New England Radio Watcher: Up the Coast to Maine
Scott D Fybush
A couple of quick notes from a day trip up to Portland, Maine:
*The Portland market has become incredibly duopolized. The biggest
group is Saga Communications' "Portland Radio" - news/talk WGAN 560,
talk WZAN 970, classic rock WMGX 93.1, and oldies WYNZ 100.9 (licensed
to Westbrook). They're all squeezed into the WGAN/WMGX facility
near the airport and Maine Mall in South Portland. Also duopolized
are WTHT 107.5 Lewiston (hot country), WKZS 99.9 Auburn (hot ac),
and the simulcast standards WLAM 870 Gorham/WZOU 1470 Lewiston/
WJTO 730 Bath, all under the "Great Downeast Wireless Talking
Machine Company" banner. And WCYI 93.9 Lewiston/WCYY 94.3 Biddeford
(simulcast AAA-CHR mix) and WBLM 102.9 are all owned by Fuller-Jeffrey.
Major standalone FMs are WCSO 97.9 (ac, co-owned with satellite
sports WLPZ 1440 Westbrook), and WPOR-FM 101.9 (country, // AM 1490),
as well as WHOM 94.9 (soft ac), licensed to and transmitting from
Mt. Washington NH. Not many studio locations left to visit...but
a few interesting transmitter sites. WZAN 970 (the onetime WCSH,
later WYNZ-AM) transmits from Scarborough, on Elmwood Ave. near Rt. 1
and the access road to I-95/I-295. It's one of the few directional
sites I've seen that uses "flagpole" style towers instead of the
usual steel lattice towers. And at the base of the towers sits...
the studios of non-co-owned WPKM-FM 106.3! I think this dates back
to a long-ago 970/106.3 cross-ownership. In any case, 'PKM is live
and local commercial classical, one of 3 commercial classical
stations in southern Maine. The others are WBQQ 99.3 Kennebunk,
"W-Bach," owned by the Tanger family (of WQRS Detroit, WTMI Miami,
WFLN Philadelphia, and WBOQ Gloucester MA)...and WAVX 106.9 in
Thomaston. WMGX-93.1 transmits from a guyed tower just off I-295
north of downtown Portland. I didn't make it up to the big FM/TV
sites north of Portland this time...but one of these days...
*Not on the air: WLAM-FM 106.7 North Windham. This was to have been
the second FM in the WKZS/WLAM/WZOU/WJTO group, but then they bought
WTHT instead.
*Huh?: WTMM-1380 in Portsmouth NH stopped simulcasting sister FM
WCQL-95.3 York Center ME (oldies "Cool 95.3") more than a year ago,
and picked up satellite sports from "The Team" instead. But driving
back at midnight, trying to tape a WTMM ID, I ended up hearing the
FM programming instead, complete with the FM legal. A few minutes
later, the oldies abruptly faded back into sports. I suspect someone
had punched up the wrong pot on the 1380 board...
*No call change at WCLZ(AM) in Brunswick...despite an application
to change to WKOL(AM) a few months back. The station is still WCLZ,
and still simulcasting with (very good) AAA WCLZ-FM 98.9. And the
WKOL calls, late of 97.7 FM in Amsterdam NY, have now reappeared
at 105.1 in Plattsburgh NY. Wonder if the application was meant
to hold the calls for the Plattsburgh station...
*For your listening pleasure...I taped unscoped 45minute segments
of WCYY/WCYI and WCLZ...e-mail if you're interested in a trade.
-=Scott Fybush - fyb...@world.std.com=-
Tom Desmond
fyb...@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush) wrote:
> A couple of quick notes from a day trip up to Portland, Maine:
This sounds interesting...could you give us an idea of the sort of
music mix this hybrid would run? Also, do you have any ideas as to
how it is doing in the ratings?
Tom Desmond, who has heard of Pop CHR, Rhythmic CHR, Dance CHR, Rock CHR,
and Adult CHR, but never Album Adult Alternative CHR.
Richard Fischer
There have been some recent minor changes in the radio scene here in
Portland. WCSO/WLPZ are now a part of a duopoly having been recently
acquired by WHOM's parent, Barnstable Communications. Rumor has it that
WHOM's studios will eventually end up at WCSO (Ocean 98) on Warren Ave
near the ME Tpke and BJ's Wharehouse. I have also heard, uncomfirmed,
that WZPK in Berlin, NH is also owned by the group. This station gets a
grade a signal in Portland with its tower on Mt Washington. WLPZ is
reportedly keeping its all sports format with Red Sox broadcasts.
WCLZ AM in Brunswick is now the Consumer Value Shopping Channel and no
longer simulcasts WCLZ FM. The station sells through its local number
discount coupons to various merchants around the area. For example, a
$20 restaurant gift certificate can be purchased for $14. The Consumer
Value Minute has been an integral part of WCLZ FM's advertising for over
a year.
Scott, I'm glad you appreciate the two stations that I listen to 95% of
the time. They are both AAA with WCLZ playing more lesser known music.
Both stations have made great strides in recent books at the expense of
more established rockers like WBLM and especially WMGX.