worthy competition - was Boom Boom

[Doug Drown]

That is interesting . . . I wasn't aware that was the case in so many 
places.   Did Burlington, Bridgeport and New Haven have competing rock 
stations?  I very well remember WAVZ in New Haven, another station I 
used to listen to at night in Ashburnham.  It was owned by my sixth 
grade teacher's brother, as was WTRY.  He was quite proud of that. 

When I first came to Maine at the end of '76, WCSH in Portland had a 
Top 40 format.  I think WLOB was still playing rock at that time; I 
don't remember whether WJAB still was.  Perhaps so, because IIRC it had 
changed its calls to WJBQ by then.  Three stations out of four, in one 
small-to-medium market, all doing Top 40?

  -Doug



Quoting Kevin Vahey <kvahey@gmail.com>:
> KBR dominated inside the city limits but had a woeful signal at night
>
> FEA dominated Nashua and Concord
>
> When I visited PTR the all night guy was at the xmtr (this would be 
> 68-69) They
> had all Harris cart machines with cue tones to start the next cart. 
>
> Funny how it worked - in many markets the weaker signal dominated the 
> core city,
> the stronger signal the burbs
>
> NY WMCA over WABC
> Bost WMEX over WBZ until WRKO came along
> Manchester WKBR over WFEA
> Portand WJAB over WLOB
> Providence WICE over WPRO
> Sprinhgfield WTXL over WHYN
> Buffalo WYSL over WKBW
> Sent on from my BlackBerry® so typos are because of tiny keys
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>
> Sender: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org
> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:27:20
> To: 'Doug Drown'<revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>; 'Dave 
> Doherty'<dave@skywaves.net>;
> 'Dan.Strassberg'<dan.strassberg@att.net>; Linc
> Reed-Nickerson<linc@reed-nickerson.com>
> Cc: ''<Boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
> Subject: Re: worthy competition - was Boom Boom
>
> >> OK, which one was Union9-9272 and which one was TT4-5107... Dave
> >> Dougherty will know. 
>
> I know too, but I'll defer to Dave. 
>
> My girlfriend, 68, has told me that WKBW used to have a huge night
> listenership in Maine.  Her late husband, who lived most of his life in
> Maine and was a DJ and station manager for about fifteen years before
> going into education, regarded WKBW as THE radio station that all Top
> 40 stations should emulate. 
>
> The WPTR towers in Colonie are still being used by the station's
> successor WDCD, but the WPTR call letters were removed from them a few
> years ago, and I believe the Albany Street studio --- which wasn't all
> that old --- has been vacated.   I don't know where WDCD's current digs
> are. 
>
> I sometimes used to listen to WKBR in Manchester on FM.  This was in
> the mid- to late sixties; I think the AM was on 1250 by then, but we
> couldn't get it out Fitchburg way.  WFEA, on the other hand, came in
> reasonably well.  Both stations had a good sound; which one dominated
> the market?
>
>   -Doug
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Linc Reed-Nickerson <linc@reed-nickerson.com>:
> > At night in Unity, Maine, where I miss-spent the summers of my 
> teenage years,
> > WPTR was what every kid listened to!  Even in Actom, MA WPTR and WKBW
> > were often
> > listened to.  OK, which one was Union9-9272 and which one was
> > TT4-5107... Dave
> > Dougherty will know.  Got to visit the WKBW transmitter circa 1976, but not
> > WPTR, although I've driven by it on the throughway many times, as
> > recently as 3
> > years ago.  Yes, Kid Rock (All Summer Long) makes me think of my teen
> > summers in
> > Unity, wonder what became of Donna (who is now 67)?
> >
> > I find the comments about the viability of the "worthy competitor" very
> > interesting.  Manchester, New Hampshire was a good example, with WKBR (then
> > 1240) being the top station in the market, even at 250 watts!
> >
> > The change to 1250 and 5kW probably did little but generate
> > additional expense
> > (although possibly more revenue because of the higher power).  Some
> > claimed they
> > lost listeners when the shifted frequency because 1250 on the river
> > had better
> > coverage in some areas than the DA on the granite shelf on Goffstown
> > Back Road. They had to add a 5th tower to modify the daytime pattern
> > a year or so after it
> > was built.  Too bad the original 1240 site is now gone, because it 
> might have
> > made sense to go back to 1240 in recent times, if it would still fit. 
> >  WFTN in
> > Franklin might be the stopper, but with ground conductivity in NH
> > being what it
> > is it might have fit.  1250 to 1240 would be a minor change per the
> > current FCC
> > policies. 
> >
> > And remember when WTAO was a significant player in Boston in the
> > early 1950's?
> >
> > Speaking of ground conductivity, it's so bad on the Oregon Coast 820
> > with a 1kW
> > has about a 20 mile radius, 1kW on 1230 in Burns on the other hand
> > has a 75 mile
> > radius.  According to FCC conductivity maps, both locations are the 
> same, but
> > having made measurements I know the away from the shore in Oregon the
> > conductivity is 0.5 to 0.1.  If your transmitter is in from the
> > coast, as many
> > on the Oregon coast are, you don't get much help from the seawater
> > conductivity. 
> >  There's a 50kW in Reedsport, OR that doesn't have the coverage of 
> my 1230 in
> > Burns!
> >
> > Linc
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org
> > [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org] On
> > Behalf Of Doug
> > Drown
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 6:55 AM
> > To: Dave Doherty; Dan.Strassberg
> > Cc: =?utf-8?b??=
> > Subject: Re: Boom Boom Brannigan passes on
> >
> > That Drum real estate ad was really clever.  Little WSNY positioned
> > itself as a worthy local competitor to WGY.  Though in the '60s and
> > '70s when visiting in Schenectady I was fixated on WPTR and WTRY, I did
> > listen to WSNY occasionally and found that it was a well-run station. 
> > There were many such stations in middle-market cities, little bantams
> > that held up well to the big guys.  I think of WNEB in Worcester from
> > my adolescence --- 1230 kHz, 1 kw daytime, 250 at night, a CBS
> > affiliate with a format geared toward middle- to older-aged adults.  It
> > had good DJs, good local news and sports coverage, all in all doing a
> > fine job competing against full-service NBC powerhouse WTAG and the two
> > hotly competitive Top 40 stations, WAAB and WORC.   -Doug
> >
> > Quoting "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>:
> > > I remember Edwardson and Putney from WGY in my college days (early to
> > > mid '50s). In those days, though, Steve Fitz was on little WSNY, a
> > > 250W Class IV on 1240. WSNY sounded amazingly professional for such a
> > > small station--its signal reached the entire Capital District by day
> > > but was competitive only in Schenectady and adjoining communities,
> > > such as Rotterdam. Weak signal or not, WSNY appeared to have sold out
> > > its entire schedule month after month, year after year. Always ~17
> > > minutes of commercials per hour from sign-on to sign-off. Most of the
> > > commercials were locally produced. Many used jingle packages that were
> > > designed for specific types of businesses (furniture stores, variety
> > > stores etc) and could be tailored to specific businesses simply by
> > > inserting the advertiser's name, address, and phone number. Some ads
> > > used proprietary jingles, however. The one that I guess I will never
> > > forget was for W Baldwin Drum Real Estate: "Drum's along the
> > > Mowhawk/with his eye on pro-per-teee." Ended with the beat of a
> > > tom-tom over which was whispered W Baldwin Drum...W Baldwin Drum... W
> > > Baldwin Drum... Very memorable. Probably moved a lot of houses and
> > > farms. 
> > >
> > > -----
> > > Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> > > eFax 1-707-215-6367
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
> > > To: "D. A." <donald_astelle@yahoo.com>;
> > > <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>; "Doug Drown"
> > > <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>
> > > Cc: <JPolsinelle@firstcardinal.com>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 10:17 PM
> > > Subject: Re: Boom Boom Brannigan passes on
> > >
> > >
> > > >I met Boom-Boom in 1968 or maybe 1969 at the WPTR studios. Another
> > > >WPTR DJ, Roy Urbinas, who eventually wound up in Plattsburgh and may
> > > >have originally hailed from there, cut a couple of voicers for me,
> > > >and Roy introduced us. Boom Boom was an interesting character, very
> > > >pleasant, and the first "Boss Jock" I ever met. 
> > > >
> > > > Not long after, I worked summers as a tech at WGY, pushing buttons
> > > > and whatnot for Bill Edwardson, Jack Shannon, Harry Downey, Earl
> > > > Pudney, and Steve Fitz. 
> > > >
> > > > -Dave Doherty
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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