wttt now public radio 24/7

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

WTTT 1430 Amherst is now carrying public radio programming 'round the
clock all week long and its web page indicates the station may have new
calls although I didn't catch any ID while tuned in this past Saturday
afternoon.  Since early 1997 WFCR has been leasing time on WTTT 1430 for
NPR and PRI news and talk programming weekdays while the station
continued to operate as a commercial outlet on weekends with sports
play-by-play.  I believe they started with 8 hours a day, then 12 hours,
and now 24/7.  The schedule is at <http://www.wfcr.org/wtttpage.html>
and note that the station which used to be referred to as "WFCR on
1430AM/WTTT" is now "PNI/1430."  I find no mention of a call letter
change in the FCC's online database, but we know how up-to-date that is.

The 1430 schedule now includes a few programs with a lot of music:
Sound & Spirit and American Routes on Saturday afternoon and a Sunday
afternoon rerun of A Prairie Home Companion.

I don't know when this began--the September/October WFCR member
newsletter announced the changes "beginning this fall" but said the date
was TBA.  Elsewhere in the newsletter it is noted that WFCR has added
AudioVault software and an automated remote control for the
transmitter.  "These allow us to automate overnight classical music
broadcasts, as well as the programming on WTTT, and thus to offer those
services very economically."  New Wheatstone A500a mixing consoles are
also praised.  "We have marveled at how smoothly and quietly they
operate, and how productive they enable the broadcast staff to be."
(Quotes from Martin Miller's "Notes from the General Manager" column.)