Brattleboro Musings (long)

[Doug Bassett <dbassett@sover.net>]

I thought I was going to have a heart attack this afternoon! I was listening
to WKVT-FM (92.7 Brattleboro, aka WVAY 100.7 Wilmington), and heard a LOCAL
program! Bill Howard, occasional newscaster and long-time WKVT staffer, was
heard doing a LIVE classic rock program this afternoon. It's amazing how the
same music sounds better with a LOCAL announcer. Looks like John Ashley
(WTSA 96.7) is finally going to have some competition from 3-7 after all
these years as being the "local" PM drive in Brattleboro. Local news once an
hour; 4, 5, and 6. They do what TSA does twice an hour 3 till 5 and again at
6, only with a lot less depth and detail (no stock reports), just a
once-over on the headlines. But, it's a rock station, after all. 

The first "block" of music at just after 3 really caught my attention. "This
next block is sponsored by Hotel Pharmacy...". And when I heard a voice
other than the usual female DJ on the satellite KVT uses (WWI, I believe),
the voice I recognized from all those "Weather Channel" forcasts, and the
long-gone "Sunday Night Specials", I began to think maybe things are
changing for the better after the current sale... The music was not the same
as what is normally played via the sat., but it was the same artists (& a
few others), a few "deep cuts", as they refer to them on WAQY-FM (102.1
Springfield, Mass...I believe it's them), and songs that haven't been heard
in a while. More music oriented, where at WTSA-FM (96.7), music is used in
the afternoon as a "time filler".

Mr. Ashley (3-7 WTSA-FM), IMHO, would be a lot better off doing oldies. He
is an excelent announcer and he knows his oldies. He does one of the best
oldies programs I have ever heard every Saturday morning from 6-10 on
WTSA-FM. They used to simulcast on their AM (WTSA 1450), but I don't know if
they still do-haven't bothered listening to a satellite sports station in
New England that doesn't have rights to the Red Sox...tells you something
about the format, huh? Anyway, the AM & FM used to simulcast the "Smith &
Clarke" program 5 days a week, John's oldies show on Sat. (it used to be 6-9
with a "Swappers Edition of Open Mike" 9-10-a tag sale on radio, what a
great idea!), and I think Bob Coffee's "Coffee & Jazz" on Sundays. The FM
was  live AC (24 hrs) and the AM was sat. country. This was mid- to
late-80's, when I first came to the Great Metropolis. Back then, the AM was
WMMJ, Green Mountain Country, and it was before the FM adopted the digital
label- they were "97TSA-FM"..now they're "96.7".

The formats at WKVT and WKVT-FM haven't changed much over the last 12
years...WKVT (1490) and WKVT-FM haven't changed drastically over the past 10
years or so. WKVT has gone through several morning hosts over the years,
wheras John Clarke has been doing it at WTSA for 25+ years (ownership has
it's privilages, I guess...:). [c.1989:] Tad Lemire (son of Bob) had an
afternoon program (4-6) for a year or so, home of the "5-o'clock Radio
Traffic Jam", 20 minutes of uninterupted music, directly opposite WTSA's
roughly 20 minute "Evening Report", starting with NBC news at the top of the
hour and going local at :05...this was also about the same time I first
heard Bill Howard's "Sunday Night Specials", where he would feature one
artist for two hours. That man knows his music! I recall that show didn't
last that long, maybe a year. The AM was "nostalgia" full sevice when I
first moved here, but shortly thereafter they became the satellite talker
they are today.

Back when WTSA-FM had AT40 and Dr. Demento...ahh, those were the
days!...anyone remember Radio Candy (KNDY), John Candy's syndicated weekly?
It was on right after AT40 on Sunday afternoons at 4. As I said in a
previous post...variety is the spice of life (not the Spice Girls, Roger!
;-). Listening to canned radio IMO can be downright tedious, even for
self-proffesed "radio geeks". But then the general public forgot what it's
like to have individual "programs" on radio.

Off the soapbox for now,

Doug Bassett
West Brattleboro, Vt.
dbasset@sover.net
discbev@sover.net (The Cigar Store)
Opinions expressed here are mine an not neccesarily those of Discount
Beverage, its management, or its employees. Other than myself, of course.

------------------------------