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Erie PA News and Events for Thursday February 16, 2006
Posted by Dennis on February 16, 2006
Connoisseur Media is buying the six Next Media radio stations in Erie: Rocket 101, WRKT FM 100.9; Star 104, WRTS FM 103.7; Froggy 94, WFGO FM 94.7; Sports Radio 1330, the Fan, WFNN AM 1330; Jet Radio, WJET AM 1400; and US 93, WUSE FM 93.9.
A radio station used to be worth something, not anymore. Along came the Internet, SIRIUS and XM Satellite Radio, and iPods. Over the air radio stations and some TV stations don’t seem to realize what business they are in. They are in the advertising business, not music, sports talk or news. Listeners or viewers attract advertisers. That how they pay the bills and make money. Just take a look at the links for the stations above. Most are worse than something on MySpace. An untapped revenue stream. Don’t look for any big changes coming from Connoisseur Media. The email address on their site bounces.
Nice water main break on 12st Street. Fix it.
There is a national news story about 4th quarter homes sales that mentions Erie. It says that the decline in prices in quarter for Erie PA was 2.9 percent. Don’t look into that too close. Many Great Lakes cities saw decline because of the weather. If you recall, there was a good amount of snow from Thanksgiving to almost Christmas. Thoughts of buying a lakefront condo isn’t on peoples minds when the snow is flying. And people don’t want snow and salt tracked on their carpets. Home prices in this area are rising slowly in the single digits every year. They are very affordable for buyers and owners don’t have to worry about a bubble bursting and losing a bucket of money.
I stumbled on a cartoonist from Erie. Matt Trepal is the artist behind the webcomic “Fight Cast Or Evade.” It’s very well done and quite interesting. Check it out. Now you have a cartoon to read with the news here.
Marissa Bootes whose husband SPEC 4 Charlie Bootes is in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg is prominently mentioned in the book by Kristin Henderson, While They’re at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront. Bootes became active in the Family Readiness Group and the Hooah Wives at Bragg which helped her get through the seperation of having her husband being deployed overseas.
Benjamin Breniman was named the township planner and director of community development for Hempfield Township, PA. Breniman has served as manager of North East Borough and the City of Corry, both in Erie County.
Emily McFarland, an Edinboro grad, is the director of communications at Williamsport Retirement Village in Williamsport PA. She is the subject of a feature article in The Herald-Mail.
The musical Grand Hotel is being performed at the Erie Playhouse Feb today through Feb 19. For tickets and info call (814) 454-2852.
The great comedy troupe In All Seriousness will be performing “Who’s Line” at The Station Dinner Theater on Friday February 17th. These guys are flat out incredible. Go if you can. Tickets are $24 w/dinner or $12 w/o. Call 864-2002 for show and ticket info.
Pink Martini will be performing Friday, February 17, 2006, at 8 pm in the Mercyhurst College Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. Tickets cost between $10-25. To order tickets, call the box office at (814) 824-3000.
The Gannon University Erie Chamber Orchestra “Guess the Composer Concert” will feature the orchestra ensemble as soloist. The performance is free and open to the public and will be held Friday, February 17 at 7:30 pm in Gannon’s Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel, 512 Peach Street. The concert is free and open to the public.
The theater group All An Act Productions is performing the comedy “The Middle Ages” by AR Gurney. The show opens on Friday February 17th and will run Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 3 pm, February 17th through March 5th at East High School, located at 1001 Atkins Street, Erie, Pa 16503. General Admission is $5.
The Gannon University Schuster Theatre will host performances of “Cats” Friday-Sunday, Feb 17-19. Thursday-Saturday performances will begin at 8 pm, Sunday performances at 3 pm. Tickets are $5 for reserved seating. The Feb 19 performance will be the Alex Clemente Theatre Fundraising Event, tickets for this show only are $15. Proceeds will benefit the Alex Clemente Fund for Performing and Related Arts. Schuster Theatre is located at 620 Sassafras Street in Erie PA. For more information, contact the box office at 814-871-7494, or call 814-871-5467.
When you mix a great cause with drinking and golf, you come up with the MECA United Cerebral Palsy Barstool Open. It’s time for the 8th Annual Barstool Open. This year’s event is set to take place on Saturday, February 18, 2006. Download your 2006 Barstool Open Registration Form today. If you haven’t heard about the event before, here is a quick run down. Teams of 4 people walk bar to bar, playing a miniature golf hole at each bar. The bars get pretty creative on the designs.
The registration fee is $25 per person, $100 per team. You must bring a putter and a couple of golf balls. Almost 1,000 people participated in last years event making the Erie event the largest in the country.
The Expericene Erie Children’s Museum is hold an Olympics Day on Saturday, Feb 18th from 11am-3pm. Children will learn about the Olympics and their origin. There will be hands-on crafts and activities relating to the Olympics. Make your own torch. This event is free with Museum admission of $4 per person, free to members.
The Allegheny College Music Department will host pianist Jon Gonder, associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown, on Saturday, Feb 18 at 2 pm as he gives a solo recital in the Ford Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information on the recital, contact the Music Department at 814-332-4338.
The Highmark Quad Games Cross County Ski and Snowshoe Race is now scheduled for Sunday Feb 19 at 1 pm at Peek’n Peak. The event was originally scheduled for Jan 8, then pushed back to Jan 15, then Jan 22, then Jan 29, and then Feb 5.
Chris Ravello hit the game winning jumper with 8 seconds to go to give the Edinboro men’s basketball team (16-8, 7-2) a 80-79 win over IUP.
Jimmy Savage led the Allegheny men’s basketball team to a 81-72 win over Hiram.
The Allegheny women’s basketball team (17-8, 13-3) beat Hiram 80-61. Courtney Steding had 11 points for AC.
Mark Hogue, PsyD, clinical psychologist and sports psychologist at Northshore Psychological Associates in Erie most be on the roldex of writers all over the country. Every story about the mental aspect of sports seems to include a quote from him. I’ve seem his named mentioned a few times about the Olympics in the past week.
Freshman Derek Taylor (Erie, Pa/McDowell) is playing in the number 4 singles spot for the Mount Saint Mary’s men’s tennis team.
And the blog word of the day is Brrreeeport.
Posted by Dennis at February 16, 2006 7:07 AM
Comments
Other then WQLN,it's been many years since I last tuned into a local radio station. I can remember the last time I did though, and it was awful. No diversity other then a very small playlist of tunes and tons and tons of (awful) commercials.
Thanks to XM, I can listen to whatever variety of music I want, when I want, and I don't have to sit through commercials. Throw in baseball, hockey, and 6 sports channels, and I'm set.
Oh yeah, and Opie & Anthony....Ramone, bring my transistor radio so I can tune in the Breakfast Club.
Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 8:29 AM
I agree with Mike for the most part. NPR and Jazz on WQLN are great and London's best rock, FM 96. Even up here in Detroit my favorite radio station broadcasts out of Windsor, CA. How funny is it that Canadian stations trump U.S. stations, especially in Erie. Mostly though, I'm listening to music off of my iPod in the car.
So true about the quality of the web pages of these radio stations (Canadian ones included). I wonder if these stations realize that with one or two contacts, they could find some college student to build a quality website for under $500. OR if they realize that websites are a good part of their advertisement as well even if they don't treat it as such.
Posted by: RichardZ.com at February 16, 2006 9:42 AM
shhh....don't talk about home prices in erie too loudly. that news story you mentioned almost has my brother convinced that erie would be a great place to settle when he and his fiancee graduate law school this spring.
up until this point, they've only been looking at new york city and washington dc. but home prices there are ridiculously high, and they wouldn't have the quality of life they could get in a smaller city like erie.
just keep mentioning the "affordable" part, and we should be okay. and jerry, if you're reading this, pretend you never saw me here.
Posted by: jenny at February 16, 2006 10:44 AM
Start praying that this Connoisseur Media doesn't bring in BOB FM as they have to other cities. The absolute worst radio programming ever. There isn't one solid format. They really do play EVERYTHING. Imagine going from Barry Manilow to Pearl Jam to The Cars to P Diddy to Sinead O'Connor. They recently took over Rock 97 in Pittsburgh and quickly sank below college radio.
XM is the way to go. I picked up mine basically for the NHL package and exclusive concert broadcasts. I've also become an O&A convert.
As for websites, I wish someone would revamp goerie.com It's a nightmare to navigate at times and the quality of pages are poor.
Posted by: spoon at February 16, 2006 11:17 AM
BAH! I'm Ruined! Accursed Erie Blogs!
Posted by: Jerry at February 16, 2006 12:23 PM
I have Direct TV and they changed from MusicChoice to XM radio and I don't like it. They talk on the XM music channels. I don't want to hear talking from callers etc. MusicChoice just played the music. In the car, I like local radio OK, I listen for the forecasts and local events going on. And it's free. There are a large portion of the commmunity that isn't going out to buy XM radios anytime soon.
Posted by: Linda at February 16, 2006 12:27 PM
I've never heard a caller on XM other then talk radio, sports talk or OnA, but most of the channels we listen to like Ethel, Lucy, and the 90's have very few interruptions by DJs. I think i've only heard one on the techno channel (81) in the 8 or so months we've had it.
We have the MusicChoice on our cable system, and I think we've turned it one once, twice maybe. I wonder if they got rid of it, they could charge us less.
Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 1:40 PM
I have Sirius and love it. I've had it for a couple of years. I have when I have to listen to the actual radio-- and I used to work for Citadel Broadcasting. I love radio, I went to school to learn more and work in the industry... but it pays crap, it sounds like crap, etc...
It's cool that Energy can broadcast better, but how many people are aware of the frequency change? London station has the best format for my taste. But what it all gets down to is: Where's the money? Erie has stations that the preferred demographics listen to. Advertisers aren't always into a station like The Planet (when it was here)... it was popular with so many people I know. But I'm 25... college students... recent grads, those aren't always the ones spending the money. The froggy listeners do. The Classy listeners do...
Ok-- my little rant is done for now. Not sure that I had a point, just an opinion. I wonder if Rambaldo is going to have any controlling interested in the new company? I'm interested to see what the changes will be like. Maybe they'll pay better?!
Posted by: Jenson at February 16, 2006 3:56 PM
I would like to ask a very SIMPLE question. Why is it that every time someone anounces a NEW radio channel in Erie it ends up being the SAME OLD, SAME OLD? Your new channel BOB FM is nothing more than a channel that plays all of the best hits that have played on Erie radio for years!!! Why don't you come out with a NEW FORMAT RADIO STATION? Try one that plays Smooth Jazz, or Urban music (similar to WERG's Super Soul Saturday) or play Dance hits (similar to John Garabedian's Open House Party)??? These would be NEW Radio in Erie. I personally tune into all of these channels every week just to hear some NEW music formats every week. By the way, I am a 45 year old male and would love any of these stations!!!! WHY won't Erie try a NEW FORMAT!!!
Posted by: TJ Bennett at January 6, 2007 2:08 PM
Add a
link and graphic to your site to show that you're from Erie. Meet new peeps, share you thoughts on our fair city, do whatever you like.
