Bonneville/Washington Rearranges Signals

Radio And Records ^ | 08/11/08 | Mike Stern

[raccoonradio]

Bonneville talk WWWT/Washington, which had been heard in the market on both 107.7 FM and 1500 AM, will soon be no more. The 107.7 signal reverts to airing sister WTOP's all-news format, while the 1500 AM signal will simulcast sister WFED (Federal News Radio), giving the niche-formatted station currently heard on 820 AM a full market signal.

WWWT morning show "The Inner Loop with Burd, Doyle and Jones" exited after Monday’s (Aug. 11) show and the WTOP and WFED simulcasts will start tomorrow in the 6 a.m. - 9 a.m. slot. Also not returning to the Bonneville properties will be sports talk host Tony Kornheiser, who has been heard on WWWT except during football season when he takes a hiatus to focus on his ESPN “Monday Night Football” duties.

Bonneville VP of programming Jim Farley says the simulcasts will expand as the station's deals with various syndicators wind down. Hosts losing their Washington home in the move include Dial Global's Stephanie Miller and Neal Boortz; Westwood One's Bill O'Reilly and Jim Bohannon; Premiere's Glenn Beck; Nova M's Randi Rhodes; and Talk Radio Network's Phil Hendrie.

Both the 1500 AM and 107.7 FM signals will continue to air the Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, Naval Academy athletics, and George Washington University men’s basketball through the 2009 season.

The availability of Kornheiser and potentially several play-by-play franchises may be very appealing to Red Zebra Broadcasting, which recently added sports WTEM to it's porfolio of Washington area stations.

The move creates an FM trimulcast for WTOP, which is already heard on 103.5 FM in the city and 103.9 FM in Frederick, Md. Farley says WTOP will cover an area from "Richmond to Baltimore and from Chesapeake Bay to the Shenandoah mountains. It sets up WTOP to be an even bigger regional powerhouse than it already is."

The 107.7 signal was the first FM home of WTOP, which at the time was heard on the 1500 AM signal.

Regarding WFED’s now-full market signal, Bonneville senior regional VP Joel Oxley says, “With the coming change in administration, putting the station on a more powerful signal was the logical next step in the evolution of Federal News Radio, which serves the ever-growing and important federal community.”

WFED launched in 2000 as an Internet-only all-news radio station, Federalnewsradio.com, then migrated to AM in 2004.

[raccoonradio]

would think fans of O’Reilly, Boortz, Beck, Hendrie et all
would be able to get some/all of these shows on Baltimore
stations...or satellite radio...This was the station that dropped the ill fated Washington Post radio for a mixture of
“left, right, and whatever we want” talk.

[raccoonradio]

http://3wtradio.com/?sid=1457419&nid=24

“Q & A
1) What happened to Talk Radio 3WT?
Talk Radio 3WT will no longer be broadcasting. Beginning this fall, Federal News Radio will broadcast full-time on 1500 AM and 820 AM and 107.7 FM will carry WTOP programming and sports
2) Where can I hear the Nationals?
You can still hear the Nationals on 1500 AM, 820 AM and 107.7 FM
3) Where can I hear the Caps/other sports?
You can still hear play-by-play sports on 1500 AM, 820 AM and 107.7 FM
4) What is federal news radio?
Federal News Radio is a radio station dedicated to news and information for and about the federal government. It will broadcast on 1500 am and 820 am in Frederick
5) Why did you take off Talk Radio 3WT?
This was a business decision. We put our strongest station and our fastest-growing station on our best signals. WTOP is a very important resource and Federal News Radio has grown more successful in the past years.”

[Hawthorn]

> Why did you take off Talk Radio 3WT?
This was a business decision. We put our strongest station and our fastest-growing station on our best signals. WTOP is a very important resource and Federal News Radio has grown more successful in the past years.” <

The station was pretty much a disaster from the beginning. It's management seemed to have no idea of how to appeal to the talk radio audience, what with their mixture of “left, right and whatever we want.” I say good riddance.