"The new 97 1 the Tower" (The Tower?)

[Tibbs2]

Scott ---

Glad you are back. See how quiet it is without you? All kidding aside, and I've said it before, the respect I
have for a "real" AM owner is immense. That you have time to sleep at night is amazing. No one wants to
see you squeezed out or not profitable. Having spent some time (centuries ago) at WQSI in the almighty
Portland (my only real AM experience, but what an experience, short, but well Hudsonized for life...) I must
say you are amazingly brilliant to pull off any success against the crazy odds. We all need a road trip to the
Playboy mansion to celebrate that. Oh, and Scott --- you are 100% spot on on the post. Who could bust
you for anything you said??? Take care!

[deltas69]

 "Having spent some time (centuries ago) at WQSI in the almighty
Portland"    hey..I worked at WQSI in Portland, I was there when it started as WMRL with Slim, Cliff, and Marty Williamson..I was the last guy out the door when it went dark, left my key on the front desk with a note..I guess I should know you, but for once I'm cluless..

[scottwmro]

You know, I drive up and down 396 (Vietnam Veterans Pk) and I-65 a lot. I’ve noticed more XM satellite receivers in the upper dash or mounted near the rear view mirror of more automobiles than I’ve ever seen before.  I don’t have a XM receiver, but more and more people are buying those things at Wal-Mart.

This tells me terrestrial radio is in real trouble. If XM wants to, they can do local content, but the NAB has stuck on the side of the terrestrial broadcasters to keep us alive, but I often wonder how long that will last. The NAB is becoming weaker and weaker, as the corporate groups pull away from them and have their own lobbyist to sway Congress and the FCC Commissioners their way. One day, XM will have local shows, traffic reports, news, etc on for our market and blow away all the terrestrial stations.

I hear that the Grand Ole Opry is moving back to XM. That’s the best move they ever made. WSM-AM should be 24/7 on an XM channel, and when analog AM takes its last breath, WSM will still be here, but on satellite for the world to hear. This concept would be in their best interest to say, “The Opry is still alive and always will be, just no longer on AM.

For now, I recommend that any Internet Broadcaster purchase a Low Power AM Transmitter, like the Rangemaster 1000. Here’s an example, Westmoreland, Tennessee here in Sumner County doesn’t have a radio station because is not big enough for to support one, BUT somebody that likes to broadcast as a hobby could set on up in the middle of town and the if properly done, the little 100 mw signal will cover that whole town! They are legal if you follow the Keith Hamilton lays out for you, and the box is FCC compliant to Part 15 Rules.

[scottwmro]

Scott ---

Glad you are back. See how quiet it is without you? All kidding aside, and I've said it before, the respect I
have for a "real" AM owner is immense. That you have time to sleep at night is amazing. No one wants to
see you squeezed out or not profitable. Having spent some time (centuries ago) at WQSI in the almighty
Portland (my only real AM experience, but what an experience, short, but well Hudsonized for life...) I must
say you are amazingly brilliant to pull off any success against the crazy odds. We all need a road trip to the
Playboy mansion to celebrate that. Oh, and Scott --- you are 100% spot on on the post. Who could bust
you for anything you said??? Take care!

Tibbs,

      The early and mid 80’s, boy, what a trip at 1270 WQSI/WHRP!  Seems we all have traveled through that disgusting joint! Ole Bob Hudson, I recall when he was GM at WVOL and he enjoyed keep drama stirred up over there as well.  Back then, Portland was more of a “white” oriented community, but ole Bob had his sharp personality to convince you HIS way, which always failed!

      Like I’ve said, the only real AM station in Sumner County that has made it over the years is WHIN. These days, it’s no the music they play, you can find it anywhere, but it’s the localism in sports, a hour morning talk program, swap-n-shop, NASCAR, that is keeping them afloat. Otherwise, it’s dead weight. The ABC “Real Country” Format is just filler between PAID local programs they have.

     Years ago, when times were more simple, local music jocks were big on that station, up until about 1980, then that’s when everyone’s radios started to move to FM. In 2005, and up to now, they are moving to XM. We pay Comcast 45 bucks or so for Cable TV, so I can see consumers paying 10 bucks a month for non-commercial radio, with the a station or two with their type of music. I think it’s a little too late for IBOC or even DRM.

    My ownership of Magic 1560 is really just an investment/hobby.  As long as it pays its way, were cool and I don’t worry about it. I’ve never have had to feed it out of my own pocket.  I have found ways to run it, cut expenses, and maintain a half way decent product on the air that sounds fine to me. I see things this way, you’ll never please everybody, and somebody’s always going to complain, moan, groan, & bitch about what stations are doing.  They do it to Wal-Mart everyday & other businesses, and does Wal-Mart care?

   One thing I'll add here, some of you old guys sit around and dream about the old days (i.e. the 60'-80's) of the years in this business. Please stop dreaming about the past and start becoming more concern about the future and where we are headed, and go along with change, if if you don't like it.

[Tibbs2]

Scott -

I tried to run that junk pile. There were a few good people there. Very nice people, in fact. It was Country.
I dunno if you remember this but there was a new hire named Country Cricket. It may have spelled it with K's.
That was when I finally had to decide not to drive from Nashville to that place ever again. It was just that sad
and, yes, disgusting.

It was indeed drama and draining and it's not like in the short time there that I ever got paid ... promised ... yes ...
paid, not any or much that I remember. It's tough selling ads to decent country folk who have the look of financial
dispare on their face and you extract their last dollars for advertising because they can't say no. Hudson tried to
get that stupid TV station in Murfreesboro to work along with another piece of metal that attracted the Devil
himself, WBDX in White Bluff. It was indeed like they hired people from the Circus to keep from paying them.
To say that place was a dead end would be a step up. I still like theme parks.

Bob Hudson, is he even still alive? What ever happened to him after all that went down? I remember Mary Jo and
Tom working with me, but old age has made me forget most else. I do remember Dan's Furniture (didn't he
become mayor of Portland ) Dr. Dettis (Seventh Day Adventise ads of some sort) Rebel Rouser and Kearley's
Hardware. That was it. All.  I still hate Strawberries.

Sorry to bore everybody with these details. I should have just sent it to Scott by e-mail. By comparison,
I wouldn't look back on it as positive (like your 92Q days.) Sort of makes 97.1 look kinda good.

[deltas69]

ok..that explains why i don't know you. i worked there from 1980 until the last owner ,calvin simmons, or so we were told..dissapeared. he alledgedly bought it from slim williamson, but i never saw the man. he had an accountant that would come up one day a month, sit in the office, and do whatever accountants do..never said a word to anyone. checks came in the mail, jack hunter was managing/selling. i took care of programing. and we both did production. we had a couple of part time people to round out the shifts we wern't on. slim had put the station on the air using money he "made" from ronnie mcdowells record "the king is gone", had the equipment on a loan from one bank, the property at another and the building at a third bank..all in different states. slim was from georgia i believe. when payments on the station stopped, the address for calvin simmons turned out to be a vacant lot in geargia if i recall. and then the real fun started..each bank thought they had the only lien on the property. jack and i just kinda crusied along billing around 5 grand a month, and having a fine old time, we could see it was going to be a looong time detangling the can of worms between all the banks. then the IRS comes in one day with a seizure notice for unpaid payroll taxes. they took every thing in every office, plastic plants,door stops, toilet paper, and wanted us to remove the board, production, equip..transmitter. jack and i asked the girl, in charge what they would do with a radio station if they ended up with it..she said they would sell it..we convinced her it would be easier to sell on the air, than dark..so they left the control room intact, prod room, and one phone. sealed the door on the "live" studio with all the furniture and ink pens in it, and left us with detailed instructions on how to send in taxes from that point on...until they could find the owner( who i think never existed)..the accountant would call every week or so and say things were being worked out..meanwhile we told people that came in the building, we were having the carpet cleaned..hence the furniture deal. we hung a coat over the "do not break seal under penality of law" sticker and played radio. this went on for several months until we blew a 300.00 tube in the 3 year old mcmartin transmitter. the accountant sent the money for another tube..we told him..hey it's best to replace these in pairs so they balance out together..he said one was all we got..by now jack had pretty much given up and went on somewhere else..i ran the numbers from the money coming in on sundays..and still had enough to make the nut and pay those left...myself and 2 parttimers...cooked along, sent in the taxes, but in the back of my mind..i kept thinking...this is not gonna work out.but then one day the IRS shows back up, said the back taxes were paid, everything was fine, took the seal off the door(they didn't replace the furniture), so i said in my best chickenman announcer voice "wellll" , but it was not to be,  another tube blew..the acountant said no more money..lock the doors and go home..i explained i had enough money coming in to pay all the bills, but didn't have enough cash on hand to buy another tube...help me out..no..lock the doors and go home..so i divided up all the cash from the previous sunday's , about 100.00, between all the partimers, put a note on the front desk, turned out all the lights and equipment,locked the door...and went home..now someone update me on what happened next..i know hudson got hold of it, he called me, and wanted me to work mornings. i was manageing sumner county music in gallatin, but had the flexibility to do that..so i worked one week...enough time for the first check to bounce(i still have it)..i know he went down in flames with it..a friend of mine bought the property at a delinquent tax sale and sat on it for the required two years keeping the taxes paid. under law after two years if the lienholders do not reclaim the property and pay all penelities and fees, the guy sitting with the tax sale gets the property.  at that time there was around 21,000.00 needed to bail it out between the three banks involved..doesn't sound like a lot now..but in '83 pretty good chucnk..at 4:25 pm, on the last day of the two year period, a representitive shows up at the clerks office with a certified check for the entire amount needed to reclaim..had that not happened, my friend would have owned the property for less than 2 grand..building, equipment, whole nine yards..to quote a famous spy  "missed it by that much"..sorry for the long saga..but it was a most intresting year to go through..