Re: AM radio is NOT dead!!

[ssmyth@tiac.net (Sean P. Smyth)]

On 11 June 1997 at 9:10 p.m., you wrote:

>I agree with you. WADN should have been heavily locally involved. They were
>in one sense, but they did not broadcast much local news, and they didn't do
>any local sports until just before Simon sold out. I suppose that Pleasants
>figured that if the station sounded too local, it would be a turnoff to
>people who lived more than five miles from Concord. That was a mistake. I'm
>not your typical radio listener, of course, but during the heyday of WGTR
>(the 1-kw daytime-only version), I was a lot better informed about goings on
>in Natick, Framingham, Sudbury, Wayland, Ashland, and Southboro than I was
>about happenings in my own town, Arlington. Thanks to WGTR news director Jim
>MacAlaster, I really felt involved with MetroWest. And by the time WGTR went
>on the air, I was no longer working in Framingham; I was working in Sharon.

Why can't every station be locally involved, especially AMs? It would
provide a counter-punch to homogonized FM stations while also getting
people more locally involved in their community. Nothing like hearing your
name, or your neighbor's name, on the radio. That is why I feel stations
like WESX and WJDA, who have strong local news content minimum once per
hour as well as in morning drive, do better than WXKS, which has no local
identity. People from miles away listen to either of the Asher stations,
because they like the way things are done. Meanwhile, on 1430, there is no
identity there at all. Check the ratings, and I would bet that WESX and
WJDA do better running the same format essentially (albeit two different
standards operators) than does the Everett station.

I remember when WADN first started with the high school sports broadcasts,
around 1992 or 1993  or so. (Is that when Simon sold out?) At the time, I
remember the games were simply rebroadcasts of what WIHQ, the
Concord-Carlisle High School station, was airing. Better than nothing.

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Smyth
Smyth Sports Enterprises
10 Linley Terrace
South Boston, Mass. 02127
617/268-7012
Metropolitan Boston's leader in local sports broadcasting
ssmyth@tiac.net

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