Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 00:58:11
From: graphics!rsmiller@bobsbox.rent.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Thoughts About WFMT Versus WNIB/WNIZ
Organization: The Graphics BBS (2D,3D,GIF,Animation) +1 908/469-0049
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 738, Message 14 of 14

[Mr. Townson's remarks about WFMT and WNIB/WNIZ deleted.]

[Moderator's Note: I will attempt to answer some of the questios and
comments made here as the article progresses.   PAT]

My only problem with WNIB was WNIZ in Zion (hey, when I lived in
Marengo and worked for Follett in McHenry, 'NIZ was the only
decent signal I could get, and it was quite bad, especially
going over "Hamburger Hill" (aka Ill 120 between McHenry and
Woodstock.)  At times, I could barely pull WNIU when I made my
forays from Rockford to McHenry.)  

[Moderator's Note: I do not know about WNIU. W <N>orthern <I>llinois
<B>roadcasters is unique in the Chicago area since they simulcast at
all times at both 96.9 FM (WNIZ, Zion, IL) and 97.1 (WNIB, Chicago).
They frequently mention that they can be heard over a very wide area
by your choice in tuning: northern Indiana and Illinois south suburbs
north to Chicago's north side, tune 97.1. Northern suburbs going north
to Kenosha, WI tune 96.9. From where I sit, I can hear them equally
well at both frequencies.  PAT]

As for 'FMT's announcers, where I came from when I moved to Illinois
in 1986, and where I returned after leaving Illinois last year, they
are, on a par, MUCH better than WITF-FM in Harrisburg, PA.  (With the
exception of the music director at 'ITF, who is, like myself, a
musicologist, their on air staff has become increasingly worse since
the late '70's.  

[Moderator's Note: Everything is relative. I am sure WFMT's announcers
are better than others in some places. Not better than WNIB however.
That is my subjective opinion of course.   PAT]

Unfortunately, the only other classical station in the area, WMSP,
(which was run by Market St. Presbyterian Church), went dark over
three years ago.  It's now occupied by a "moldy oldies" format
station.  Now that WHYY-FM in Philadelphia went "news/talk", one
doesn't have a choice on where to listen for classical music
(Baltimore's WBJC and WJHU, and DC's WETA don't come in too well
around here).

[Moderator's Note: Do you realize *how many* stations -- even on the
AM band -- *used* to be classical music but are no longer? Many
stations nationwide have abandoned their classical music format over
the past 20-30 years. They feel there is no money to be made in
accomodating this select taste. Fortunatly, in Chicago we still have
two full time, and others on a part time basis.  PAT]

Besides, where else does one turn if you want to listen to the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, The New Oratorio Singers
(with whom I performed with all too briefly -- two weeks, -- no thanks
to the overload of work I put up with at Follett), and the Lyric
Opera, as well as the Met (when I was out WNIU's listening area)?

[Moderator's Note: But if you like Karl Haas, and several other
symphony orchestras and at least two complete operas each week then
you must tune to WNIB. I'm glad both stations are around.  PAT]

Why did 'NIB's morning drive man (I forget his name offhand) move to
'FMT?

[Moderator's Note: Jay Andres began his classical music radio career
in about 1950 on WBBM (780-AM) with a program called "Music Til Dawn"
sponsored by American Airlines and syndicated to stations all over the
US including WWL in Cincinnati and KOA in Denver. When his contract
with (I think it was WGN) ran out, he *applied for* and got the job at
WNIB. He apparently only intended to use it as a stepping stone to
WFMT. WNIB did not, so far as I know, go looking for him. When a
position came open at WFMT on the afternoon shift, he applied for it
and WFMT took him thinking they would grab the audience he had at
WNIB. The trouble is, people listening to WNIB tolerated him, they did
not *love* him. He lasted only a few months at WFMT and they canned
him. Not, mind you because he was bad or could not handle the job, but
only because an organization called 'Friends of WFMT' was in the
process of filing suit against the station for their imagined grievances 
and they *hated* Jay Andres. So about three months after he started he
was gone. He went over to WNIB and asked the owner (Sonia Florian) for
his job back. She laughed and said "No".  Then she hired a fellow from
WFMT named Carl Grapentine, and she *did* pull his listeners with him. PAT]

Also, what the devil was the problem with 'NIB's dog?  Every time I
ever tuned in, you could hear him barking in the background!  Such
antics remind me of Hoople, ND WOOF, the radio station of the
University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, which may be fine for a
comedy act like Schickele's, but certainly has no place on a
professional classical music station in a major market!

[Moderator's Note: WNIB has a dog and five or six cats living at the
station. The dog only barks when someone comes to the door he does not
recognize.  A couple of the cats have jumped on the turntable in the
middle of records, however.   PAT]

I've also noticed a LOT of sloppiness in engineering on the part of
'NIB's on air personalities.  When I worked in radio from 1977-1980
(at Indiana University of PA's 1kw outlet as classical music
coordinator/production engineer and on air announcer), I was reputed
to run the tightest board ANYONE in that station has EVER seen
(granted there were many times that John Cage's 4:22 was programmed,
ESPECIALLY when I was subbing on a Jazz or Alternative Music program,
due to Nature's Calling).  Granted, there are times that dead air is
unavoidable, but something like this on a commercial station
consistently is unexcuasble!  If this sounds like it's gone on for too
long and I sound like I'm rambling, it's probably because it's 2:00 AM
EDT, I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep for a few days,
and you touched a part of me that is still rather raw.

[Moderator's Note: When WFMT was *live* all night the combination
announcer/engineer fell asleep one night, and awakened some twenty
minutes into dead air.  You may recall an overnight personality on WGN
radio named Franklyn McCormack. He had a heart attack and died on the
air while talking about a sponsor's product. At WNIB I can recall only
three instances of dead air, although I do not listen 24 hours per
day.  On one occassion, an overnight man on the weekend went out to
his car to get something and locked himself out of the building. It
took about 45 minutes for someone to get there and let him in, with
about 30 minutes being dead air. On another occassion, another long
term announcer (Bruce Duffie, twenty plus years) was working overnight
and had an appendicitis attack about three in the morning. He worked
in dreadful pain for about two hours until someone came in to take
over. Then perhaps twenty years ago, back in the days when they
brokered Sunday morning to church services to pay the bills, the
announcer had a habit at 10:57 AM of saying "Now we will have church
services for an hour ... I'm going to the corner for breakfast and
will be back with more classical music at 12:15."  He took a little
radio with him so he could detect any problems, none of which ever
happened before, but one week the phone line to the church went down
while he was sitting a block away eating pancakes.  That resulted in
four or five minutes of dead air while he hustled back and got things
running again.  On the other hand, WFMT is now on tape all night long
(they record bits of speaking all day; the person on duty overnight
intersperses the taped speaking with the music it calls for) and some
nights they bungle it badly, wrong selections of music versus what the
'announcer' (really a tape made earlier) says will be playing, etc.
Believe me, WFMT has *their* problems too, but they have a large staff
to cause/cure the problems versus all of five or so full time
employees at WNIB/WNIZ which operated out of Sonia's home for the
first several years and now is in an old warehouse.  PAT]