[BC] WOWO

[Blaine Thompson]

A few comments about WOWO, as I'm one of the only Fort Wayne residents 
on the list:

1. I've heard the same tale that Doug Pritchett tells of when Price 
acquired the station and fired lots of folks.  I was inside W. Wayne St. 
twice under Price ownership, and it certainly did look sparse in there.  
Westinghouse put WOWO on the block for $9 million and received $6 
million for the station.  See more at my WOWO page - 
http://www.well.com/~irw/stations/wowo.html

2. I have enough Arbitron data here to chart both the ratings descent of 
WOWO once Price acquired it, and the ratings ascent of WOWO, once 
Federated Media purchased it from Inner City (ICBC).  The time ICBC 
owned WOWO is moot, as it was so short.  I won't do so on this list as 
Arbitron would chastise me.

3. It's a bit challenging to accurately gage the ratings success of 
WOWO, as there are many many frequencies in the market.  Over the years, 
several AM and FM frequencies have challenged WOWO for listeners.  Those 
AM and FM challengers have changed over time with various format and 
ownership changes, et cetra.

4. I have on good authority that the real intent of ICBC was silencing 
WOWO.  Completely dark.

5. I don't have commercial sales data from WOWO and won't comment on 
what little I know about its revenue, as Federated Media is a private 
company.

6. I live near where Scott Fybush's father in law lived (in what we call 
"an RF void," but that's a completely different story :-) ) - and my 
reception of WOWO is adequate at ~30 miles out, and with more woods 
surrounding my domicile.

7. I have on good authority that WOWO is staffed twenty four hours a 
day/seven days a week by someone who would react if an EAS went off, et 
cetra.

8. WOWO has HD Radio on during the day.

9. Yes, that's a framed WOWO night pattern map on my wall. :-)  (oh 
wait, you can't see.  Nevermind...)

Blaine Thompson
Fort Wayne, Indiana