Posted on 01/22/2007 1:54:06 PM PST by sitetest
1/22 - At 3 PM Monday, Bonneville flipped classical WGMS (104.1 and 103.9) to a "whatever we want" to play "Jack-like" 1970s and 1980s eclectic pop and rock oldies format as "George 104" with a website at george104.com. With "104 straight days" of no ads. With the WXGG calls.
Bonneville has been negotiating to sell WGMS to Redskins owner Dan Snyder for his Triple X ESPN Sports talker. Apparently, that deal has been "sidelined."
Also, we're hearing that NPR news talker WETA-FM, 90.9, will pick up WGMS's classical format at 8 PM Monday. Bonneville has donated its 15,000-disc library of classical recordings, and gives the public non-commercial station the WGMS call letters. WETA plans to use the WGMS identity on its 89.1 Hagerstown (currently WETH) simulcast frequency. The DC Biz Journal reports that almost a dozen WGMS employees were let go Monday, including its entire on-air staff, which included longtime personalities such as John Chester, James Bartel, Diana Hollander, Renee Chaney, and Chip Brienza. WGMS began cutting back its sales staff last month. Several employees were also fired at WETA-FM. The audio of the GMS-to-George format flip is available via our sister site VARTV (WMA).....
Classical Music Ping List Ping.
Wow. I no longer live in the area, but this is sad. WGMS was a treasure.
So long, all the "assembled ears."
Pinging folks who showed interest in the topic previously.
Oddly GMS was always profitable as a classical station, so the format change is bizarre.
Dear Alter Kaker,
I don't share your assessment of WGMS.
sitetest
For those of you in search of an good classical station, try this:
http://www.wcpe.org
They're a 24/7 classical music station based out of Raleigh-Durham NC.
No commercials, no NPR snottiness. Just classical music. Very professional too. They're definitely not your campus radio station.
They do ask for donations to cover the cost of Internet streaming. So if you can afford to drop 'em a few bucks, they'll definitely like that.
I could never really get into classical radio. I only listened to radio music in my car (and now, not really at all) and the dynamic range of classical music just didn't work in a noisy car environment.
Frankly, I always preferred stuff more like classic rock in the car. Now I only use it for rare talk radio and to listen to songs I am trying to learn vocals and bass licks for my bands.
Thanks for the link! I'm streaming now and have it bookmarked.
WOW! I forgot about the snooty stuff. It's one of the reasons it was hard to listen to.
Heck, Firesign theater even made fun of it in their Marx/Lennon album. It must be universal.
BOO! better yet, BOO-HOO.
(TOTALLY off-topic...and reply FReepmail if you're more comfortable...were you able to go to the march-for-life thing today?)
Dear ZinGirl,
"(TOTALLY off-topic...and reply FReepmail if you're more comfortable...were you able to go to the march-for-life thing today?)"
Yes! And we're all quite weary as a result!
;-)
sitetest
woo-hoo! glad you went.....I had some family/friends there.
Nooooo! WGMS was the only music station worth listening to. What a bummer. I'll have to reprogram that preset on my radios.
I've been a WGMS listener for over 40 years - this sucks!
Fine, you don't like classical music, but millions of us do. For us, this is a great sorrow. I've been listening to classical music since I was 16 years old, which is quite some time now, and the people on WGMS had come to seem like old friends. I don't have XM in my old car and am not likely to get it, so I will miss this station and its broadcasts.
Condolances to DC freepers on your loss.
Thanks. I clicked on the dcrtv.com link that you provided and listened to the sound bite link of the last moments of WGMS, including the general manager's signing off comments. It would be discouraging to hear a "format flip" like that if there were no alternative.
But the good news is that I am listening now to Beethoven's 9th symphony on WETA 90.9 FM, with a much stronger signal than what WGMS had recently.
I know people will miss their favorite on-air personalities. Maybe WETA can hire some of them. I know I felt that way years ago when the Felix Grant jazz program ended on WMAL AM 630 Washington.
By the way does anyone have a recording of the Felix Grant show, especially the theme songs that he used?
thanks for the ping! another sad commentary on our sliding society. :(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.