WRSI sold

[Eli Polonsky]

> WRSI (The River, Northampton, MA) and it's rebroadcasters have been 
> purchased by Saga.  Format change to come?
>
> http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8862~1849948,00.html

They say not, but when I was out that way a few months ago, I heard 
them as a VERY "eclectic" AAA station, not limited to mainly new and 
classic "adult alternative" rock and pop as most are, but also mixing in 
many genres (blues, folk, "alt. country"/Americana, jazz, world music, 
etc...) reminiscent of the "free-form" stations of decades ago, with the 
DJ's picking most, if not all, of the music.

While I personally find such a format refreshing, and it has enough 
audience support to work well in the Pioneer Valley/southern Vermont  
areas (it wouldn't in most other New England areas and cities), I'd be 
surprised if any national company allowed the station to continue to 
be that eclectic. I wouldn't be surprised to see them remain AAA, but 
a tightening of the format, with less DJ control, also wouldn't surprise 
me at all.

WXRV allows the DJ's something like just two choices per hour, and of 
course those must still be from within certain playlists. I wouldn't be 
surprised to see something like that in store for WRSI. I don't know if 
many AAA's (WBOS?) today even allow that, and aren't completely 
playlisted song for song like most other commercial formats. 

Eli Polonsky