday" by "Liz Damon's Orient Express" , "Heavy Music" by "Bob Seger & the Last Heard", "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife" by "O.C. Smith, etc. I could go on for days. Those are just some records that are within my reach at the moment. There are tons of songs from the '40's through the '70's that don't get the airplay they deserve.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I first heard talk radio locally in the early '90's when the local AM station started carrying Rush Limbaugh from 11-2 everyday. From 2 PM on, it was still music. Then, more talk shows started airing until finally the station went 100% news/talk. This was around '95 and they have not looked back.

Despite what the "know it all" radio programmers believe, I think there would be an interest in an oldies station. I have a large stash of records and CD's that contain oldies that are not heard even on the "oldies" stations. Sometimes, I'll play something for someone that comes over and they will get all excited and tell me that they have not heard that in years. These struggling oldies stations could do better if they'd play more than the same 300 (or less) songs over and over. From what I hear on most oldies stations, they mostly play top 10 material. Who wants to hear "My Boyfriend's Back" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 50 times in a day! How about "1900 Yesterday" by "Liz Damon's Orient Express" , "Heavy Music" by "Bob Seger & the Last Heard", "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife" by "O.C. Smith, etc. I could go on for days. Those are just some records that are within my reach at the moment. There are tons of songs from the '40's through the '70's that don't get the airplay they deserve.

The oldies FM station I mentioned in my last post, WZOO-FM "Magic Oldies 102-5", does in fact play quite a few obscure or little-heard oldies. Their record library must be huge; I swear, that station plays oldies I haven't heard literally in years. The station is located in a town called Edgewood, which is some 50 miles from Cleveland and closer to a city right on Lake Erie known as Ashtabula. I don't think the station could cover the greater Cleveland area if it wanted to, as it seems to be set up as a strictly local station to serve its own area and not much further. No website yet, as it fairly recently switched from adult contemporary to oldies; otherwise, I'm sure it would have an Internet audio stream.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Talk radio is beginning to appear on the FM band in some cities, in addition to or instead of on AM. In my area just outside greater Cleveland, I now hear talk programming part of the time on WMMS-FM which used to be 100-percent active rock--the first talk FM station so far in Cleveland. (I wonder which station here, if any, will be next to go all-talk.)

Oldies, on the other hand, seem to have left AM in this area (and probably in many other cities as well) for FM. I can hear at least two FM oldies stations here, one from Cleveland (WMJI-Majic 105.7) and another from a lakefront city 50 miles from Cleveland (WZOO, Magic Oldies 102-5). This is not to say that all oldies stations have fled AM for FM; some small towns/suburbs still have AM oldies radio, such as WKFB-AM 770 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania (as I found out after doing a search using RadioLocator.com). There was a small oldies AM station in the Cleveland metropolitan area until about four years ago (WELW-AM 1330 in Willoughby, east-suburban Cleveland) that switched to syndicated talk, dropping its solid-gold oldies on a Friday. I can only imagine how upset some listeners may have been when they tuned their radios to 1330 the following Monday morning, only to hear national talk hosts rather than the oldies this station had been playing for some four or five years; the format (WELW's oldies format) was modeled after that of CKLW-AM 800 when that station was "The Big Eight" in the '60s-'70s. The station (WELW 1330) also had two of the best local oldies DJs in the business during its oldies days, both of whom were let go when the format changed.

Yeah, it seems like FM talk is growing, we have one here in Pittsburgh, 104.7, WPGB that is ripping KDKA-AM a new one. They first took Rush Limbaugh away and then the Pittsburgh Pirates. Come to think of it, I notice that many sports teams are going FM too, heck, all three teams here, the Penguins, Pirates, and Steelers have their flagship stations on FM. My maternal grandmother passed away in 1997 but if she was still around, she'd be going ape on her Pirates not being on KDKA anymore. The downside is that the Pirates always pre-emps Michael Savage and he pre-emps George Noory. Wish the Pirates were somewhere else, oh well....

Yeah, sometimes I listen to 770 out of Jeanette and they have a sister station on 620 kc, when there isn't any doctor shows on, they play oldies too.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

Yeah, it seems like FM talk is growing, we have one here in Pittsburgh, 104.7, WPGB that is ripping KDKA-AM a new one. They first took Rush Limbaugh away and then the Pittsburgh Pirates. Come to think of it, I notice that many sports teams are going FM too, heck, all three teams here, the Penguins, Pirates, and Steelers have their flagship stations on FM. My maternal grandmother passed away in 1997 but if she was still around, she'd be going ape on her Pirates not being on KDKA anymore. The downside is that the Pirates always pre-emps Michael Savage and he pre-emps George Noory. Wish the Pirates were somewhere else, oh well....

Yeah, sometimes I listen to 770 out of Jeanette and they have a sister station on 620 kc, when there isn't any doctor shows on, they play oldies too.

Pittsburgh also has an FM oldies station, WWSW-FM, as I found when I did a search for the city's radio stations on RadioLocator.com. The two AM oldies stations you mention are there as well, although I can't see why two stations (WKFB770/WKHB620) in the same area are simulcasting the same programming. I can't see why, unless 620 (WKHB) is so weak at night at 50 watts (5.5kW daytime) no one much outside the area can hear it.

Doctor shows? WKHB620 must be a talk/oldies station; talk during the day, oldies at night or vice-versa. I can think of at least one other station that splits formats like that: 50kW WBZ-AM 1030 in Boston, which booms in here near Cleveland at night and should be audible in the Pittsburgh area as well after dark. That station is news during the day and talk at night. A small station in the Detroit area, WPON 1460, also has the same format as WKHB; talk and oldies, at least they did the last time I looked at their listing on RadioLocator.com.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Pittsburgh also has an FM oldies station, WWSW-FM, as I found when I did a search for the city's radio stations on RadioLocator.com. The two AM oldies stations you mention are there as well, although I can't see why two stations (WKFB770/WKHB620) in the same area are simulcasting the same programming. I can't see why, unless 620 (WKHB) is so weak at night at 50 watts (5.5kW daytime) no one much outside the area can hear it.

Doctor shows? WKHB620 must be a talk/oldies station; talk during the day, oldies at night or vice-versa. I can think of at least one other station that splits formats like that: 50kW WBZ-AM 1030 in Boston, which booms in here near Cleveland at night and should be audible in the Pittsburgh area as well after dark. That station is news during the day and talk at night. A small station in the Detroit area, WPON 1460, also has the same format as WKHB; talk and oldies, at least they did the last time I looked at their listing on RadioLocator.com.

RadioLocator is a nice site. 620 and 770 don't simulcast but the oldies on 620 and a little "newer" with more emphasis on the 1970's and a few 1980's, I also listen to WWSW-FM, they play "oldies" from the late 1970's and 1980's, stuff I grew up with, never thought the 1980's would be seen as "oldies." Then again, I turn 42 on Tuesday (July 8th).

Hmmm, another side issue since you bring up 1030, WBZ Boston. It is bad news unfortunately, we used to be able to receive them under KDKA's signal which is on 1020, but with HD radio and KDKA keeps HD on all night, the HD signal "walks over" 1030 and 1010 (CFRB, Toronto). In fact, the HD signal seems like it splatters 20 kilocycles on each side of KDKA, I hear it on 1040 in my Explorer and in Mom's Hyundai so it is "buh bye" 1040 in Des Moines. I like to AM DX at night plus I think KDKA has "jumped the shark." The morning of July 7th, 2005, I took Mom to work around 5 AM or so and was AM DXing on the way home, I found out about the London terrorist attacks by AM DXing 840 out of Louisville, KY. KDKA was still talking about movie stars. BTW, WEAE on 1250 here in Pittsburgh runs HD all night and I pick up hash on both sides of WOR, 710, our of New York City.

There is even a site out there to stop HD radio over AM at night: http://www.stopiboc.com/index.html

[Sandy G]

The local FM station here, 104.3, changes its format more often than I change my drawers-1st it was a pretty decent oldies station, then it went to a typical "Motown 1965" oldies-you know, where they NEVER play anything much but the same 15 Supremes/Temptations songs all the time...Then they went Country-Boy, just what NE Tennessee needs-ANOTHER Country station, then it was "Urban Contemporary" for the 7 black people we have living here. Last time I checked, they were Southern Gospel. HUGE marketbase there, guys. I gave up on 'em several formats ago. As far as AM goes, I wish they'd get at least sophisticated enuff to drop the Bible-thumpers, & get Rush & Michael Savage... Believe it or not, that would be a big step up...