A Few Observations

["Mark" <markwats@netway.com>]

Yesterday(10/12) I took a ride out Rte.2 through Western MA into the Albany
area,south to Poughkeepsie and east thru Danbury,Hartford and Worcester
back home.Of course, the seek function on my radio was constantly on the
move,here are a few observations from my trip: WCMX(1000)Leominster,I heard
a spot for a local carpet store voiced by Donn Parker,who once owned that
very station and who also worked at WMEX back in the early 60's(I have an
aircheck of him from the night before Thanksgiving 1961)                   
                                                                           
     WGAM(1520) Greenfield now seems to be a MOR/easy listening format,live
jock heard till 10AM,then it seemed to be automated.The jock and the canned
voicers both positioned the station as"New England's 1520 WGAM".           
                                      WMNB(1230) N.Adams with a live AC
format,plenty of local spots and PSA's.                WABY-FM(94.5) seemed
to come in well coming in to the Troy area along Rte.2,as did
WTRY-FM(98.3).I recall that posts made recently that these stations didn't
cover the entire market well.I did get WABY-FM well heading south out of
Albany,did not check WTRY-FM there however.                                
                                                          Plenty of
birdfeed in between Albany and Poughkeepsie,WCKL(560) with the Stardust
standards format,WHUC(1230) with satellite talk(the Dolans' money talk from
WOR New York),WGHQ(920) and WEOK(1390) both carrying the Stardust standards
birdfeed,WKNY(1490) with AC birdfeed.                                      
                 WLAD(800) Danbury with a live PM drive show,top and bottom
hour news,4 traffic reports per hour and trivia contests with 4 songs per
hour also.I don't know if there's any music in AM drive,but they ran a
promo(also seen on a few billboards) that Dr.Laura runs 9AM-Noon,followed
by Rush Limbaugh Noon-3PM.Unsure what they have after 6PM.                 
                                                                           
                                                WWCO(1240) simulcasting
WDRC,live jock till 6PM,then they aired the audio of CH 30's 6PM
news,followed by birdfeed standards(format formerly known as AM Only,I
don't recall it's new name).                                               
                                       WARE(1250) simulcasting with
WESO(970) former AM only standards,at 7PM,WESO split off for leased time
Spanish religion,WARE staying with the standards.WARE's audio sounded like
it was receiving the feed on an 8K line.sounded like a lot of high end,kind
of tinny.WESO came in fairly well in Worcester at about 7:30,aren't they
supposed to be running flea power after sunset???                          
                                                                           
        WORC-FM(98.9) at least that's how the jock called it,"WORC-FM,the
Bus".Classic rock with little talk.Have they been granted the WORC-FM calls
officially yet?            Sorry to be so long with this post,just wanted
to pass my observations along.             Mark Watson                     
                                   

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