Posted on 02/26/2006 9:49:23 PM PST by raccoonradio
Most people don't think about a radio station changing format until, suddenly, it happens. One day, you turn on your favorite station and it's not there anymore. It's playing programs you don't recognize, or maybe has a different name.
It's all part of a process that starts when the station is sold. The old owner departs, and the new owner takes over. People who worked there for years lose their jobs. Perhaps a small group of fans who liked the old station will try to save it. They'll write letters and sign petitions. But the FCC won't step in, and the changes will proceed, whether the public approves or not. And for those who loved the old station and can't understand why it's gone, there is a genuine feeling of loss.
That is what's about to happen to WJDA in Quincy. And already a number of people wish it weren't so.
I've been a radio consultant for more than 25 years, and I've seen my share of format changes. In our conglomerate world where five big corporations dominate much of broadcasting, it's getting harder and harder for independent local owners to survive, particularly those who have only AM stations. And yet, when I read the news that WJDA was being sold, it made me sad because this wasn't some abstract station in a distant city. This was our local station, the voice of Quincy for so many years. And soon that voice would be silenced.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
>>So much for "local content"
Though technically I'm guessing the ethnic programs (se habla
espanol?) and possibly religious programs might be locally
originated but who knows...
A story about the other station being sold:
Audio: http://www.boston.com/news/special/contreras/wesx.mp3
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/02/26/mixed_signals/
The friendly talk will soon end at WESX. After 67 years, the 1,000-watt station long known as ''The Voice of the North Shore" is signing off for good in May. The homey station -- run out of a little white house with black shutters and a 180-foot tower in the backyard -- has been sold, along with its sister station, WJDA of Quincy. The new owner plans to relocate the two stations to Chelsea, move the WESX tower to Lynn, and change the format to Christian and multicultural programming.
The pending sale is yet another signal that the glory days of local radio may be over north of Boston. Industry consolidation and hip new technologies -- satellite radio, iPods, webcasts, and cable television -- have made it tougher for community stations to connect with younger audiences, and compete with other media outlets.
I sympathize with this woman. I still can't believe WCBS Oldies radio is gone in NYC.
Met this woman (Donna Halper) once at a cookout for radio fans (big lib, by the way, but no prob...She was poo-pooing the charges made in Goldberg's "Bias" which I brought up;
oh well...) One claim to fame she has is "discovering" Rush--no, not the talk host but the band.
She worked at a rock station in Cleveland and, being a fan
of Canadian bands, suggested to the program director that they might be worth playing on air, and that's how they "broke"
in the US.
Yes, WCBS-FM dumped oldies in favor of "Jack" and many
listeners responded, "Jack is Jack S--t" or words to that
effect. These days HD radio is coming out and, if you wanna
pay $300 for a receiver, you can (as far as I know) hear
the old WCBS-FM format on a subchannel. But who wants to
spend that money (maybe if it gets cheaper...)...I think
WCBS-FM put their oldies on an online stream and I believe they also put it on High Definition radio, too
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