Offline
Pretty sure I could hear this when in the Fort Erie area. Surprised it has not been mentioned.
Quoting from the article; "WSPQ radio’s administrator Donna Grant said there wasn’t enough advertising support for the station, citing the closing of other local businesses this year."
Offline
How does 1440 WJJL manage to stay on the air if 1330 can't keep things up and running?
Offline
Hey WECK. Want off of 1230?
Offline
Speaking of weak Buffalo area stations. Yesterday in the car I heard a classic soul station at 1400 on the dial out of Buffalo.. Also I somehow missed that there is a Toronto Christian station at 1250 AM.
Last edited by Fitz (January 14, 2018 1:56 pm)
Offline
@Fitz. That 1400 Khz station was the old WYSL, wasn't it? I remember them being 14 Rock in 1982 (they were playing Men At Work's "Down Under" at the time.) I never heard any jocks back then so I thought it was automated. Their imaging would showcase people on the street saying how much they loved 14 Rock.
@RadioWiz. Didn't WJJL lose it's license recently?
Offline
As I’m sure Dale Patterson could tell you, that lousy frequency at 1400 holds a significant position in Buffalo radio history. It was once known as WBNY, and it became the first Top 40 station in the city’s history. And what it lacked in power (1,000 day, 250 night) it made up for in personalities and innovation. Names like Danny Neavereth, Kevin O’Connell and yes, even Casey Kasem once worked there.
At the time it was owned by The Old Scotsman, Gordon McLendon, generally acknowledged as a Top 40 format pioneer. And a lot of its talent was poached by WKBW when that 50K blowtorch came on the scene.
Yes, it was WYSL later on in the 60s and despite its terrible signal, it gave other Buffalo stations a run for their money.
It’s now WWWS, an all soul/R&B oldies station, a shadow of its former self. But those who were there or listened in the glory years have good memories of what Johnny Lightning once called that “frequently frequented frequency.”
As for the 1250 station, it’s now CJYE, an all Christian format out of Oakville. (How Oakville ever managed to convince the CRTC it deserved a station is beyond me, but when it was CHWO for decades, it certainly served that audience and never tried to pretend it was a Toronto station, like a certain FM broadcaster I could name at 103.5).
CHWO went on to take over the CBC’s 740 frequency, before Moses Znaimer moved in to make it the New AM 740 we know it as now. (By the way, is it still considered “New” the way Moses’ the “New VR” was for what seemed like forever?)
Offline
Jody Thornton wrote:
@RadioWiz. Didn't WJJL lose it's license recently?
WOW! I did not know that 1440 WJJL recently lost their broadcast licence!
That's sad. They were the best for lost oldies etc...
Long live 1220 CH...er...Grapevine radio!
What's up with that station anyway? When will they sign on?
Here's hoping they're not another AM 960 story...
Offline
Radiowiz wrote:
Jody Thornton wrote:
@RadioWiz. Didn't WJJL lose it's license recently?
WOW! I did not know that 1440 WJJL recently lost their broadcast licence!
That's sad. They were the best for lost oldies etc...
Long live 1220 CH...er...Grapevine radio!
What's up with that station anyway? When will they sign on?
Here's hoping they're not another AM 960 story...
Actually Jody and Radiowiz when I heard the soul station at 1400 I also tuned to 1440 and heard some oldies on the obscure side and I would assume they were on WJJL. Did not listen for the ID. I was just trying to figure out the strength of the 1400 signal and tuned to 1440 for comparison.
I don't ever remember tuning into WYSL AM. Only know them from what I have read.
I do remember WYSL FM as they were the first progressive rock station in Buffalo and were around when I first started listening to FM more than AM around 1970. They changed call letters to WPHD 103.3 by the end of 1970 or early 71. There was a great sung jingle for early WPHD and I also seem to recall bells ( wind chimes) in the background as the DJ was speaking on WYSL FM or early WPHD. Wish there were recordings of that.
Last edited by Fitz (January 15, 2018 2:43 am)
Offline
Fitz wrote:
Actually Jody and Radiowiz when I heard the soul station at 1400 I also tuned to 1440 and heard some oldies on the obscure side and I would assume they were on WJJL. Did not listen for the ID.
Unless something has been resolved, and Wiki has not been updated, July 2017 was the termination date.
Choice of words: "rescinded".
"On July 19 2017 the license for WJJL was rescinded by the Federal Communications Commission"
WiKipedia:
Offline
I heard a signal at 1440 this morning. Reception was weak but I think it was WJJL.
Offline
WJJL is very much there. There was a complicated paperwork issue. My understanding is it's resolved or well en route to resolution. No sign WJJL is going anywhere soon. Wikipedia is a useful first source when one is trying to figure something out. But it absolutely cannot be relied upon for definitive answers.
Offline
Radiowiz wrote:
Unless something has been resolved, and Wiki has not been updated, July 2017 was the termination date.
Choice of words: "rescinded".
"On July 19 2017 the license for WJJL was rescinded by the Federal Communications Commission"
WiKipedia:
Some Wikipedia editor doesn't quite understand the FCC's inner workings (join the club!)
What was rescinded in July wasn't WJJL's license, it was the grant of WJJL's most recent license renewal. Which means that until it's all sorted out - and it will be - WJJL can continue to operate under its previous license while the renewal remains in pending status.
I am not sure what happened with that particular renewal, except that it seems to have been tied up in the huge mess created by that "Joanna" person who kept filing fraudulent applications to have WJJL's license transferred to her. It caused years of headache for WJJL to get that all straightened away.
Offline
I haeard about WJJL from Radio-Info (I guess now it's Radio Discussions). Well good to hear they're on the air
Offline
Radiowiz wrote:
How does 1440 WJJL manage to stay on the air if 1330 can't keep things up and running?
So back to this question, how is it that WJJL can stay on the air but 1330 can not?
Offline
It covers half a million more people than the 1330 signal does/did, for starters. There probably just isn't enough local business in southern Erie County to support a local station in Springville, especially with the expense of maintaining a directional array. I haven't listened much to WJJL recently, but it's evidently doing just enough business in its little niche to stay afloat.
Offline
I tried the station again on Monday in the car around 430-5 PM and the signal did indeed seem to be better than when I tried it a few years ago. I was wondering if they had had a power increase. I also tried it later in the night after 6 and the reception was very poor to non existent and so at night they don't seem to have a reach into Toronto. I also noted more late 1960's and early 1970's tracks then I had heard before and it was an interesting music mix.
Have to give a shout out to AM 740. When the WJJL signal died I tuned into the 60's at 6 and they had some excellent selections including a Phil Spector classic, the Marvelette's" Beachwood 45789" and other titles not heard anywhere else on the radio in Toronto anymore. Was the 1960's and that's why I enjoyed it. Don't like the homogenized rock and pop of the 70's, 80's and 90's that's so prevalent on classic hits formats these days and makes listening to such stations a tune out for me.
Offline
well sorry to thread jack but I just tried the Zoomer You Tube stream and was pleasantly surprised to hear Samantha Houston. She was on the 1050 CHUM oldies morning team for a while.
The You tube stream also seems to have changed formats so to speak in terms of what they feature when they play tracks or commercials.
Last edited by Fitz (January 17, 2018 9:50 am)
Offline
I haven't kept track of power increases or such, but as a DXer I can tell you that they do drop power somewhat between sunset and sunrise. At night, unless you're quite close to Niagara, 1440 will be generally be overtaken by other signals, largely due to night-time skywave reflection. Warren Ohio is most common, but a few stations in Michigan also dominate the channel. I've even heard two stations from Paris on 1440. Paris KY and Paris IL, that is. I'm two hours northeast of Toronto.
The 1330 signal was pretty much non-existent at night, but skywave conditions can vary wildly. Sometimes the close-in stations are stronger; other times they're completely AWOL.
On 1410, KQV was for a long time rather elusive at night. Then in recent years I noted it more often. Once, I had Mexico City on 1410.
Disappointing to see the more original mom-and-pop-type stations go off the air when so many other canned networked stuff prevails. On the other hand, think of my DX hobby like this - I'm like the vulture by the side of the road. When a nearby station goes off, dinner is served - more distant stations are waiting. But still sad to see 'em go. I wouldn't be that vulture if I didn't enjoy the medium, and it's hearing those unique almost-magical one-off stations - there's a WJJL and a WSPQ in many different communities - that make my day (at night). WFLI in Lookout Mountain TN is another one we lost last year. Country and southern gospel and very much one of a kind, it signed off for economic reasons, but the licence was sold and it returned as a ho-hum generic talker. Sigh...
Offline
The reason why WSPQ went off was because they did not promote the station and they had no local sales people. Everything except a 1 person morning show was done from offices in Olean, NY which was way out of the market.
Also the office was actually for another type of business that the owners really spent their time working on. Something to do with smoked wood chips. Anyway the technical issue list was long but the biggest was that there was no maintenance on the array so they ran day pattern 24x7. There was no functioning remote control or EAS and no plans to purchase an FM translator. The owners made things sound like business was bad but when a station of that size is just a computer playing music with no local involvement, advertising clients are not going to beat down the door to buy airtime.