When was the last time you used 452-6311?

By Tom Lavery

Erie-Meadville: As is the case with the Pittsburgh number, Erie will also be losing a very memorable phone number. 452-6311 has been the number to call for the time and weather forecasts for decades will no longer be available as of October 1st. The reasons stated are the same as in Eric's article below, so basically times have changed (pun intended). I can suggest another way to keep the correct time without the phone service. Purchase a battery operated atomic clock which keeps perfect time and can be something you can check when there is a power outage.

Posted at September 30, 2008 at 06:26 am by
Erie-Meadville | No comments | Link To This Entry

Hey Beacon! There is often dead air on 940

By Tom Lavery

Misc. Pennsylvania: Several times I have tuned into WGRP "Classic Country 940" from Greenville and often find the "sounds of silence" on that station. Obviously, the station is getting most of it's programming from satellite, other than a local host by the name of "Johnny Rogers" who works there middays taking requests. There have been maybe 7 or 8 times when I found the station with dead air, including today (September 2nd). The station and a few others including Christian rock/rap hybrid WEXC 107.1 "Freq 107" (Also in Greenville) is owned by Harold Glunt's "Beacon Broadcasting." Usually, a station has an alarm for such quiet periods which alerts someone that there is no programming on a station. It's like the AM station is neglected while Beacon puts more of their resources into the "Freq", which has yet to show up in the Youngstown ratings despite efforts to be a Youngstown station. If work is being done to the station, at least let the public know in the local paper and on your website. Clearly, a lot of people do not listen to AM for music anymore but there is still an audience out there that would like a country station that differs from what most of the FM country stations play. Or another option would be to replace the Freq with classic country on FM. The Youngstown market might notice 107.1 in the next book.

Posted at September 02, 2008 at 7:55 pm by
Misc. Pennsylvania | nine comments | Link To This Entry