Welcome WHBA 101.7 The Harbor

[raccoonradio]

Remember rumor/hoax started by Weekly Dig: Ent. buys WFNX, moves Mike to 101.7, then // WEEI on 93.7? If HBA indeed is variety hits then it pretty much comes true! only under CC ownership.

[Ciao9999]

Now we know

http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/59018/clear-channel-approaches-bostons-harbor/

I was thinking "Rumba" ciento uno punto siete.  Rumba in Philly was WUBA, just as close as WHBA.

[raccoonradio]

While I guess CC did do that domain name reg we still don't know for sure. This could be them leading us astray...yes those are the calls but will that be the format or will it be the any of the others? I guess Sun into Mon at midnight will be when it happens--or early Mon a.m.?

[cs1366]

Sat AM...who's running the programming?  If Boston Harbor is variety hits a) that's a lot of cash to spend for a music station, unless there's a slam dunk upgrade and b) why hasn't a Boston Class B done a good job in this direction? 

[rockcaptain]

The one thing that gets me and leads me to believe "The Harbor" and variety hits might not be it is the fact that they supposedly created (according to the blog post in post 1) Facebook and Twitter accounts. Why would they do that now? You can create that in just a couple of minutes. They could wait minutes before launch to do that. And with their name all over the domain (as opposed to making it private) it seem that they might be trying to be super obvious in order to lead us in the wrong direction. Or, maybe they don't care and I am wayyyyyyy over thinking this. But the fact that it has been such a tight secret and all of the sudden everything is out in the open makes me suspicious.

[OhioMediaWatch]

For what it's worth, Clear Channel is definitely on an Adult Hits kick.

WHLK/106.5 "The Lake" here in Cleveland has been a solid performer since Clear Channel dumped the old hot AC "Mix 106.5" format a year and a half ago.

That success has emboldened the company to start spreading the format: the most recent Adult Hits convert is a new "Lake" format in Charlotte. (And of course, since there's no significant "Lake" in Boston, "The Harbor" would be a good water-themed name. )

I would not at all be surprised to see them plant Adult Hits on 101.7 in Boston, particularly since it was well-known that "Mike FM" was a good biller...until Entercom was basically forced to flip it to WEEI-FM because of the success of "The Sports Hub".

If there was a 101.7 betting window, I'd put my money on Adult Hits.

[raccoonradio]

A lot of people found they liked Mike for the "variety", though to me it was a lot of stuff you could hear elsewhere. The occasional "oh wow" song. People were upset that Mike went off--they liked the music. Not fond of DJs (as a college radio DJ since 1981, yes that's right, I'm crushed...) But CC spent $14.5 million on the station and they want to make a profit. Sad but true, it's radio.
Though heck, even I might be inclined to listen.

>>I would not at all be surprised to see them plant Adult Hits on 101.7 in Boston, particularly since it was well-known that "Mike FM" was a good biller

Exactly
So there are facebook and twitter accounts now? Looks definite then

>>Sat AM...who's running the programming?  If Boston Harbor is variety hits a) that's a lot of cash to spend for a music station, unless there's a slam dunk upgrade and b) why hasn't a Boston Class B done a good job in this direction? 

Maybe FNX is still running automated music till Sun night at midnight. I don't think they can upgrade the signal much more given what's on nearby freqs etc. (btw last night I tuned just to the right, to 101.9,
which did come in and it was a battle between WCIB Falmouth and country, guessing WPOR Portland)

[OhioMediaWatch]

Of course, FM (traditional conservative) talk is a trend for Clear Channel, too, to the point of putting up FM translators of established talk stations.

But when they see other opportunities, the company doesn't have to go there.

Here in Cleveland, everybody and their brother (including me) thought the company would use its new 99.1 translator to simulcast WTAM/1100. But, CBS blew up alt-rock WKRK/92.3 for sports, and CC registered the "99XCleveland.com" domain less than a month later.

It's been said by folks here that 101.7 doesn't really reach areas that would be conservative talk friendly.

A WFNX-less alt-rock format?  Who knows?  But here in Cleveland, "99X" is a cheap repeater for the company's Premium Choice "Alternative Project" format. They are putting no local effort into it aside from liners written by the PD of the company's rock/talk and Top 40 stations, who is nominally overseeing 99X.

I'm still betting on Adult Hits.

[raccoonradio]

You're prob right. And yes we've said the areas 101.7 needs to reach for cons talk fans aren't there, except maybe by workday. Not so much on their commute to and fro. Weak signal (as I found last night at work etc.)

With my friend Tim, I was in Cle. area in June and we did sample the 99X etc.

[raccoonradio]

Not sure who registered it: https://twitter.com/1017theharbor

Also supposedly a facebook "private" (for now) account but it didn't turn up (of course since it's private
it wouldn't allow me in, ha)
http://www.facebook.com/1017theharbor/