Notes, mailbag, and a message to stations
Musings From Eric:If what I am about to say seems offensive, please understand that it's not meant to be offensive. Ok, here goes...
PBRTV.com is virtually a one-man operation. The fact that it actually has three men operating it has nothing to do with anything. The three men involved operate independently of each other and on a rare occasion they might actually talk to one another. With that said, please understand that we do not operate like a newspaper or TV station. Like you, we do have other things which occupy our lives and even though at least one of us is mobile, we may not always have a connection. Therefore, rest assured that even though we may not be as on top of things as everyone else is. But we are a blog (which existed before 'blog' was a word) which strives to bring you the information as soon as possible. Thank you to those of you who have emailed us stories - especially one which I am about to address - but chances are one of the three men have already heard and just couldn't get to the computer right away. Thank you for your understanding. (The fact that the main man of this one-man operation is having 'issues' with his ISP has little or nothing to do with it. But often we find ourselves in the Murphy's Law realm of being out of reach when something major breaks.)
So WAMO is reportedly being sold. Already the speculation is starting, "What's going to happen to Lynn Cullen?" Well the answer is, "we don't know." We know nothing about St. Joseph's Missions other than it's likely to be a religious-oriented company. The Pittsburgh Courier reports and PBRTV confirms that nothing could be found online. If we find something, we'll let you know, but in the meantime, plan for some new religious formats...and save your letter-writing hand to try and save WAMO, it's likely not going to do any good.
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Remember the mailbag? When we converted to a blog in 2007, we discontinued the mailbag in favor of the comment boxes. However, we still receive email on occasion and I did promise that the more interesting ones would be addressed here.
This email is from Reader 'Ed' who writes:
Eric, I somehow ended up on this site while surfing...sort of like going into the store for razor blades and you buy ice cream. Why does Pittsburgh radio suck???? All of the morning shows are so lame and sophomoric - not to mention the chic and girly man hosts. Went to Sirius a long time ago and do not regret it. Is it a reflection on this region's demographics???
Ed, we're very happy to be the 'ice cream' in your razor blades of life, but we cannot necessarily endorse your opinions either. (We try to be fair.) I'm pretty much of the mind that whether you were in Pittsburgh, Boston, L.A. or D.C. the answer to this question would more than likely be the same. Most commercial radio stations are trying to appeal to a common age group - the 25-54 group and usually female. It's all about the potential advertisers who want to appeal to this group. I think this mentality has increased in the last decade and that is why we have such a minimum amount of formats on the air in just about any city. It's pretty predictable too. There's always one station with a major format - we'll say 'AC' and then there is typically a station that has a similar or slightly different flavor of the same format so there is some competition. And since there are only so many signals per market which can be used, it really does numb the dial a bit. Oh, and then you can't forget about the consultants who are the driving force behind how stations sound. "What's good for one market will be fine in another," is the mentality here.
Probably with the current exception of the WDVE Morning Show with Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann, you're not likely going to see a whole lot of creativity on the air - at least not on the commercial stations. Gone are the days of "O'Brien (no relation) and Garry" or "Cordic and Company" whose programs were full of creative sketches and bits which Pittsburghers loved. Isn't it a shame how big business got in the way of the public's airwaves? There is just no room for the creativity when listeners supposedly just want the most music possible.
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Now a note for our friends inside the radio stations. We'd love it if you would add PBRTV to your press release list! We'll be happy to share your story of a recent event, new airstaff/off-air staff, new format, etc. All you have to do is send your press release to PBRTV@aol.com. All releases will be considered for posting, but we do reserve the right to reject it if we choose. Thank you for your consideration!
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That's all for today, but stay tuned for more breaking coverage...assuming our 'issues' end.
Readers’ Forum
Well said Eric. I personally don’t listen to WAMO (Like Ed I made the move to satellite radio years ago—albeit XM and not Sirius—and I actually think the stations got better with the merged playlists after the Sirius-XM merger. I still listen to WDVE for Steeler games, though.) but I have plenty of friends that do listen to WAMO-FM. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of protest about this decision, and it will ultimately backfire. I read about it last night on KDKA.com, and the last time I saw a radio station get this much publicity in this market about a pending format change was when the original B94 suddenly switched to K-Rock. Pittsburgh has a large African American population—not as large as areas like Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans, etc…—but still large enough to more than have a viable station in this market, and there are plenty of those that are white that listen too.
Of course, with WKST-FM’s KISS format having a slight lean towards hip-hop, I’m sure Clear Channel is seeing this as a victory, even though it has the generic national format and not the unique voice that WAMO-FM has. I see CBS Radio possibly converting WZPT into a hip-hop format to capture this “abandoned” demographic, that station (if CBS Radio keeps all of their Pittsburgh properties) is the low man on the totem pole among CBS Radio properties here.
As for the bombardment of emails, I agree that we all have a life. I have MySpace Mobile & Facebook Mobile, and I sometimes get text alerts like crazy. I had to eventually change the settings on those alerts to actual important stuff. (I also have KDKA.com Steelers text alerts, but that’s a different story. I always make time for the Steelers.) I’m sure you got annoyed at me for a while with the KDKA-TV becoming “CBS 2” rumors a few years back. The sale of WAMO was announced throughout the local media, they all have some sort of forums about the sale.
Joe Gerard (URL) - May 16, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Eric,
I do understand you being upset about a bombardment of emails, but if you want your blog to be a place where people go when news about the media of Pittsburgh hits, you have to be ready for it.
If you are not ready, someone else will be. Its just a plain fact of life. You should be pleased that people came to pbrtv.com when they heard the news to see what you were saying.
You missed the ball on this one. It happens.
Scott - May 17, 2009 at 08:02 am
Scott, the point I am trying to make is that I am not THE “breaking news source” for things like the WAMO change. Would it be nice if I was? Sure. But to do so would require more than Jason, Tom and I are able to give and I want to be sure that people understand that. That’s all. (Aside from that I was pretty grouchy over not being able to get it up right away…I’ll get over it.)
Eric O'Brien - May 17, 2009 at 08:51 am
do you serve cheese with your whines?
dcrtv is a 1-man operation, too, and dave hughes would have made sure the news was posted quickly.
also ….. it’s ‘pbrtv by eric o’brien,’ right? not pbrtv by tom lavery & jason toyger.
scott’s right …. you were napping. admit it.
dave hughes fan - May 17, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Hey Eric, don’t sweat it. This story seemed to break out of the blue, and the fact is that at this point, nobody really seems to know what is going to happen to the Sheridan properties in Pittsburgh. It is hard not to speculate that Sheridan would have to be in some serious difficulty to divest themselves of what are, in essence, the flagship stations of their company.
It is obvious that there is more to this than simply the sale of a couple of radio stations, given the historic significance of WAMO to Pittsburgh.
Bruce - May 18, 2009 at 12:55 am
Eric,
ditto Bruce’s comment of “don’t sweat it.“
First of all “Yinz“ do a good job of gathering info at PBRTV.com. This is a major story concerning WAMO in which it seems that all the Pittsburgh media is trying to gather more info about this St. Joseph group.
Next, I feel it sucks that WAMO is all likely but a memory in the urban contemporary, hip-hop, R & B, soul and etc genre. I know at the end of the day, “it’s only business,“ but that’s irrelevant. What it boils down to is Pittsburgh’s losing a station with some deep roots in entertainment, not to mention civic pride.
Finally, keep up the good work. Having been out of Pittsburgh for a long time, this website helps me keep up to date with what’s happening back home.
Chuck.
Chuck - May 18, 2009 at 12:13 pm
As someone who does try to be a source of news about the radio industry, let me say I appreciate Eric’s work, which is an unpaid venture if memory serves me correctly. People will begin to note the history of the former WHOD soon enough (not to mention the FM that once was located in Beaver Falls and the little sideline AM that once was WPSL in Monroeville). We will find out all about St. Joseph Missions soon enough (as it appears Scott Fybush already has). We will find out how St. Joseph Missions came up with $8.9 million soon enough (and I wager on one or more of the three stations being spun off to other owners). The biggest concern of the moment should be on what happens to 35 employees basically shown the door Friday. I wish them well wherever they wind up. Eric, keep up your good work. It’s a privilege when I can quote you.
Pat Cloonan (URL) - May 18, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I hope all of the people disappointed by PBRTV (and the other guy who commented on the other story, who says I’m a “hypocrite”) have requested refunds.
Seriously, Eric does this as a sideline. I’m pretty sure he’s not making a profit.
If you have news you want him to report, you need to SEND IT TO HIM AS SOON AS YOU HEAR ABOUT IT.
Or if you want to HELP, you need to OFFER TO CONTRIBUTE.
You can help make this a better resource, or you can p—- and moan.
Jason Togyer - May 18, 2009 at 5:29 pm
My man was on point. That would be a good idea if 100.7 switched to Hip-Hop. But I now live in New York City having every music format besides Smooth Jazz. I guess alot of cities or dropping Smooth Jazz. I think that Pittsburgh needs a R&B and Classic Soul station first. People really dont want to listen to (AM) Music in the 1980s and 90s it was different. We had the old WJJJ 104.7 The Beat. But I think R&B is more tolerable then Hip Hop and R&B, theres more ears. If I were sheridan I would’ve dropped the Urban Format and switched to Urban AC, and sell WAMO-AM & WPGR-AM and use that money to better the 106.7 signal. but…oh well..im in new york city now..haha i know something should happen within the summertime or sooner…....KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK ON THIS SITE!
Vick - May 19, 2009 at 07:22 am