WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

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Tom Taggart
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WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by Tom Taggart »

1450 Parkersburg. Now off the air, tower to come down shortly. The owners of the tower site, Walker Machinery, apparently plan to build something on the site. No information available on the future of the station at this time.

This is the 350' tower you see along Emerson ave. (route 68) when you come into Parkersburg from the north. WPAR was the first station in Parkersburg, on air in 1935.
Greg Goodfellow
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Re: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by Greg Goodfellow »

Without sounding too Pollyanna-ish about this, because of the history of this station, this final resolution becomes even sadder. One year shy of 80 continuous years of operation is still quite an accomplishment.

One has to wonder about the mindset of the station's ownership on this one. Surely a better fate should have been in store for this station than oblivion. The fans of classic country now lose their station, without any recourse except to go online.
"Television is a medium because anything well done is rare."
~ Fred Allen ~

“Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”-Steve Allen
Tom Taggart
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Re: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by Tom Taggart »

I-Heart-Radio :roll:
RADIOHEAD 1
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Re: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by RADIOHEAD 1 »

The tower came down today. Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0_63bdCe6k
ralphallen
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Re: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by ralphallen »

I did an interesting thing last week. I started at the top of the FM dial, and dialed down one step at a time. I stopped counting FM's at 27. I then went to the AM band, and found it to be not as crowded, but still, some 30 clear signals are slamming into Parkersburg. Some 15 of those have organized sales forces and are active and aggressive. There are outstanding, well run group operators here, Clear Channel, Results Radio, Dailey Corporation, Jawco, Seven Ranges, all are tough competitors! The total population of the Parkersburg-Marietta market is about 126,000 people. Now my numbers may be off somewhat, but still, Parkersburg is the bloodiest market in the East! (some think it prudent to just let the thing go dead) Clear Channel has deep enough pockets to call in a consulting engineer, find a place for a tower site, and get AM 1450 back on the air. These people are not broke, they did not go dark with this station for financial reasons, (unless there is something I do not know in play here) and they have NOT lost that license! I predict that they will soon have it back up...it's not a funeral...just yet...they are off the air...they are most certainly not out of business. It is worth a lot more on the air than letting it go dark and ending that near 80 year history. I cannot see them letting this one stay dark. If you remember 102 here went dark for a time...and it's still around. Great discussion though! Rock on all ye radio people! Ralph "Allen" Allenbaugh.

*There has been some great conversation about whether a format change might happen or bring it back as Hank 1450. I predict that they will keep Hank 1450 as a brand and format and it will be back on the air within months with the same ownership. We'll see how it turns out! Great commentary!
Greg Goodfellow
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Re: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP/WHNK

Post by Greg Goodfellow »

Ralph, I hope you're right. One has to wonder how long the station management knew that Walker wanted that property and that tower down to allow for their expansion. If they were proactive AT ALL, they would have secured the tower site beforehand. Surely they were given a 'heads up' by Walker that they wanted that property toot suite. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, it's easy to second guess this. I'm not trying to be harsh here, but the Parkersburg area would do well to get that format back. If the Borg wants to do it, then all will end well for the classic country fans. If they really don't want it, then hopefully a better fate awaits the former 1450 shortly.
"Television is a medium because anything well done is rare."
~ Fred Allen ~

“Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”-Steve Allen
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