WQEW (was Re: let's be civil...)

[Keith Barry <abarry19@idt.net>]

At 05:54 PM 4/23<< 1560 WQEW New York comes to mind.  They blend their
elements with the >>music
>>seamlessly.  They tend to be more mainstream than their predecessor, 1130
>>NEW, but still worth a listen.  And check out their audio quality on even a
>>asic receiver. >>

>WQEW is a well programmed and executed station, but I'd be willing to bet that
>if the station ever moved to an FM signal, most of it's listeners would
>follow. n FM signal, most of it's listeners would
>follow. 


  If it were on FM, most on this list would be unable to listen to it. That
is one advantage of having music on an AM station, if that station happens
to be a 50,000 watt clear-channel. I bet that over 50% of WQEW's "after
sunset" audience is from states other than New York. I remember when they
ran a call-in contest for Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday. Most of the callers
were from states not even in the northeast. The problem of having a monster
nighttime signal and, outside of NYC, not that great a daytime signal, would
be advertising. I imagine that a spot for a grocery store in Manhattan
wouldn't make a difference to a listener in Idaho. Another great thing about
WQEW is that it allows for much community programming. I recall on a recent
visit to NYC, the station was airing programming from a religious group. It
was just as well-produced as the music format, and a listener would not be
able to tell that the religious programming wasn't a constant format. 
  On a technical note, why does WQEW suffer from such phasing? It sounds
like shortwave! It is worst on tiny transistor radios, but is practically
non-existant on "All American 5" tube sets. (Another reason why I listen to
WQEW is that my vintage GE Musaphonic [how ironic - an AM only radio with
"music" mentioned in it's model name!] can't receive any other music station). 


                                                        - Keith W. Barry 
                                                        abarry19@mail.idt.net

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