AM stereo WLYN

[Eli Polonsky]

> > From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
> CC: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org
> To: Eli Polonsky <elipolo@earthlink.net>
> Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 12:19:56 -0400
> Subject: Re: AM stereo WLYN
> 
> On 26 May 2006 at 0:00, Eli Polonsky wrote:
> 
>>  I was just a weekend overnighter and other fill-in host
> > calling myself "Eric Parker" for summer and fall of 1988 
> > (and I was a satellite feed board-op there for two years 
> > before that).
>  
> My mistake.  I didn't pick up on the fact that you said 1150, not 
> 1510.  

AM stereo didn't yet exist when 1510 was WMEX. 1510 went AM 
stereo in the mid-80's when it became WSSH-AM, easy listening 
via satellite (not simulcasting the FM until it became WSSH-AM a
second time briefly a few years later). 

1510 originally used the Kahn AM stereo system as WSSH-AM. I 
think it was the only Boston area station to use that mode. 1510 
went back to mono with a number of format and ownership flips in 
the early 90's, and then flipped to C-Quam AM stereo in the mid-
1990's when it became WNRB (Christian satellite). The AM stereo 
light stayed on for about the first two years of their mono sports 
programming starting in 1997.

> At times they seemed to be trying to recreate the old WMEX 
> ambiance on 1150, but they didn't do it very well.  

That was the original idea, but at times it got diluted by differing
opinions of various PD's and managements, and cost-cutting by
running generic sounding oldies satellite feeds like Transtar's 
Oldies Channel (now part of Westwood One). By the time I got
my airshifts in '88 they had dropped the satellite (which allowed 
me to get live shifts), dug out the old jingles, and cranked up
the reverb again, going for that old "Wimmex" sound, so it was
fun for me while it lasted.

However, even almost twenty years ago, simulating Boston's 
heritage 1960's Top 40 rocker really didn't give 1150 WMEX 
enough ratings to survive, especially once WODS came on. 

After a decade or two goes by, I don't think reviving heritage 
calls and formats matters much to most listeners beyond us 
radio geeks. The current WROR is now doing fairly well in the 
ratings, but I think it would be doing the same regardless of 
the call letters. Todays listeners respond to the programming.

> I don't know why WMEX 1150 couldn't have used some of 
> the old Deejay names, since they were station names and 
> probably weren't owned by anyone.  They could have had a 
> Dan Donovan, Fenway, or Melvin X. Melvin if they wanted to.  

The reality was that by then it was the mid 80's, not the early
60's, and managements no longer forced pseudonyms on their
DJ's, or at least gave them the opportunity to choose their own
pseudonym if their given name was inappropriate for the format. 
Most (not all) of the DJ's on 1150 WMEX did use pseudonyms, 
but some of them may have also used the same names on other 
stations throughout their careers as well.

EP