Radio Radio Deleted Scene – Historette

April is officially “fill month” with some reposts, old writings and poker updates. I dug up this poorly written piece from 2001 from the first draft of Radio Radio. I cut this chapter after the first draft, as I felt that it wasn’t needed and it took away from the flow of the story. I’m glad that I wrote this, because as some writers will tell you, there are things that I need to know and my readers don’t.

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Lamasco is a medium sized Midwestern town. It’s home to some 250,000 people in the town proper, not including those in the surrounding suburbs of Kennedy, Rosedale, Greenfield, South Lamasco…just to name a few. The town holds on to its rich Irish roots. You can’t throw a rock in town without hitting an Irish Pub.

Irish Catholic settlers found their way to the area after the War of Independence, and settled on the banks of the Shannon River. The town originally started on the east side of the river, an area known as Old Towne. As the town grew, the other side of the Shannon River became part of the growing metropolis. That area of town became known as the West Bank, which is where the university was planted.

As the provincial town grew, the Brothers McManus opened a furniture shop in the Old Towne in 1902. The store was a success, and they quickly became one of the more profitable families in Lamasco. The second store opened in the West Bank a few years later, becoming the first company to straddle both sides of the Shannon.

The McManus Family was granted an AM license in 1923 to operate 1280 AM WLAM. It was originally a marketing tool to sell more furniture. Not too long after that, WLAM evolved to the regional leader in news and entertainment. In the 1939 WLAM signed a deal to become a Mutual Network station, giving it national status. As time went on, WLAM remained Lamasco’s radio leader.

The younger brother, Shamus, died in 1951, willing the station to his eldest son, Patrick “Paddy” McManus. That was also the same year the family McManus was granted a license to run a companion station, 101.3 FM WLFM. It was the first FM station to be licensed in Lamasco.

WLFM was granted an output power of 100,000 watts. This turned out to be a lucky thing for WLFM. After the 1950s, new FM stations were not allowed to operate on such high power. The modern day WLAM still does, since the license was given before the law changed. The station blasts out a very strong signal on the heels of the grandfather clause. There is a strict set of provisos, however. The station may not relocate the studios outside of the city limits, the station may not be off the air for more than 24 hours, and McManus Communications cannot sell the license. Any violation will drop the power to 6,000 watts.

The face of radio changed by the early 70’s. FM stations began to draw more listeners away from the old sound of AM. Rock based shows flourished under the new trend of the FM craze. WLFM was no exception, and quickly became one of the dominant stations of the Midwest. To keep the recognition of the aging powerhouse AM station with the emerging juggernaut WLFM, changed its call letters WLAM, and the AM station’s call letters were changed to WSPM, in honor of the station’s founder.

In 1980, Paddy died and left the station to his then 21 year-old, and youngest, son, Sean. Sean really didn’t know what he was doing with the running of the day-to-day operation. Paddy never really took the time to mentor young Sean on how to run a radio station. The younger McManus had just graduated from Lamasco State University with a degree in business. Realizing his lack of knowledge of radio, he decided to delegate and hired his college roommate Paul Kerry as the station’s General Manager. Paul was way over his head with the responsibility of leading a million dollar operation. After one poorly executed and ill-advised business decision after another, the station was in serious financial trouble. WLAM quickly lost prominence, as a new rock station, WPAN, emerged and out did WLAM on every level. Kerry was shown the door after being in charge for 3 years. His era is marked with both listeners and advertisers leaving in droves.

The station then tried other formats to no avail. Soft rock failed, and Top 40 only brought in a modest audience. Managers were leaving almost as soon as came in. Then in 1992, Sean hired Tom Mulligan, a tested radio veteran from Tucson. He had managed several radio stations and had been thought of as one of the new innovators of the trade. Tom worked with his new PD, Tony Richards and formulated a new kind of rock station. WLAM carved out a unique niche that defied a predetermined formatted description.

He had a knack for turning a radio station around. The unfortunate thing was he also had a knack for leaving stations at the height of their success, which he did in 1996. But he did manage to make WLAM FM the number one station in the metro, and WSPM AM the number 4 station and the top rated AM station, as Lamasco leader for news and talk.

Tom then took a job as GM of a station in New York, leaving the General Sales Manager, John Deavers in charge. As time went on, it was obvious that Tom was brain of the operation. After he left, the station’s ratings declined. Sean blamed Tony for the downturn, leaving his fate to the new GM. John had many opportunities to fire Tony, but never took them.

The ratings started to increase a bit when Shakespeare and Erik were hired after the station purged its staff. WLAM hasn’t really seen the glory of days past, but the pair helped it become competitive again. However, the last ratings period had the station falling to fifth from third overall, but the station managed to hold strong in some key demographics.