Marshall Miles's Huge Ego About To Be Popped?

[TheSquid]

See http://ctdevilsadvocate.com/2012/01/11/miles-to-go-and-promises-to-keep/

[MHVRadiofan]

  I cannot speak of the politics, as this story is news to me; but on the surface Miles seems to be in violation IF   the complaint is accurate.  As to Tri-state loosing money, how many non-coms actually show a profit?  Generally, the operators pay themselves a salary that comes from the income side so they are actually earning money .That said, from the beginning I wondered how a station serving such a small area could succeed. Why pick a frequency with such limitations (prior to Tri-State getting 91.9 it was an un-built translator for WAMC)? Was there nothing else available? The day-timer am signal serves twice the area as 91.9. The Sharon area seems to be a very challenging area to operate. WKZE-FM moved their operations to Red Hook, WKZE -AM is now WHDD-AM, and,   WQQQ now is leased to  non- com WSHU. Speaking of which how many non- coms can that area support. WQQQ has a far superior signal, and some of the programs such as All Things Considered are the same.     

[necrat123]

I know nothing of the alligations and am not going to comment on them. I've never had a bad experience with Marshall, so I got nothing bad to say about him.  With that said, I will address two points.

1) The signal limiations on 91.9 are because of two big issues. 1) it was the only NCE channel availble , and 2) there isn't much wiggle room for it due to both terrain and spacing issues. Any increase in the signal would create a prohibited overlap to 1st adjacent 92.1A on Illinois Mtn. as well as 92.5B in Waterbury (on West Peak). In fact the attempts to increase the signal are pretty heavily limited. Marshall did get one bonus by signing the agreement to be carried on 91.7 in Sheffield, which has decent coverage into Great Barrington (where is a very extensive audience that fits the NPR demographic).

2) There is a LOT of public radio penetration in the area. In some spots you can hear up to four different public radio outlets.
(I'll use Great Barrington again, as an example, where there are no less than four NPR outlets, WHDD via WBSL, WAMC via WAMQ 105.1, WSHU via WQQQ 103.3, and WFCR via a 250 watt translator on 98.7. Depending on conditions you can hear others too.).

[marshall miles]

Miles ego is just fine! Always has been.

1) The complaint to the FCC will be rejected, the editorial had disclaimers stating it was personal opinion, not that of the underwriters, the staff or the management of WHDD...
2) We are just fine, our underwriting is 80% sold out, our grants are steady, and now, our donations are up over 100 percent from last year. Also, last year we reinvested in THREE new generators, a new tower, new antenna that INCREASED our local coverage, and new transmitter! The donations are continuing to rise, and we are VERY successful in our target area. As we are entering year 4,  we are increasing revenue, and listenership every month. Two New York Times articles in one year, Jill Goodman and Marshall Miles being named as two of the top 50 most influential people in Litchfield County, a volunteer of the year award from The Sharon Lions Club...pretty good year I would say!
3) WQQQ no longer is considered a LOCAL radio station by anyone, the programs from NPR that they carry, have no significant local impact on our area. We share listeners with WQQQ, and WAMC, but when people want local (and they do!), they turn to WHDD. In the October snowstorm, WHDD was on-air 24 hours a day, uninterrupted serving the area, with government officials from three states using WHDD to get information out. WQQQ was off-air for almost 5 days! And coverage from Albany was spotty at best.
4) With WHDD's AM signal, and our re-transmission on WBSL in Sheffield, MA., we reach South County, MA, Eastern Dutchess County and Southern Columbia County in NY, and our immediate 6 town area in CT.

I won't re-post on this topic..but WHDD is doing just fine, and the few detractors who don't like me (Marshall Miles) will stay hard at work with their version of events, while WHDD just keeps growing and serving the needs of the local community.

[marshall miles]

See http://ctdevilsadvocate.com/2012/01/11/miles-to-go-and-promises-to-keep/

Guess not.
http://regiononereport.com/2012/04/02/fcc-sides-with-freedom-of-speech-and-tri-state-public-communications-in-regard-to-complaint-by-diane-goncalves/

[hvalleyguy]

I knew Marshall would never do anything to hurt the station or his self he's not that type of person he does every thing by the book. Keep up the great work Marshall.

[MajorArmstrong]

Good for you, Marshall.  Nice to see some actual broadcasters running things in that corner of Connecticut.  Harry Thayer would be proud.