WHMP-AM 1400/WHMQ-AM 1240/WHNQ-1600/W245BK-FM 96.9

[Laurence Glavin]

For a good portion of this afternoon (06/03) as the discussion of talk radio has roiled the BRIG, I've been
monitoring the online stream of the WHMP group of stations in Springfield, Northampton and Greenfield in the Pioneer Valley 
of Massachusetts.  These stations don't show in the PPMs for Springfield, so I don't know how they're 
doing at attracting an audience.  But the outlets seem to have a mix of local ads and the usual suspects among 
national advertisers that also pop up on other  types of stations.  I understand that some messages one hears while
listening online do not necessarily duplicate what's heard by listeners to their terrestrial counterparts, but if
the WHMP stations do send exactly the same fare over the internet, it strikes me that any listener to it
would find the outlet unexceptional vis a vis any other station in the market.   The opposite of the
WHMP stations would be WGAW-AM 1340 not very far away in Gardner.  Like two other radio stations in
Massachusetts (the former WVCA-FM in Gloucester and WJIB-AM in Cambridge, WGAW is a one-man operation.  Steven Wendell
reads all the news items, the weather forecasts (which he call "exclusive" National Weather Service forecasts; 
the NWS forecasts are available to everybody in the USA, and maybe Canada and Mexico too!) and voices the very few 
commercials on the station that usually include a few comments by the business owner himself/herself/themselves.
I suspect one "selling point" Steve makes is that participants can be heard on the radio, if only to dozens
of listeners.  Anyway, WGAW has the usual lineup of right-wing shows: Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller
(also heard on Worcester's WCRN-AM 830, which according to v-soft.com comes in quite well in Gardner)
and Michael Weiner (Savage).  Aside from the content, WGAW-AM's presentation is dull and boring and totally
amateurish.  It's too bad the owners of WHMP didn't buy the station and add it to their lineup.  Then
residents of Gardner and vicinity might have enjoyed a more professional-sounding station in its midst
regardless of content.  (BTW, except for legal IDs, they never refer to WHNP-AM 1600 which is near the BIGGEST
city in the area, Springfield.  It's now a strictly daytime operation with 2.5KW.  I checked americanradiohistory.com
(a truly INDISPENSABLE site) and at one time AM 1600 in Springfield  (OK, East Longmeadow) ran 5K days
and had a CP for nighttime operation.  What changed its fate?