April 23, 1999
The Voice of Seneca County now has a country twang
By David Crawford
Staff Writer
WCKY-FM began to sound a little more country Thursday afternoon.
Chuck Poet, manager for Jacor Communication's Findlay and Tiffin radio stations, said the 103.7 FM WCKY radio signal will be using the same country radio format as their 107.7 FM WHMQ Findlay radio property.
He said the WTTF-AM radio signal will be playing the same format of news and music with which Seneca County residents are familiar.
The split between the former WTTF FM and the WTTF AM signals was made at 12:50 p.m. Thursday.
"Today is the beginning of our changes or phase one of a series of changes," said Poet. "Today's are probably the most dramatic of them all."
"All our decisions on the stations are based on providing quality and compelling radio and information to the public," said Poet.
He said that WCKY 103.7 FM and WHMQ 107.7 FM will be playing the same country format for "the next couple of weeks."
Asked if one of the FM stations would change later format, Poet encouraged people to listen and find out.
As for the 1600 WTTF-AM station, Poet said the station will stay pretty much what it has been.
"Any changes (in the AM station) will be along the lines of minor improvements," said Poet. "There will be no radical changes on the AM."
The improvements will be more technological "to clean up and improve" the AM signal.
He also plans to put the music played on the AM station more in focus.
"Sometimes you didn't know what was going to be played next. Sometimes I heard things that should not be on a 1600 AM station, like Led Zeppelin 'Stairway to Heaven'," said Poet.
In other future programming, Poet said Cleveland Browns football will be carried on one or more of the Jacor stations in Findlay and Tiffin.
He said they will be carrying local high school sports on the stations. The stations are beginning to plan to what games will be covered on the fall sports schedule.
Tiffin City Council meetings no longer will be broadcast on either local station.
"I understand that it is a service to the community, but it doesn't make compelling radio," said Poet. "We want to make for our listeners and advertisers a compelling radio product that people want to listen to.
"Although there are valid and important reasons to cover Tiffin City Council, a third reading of an ordinance to pave an alley just does not make compelling radio," said Poet.
Poet said listeners will continue to hear the same voices they are accustomed to hearing on the Tiffin radio stations.
He said that the consolidation in this area has been a rarity; in the national consolidation and merger of radio stations, there have not been the massive layoffs and terminations of staff.
The change in formats and splitting of WTTF-AM and WCKY-FM have been expected for the past few weeks.
Poet said the change was planned for earlier but delayed due to the technology changes and consolidation of equipment required for the change.