910 KTRO "Talk Radio Oregon" is now "99-5 THE WOLF" simulcast from KWJJ. The change happened at 12 midnight.

Now whats to come next... Cause this can't be it.

Yes it can. This economy stinks and a simulcast makes the best sense. Remember Entercom wanted to sell 910, now they've got it back. You think they're going to sink money into it! They want to unload it. At this point someone with some money might be able to pick it up for a song. (A Country Song).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYBQPDYczlM

How much do you think Entercom would accept for 910? I remember seeing a figure of 4.8 million that Salem was going to pay at the end of their LMA. Obviously not a good buy for Salem at this time.

Is there a little Don Burden Jr. somewhere that can weasel 910 from Entercom?

It would probably be a waste of time for a "little Don Burden Jr." You could probably get more listeners on your internet station than to music on AM 910 if you placed a billboard by the airport.

Wow! I would have never guessed that 910 would be the first station to go t*ts up--and I don't think anybody else did, either! Who's next?!?

Edit Add: I wonder if Entercom's proposed downgrading of 910's coverage gave Salem cold feet about continuing the LMA. Here's a related question: Will any of the shows that played on 910 make their way to other Portland area Salem stations?

Alfredo: I would monitor KPDQ 800kHz today for schedule changes. This would be their most likely Salem move. KPDQ probably won't have an updated schedule on their website this fast. You'll have check from time to time. Some KTRO daytime programs might show up early this morning, who knows!

KTRO was running spots last week promoting PSU games moving to KPDQ AM, which obviously was due to this move....but apart from that, who knows...

PSU games interupting scheduled teaching shows will not go over well!

Look at their stock and see how smart these people are.

Cheap shot Stoner. If stock price correlated with intelligence, then every person working for a publicly traded company is an idiot.

(Privately traded companies just morph into pawn shop jewelry buyers to melt the stuff sold by people working for publicly traded ones for scrap.)

Can you say world-wide recession?

The friendly lady who answered the phone at the Salem stations today said she didn't know of any immediate plans to move any of the KTRO talk shows over to 800AM.

Interestingly, Salem also recently changed its Seattle conservative talker, KKOL 1300, over to a business news format. Apparently the Northwest was oversaturated with conservative talk radio.

I must commend Craig for being on top of things and quickly informing of us this change... he made his post at only 7 minutes after midnight.

>>only 7 minutes after midnight

true radio geek!

...Or you can't sleep!

Actually, I like hangin' out with insiders like Craig...

>>insiders like Craig

oh yes...funest people in the world if you're a radio geek and I am. Sorry to hear of the KTRO change cause I think my friend Gail Cunningham no longer has a job at Metro doing the news for the station.

WOW!
Ultra CONservative radio off the air? Is LimBLAH and Insannity next?

gee Trixter, nice to know you can observe radio without bias...LOL

personally, anytime a station goes off and jobs are affected, its sad...

LOL @ Tdanner & Stoner.

---

quote:

"If stock price correlated with intelligence, then every person working for a publicly traded company is an idiot."

---

I guess nobody was listening to 910 before. I don't understand why PSU is on 800 because their signal isn't very good. Will 910 be the one to return to oldies? Maybe there will be a return of the Stoner! I sure hope so.

Thanks, Craig, for keeping all of guessing and making the wrong baseless speculations.
If the station could truly be picked up "for a song," I wonder if it will be sold to a non-profit or some other agency with huge fundraising capabilities.

PSU should go over to 970

I would imagine it costs somewhere around 15-20k just for the power bill each month. Im sure KTRO was losing money. So buh-bye.

i am sure PSU will be somewhere else next year, but i cant imagine it woulda made sense for them to go and try and find a station that would offer a 1/2 season contract for hoops...even if it IS the better program..lol

Last I heard, the Burden site was going to be redeveloped in the not so distant future. 910 was going to move to a spot east of the 1080 array. After building a new road to the old KWJJ-AM site, and (AFAIK) acquiring the land for the relocation, it would be odd to abandon the project. Perhaps they are going to bundle both AM facilities together for a sale after all the work is done. In this current market, that seems pretty counter intuitive too.

Shouldn't 910 be still be identified as KTRO Vancouver? At 7 AM this morning the id was "KWJJ Portland".

Improper ID's subject to an FCC fine?

910's problem is that its signal is pretty bad. PSU was on KPOJ why not go back there? They have a good signal.

Were the local on-air talent on KTRO fired?

Another dumb question from a non-industry non-tech type who just loves the medium---do they have to keep at least the carrier going for regulatory compliance? In other words,they are simulcasting The Wolf just as a placeholder,since I can't imagine anyone having an AM-only radio anymore...

> Shouldn't 910 be still be identified as KTRO Vancouver?

I had been wondering what legal ID was being used. I had also been wondering whether 910 would change its callsign to KWJJ-AM.

There is, indeed, a requirement for a minimum number of hours per week that a radio station has to be on the air. I don't remember the exact number.

>>Were the local on-air talent on KTRO fired

there were no "real" staffing at the station...just morning and afternoon news talents from Metro that was all trade.
Affected...Gail Cunningham and Dave Paul...great talents now available (I think)

Nothing we don't already know but here's the official announcement from All Access:

---------------------KTRO-A/Portland Drops Talk----------------------

SALEM's LMA of Talk KTRO-A/PORTLAND has ended, with licensee ENTERCOM switching to a simulcast of sister Country KWJJ (99.5 THE WOLF) for now.

PORTLAND STATE college basketball has moved from KTRO-A to SALEM's Religion KPDQ-A.

New member here. Not in the industry, but my dad was an early radio pioneer, and I've been around it all my life.

Sure hated to see KTRO drop the SRN News/Talk format. Hoping they find another station to bring that format back to Portland.

KKVN Vancouver. Clark County's news and information station.

As mentioned earlier, some of those shows are likely to show up on KPDQ-AM 800. Now that Entercom has reclaimed 910AM, after Kool/K-Hits presumably becomes just one station, what would you say are the chances that 910 goes Oldies again, even as KISN? If it plays out the way I think it will, the mid-60s will be gone(or mostly gone)from the FM dial and traditional Oldies could be a viable niche similar to Standards.

Entercom might as well bring an automated KKSN back to 910.

910 is now the "New Wolf".

> 910 is now the "New Wolf".

Ha ha ha! Nice one. 99.5 was "The new 99-5, The Wolf" for years and years. Just how long can something be new?

Until somebody else claims the "new" moniker, or somehow devalues the one already in use.

The former "new" entity, then must "improve"..

"New" then works, until it doesn't, and that depends on everybody else.

Asking this very question, in a well placed promo, will basically eliminate the "New" Wolf.

It isn't time to bring traditional Oldies back yet. When the 60s are gone from FM or few and far between, people will begin to miss them and flock to even an AM station, if that's where they are.

The Legal ID now clearly states KWJJ-Portland/KTRO-Vancouver, and has been since Monday.

Also, The Wolf has stopped using the word "new" before its name, and hasn't for quite a while now.

It might be a good idea for you to verify your statements by listening to the station in question before you post.

Just a thought.

How profound...actually listening to the station and maybe even taking a few notes. There have been dozen's of statements about radio stations/staffing/programming here on pdxradio over the years that are made cause of hearsay and as a former/current employee of whatever said station I would know it was totally/mostly wrong...sad.

To be clear, I was referring to eliminating the "new" element of branding, not the station itself.

Really like the morning show blog, and the morning show itself actually! Nicely done, fun, and I'm not a country fan, but my younger daughter is!

I think that Jimbo's comment about the "New Wolf" was meant as a joke.

Of course it was.
And I did listen on Monday morning from about 8:35AM-8:50AM and I did hear some promo run that said the NEW 99.5, the Wolf.

I agree with Semoochie. I, out of the blue, listened to Sirius Gold on CH5, the 50's, to some of Cousin Brucie (that is another story) and more later this evening, cranked up on the stereo. It sounded good and was great to hear those 50's tunes. I wouldn't want a steady diet of it but for a while, it is great. I could do the same for some 60's but not the usual rehashed stuff that you hear all the time on the stations playing the 60's..... or 70's for that matter. It is nice to hear the ones that don't get as much or little play. That is what was good about the history of R&R that ran this weekend. I wouldn't want a steady diet of that but it is nice occasionally. When they stopped the show in the evening and went to their regular programming on KHITS, I barely made it through the first tune before changing the station because I was bored with what they were playing.
Yes, I have tried 97.1 but don't find it very satisfying, either.
If I don't like the tunes, I am not sticking around for the commercials.
Just my opinion.

As I drove I-5 recently I found a station located in Chico that was one of the best "oldies" stations I have ever heard.
They stuck mainly to the 1965-1975 era, BUT, they would specially showcase GREAT songs from the 1955-65 era by dropping a liner along the lines of "NUMBER ONE HIT!" and then playing "Twilight Time" by the Platters, or something along that line.
Our entire family really enjoyed singing along with ALL of the songs.
That type of format is not DEAD! It is still VERY VERY viable. They were loaded with spots on their stopsets, and I assume are doing quite well.
I heard very similar stations in LA, SD and Bakersfield.
If it works there, why not Oregon?
If done right, and good AT's like Stoner, Murdock and myself this format would do GREAT!

Stoner, Murdock and a Salem board op from a right wing talk station. Great lineup.

>>a Salem board op from a right wing talk station. Great lineup

watch out, I use to resemble that remark...

One interesting feature of the KTRO/KWJJ simulcast is that the audio hits the air first on AM, due to the seven-second HD radio delay on the FM frequency.

Hey!

Time to get the edge on the phoners!

Dodger -- is the station you are referring to the one that can be heard at www.chicooldies.com...?

Yes that is the one John.
what do you think?

Nice, energetic format in the style of the "old days." My teenage daughter would probably hate it, but it gets my 53-year-old feet tapping! :-)

Well my 16 year old who mostly likes Lil Wayne, was singing and tapping his feet for miles and miles!

Is that flypoop I see over there?
Board op....hee hee. If only it knew.
Beachless in Salem.

Take two on the link www.chicooldies.com.

The music is okay, but the massive "wall of distortion" processing on the internet feed doesn't do it justice.

"I heard very similar stations in LA, SD and Bakersfield."

Who has an Oldies format in Bakersfield?

910/(91-AM) should be K.I.S.N. oldies forever and ever!!! Where is the Stoner??cancle the talk shows!Release the wolf into the forest!! bring back the live D.J's with oldies!!!no more excuses!!!

It's hard to relaunch a station after you blow it up. But...If they try. I would put Tom Parker on mornings, Craig Adams on afternoon drive.Craig is VERY GOOD working the phones. You could do a split VT between the two for mid-days. IMO. And hi to all my friends back in Oregon. It's sunny and 53 this monrning in Vegas.

> Release the wolf into the forest!!

Ha ha ha ha! This made my day!!

I had to do the board-op shift the first night they put the automation on the overnight for the wolf. Thay had the wolf howl between EVERY SONG ALL NIGHT. I could't wait for morning to come. It was awful. Shoot the f-ing wolf.

when us Roger Hart on??

let 910 go to the first decade of rock like what 620 had. let the Stoner return his Saturday Afternoon show.

> let 910 go to the first decade of rock...

I would be really happy if they did that, but THAT WOULD COST $$MONEY$$!!

>>Affected...Gail Cunningham and Dave Paul...great talents now available

actually Gale is doing/continuing news for sister station "The Fish" so she remains gainfully employed.

I would be really happy if they did that, but THAT WOULD COST $$MONEY$$!!

Why would that cost money Alfredo? there must be a service somewhere that would supply that kind of format. RadioBop has that, have you heard of that?

What I am trying to say is that what Entercom is doing with the 910 signal right now is the lowest cost option that will allow the company to keep the license for that signal. If the company were to create an oldies format with personalities like The Stoner, then they would have to pay him. You want The Stoner, and I want The Stoner, but Entercom likely doesn't want him. Going with a satellite-delivered or similar pre-packaged oldies format would be cheaper, but the costs associated with that might be more than Entercom wants to spend on 910 at the time. I would not be surprised if the directive at Entercom is to find somebody else who wants to lease time on 910, and they are dead-set on simulcasting The Wolf until that happens.

>>they are dead-set on simulcasting The Wolf until that happens

cheepest route...only a few bucks in music licensing per month and that's about it for costs.

Would it be cheaper to file STA and turn it off for a while?

More than a month off air doesn't the FCC want you to turn in the license? Guess they could just run a carrier with a legal ID once in a while...

According to this page on the FCC site, it's a year:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/silent.html

cheepest route...only a few bucks in music licensing per month and that's about it for costs.

But what good is having that if there aren't any listeners? I would rather hear country music in stereo than mono. At least the first decade format would have some listeners. maybe they could use the satelite system that 620 had when it played oldies.

>> they could use the satelite system

would still require staffing to maintain/program/etc...

A few bucks in music licensing? It's a percentage of gross income. I don't believe Super 62 was satellite fed.

Scrap Radio??
Sell the towers and transmitters as scrap metal??!!
Pawn the whole Radio Station??recycle the 45's CD'sand LP's!!??

Come on...910 Amptitude Modulation Spectrum is worth something in Portland Oregon...?

Do the religious sat-casters (such as EMF) have any interest in stations like this? It would seem to me that under utilized AM stations might be sold pretty cheap, and could serve them better then a fragile network of low-power FM translators.

FM has been the long standing band of choice for radio listenership...especially for music. Even if 910 was given to EMF I don't think they would bite...they sold their 1040 a while back which would only garner a .1 share at best.

EMF got out of AM a few years ago. At one time, they operated two AM stations: 1040 in Portland and 730, whose location I can't remember.

Some time ago, wasn't there a participant on this board who was either involved in or knew somebody who was involved in the maintenance of station and translator facilities for EMF? It would be interesting to hear how organizations like EMF, et al. view the advantages and disadvantages of each of the bands. Do they like FM for marketing reasons? Or are the FM translator systems more attractive from a maintenance standpoint? I suspect that maintaining the 910 site would be a lot more labor intensive, requiring periodic proofing of the antenna array and maintenance (such as mowing of the fairly large tower field, making sure the roof in the transmitter building doesn't leak, etc). A station or translator on the other hand, could be co-located on an exisiting facility, where EMF would pay tower rent, and somebody else would take care of making sure that the tower and building are kept in good repair. I would imagine that having a "fleet" of very similar facilities has maintenance advantages in itself, as spares of some items could be kept on hand for relatively quick replacement in case of failure.

when will 910 be KKISSN' again???

You can not have six letters in the legal I.D.

Ok, try this one... The 55+ demo can't easily be sold to advertisers, but could an oldies station exist as a listener supported/non-commercial station? Would you, and many others respond to pledge drives with $50 (or so) per year to support a non-commercial KISN format station on 910? Could that business model work?

Interesting idea. I don't know why people think only the 55 plus listeners like the oldies, actually they are popular with the younger listeners too. at the Christian dances I go to the oldies get played a lot.

>>oldies get played a lot

it's a very cross generational format...great oldies are timeless...

"at the Christian dances I go to the oldies get played a lot."

That might indeed be true, but I doubt that many advertising dollars will be invested as a result of this limited observation. I could make the statement that "most teen-agers I know listen to Classical Music"... This is a true statement, but advertisers of teen-oriented products are not flocking to buy ads on Classical stations, as a result of my very skewed observation.

Sure, I'd pay $50 a year for the deep oldies format that briefly existed on 620 several years ago, or for a KPIG-type format. It would have to be live most of the time and very nearly commercial free, though. No produced spots, just dry reads and not many of them.

Maybe a non-commercial FM could have that.

There are, indeed listener supported AM stations... one of my favorite summer daytime Dx stations is KBRD (AM 680) near Olympia:

http://www.kbrdradio.com/

Those of you calling for a return of KISN on 910 are probably out of luck.

Reason being that there is no longer a 910 studio at Entercom. The simulcast is probably the result of just patching KWJJ audio into the 910 STL.

Entercom has done a great deal of studio shuffling in the past year or two, I don't imagine they are going to build yet another studio for a stick they probably won't hold on to.

well..if you went automated or sat with it, you wouldnt technically need a studio, just throw a computer in a rack and hook it up to a bird

Yes that's true but with any new format, you'd need a sales staff to sell it, to pay the bills. Why would you do this NOW after trying to unload it? It doesn't make sense. What they're doing makes a lot of sense.

>>makes a lot of sense

Almost zero (programming) dollars...probably cause all $$$ is now going into their transmitter site move this year.

I'm guessing the move is being paid for by whoever wants the property.

I am not sure whether the following piece of news belongs here or in a new thread: The Michael Medved Show, which used to be on KTRO will be broadcast on KUIK starting on Monday. I was surprised to hear this announced on KUIK today, as I would have expected Salem to be interested in bringing Medved's show back to KPDQ-AM.

no more wolves!!!move the oldies to 9-10!!!move Medved and other KTRO Sruff to 6-20!!??

LAY OFF THE DRUGS!!!!

I was thinking that 62 ought to start drinking decaf.

910 won't get many listeners as a country simulcast. having a first decade of rock format makes better sense.

The country simulcast is just a "placeholder." A Spanish-language sports format will debut soon on the 910 frequency.

WOLF, BEAR, OR LION???

Smurfs?
62 you really need to lay off the shrooms!

then will 1080 change too? why does that need to keep sports?

1080 is going CONservative talk....

>>1080 is going CONservative talk
Wow...bring it on!

The other thread explains all of this. 910 and 1390 will simulcast a spanish sports format to complement 1080's. It begins on May 1st and will feature Blazers play-by-play as well as our soccer team.