WSBA Cookbook

I found this in a junk shop recently. The introduction reads "Welcome to a world of delicious eating, the 1984 WSBA/WARM 103 Cookbook! In the pages that follow, you will find recipes to please every Central Pennsylvania palate, as compiled by home economist Doris Thomas"  It's existence led me to believe that in the early 1980s there had been a cooking program on one or both of those stations. Actually I assumed that 103.3 WARM was still simulcasting 910 WSBA-AM at least most of the day in that era. I was wrong. I also haven't figured out who Doris Thomas was.

WSBA-AM has been on the air since 1942. During the 1960s and 1970s, WSBA was a big Top-40 format station in the Harrisburg and Lancaster markets. But as FM rose in prevalence they moved inexorably toward a talk format like many. In fact in 103.3 FM in York only signed on in 1983 and in early 1984 it was still WSBA-FM. But it's programming was already AC and different from WSBA-AM. They didn't get the WARM-FM call sign until 1988. "WARM 103" was the brand name. They borrowed the brand and callsign from another Susquehanna property WNNX in Atlanta. They kept that brand and that stale playlist until 2011 when they dropped the pre-1980s cuts and became "Wink 103." After their usual multi-week stretch of all-Christmas music that December they returned in January 2012 as "Warm 103" but with the same newish playlist. More here. There is no way this station was airing a cooking show.

But I found in the 1979 edition of The Working Press of the Nation, a single reference to a home-maker show. The program "Housewife Oriented" hosted by Rod Burnham was airing as late as 1979. Rod was the PD of WSBA following their move from Top-40 to AC. Burnham is reputed to have fired a lot of staff in his tenure prior to their flip to news/talk, it's hard to say if the station had a cooking program—even briefly. While I've confirmed that WSBA-AM did have home-maker programs in the 1940s and 1950s... I suspect the real answer here might be related to a home economics program on WSBA-TV.

HD on FM Translators

I should admit now that I am in favor of AM stations with FM translators. I am however not in favor of HD sub-channels with FM translators. (...and not fond of HD radio in general) Less than 1% of Americans have HD radios. The populous is totally unanimous in it's collective disinterest. Nonetheless is continues to exist. As the Broadcast Law blog cited about six weeks ago the FCC, on May 3rd  ruled in favor of Saga Communications — W277BS could carry programming as an analog FM translator for WYXL-HD2. It was now official.

ROI Broadcasting filed a petition against this because they interpreted it as a way to circumvent the rules regarding ownership limits. That's because in every practical sense of the law it does. Saga is licensed to operate 3 FM and 2 AM radio stations in the Ithaca, NY metro: WHCU-AM, WNYY-AM, WYXL, WQNY, WHII and three FM translators, W277BS, W240CB, and W262AD. The translators do not count towards that limit. W240CB and W240CB translate WQNY. W262AD translates WHII. This is the maximum number of stations that Saga can operate in this metro as it only contains 11 stations total. More here. Previous to this HD fandango,  W277BS was a translator for 107.9 WPHR (now WSYR) in Auburn, NY. Presently, it carries the HD2 sub-channel WYXL which is branded as Hits 103.3.


So how on earth did a repeater in Auburn repeating WSYR out of Syracuse move to Ithaca?  Well it was on 98.3 originally and at lower power. It's now on 103.3 at 250 watts. ROI broadcasting sees this as moving a new station into the market, and for 99% of listeners it is. But the reality that as long as it's carrying programming from an HD2 or HD3 channel, the programming already originates from within the market.  Hypothetically, ROI is open to do the same thing supposing they have a spare $100,000 dollars laying around, and can find space in the band to add FM translators.[source]

So ROI Broadcasting, (owners of WFIZ) lost the argument. as a result, the floodgates opened and a piddle of stations made the change. Most notably in Atlanta.  It starts with the ballad of WNNX, in September1992 when an alternative rock radio icon was born. They broke singles, began careers, sold records and had a good time. In 2006 it was bought by Cumulus who noted a ratings slide on a station that probably peaked in 1994.

They euthanized it on January 30th 2008. The frequency 99.7 became WWWQ, a cookie-cutter CHR/Pop station swapping calls with 100.5. The 99X brand and playlist was moved to the 99.7 WWQ-HD2 signal and a webcast. The WNNX call letters moved to 100.5, left atop a drab modern rock playlist that at least had moderately better ratings. 100.5 previously was outside the city of Atlanta, it's move-in in 2001 killed 102.5 WGHR at Southern Polytechnic State University. (Though it continues to webcast.)

Then in 2009... long before the rumble in Ithaca, 99X was doing the same thing. From April 17, 2009 until June 15, 2011 it was on 97.9 W250BC . At 250 watts it covered most of Atlanta with a city-grade signal. 99.5 originally was a 6-watt translator for WCLK. In 2009 it was sold and became a repeater for 100.5 WNNX which is how we got to where we are today.  Just a few days ago they moved it again to 99.1 W258BU-FM, mostly trying to make sense of their brand you can't leave 99X on 97.9. That'd be just silly. But the reality of the situation cant be avoided. This is a station, brand and format that died a natural death in Atlanta with 96,000 watts 3 years ago. There is no reason to think it will succeed at 99 watts.

But after all that I do have one lingering issue. No matter where they put 99X, it will have crappy ratings. It will persist not because it has listeners, but because automation is cheap. It'll be automated, and run off a server with a little voice-tracking. The programming doesn't really originate on WWWQ-HD2 any more than the programming of Hits 103.3 originates at WYXL-HD2. In effect these stations are webstreams, that are re-broadcast on the FM band. The servers from whence those streams actually originate could be in Atlanta, Auburn, Ithaca, Denver, or even Berlin. Despite all pretense to the contrary... if it ain't live, it ain't local.

Stupid DJ Tricks: Part 7

Disc Jockeys may be entertaining, memorable or even charismatic.  But let's face it, they're usually not rocket scientists. They crave attention and they don't discriminate much between what we call "good attention" and "bad attention."  It was Oscar Wilde who summed up the problem thusly "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." I caught the news over the weekend and I saw a DJ making an ass of himself.I realized that it was time for another installment of STUPID DJ TRICKS. I have such a backlog I'm going to devote a full week and begin with my inspiration: Sebastian “Sebas” Bagby.

On September 11th Bagby, a co-host of the "Regular Guys" morning show on 100.5 WNNX went down to the Dove World Outreach Center to burn a Koran. because of the recent TV news coverage of The Center's Pastor Terry Jones book burning threats, the site was ringed by local police. Bagby identified himself not as a radio host, but as a student from Georgia Tech.  When asked by a reporter form the Gainesville Sun Newspaper if he was Sebas, he denied it. He commented that he was "...prepared to have a solidarity burning."  As things went bad he had to change his tune. More here.

It's important to note that WNNX is in Atlanta Georgia. The Dove World Outreach Center is in Gainesville Florida.  5805 NW 37th St Gainesville, FL 32653 to be specific. Gainesville is 350 miles away from WNNX.  These people had no idea who he was, nor could they listen to his radio program.  But they did know he was clearly kind of dim and wanted some attention. His media pandering was so grotesque he earned some scolding from random passersby.  

Ultimately the climax of his plan failed when Gainesville Police Officer Ryan McCazzio took away his Koran and grill lighter. Around 6pm he began taking questions from the media while filming himself.  To their credit the questions were mostly intelligent.  When asked about the consequences Bagby was indifferent to threats against Americans. "If there's violence perpetrated on others based on their religious beliefs, that's not our fault - it's theirs..."

He was not arrested, and was permitted to leave the area on foot. Despite the way it played out, Sebas was still yapping the next day, but had changed his story a bit. Now he was portraying the stunt as a prank on the media. I'll allow him to stumble through his own half-assed defense in this video he posted only yesterday.