WISE TV "NBC 33" / WOWO "Fort Wayne's Morning News"

[ryanwrecker 5]

please, I know you can't and don't expect you to go into too much detail, but just in general how did it come about? It seems like a very close one especially for the market size and completely different ownerships. I'm used to seeing these on commonly owned properties but not so much on stations that are separately owned. I do know it's for the whole cluster not just WOWO because like I said in an earlier post Heather Cruise from your sister station K105 regularly appears on WISE to talk about "The Voice" on their 4pm. Just think it'd be interesting to know a little more about it. And if it will extend to WSJV and MNC once Quincy takes over WPTA/WISE (it may be too early to know).

The deal came about because the local TV station was passionate about finding local content, and WOWO produces a lot of it.

 

I think the most important part thing to make all of this work is that BOTH sides have to be extremely passionate about making it happen. If one side was just warm on it, or if you had to do a really hard sell... it wouldn't work. We're pretty lucky to have a someone in town that wanted to do this as much as we do.

 

As for the other stations, WOWO is the only station with a partnership with the TV stations. Other personalities like Heather will make appearances on their stations but it's from her ambition to do that, not based on a partnership.

 

• 
   
  
• I notice on the Pat Miller show, that the news anchor Kayla Blakeslee is never heard from aside from the news cast at the top and bottom of the hour. Here in San Antonio, I listen to the radio sometimes when I'm driving home from work, and I notice that on both the Sean Rima Show (KTSA) and the Joe Pags Show (WOAI), they both have the news anchors chatting with the host, letting everyone know what they did over the weekend/last night and giving their opinions on the topic of the day. Basically it allows the news anchor to establish a personality and let everyone know, "we're human too". But like I said on WOWO's show, all Kayla does is read the news and no interaction with Pat or anything or chiming in during the show. I guess maybe it allows her to stay neutral and credible and I can see that side too. Just an observation.
  
• Does Kylie Havens really go in 5-9AM and then go back in 8-midnight to do K105 and then turn right around and go right back in at 5AM (plus work Sundays 1-7)? I'm strongly convinced the 8-12AM is pre-recorded. If that's really live she's a trooper. Definitely see large market potential there.
  
• Really enjoy your station's YouTube videos. Wish you could make more. It's real nice seeing that everyone there has a personality and gets along with each other. My favorite was the one where Pat Miller dunks Oreo's in water. I go back and watch that one sometimes because it's funny. The Twinkie one was funny too ("you can't save half the company, you gotta save the whole company") though Twinkies will always be disgusting to me.
  
• Now I'm getting carried away...
  

1) We do try to separate the news from the content of the political talk, but Pat does use Kayla daily for some banter... usually once or twice a show. But we try to limit the cross talk to news-related updates. Kayla has enough on her plate in the newsroom!

2) Kylie does not do the K105 shift live. She does do traffic live for us in the morning. So her day is on-air WOWO from 5-9A, then write up news stories, work on the web and voice track for K afterwards afterwards

3) Glad you like the Pat videos! It's very demanding and we don't get to do a lot of them, but when we do it's fun!

 

kinda went off topic but this is all so interesting.

Great questions! Fire away if you have any more.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

The deal came about because the local TV station was passionate about finding local content, and WOWO produces a lot of it.

 

I think the most important part thing to make all of this work is that BOTH sides have to be extremely passionate about making it happen. If one side was just warm on it, or if you had to do a really hard sell... it wouldn't work. We're pretty lucky to have a someone in town that wanted to do this as much as we do.

 

As for the other stations, WOWO is the only station with a partnership with the TV stations. Other personalities like Heather will make appearances on their stations but it's from her ambition to do that, not based on a partnership.

 

Interesting, I thought it was the whole group. I think it's great that your group has this type of agreement and as you said both sides need to be passionate about it. Because what I tend to see in other markets (including here in S.A. when ClearChannel had an agreement with WOAI-TV), is that the TV side generally sees it as an "obligation" to put together a weather forecast or to chat on the radio program. It's not really something they want to do because it generally doesn't benefit them. That's why it doesn't really work out in most markets. I think the fact that both WPTA and WOWO have high ratings for their respective formats helps too, and people there respect both stations.

 

Also interesting to note that Heather is ambitious to talk about the Voice or whatever and it's up to her to do that. I thought it was more like, "you work for us so you have to appear on channel 33 because that's part of your employment and our agreement with the TV stations"; because that's generally the case in other partnerships I've seen. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

And you said your station produces a lot of local content which I think is terrific. Like I said being owned by Federated and not a major chain helps in that sense.

 

But if your group's personalities wanted to appear on WANE or WFFT could they or they can only appear on WPTA or WISE because of the agreement?

 

 

1) We do try to separate the news from the content of the political talk, but Pat does use Kayla daily for some banter... usually once or twice a show. But we try to limit the cross talk to news-related updates. Kayla has enough on her plate in the newsroom!

 

Guess I need to listen more because not once have I heard her aside from the newscast. Of course I generally don't listen the entire three hours. I know you're on his show quite frequently though and you guys banter is pretty funny sometimes. It does make sense though that you want to keep her out of the political talk which like I said establishes neutrality and credibility because on the radio here sometimes the news anchors argue with the talk show hosts if they disagree on a particular subject. They can and have gotten pretty nasty sometimes. But I think the news anchor is in the same studio as the host. I don't care about the news anchor's opinion I just want to hear the news. That's why the host is there, to give his opinions. The stations here need to listen to your station to see how a local talk show should be done (treating your guests and callers with respect, minimizing interaction with the news anchor and not discussing political subjects with them, etc.)

 

I do have a question though, does Kayla voicetrack afternoon news to South Bend, because on NMC's website it has her bio, but I listened to them the other day and they had some guy named Tommy Lee doing the news. So I guess she just fills in if Mr. Lee is away? Or if Kayla's out then Tommy fills in?

 

 

 

2) Kylie does not do the K105 shift live. She does do traffic live for us in the morning. So her day is on-air WOWO from 5-9A, then write up news stories, work on the web and voice track for K afterwards afterwards

 

Figured. I didn't really think she would leave the station at midnight and go right back in at 5. She's good enough that I was convinced there was a remote possibility of it being live...

 

In general though, who switches the show? Does the news anchor do it themselves, is it automated, is there some guy we don't see on camera who's switching the show? In simpler terms, how does it get from the end of Fox news to the recording of the announcer saying "This is News Talk 1190 WOWO 92-3 FM Depend On It"? because it looks like the news anchor is pressing buttons on a keyboard to play soundbites, cue the traffic music, weatherman, etc. but then in the studio it looks like there's a soundboard operator running the show? And then Charley is running soundbites? You might want to clear this up, I'm confused by the setup...

 

And the camera in your studio's not the best, it looks like there's random fades every now and then...

 

Only gripe I have with WOWO is that I wish you guys carried CBS News at the top instead of Fox News

 

but other than that, enjoy listening to it.

 

Thank you Mr. Wrecker for your professionalism and answering all these questions, especially for someone in a management role.

[Rusty Muck 4174]

In general though, who switches the show? Does the news anchor do it themselves, is it automated, is there some guy we don't see on camera who's switching the show? In simpler terms, how does it get from the end of Fox news to the recording of the announcer saying "This is News Talk 1190 WOWO 92-3 FM Depend On It"? because it looks like the news anchor is pressing buttons on a keyboard to play soundbites, cue the traffic music, weatherman, etc. but then in the studio it looks like there's a soundboard operator running the show? And then Charley is running soundbites? You might want to clear this up, I'm confused by the setup...

 

And the camera in your studio's not the best, it looks like there's random fades every now and then...

 

Only gripe I have with WOWO is that I wish you guys carried CBS News at the top instead of Fox News

 

but other than that, enjoy listening to it.

 

Thank you Mr. Wrecker for your professionalism and answering all these questions, especially for someone in a management role.

My impression (and correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan) is that the cameras are switched individually by Charly or Krista in the newsroom once they are on the mic, with the overhead shot of the WOWO talk studio as a default. I would be impressed if the board op had to do all the switching AND maintain WOWO's regular automation system at the same time... I'm presuming it's WideOrbit or whatever ScottStudios/Google Automation is calling themselves now. Outside of the occasional camera fades, the overall execution is perfect.

 

Interesting thing about WOWO and Fox... they were a charter affiliate for Fox News Radio when Fox took over production of the service from WestwoodOne back in 2003, but also stuck with ABC for several years thereafter. They've been affiliated with almost every network service under the sun throughout the decades.

 

And I've always been a fan of Mitch Craig's imaging.

 

BTW, I assume that WISE does the news ticker and rotating weather forecasts in the background? Kinda odd that they would have AccuWeather reports instead of from their own department.

[Leavellebrett 85]

 

BTW, I assume that WISE does the news ticker and rotating weather forecasts in the background? Kinda odd that they would have AccuWeather reports instead of from their own department.

 

I believe they have an AccuWeather partnership because I just saw another video in which they used AccuWeather graphics and info for for their 5:00 newscast.

[Rusty Muck 4174]

I believe they have an AccuWeather partnership because I just saw another video in which they used AccuWeather graphics and info for for their 5:00 newscast.

Gotcha. I was confused for a second.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

My impression (and correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan) is that the cameras are switched individually by Charly or Krista in the newsroom once they are on the mic, with the overhead shot of the WOWO talk studio as a default. I would be impressed if the board op had to do all the switching AND maintain WOWO's regular automation system at the same time... I'm presuming it's WideOrbit or whatever ScottStudios/Google Automation is calling themselves now. Outside of the occasional camera fades, the overall execution is perfect.

 

I thought they were only automated after 6PM and weekends? As for the switching of camera feeds, doesn't that originate from a control room at WISE?

 

And I think WOWO uses WideOrbit since Federated's logo is on their clients page.

 

 

Interesting thing about WOWO and Fox... they were a charter affiliate for Fox News Radio when Fox took over production of the service from WestwoodOne back in 2003, but also stuck with ABC for several years thereafter. They've been affiliated with almost every network service under the sun throughout the decades.

 

I hear from my radio friend that Fox News is not the best service. He wishes his station used ABC News (they use Fox). Generally top rated stations like to use Fox because of the brand and the underdogs generally take ABC. CBS seems to be preferred by more all-news stations (that may have to do with the fact CBS owns them) or legacy stations just using them because they've always been associated with CBS since the 20's.

 

In my opinion, CBS Radio News is far superior over the other services out there. ABC's decent. Fox is alright but since they were a TV network first, I think they approach the radio division as an afterthought while TV is their main priority. Compare that to ABC and CBS who were radio networks before TV and you can tell that they care about their radio services and still put effort into them.

 

NBC News Radio is absolute garbage, I don't know who uses them aside from a couple stations. AP Radio News seems like a cheap last resort option for stations.

 

I'm willing to bet that WOWO still is an ABC affiliate, but they don't run ABC's hourly newscast and they use ABC in the case of breaking news or for other audio during their morning show.

 

I also think they're an AP Radio affiliate, but again use that for additional audio and do not clear their TOTH news.

 

WOWO used to be a CBS affiliate until Federated bought them in 1996. Would be nice if they switched back.

 

 

And I've always been a fan of Mitch Craig's imaging.

 

Now this is where you and I disagree. I've never been a huge fan of Mitch Craig, but since he's been doing WOWO for at least ten years (and maybe even longer than that) he's kinda like the voice of WOWO, you just associate his voice with the station and his voice does help the station establish an authoritative feel. Still, I prefer voices like Jim Cutler, I think he would fit the station better and give it a polished big market sound. Still, like I said, for the amount of time they've been using him, he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

A big mistake their old PD Henson made, was dropping the late Bob Sievers TOTH ID. He replaced it with what they're using now, but it'd be nice if they brought back the recording of Bob Sievers. (

posted by a former WOWOer)

 

Henson cheapened the overall feel of the station. Their current management has made great strides in reversing the damage he did, fortunately.

 

I also notice that most of the Fox Radio affiliates also use the Fox radio music for their imaging (WOWO happens to be one of them, WOAI is another -- in fact WOWO and WOAI often use the same cuts, especially when fading out from Fox News and into the local portion).

 

And I was streaming another news/talk in the region and their TOTH ID read "Now, Fair and Balanced coverage from Fox News Radio, the most trusted name in news." I just had to laugh at that. Yes, I like Fox News and watch them regularly along with other outlets and I trust Fox, but I think calling them "the most trusted name in news" is going a little too far.

 

And to somewhat keep it on topic, here's a

from the TV station promoting this "one-of-a-kind way to start your day". LOL at :18 showing the radio at 1190 AM. You would assume that now because they simulcast on 92.3 FM, more people would listen to the FM signal than the AM. I guess not...

[ryanwrecker 5]

But if your group's personalities wanted to appear on WANE or WFFT could they or they can only appear on WPTA or WISE because of the agreement?

I don't think any of our WOWO personalities would do segments with other stations BUT we haven't turned down when they have requests from us. For example we brought in Ann Coulter to do a speech in Fort Wayne and all the TV stations were invited and covered the event -- it wasn't just an exclusive to our partners in news.

 

Also... our sister station WMEE regularly has guests fill in from other TV stations. Just this past week they had Dan Ball from WFFT come co-host the morning show.

 

I do have a question though, does Kayla voicetrack afternoon news to South Bend, because on NMC's website it has her bio, but I listened to them the other day and they had some guy named Tommy Lee doing the news. So I guess she just fills in if Mr. Lee is away? Or if Kayla's out then Tommy fills in?

We share news voices between stations, in particular our news sister station WTRC in South Bend. We use the RCS News program for our written copy and are able to voice stories and send them via internet between stations. Just adds an easy way to get stories voiced and gives us more variety.

 

SO Kayla works solely out of Fort Wayne and Tommy solely in South Bend.

 

In general though, who switches the show? Does the news anchor do it themselves, is it automated, is there some guy we don't see on camera who's switching the show? In simpler terms, how does it get from the end of Fox news to the recording of the announcer saying "This is News Talk 1190 WOWO 92-3 FM Depend On It"? because it looks like the news anchor is pressing buttons on a keyboard to play soundbites, cue the traffic music, weatherman, etc. but then in the studio it looks like there's a soundboard operator running the show? And then Charley is running soundbites? You might want to clear this up, I'm confused by the setup...

The host has a touch screen to switch the cameras from our studio. Our TV partners use a special frame over the video feed to provide the bottom screen scroll and weather on the left hand side... but all the video provided from the show comes from us.

 

The only soundbites our anchors play are during the newscasts... all other audio and soundbites are played by Loren our producer in the studio. He also traffics the elements of the show and cues the newsroom and also Charly for segments.

[ryanwrecker 5]

My impression (and correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan) is that the cameras are switched individually by Charly or Krista in the newsroom once they are on the mic, with the overhead shot of the WOWO talk studio as a default. I would be impressed if the board op had to do all the switching AND maintain WOWO's regular automation system at the same time... I'm presuming it's WideOrbit or whatever ScottStudios/Google Automation is calling themselves now. Outside of the occasional camera fades, the overall execution is perfect.

You're right it's being switched by Charly... and Loren theproducer is responsible for all the on-air audio!

 

We use NexGen for our radio automation, but something completely different for the video switching.

 

BTW, I assume that WISE does the news ticker and rotating weather forecasts in the background? Kinda odd that they would have AccuWeather reports instead of from their own department.

You're right... I think it's called the L-Frame. They overlap our video feed with all the graphics you see in the video.

[ryanwrecker 5]

I thought they were only automated after 6PM and weekends? As for the switching of camera feeds, doesn't that originate from a control room at WISE?

 

And I think WOWO uses WideOrbit since Federated's logo is on their clients page.

You're right about WideOrbit, but we use it only to schedule our commercial traffic but not our station automation.

 

WISE does not make any camera switches on their end -- we do it all on our end. It's impressive what Charly can do!

 

I'm willing to bet that WOWO still is an ABC affiliate, but they don't run ABC's hourly newscast and they use ABC in the case of breaking news or for other audio during their morning show.

 

I also think they're an AP Radio affiliate, but again use that for additional audio and do not clear their TOTH news.

We are not an ABC News affiliate. We use Fox News for our breaking news and audio bits. I'm not sure how along ago that agreement ended...

 

We are an AP affiliate... but don't use them for newscasts. We also work with Network Indiana and get audio from them.

 

And to somewhat keep it on topic, here's a

from the TV station promoting this "one-of-a-kind way to start your day". LOL at :18 showing the radio at 1190 AM. You would assume that now because they simulcast on 92.3 FM, more people would listen to the FM signal than the AM. I guess not...

Last ratings the AM audience is still the majority of our listening -- that 1190 signal is still KING!

[Rusty Muck 4174]

Now this is where you and I disagree. I've never been a huge fan of Mitch Craig, but since he's been doing WOWO for at least ten years (and maybe even longer than that) he's kinda like the voice of WOWO, you just associate his voice with the station and his voice does help the station establish an authoritative feel. Still, I prefer voices like Jim Cutler, I think he would fit the station better and give it a polished big market sound. Still, like I said, for the amount of time they've been using him, he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

I also notice that most of the Fox Radio affiliates also use the Fox radio music for their imaging (WOWO happens to be one of them, WOAI is another -- in fact WOWO and WOAI often use the same cuts, especially when fading out from Fox News and into the local portion).

 

And I was streaming another news/talk in the region and their TOTH ID read "Now, Fair and Balanced coverage from Fox News Radio, the most trusted name in news." I just had to laugh at that. Yes, I like Fox News and watch them regularly along with other outlets and I trust Fox, but I think calling them "the most trusted name in news" is going a little too far.

Most Fox News Radio affiliates run their jingle package. Not all run the TOH newscasts - in my corner of the world, WTAM/1100 Cleveland actually dropped them last summer save for overnights, and a small AM duopoly in Lorain County only carries Fox factualities.

 

As for Jim Cutler, FedMed actually uses him for WKJG "1380 The Fan," the market's ESPN affiliate. (The FM "Fan," WFGA/106.7, is Fort Wayne's FSR affiliate due to that signal originating near Angola, which already has an ESPN affiliate in WLKI-HD3 - W244BY/92.7.)

 

A big mistake their old PD Henson made, was dropping the late Bob Sievers TOTH ID. He replaced it with what they're using now, but it'd be nice if they brought back the recording of Bob Sievers. (

posted by a former WOWOer)

 

Henson cheapened the overall feel of the station. Their current management has made great strides in reversing the damage he did, fortunately.

Do note that WOWO's 89th birthday is this March 29th. No better way to start celebrating "90 Years of WOWOland," as a resurrection of the Bob Sievers TOH ID - even inserted into the TOH jingle currently running - would be radio gold. (I assume there exists a dry cut of Sievers' recording somewhere...)

 

Ditto with bringing back any classic jingles or sounders, and reviving the classic slogan, "The Voice of a Thousand Main Streets."

[sanewsguy 509]

 

We are an AP affiliate... but don't use them for newscasts. We also work with Network Indiana and get audio from them.

 

Does any of your news staff also do reporting for Network Indiana or is all that solely WIBC?

 

 

We use NexGen for our radio automation

 

Great, Clear Channel owned software...

 

 

Last ratings the AM audience is still the majority of our listening -- that 1190 signal is still KING!

 

Why have the FM signal then if most listening to WOWO are still doing so on 1190? Seems like in most of the larger markets, this is also the trend and the FM simulcast is generally dropped after a year or two.

 

 

Do note that WOWO's 89th birthday is this March 29th. No better way to start celebrating "90 Years of WOWOland," as a resurrection of the Bob Sievers TOH ID - even inserted into the TOH jingle currently running - would be radio gold. (I assume there exists a dry cut of Sievers' recording somewhere...)

 

Ditto with bringing back any classic jingles or sounders, and reviving the classic slogan, "The Voice of a Thousand Main Streets."

 

They're not the voice of a thousand main streets anymore though because they are only 9800 watts at night now (thanks Inner City). Don't know why they can't get that boosted to say, 25,000 watts at night (returning to 50kw is probably unrealistic)...

 

Do they even still call their coverage area "WOWOland" on the air? I think I heard the farm director Rob call it that once in a commercial but not from anyone else.

 

I really hope if you're reading this Ryan, you can bring back Bob Sievers ID. I didn't really make the 89 year connection like Myron did until now. Would be cool. Maybe that's the secret announcement he has planned for the near future...

 

 

As for Jim Cutler, FedMed actually uses him for WKJG "1380 The Fan," the market's ESPN affiliate.

 

Understandable, I guess to make their station seamless with the ESPN national feed. The ESPN affiliate here is forced to use someone else for their local imaging because WOAI-AM uses Cutler...

[Rusty Muck 4174]

Why have the FM signal then if most listening to WOWO are still doing so on 1190? Seems like in most of the larger markets, this is also the trend and the FM simulcast is generally dropped after a year or two.

953 MNC is still an AM/FM simulcast, but I would safely say that the opposite is the case, than more people listen to WTRC-FM - which is aimed at South Bend - than WTRC-AM, which is on a graveyard channel in Elkart (and rimshots South Bend during the daytime).

 

The question really would be, what would air in place of WOWO on 92.3? Maybe the answer presents itself later this year once Adams Radio Group takes over both the Summit City and Oasis clusters (two of their FMs were swapped to Calvary Radio and WLYV's owners, and likely will be relocated to translators related to those side transactions).

They're not the voice of a thousand main streets anymore though because they are only 9800 watts at night now (thanks Inner City). Don't know why they can't get that boosted to say, 25,000 watts at night (returning to 50kw is probably unrealistic)...

This thread from the old RadioDiscussions.com is an interesting read regarding WOWO's night service, especially Scott Fybush's overall analysis. (Note: Scott wrote much of this before 92.3 was flipped to the WOWO simulcast.)

 

However, due to the change to WOWO & WLIB, haven't other stations on AM 1190 in the USA that used to be daytime-only added night power? I'd think that the changes would have allowed that----which means that going back to 50k for WOWO would be outta the question.

Yes and no. When WOWO gave up its class A status to allow WLIB to add night power, it indeed opened the floodgates for other stations to add night service in areas where they'd previously have been required to protect WOWO's night signal. The Kansas City 1190 has upgraded, for instance, as has the St. Louis-area 1190. Even if WLIB were for some reason to give up its night signal, WOWO still can't go back to class A because of those other stations.

 

But even class B stations can now run up to 50 kW, albeit without nighttime skywave protection. Even without making any changes to WLIB (which throws almost no signal toward Fort Wayne at night), it would be possible for WOWO to power up...but it would require additional towers and a new phasor. Is it worth it at this point? Evidently not, especially since there's every reason to believe that at some point, probably sooner rather than later, there will be a WOWO-FM covering the areas within the market where the AM signal is most problematic at night. (And it's not as though the AM signal is even all that problematic at 9800 watts.)

On page 3, Scott mentions that it **could** theoretically be possible for WOWO to regain a 50kW night signal. 'Could' being the key word...

It's important to note that the difference between 9800 watts and 50 kW is not, by itself, as big a deal as it might appear on paper. It's only a 6 dB difference, and the even bigger factor at play is that there's been really no increase in the incoming noise level on 1190 - WLIB throws nothing toward WOWO and there's almost nothing coming from KC or St. Louis. Atlanta (Scott was referring to WAFS/1190, which remains a daytimer to the present day) would have been much more damaging if it had ever built out night power.

 

If it were really worth bumping WOWO back up to 50 kW, it could probably be done - but not from Roanoke. You'd really want to be doing it from due south of Fort Wayne...say, the co-owned 1380 array at the studios on Maples Road, if they're capable of handling that much power. And it would still come at a price: because of the complications of the "ratchet rule," you'd have to make that one very, very tight 50 kW pattern, akin to the new WWJ or WXYT up in Detroit, which would probably mean extra towers. You'd end up with a smoking-hot signal up through the middle of town to Dupont Road and straight up 69 to Coldwater and Battle Creek...but you'd kiss Columbia City goodbye, and you'd be pretty questionable out in Aboite, which would fall right into the KEX null. (And even that could be fixed by throwing enough money at the problem: build a brand new six-tower array somewhere down around Decatur for night use and you could still smoke Fort Wayne with plenty of signal while placing the nulls where they wouldn't matter at all - the KEX null would fall over Huntington, which doesn't get much WOWO as it is; the XEWK null would fall over Marion, far out of the market, and the WLIB null would go out over Lima. But good luck amortizing that huge investment...)

 

The payoff from a WOWO-FM on 92.3 or 97.3 or 98.9 - and make no mistake, it will happen one of these days - would be much, much bigger and much, much quicker.

There still are occasional DX reports for WOWO in the southern US. And ironically enough, WLIB is slated to be purchased by none other than WIBC's parent company, Indianapolis-based Emmis Broadcasting.

 

The reason I would revive the "Voice of a Thousand Main Streets" slogan is really because of streaming audio. FedMed stations are all affiliated with iHeartRadio (I know, another Clear Channel service), and a whole new generation of listeners from around the country can rediscover WOWO that way. That the station is already heavily active with social networking and YouTube helps a lot (especially with the influx of younger talent among established talent like Charly and Pat).

 

I really hope if you're reading this Ryan, you can bring back Bob Sievers ID. I didn't really make the 89 year connection like Myron did until now. Would be cool. Maybe that's the secret announcement he has planned for the near future...

I hope I didn't tip Ryan's hand on that. If not, my consulting comes free of charge.

[ryanwrecker 5]

 

 

Ditto with bringing back any classic jingles or sounders, and reviving the classic slogan, "The Voice of a Thousand Main Streets."

 

Glad you like the classic jingles! I love them too. There's some ol' reels of jingles from the 80s at our transmitter site that I need to digitize. Excited to do that.

[ryanwrecker 5]

Does any of your news staff also do reporting for Network Indiana or is all that solely WIBC?

Our staff does contribute to requests from Network Indiana and occasionally do live hits for other radio stations across the country. We'll also contribute to sources like Fox News Radio every once in a while.

 

 

Do they even still call their coverage area "WOWOland" on the air? I think I heard the farm director Rob call it that once in a commercial but not from anyone else.

We do use the term WOWOLand, mostly for weather related alerts when it effects the entire listening area.

[justin2kx 229]

ryanwrecker, thanks for all your help. You, and everyone else here can listen to the delightful sounds of classic WOWO jingles from History of WOWO. Hopefully, you can add to the celebration for the 90th next year.

 

http://historyofwowo.com/audio/audio-jingles/WOWO-Tuesday_1979.mp3

 

http://historyofwowo.com/audio/audio-jingles/WOWO-JAM_1982.mp3 (sanewsguy, bob sievers cuts are in the sample)

 

http://historyofwowo.com/audio/audio-jingles/WOWO-JAM_1988.mp3 (Nothing but class package based from the late great WNBC-AM 660)

 

('79 and especially '82 are my favorites)

[ryanwrecker 5]

 

ryanwrecker, thanks for all your help. You, and everyone else here can listen to the delightful sounds of classic WOWO jingles from History of WOWO. Hopefully, you can add to the celebration for the 90th next year.

 

 

Thanks for the links -- we do use classic jingles on-air -- primarily coming out of the bottom of the hour news back into syndicated programming and they sound great. LOVE them.

 

In fact I was recently at the transmitter site and there's a lot of jingle packages stored on reel. When we digitize them I'll be excited to see what comes from it.

[Rusty Muck 4174]

Thanks for the links -- we do use classic jingles on-air -- primarily coming out of the bottom of the hour news back into syndicated programming and they sound great. LOVE them.

 

In fact I was recently at the transmitter site and there's a lot of jingle packages stored on reel. When we digitize them I'll be excited to see what comes from it.

 

It's a testament to how much everyone at WOWO have regarded the station. So many other stations dispose of history or store them in less than favorable conditions. Hopefully those jingles can make it on air (and it would be great to hear retro liners using not just Mitch Craig, but also Bob Sievers' voice and even Bob Chase...

 

In a similar vein, someone actually managed to digitalize the proprietary Group W font and made it available for free download. It literally is a faithful repo of the font down to the letter, unlike Ray Larabie's Anklepants knockoff. A perfect way to create a 90th anniversary logo for WOWO (and maybe a redo of the current station logo).

[sanewsguy 509]

 

It's a testament to how much everyone at WOWO have regarded the station. So many other stations dispose of history or store them in less than favorable conditions. Hopefully those jingles can make it on air (and it would be great to hear retro liners using not just Mitch Craig, but also Bob Sievers' voice and even Bob Chase...

 

In a similar vein, someone actually managed to digitalize the proprietary Group W font and made it available for free download. It literally is a faithful repo of the font down to the letter, unlike Ray Larabie's Anklepants knockoff. A perfect way to create a 90th anniversary logo for WOWO (and maybe a redo of the current station logo).

 

Does WOWO use the real Westinghouse font or Anklepants? The current logo is from 2005 or so, and maybe the designer then just decided to use Anklepants. I wouldn't really know, since I can't tell the difference between the two.

[DirtyHarry 719]

 

It's a testament to how much everyone at WOWO have regarded the station. So many other stations dispose of history or store them in less than favorable conditions. Hopefully those jingles can make it on air (and it would be great to hear retro liners using not just Mitch Craig, but also Bob Sievers' voice and even Bob Chase...

 

In a similar vein, someone actually managed to digitalize the proprietary Group W font and made it available for free download. It literally is a faithful repo of the font down to the letter, unlike Ray Larabie's Anklepants knockoff. A perfect way to create a 90th anniversary logo for WOWO (and maybe a redo of the current station logo).

 

I looked at the page, and it doesn't look so hot. I hope the downloads look better than what was displayed on that page. Poor quality/grainy.

[Rusty Muck 4174]

Does WOWO use the real Westinghouse font or Anklepants? The current logo is from 2005 or so, and maybe the designer then just decided to use Anklepants. I wouldn't really know, since I can't tell the difference between the two.

The WOWO letters clearly use the original font. The top is the Group W font, the bottom is Anklepants.

 

 

 

I looked at the page, and it doesn't look so hot. I hope the downloads look better than what was displayed on that page. Poor quality/grainy.

The character map is here. It's well worth the download.

 

This is my reproduction of the classic WOWO logo produced with the font. I used guidelines from a primitive GIF version archived from one of the first WOWO webpages.