WMNY donation approved
October 2, 2013The FCC last week approved the donation of WMNY-AM (1360 McKeesport) from Renda Broadcasting to Pentecostal Development Corp. The studios will be moved out of Renda’s Green Tree building to New Kensington where PTDC’s WGBN-AM (1150 New Kensington) is already located. Bishop Loran Mann hopes to have the transaction and move completed by November 1.
Mann tells The Trib’s Pat Cloonan, “I’m extremely thankful to Renda Broadcasting and to Anthony Renda, in particular, for his vision and foresight for what we hope to do in this market. It’s an exciting time for us, and I look forward to it with great anticipation.”
The plan for 1360 is to simulcast 1150’s programming for now, but that will likely change down the road. The WMNY call sign is not expected to change for the time being either. It will maintain McKeesport as its city of license and Mann says that they will continue to serve the city despite being 25 miles away by car. They will also continue airing NBC Radio News as it is carried on WGBN.
One can expect that the current programming on WMNY will disappear, but the local weekend shows may not. Cloonan asked about the George Almasi Polka program which has been on the air at WMNY for many years. Mann replied, “If they are interested in continuing with us, we will be happy to continue with them.”
The new acquisition for PTDC does not change any plans for expanding WGBN’s signal. While there appears to be no definitive plan in place, Mann says it’s still in consideration.
(Valley News Dispatch; not available online)
I sincerely Hope Loran has the forsight to check around to see there are too many Religious Radio Stations already serving Pittsburgh…Religion is a personel thing and doesnot belong on radio,..Its too easy for a station to go religion and turn into a ATM for the owner and not serve the public at large..Its no small wonder why people don’t listen to AM radio ..Its noisey, and poorly programmed..And because of this people are going to IPODS, and computers and shifting away from radio in general..Fm will suffer the same fate unless the owners some with no radio ownership experience and others who are gready and own and control a given radio market.As for 1360..It should go back to WIXZ solid rock and gold…There is a need for oldies. Westchester Corp who owned WIXZ did not put any money into the station and took on ABC owned KQV. WIXZ pulled a 3 share while you also had WKTQ 13Q..Everything back into the 60’s was Top 40 or oldies. Now there is no oldies anywhere except for WJPA in Little Washington Pa. People have the concept that there is nothing on AM radio to listen too and they are right…Am radio does a poor job in serving the community. ANd if you have money you can buy the FCC to get what you want. 3Ws doesnot qualify as an oldies outlet. 70’s and 80’s are not oldies, they are recurrents.
Loran Mann doesn’t care to check around to see there are too many religious radio stations . To people like him there can never be too many religious radio stations. He’s on a mission from God as they say.
Religion on the radio makes me wanna puke. And don’t even get me started about Klove and religious translators clogging up the dial.
I would love to leave a thumbs up for you Ron, and also for Bob’s comment, but there is no app for that. I totally agree with you.
I\\\’ll be honest, I don\\\’t know which I\\\’m more furious with on this subject. The FCC, (another bunch of government bureaucraps), or Renda Broadcasting. I\\\’m with Bob Scharnhorst on this one. This is going to serve a very small cluster of people, and Pittsburgh does not need another Jesus outlet. I do know, that Jesus radio makes money, due to the buffoons who tune in and throw their hard-earned money to the land of make believe. Somebody, whom I was friends with, told me a long time ago, a fool, and his money, are soon parted. Those would be the people who listen to religion radio. Since I have nothing to lose here, at all, I\\\’m going to go ahead and say what most folks would like to, but won\\\’t. I hope this whole project falls flat on its face and the station goes dark. Really. I said it. I\\\’m so sick on everything being a state of lunacy in this modern day Omerica. The new owners can relax though. As long as this is the Untied States, you\\\’ll have dollars flowing in like the water within the 3 rivers. I\\\’m Randy, The Lazy Comic… and I Opprove this comment.
Guys, while I can’t agree with you more regarding the number of “religious” outlets, there are some things I would like to point out. Renda’s decision is nothing more than a business decision. The FCC couldn’t care less what you program on a station – unless it violates the “George Carlin 7” or what have you. However, you have to give Loran Mann credit. While he does use some network programming (much of it produced locally, and not all of it “Jesus” programming) he’s still interested in servicing the communities to which the stations are licensed. That’s something missing from most stations these days.
It\\\\\\\’s a huge mistake to let this station go into religion…Ok a business decision but a poor one..It will fail and take what used to be a good place to get information and entertainment down the drain..In fact you can flush the whole concept of AM Radio down the drain..It will not exist in 5 to 10 years anyway..I grew up listening to Am radio. Its too bad nobody cares.
Like Ron S, Bob and others, I too think there are too many religious radio stations. Communities tend to operate in a bubble though, and it\’s a problem that divides different groups from each other. I think that the move would take variety further away from AM, and give fewer people a reason to listen.
Maybe Renda\’s business plan was to get 1360 to another local operator… who will deaden it with a niche format, and in Loran, someone not likely to sell out to a possible competitor to Renda.
Another interesting thing, several times in the evenings I\’ve heard Loran give a whole break to requesting donations toward adding HD Radio to his AM signal at 1150, talking about how good it would sound for listeners, and how close they are to reaching their monetary goal for the HD equipment.
Wait a second, hasn\’t HD radio been proven to be a colossal failure, especially on AM, and may not even have a future? Why would a small station owner want to spend tens of thousands of dollars, as Loran stated it would cost on such a risky venture?
Boomer
I agree with Boomer,Clarke,Randy,and others that another God out let is not necessary to service Pittsburgh..The only way to stop the nonsense is to petition Loran Man to think outher wise in his decision..The only reason Toney Renda got WIXZ 1360 in the first place was to keep competition out from WJAS 1320..Which had some good numbers..Since the colossal mistake of moving the towers out of homestead Mr Renda does not serve the south hills good at night at all..It sounds like a station comming out of Canada…1360 since the removal of the tree growing in the middle of tower 3 has a good signal day and night..Keep in mind 1360 is 5k non directional day and 4 towers directional at night…It would have made more sense to move WJAS to 1360 from 1320..He would service pittsburgh better than he does now even with his increase of power day and 3.5kw at night..I do know Renda had to move the towers because the city owns the land and wants it back for apartments. If you wrote the FCC and complained about.it , it would not make a difference on the programming side anyway..The FCC doesnot care about programming and AM radio ..They wish it would go away..And at the rate of station failures it will all go dark in about 5 to 10 years.
Bob,
With all due respect, your history is a little off. Tony Renda’s first taste of ownership was WIXZ 1360 back in the early 70s. In the early 80s he gave it up to buy other stations including WSHH in 1984 and WJAS a year later. WIXZ, then WPTT, then WMNY and Alan Serena moved back into the Renda ownership in 1997.Again, it was a business decision that was right for its time.
The 1320 transmitter move was not a “colossal” mistake on Renda’s part. Rather it is on the city’s part who has yet to develop anything on the land in Swissvale.
Hi Eric, I know about the transmitter site and the reason WJAS had to move to the Washington blvd area. I also know . I also know he city of Pittsburgh had to pay for the move and that Renda fought to keep it in Homestead. WJAS is a Heritage station. It served Pittsburgh very well over the years but now the night service does jnot..As far as AM radio goes..It was a profitable medium as well as Fm. Over the years the audience has moved away from AM largely because of increased in noise by power lines and IBOC AM which generates wider band path modulation and and interfearence to adjacent channels cutting signal coverage for some stations almost in half. A good example is 1230 call letters WCOL in Columbus OHIO while in IBOC mode a Station in Washington Crossing Ohio in nearby Cincy can no longer be heard in Columbus some 50 miles away and they are on 1250 with 500 watts With the IBOC turned off you can once again hear 1250 in Columbus Ohio. The owners have killed AM and they wonder why..It’s the programming stupid.. People now have I-pods and computers and I-pads so they can listen to whatever they want without the noise..Loran Mann is begging for money for 1150 to go for HD.. Does he know that it will generate noise to other radio properties around him and he will have to pay a fee to IBOC to do so..KDKA 1020 used to cover a large population at night. With 1010 WINS out of New York and Former WCFL 1000 out of Chicago you can forget that when the HD was turned on. Only the present owners can save AM radio which most are not willing to put that effort out.Another example of that is Keymarket Broadcasting, They shut down 1130 in Brownsville Pa,940 in Charleroi Pa,Former WESA, 1340 Former WCVI in Connellsville Pa another one on 1340 in Oil City Pa.And WSTV am in Steubinsville Ohio Am and another station going Dark is WSPD in Toleto Ohio and another station in Summerset Pa. All these stations used to be profitable but poor programming has killed them. LIVE,LOCAL INVOLVEMENT will save AM..
One last thought..Begging for money to keep a radio outlet on the air is a farce..Shut the dam thing down and turn in the license..Failure to do so is Blackmail…I worked at WIXZ 1360 when it was Solid Rock “N” Gold..It was a fun place to work..And it aloud you to be creative..Chuck Dunaway now living in Canada agrees with me.It’s a sad day for once was a great station..