Posted on 09/18/2011 6:26:51 PM PDT by raccoonradio
The first change from the combined Cumulus and Citadel looks to be taking place Monday in Washington, DC. Both morning co-host Mike O’Meara and afternoon host Cerphe Colwell, at Classic Rock “105.9 The Edge” WVRX have posted on Facebook that they and the rest of the staff have been let go and that the station will be flipping on Monday.
Most speculation revolves around the station flipping to a simulcast of sister News/Talk 630 WMAL. While that makes the most sense, nothing has been confirmed so far.
More via radio-info.com
Washington DC’s classic rock “Edge” likely to simulcast sister talk WMAL (630)
>>”Edge” WVRX (105.9) personality Cerphe Colwell writes this message on Facebook today (8/18): “It’s official - 105.9 The Edge goes away tomorrow. Thanks for listening and thank you to our sponsors and clients who believe in us.” Cerphe, a veteran of the D.C. radio scene, says “I’ve been at the station only 10 months, but have made some wonderful friendships with my Citadel Broadcasting co-workers.” On Friday, Cumulus Media Inc. officially closed on its $2.4 billion purchase of Citadel. Cerphe says “I will miss [my co-workers] and my pals Kirk McEwen, Mike O’Meara, Jeff Shamrock, Suzie Ansilio and Thom Grooms - true professionals.” The DCRTV.com site has been rumoring that talk WMAL, under the guidance of Chicago-based progarmmer Drew Hayes, will be taking over the 105.9 frequency of WVRX, Woodbridge, VA. The evidence seems to be adding up. The site suggests that Monday morning (8/19) will bring stunting to The Edge, followed by a noontime flip to a simulcast, putting Rush Limbaugh on FM in the Nation’s Capital.
wow that would be great news, pickings are so slim in this area
More via DCRTV.org below; also the WMAL lineup which will no doubt soon be heard on the 105.9 frequency maybe
by tomorrow.
>>Edge To Die, WMAL To 105.9 Monday - 9/18 - Late Sunday, both morning man Mike O’Meara and afternoon man Cerphe Colwell have confirmed on their Facebook pages that their old station, classic rocker 105.9 The Edge, WVRX, is officially a terminal case. As DCRTV has been exclusively reporting since Friday, it now appears certain that 105.9 will become an FM relay for Cumulus (formerly Citadel) news talker WMAL, 630 AM, by midday Monday. Expect some stunting on 105.9 early in the day, though. More soon.....
The WMAL lineup via their site
weekdays
12:00AM -1:00AM John Batchelor
1:00AM 3:00AM Coast To Coast
3:00AM 5:00AM Midnight Trucking Radio
5:00AM 9:00AM The Morning Majority
9:00AM 12:00PM Chris Plante
12:00PM 3:00PM Rush Limbaugh
3:00PM 6:00PM Sean Hannity
6:00PM 9:00PM Mark Levin
9:00PM 12:00AM John Batchelor
Rush on FM? Killer...
PING!
Moving to FM no matter where it is located in the region makes a lot of sense.
I pick him up on the FM dial in our little burg.
Who needs classic rock when we all have thousands of songs on our portable devices?
Who needs live talk radio when we all have podcasts and internet radio?
It’s a different world. Cable TV stopped growing. The Internet is booming.
Thanks raccoonradio. More fallout from the online streaming and music d/ling revolution. :’)
The various areas represent the primary signal, distant, and "fringe" reception
The antenna is apparently located in Merrifield nr the I-495/I-66 intersection. West of Falls Church. Nr US 29, US 50 etc (A station can be licensed to one place but that doesn't necessarily mean the antenna is there. For example, WMKK-FM 93.7 is licensed to Lawrence MA, serves the Boston area, and the antenna is in between in the city of Peabody, MA)
I’m conflicted - I like 105.9 as a classic rock music station though another might emerge, but would love to have a better WMAL/conservative talk signal, especially at night. Arguably, it could make the Rush subscription superfluous for me (Our buildings inhibit AM reception and I’m a Rush subscriber mainly to get internet audio over 3G). The big bonus could be, in my humble opinion, to get Chris Plante broader exposure (9 to noon on WMAL). I’m moderately puzzled that Rush hasn’t asked him to substitute host (presuming Chris wouldn’t decline though I note that the great Walter Williams is from the DC area as well).
In Twin Cities, Clear Channel just swapped their sports talker KFAN to FM and put what was on the KTLK-FM to KFAN’s former AM freq.
Some places like New Orleans have Rush on FM (”Rush Radio 94.5” there). In Boston Clear Channel flipped a Spanish language station at AM 1200, WXKS to what they first called RushRadio1200 and now it’s Talk 1200 (but Rush is still there). It has an iffy signal at times but a solid conservative lineup. Clear Channel owns FM stations in Boston on 94.5 and 107.9 (rap, top 40 etc.) but the music does so well that they wouldn’t put talk on FM.
Meanwhile Boston sports station WEEI (AM 850, Entercom) started rebroadcasting on FM 93.7, to better reach areas that can’t get the talk and ballgames due to a weak signal or AM/power line interference.
The presence of a competitor already on FM (WBZ-FM 98.5,
owned by CBS) which started to beat them in the ratings
was a major factor! Now I can hear Red Sox games in crystal
clear FM at work (and I work nights), finally. It’s a trend.
Yes—btw Boston/New England conservative talker Howie Carr has Mark Steyn on as a guest once in awhile and said he would love Mark, who is based up in New Hampshire, to guest host. Mark said he’d love to but he has some kind of contract that allows him to only fill in for Rush.
Internet killed the video star
Chris Plante is lame. Worse than Hannity.
Sounds like he’s always rushing to get his thoughts out and stuttering in the meantime.
Unlistenable.
Haven’t heard him but someone has pinged me to threads about him. (I’m up in Boston)
Onetime WMAL host Michael Graham was fired over comments on Islam. (He is now at WTKK in Boston and writes for the
Boston Herald. Not really a fan of him—at least not of his voice.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/22/AR2005082201255.html
>>According to WMAL, Graham said “Islam is a terrorist organization” 23 times on his July 25 program. On the same show, he also said repeatedly that “moderate Muslims are those who only want to kill Jews” and that “the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam.” The comments drew complaints and prompted an organized letter-writing campaign against WMAL and its advertisers by a Muslim group, the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) of Washington. The protests led several advertisers to ask WMAL to stop airing their ads during Graham’s weekday show, although the station says it didn’t lose any advertisers amid the controversy.
Fifty-thousand watts of El Rushbo? What’s not to love?
Double that, so people will hear it in their dental fillings. Then rebroadcast 24x7.
Muahahahaha!
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