97.9 in Au Sable NY / Burlington..

[Gadon]

Anyone notice that this dark station has changed call signs from WYME (Why Me ? That's great !!) to WZXP.. Could this be the new home of "Za Experience for Musicheads" ??

[Lester Young]

Selection of those particular call letters would certainly suggest that, given Russ' history with the short-lived WEXP 15+ years ago. Also the fact that the signal in question is not even on the air, so it's not as if there's a high price tag that could be commanded to strike such a deal.

If you were a business owner, would you spend much of your advertising budget with what is essentially a start-up with no visibility whatsoever in the marketplace, save for about 37 "musicheads" who've been crying the blues for the last four months?

Can you say "dollar a holler"?!?

 

[musichead1029]

The question is, can it sell? We know that terrestrial radio is incapable of attracting a regional audience of sufficient size to support anything beyond lowest-common-denominator formats in all but a few regions of the country. But Russ and Diane did run WCLX for ten years, which means that owner Dennis Jackson was probably satisfied with the income over most of that period. Does that mean the station made a profit? Who knows, but for the owner it was, by definition, a viable situation.

Is it worth it for 97.9 to turn its electricity back on? Are there enough Musicheads out there to patronize regional businesses and make the advertising worthwhile? Or should 97.9 just turn in the license? Vermont is vastly overradioed, and upstate NY isn't the most affluent area.

As for us musicheads "crying the blues for the last four months", we've been doing just fine with the internet feed. I still think that's the primary avenue Russ & Diane should be pursuing. The costs of running an 'old-technology' terrestrial transmitter generally don't pan out for niche formats, no matter how dedicated the audience. Eventually satellite-delivered internet will make it into the cars. For now, it's better to have a quality format at home than nowhere.

And let's see what kind of billing 102.9's current programmers are able to provide Dennis Jackson. He may end up wishing he'd found a way to achieve detent with Russ & Diane.

[PeterTripp]

Any of you who know the situation also know that while I wanted very much to support the kind of format Russ and Diane put together on WCLX, the business relationship with them was continually frustrating to me as an licensee, and ultimately proved untenable.    With them, it always fell far short of reasonable expectations as a business.

Look at the recent postings on their website and their vandalism of the WCLX Wikipedia page, and consider those things in the context of the opportunity I tried to give them to build a viable and professional business,  and you may begin to see why 102.9/WCLX proved to be their longest run after ultimately failing many times with attempts with other facilities, including 95.3/WXXX, 106.3/WIZN, 92.1/WKLZ, 105.1/WEXP, 102.3/Lancaster, NH, 97.5/Bristol, 107.1/WELX, and now 101.5/WEXP.

Chip and Kathy Morgan, however, are experienced, creative, and versatile professionals with a track record of success, literally worldwide.    I cannot overstate how improved the situation is!

Dennis Jackson
Westport Broadcasting

[Mark Decker]

Geez Dennis, with that sort of track record preceding your venture with them, what made you decide to bring them on? 

[PeterTripp]

It's a long story, Mark.    Suffice it to say that when they first asked if they could be involved, WCLX (then WMEX) only had 250 Watts from a negative HAAT in downtown Westport and had no useful population coverage.    I figured, "What is there to lose?"    I also liked having my station do an old-fashioned "undergorund FM" format in a market like Burlington.   And, I'm a person who tends to be loyal to people, so I stuck with them as we upgraded, frustrating as it was to deal with them.

[Lester Young]

It's a long story, Mark.    Suffice it to say that when they first asked if they could be involved, WCLX (then WMEX) only had 250 Watts from a negative HAAT in downtown Westport and had no useful population coverage.    I figured, "What is there to lose?"    I also liked having my station do an old-fashioned "undergorund FM" format in a market like Burlington.   And, I'm a person who tends to be loyal to people, so I stuck with them as we upgraded, frustrating as it was to deal with them.

Yeahhhh, surrrre, that's the explanation.

'Fess up, P.T., it was the killer weed they laid on you that tipped the scales.

 

[Mark Decker]

It's a long story, Mark.    Suffice it to say that when they first asked if they could be involved, WCLX (then WMEX) only had 250 Watts from a negative HAAT in downtown Westport and had no useful population coverage.    I figured, "What is there to lose?"    I also liked having my station do an old-fashioned "undergorund FM" format in a market like Burlington.   And, I'm a person who tends to be loyal to people, so I stuck with them as we upgraded, frustrating as it was to deal with them.

Well I figure anyone should feel blessed for having as long a run as they did regardless of the eventual outcome.  And if they manage to have a good working relationship with their new partners, I wish them all the best.  Hopefully they may have learned from past mistakes. 

[PeterTripp]

Truly, Mark.    And congrats on your class academic leadership.    Onward and upward in 2010!