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WOWO's FM change

Juan Bodley

Juan Bodley

WOWO is moving their FM simulcast to 107.5 FM. W298BJ, with 75 watts at 188 meters (I think it's on the WMEE tower beside WFFT-TV's facility on Hillegas Rd.) will carry the WOWO programming while 92.3 FM will continue to carry it until the first of 2016.

Wonder if it's ad dollars or just a new source of revenue that led Fed Med to move WOWO again?? I'd like to think maybe people are tired of the same shows spewing the same political #%)@#$%@((!!! (Self censored.)
Thoughts???
 
Juan Bodley said:
Wonder if it's ad dollars or just a new source of revenue that led Fed Med to move WOWO again??
Click to expand...

The answer will no doubt be linked to whatever 92.3 carries after the New Year. Anything else is pure speculation.
 
One thing I DO know is whenever I try to dial in 107.5, I get swamped by Warsaw's 107.3. Which is ironic considering FedMed owns both.
I don't expect to get the new WOWO FM anyway, being a translator at such a low power level.
Columbia City gets a good quality signal if the station's above 93.3, partly because the high school station's antenna is only 200-205 feet in the air, and gets worse when you're within 1/4 mile. So being on the east side of CC I don't get hardly any translators, except 103.3 when the weather is good.
(And I only listen to WOWO for hockey and the 500 in May...)
 
Juan Bodley said:
WOWO is moving their FM simulcast to 107.5 FM. W298BJ, with 75 watts at 188 meters (I think it's on the WMEE tower beside WFFT-TV's facility on Hillegas Rd.) will carry the WOWO programming while 92.3 FM will continue to carry it until the first of 2016.

Wonder if it's ad dollars or just a new source of revenue that led Fed Med to move WOWO again?? I'd like to think maybe people are tired of the same shows spewing the same political #%)@#$%@((!!! (Self censored.)
Thoughts???
Click to expand...

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
 
Interesting that WOWO made the change...given that when they initially went to FM on 92.3 they stated that the listenership was now 80% FM and 20% AM...They wanted to get to where the listeners were...well now with the change to a translator with 75W +/- duplexing with another frequency...the FM signal is not what the listenership will be happy about, given they were used to the better signal of 92.3Mhz...as it stands right now, the signal to the east gets a bit iffy just east of 469 and we lost it completely in SE allen county se of 469...i understand the translator vs full power scenerio...but if you are going to try to fill in holes from the AM signal, especially at night...this doesnt get it, especially ne-se...the pattern may be ok pushing everything across the city, but the power drops off way too quick...the public doesnt know the difference between a translator and a full power FM, hence, they will complain about it...just my 2 cents plus tax worth...
 
I'm wondering if the loss of revenue from 92.3's days as The Fort, before and after Bob and Tom came around, made FedMed change their minds.
I can't get 107.5 at ALL because of their 107.3 in Warsaw (too close and most receivers can't filter out the higher power signal over the smaller;) so it's back to AM for me.

Now the POSITIVE in this is MAYBE 92.3 returns to having great music on it rather than "blah blah blah" 24/7. Also makes me wonder if there's a change in the works for their ol' standby 97.3 WMEE. Always been rumors about a change...best one I ever heard was switching formats with K105...never has happened.
Ah radio...where you never know what's on when you turn it on...
 
WB9TYJ said:
Interesting that WOWO made the change...given that when they initially went to FM on 92.3 they stated that the listenership was now 80% FM and 20% AM...They wanted to get to where the listeners were...well now with the change to a translator with 75W +/- duplexing with another frequency...the FM signal is not what the listenership will be happy about, given they were used to the better signal of 92.3Mhz...as it stands right now, the signal to the east gets a bit iffy just east of 469 and we lost it completely in SE allen county se of 469...i understand the translator vs full power scenerio...but if you are going to try to fill in holes from the AM signal, especially at night...this doesnt get it, especially ne-se...the pattern may be ok pushing everything across the city, but the power drops off way too quick...the public doesnt know the difference between a translator and a full power FM, hence, they will complain about it...just my 2 cents plus tax worth...
Click to expand...

Addendum: 107.5 get clobbered really good on adams center road from maples to almost paulding due to 107.9s tower on tillman...through that stretch the signal is unlistenable...
 
Low power can work really well in medium sized cities. Congratulations!
 
At the time I thought maybe it would change how people were listening, maybe going back to 1190 AM rather than looking for the 107.5 FM signal. West of Fort Wayne at the Allen-Whitley County line 107.3 FM, WRSW Warsaw, rolls over WOWO-FM, and I expect that. I don't think it would matter unless the AM went to all digital or just shut down and I don't expect either for a long while.
 
Juan Bodley said:
West of Fort Wayne at the Allen-Whitley County line 107.3 FM, WRSW Warsaw, rolls over WOWO-FM
Click to expand...
WOWO-FM (W298BJ) is only 75 watts and is totally directional to the east to better cover Fort Wayne from the west located transmitter. That's why the signal will disappear quickly when driving west away from Fort Wayne.

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gr8oldies said:
Correct, the old Huntington allocation
Click to expand...
103.1, now there's a memory. Back when the Huntington allocation was occupied by a Huntington station, I was the voice of twilight tunes every night from 7 until 10 along with Tom Barnes. We played a lot of big band music which I finally came to like. I don't know if TB ever took to it, or not. Other than my communications law practice, I've been out of the business for a long time...
 
W9LWA said:
103.1, now there's a memory. Back when the Huntington allocation was occupied by a Huntington station, I was the voice of twilight tunes every night from 7 until 10 along with Tom Barnes. We played a lot of big band music which I finally came to like. I don't know if TB ever took to it, or not. Other than my communications law practice, I've been out of the business for a long time...
Click to expand...
I can remember it being WHLT-FM, then WHUZ with the tower moved next door to WOWO and programmed top 40 by Tony Richards. WOWO bought it and ran commercial free top 40 and eventually simulcast WOWO AM.
 
gr8oldies said:
I can remember it being WHLT-FM, then WHUZ with the tower moved next door to WOWO and programmed top 40 by Tony Richards. WOWO bought it and ran commercial free top 40 and eventually simulcast WOWO AM.
Click to expand...
It was still WHLT and belonged to Bill Warren when I was there. The single-bay FM antenna was on top of one of the AM towers at the Taylor Street transmitter site. Our HAAT was something like minus two feet. Nice wet ground for AM but a bit low for FM. I believe the owner after Bill was named Shipley and the next after him was named Huse. I think it was Huse who moved the FM transmitter out to US 24 East, closer to Fort Wayne. I believe it's still there and I think I saw it had been sold or traded a while back to a religious broadcaster for about $500k. I do remember that commercial-free top 40 stunt. I was long gone from WOWO by then too, but as I recall it was just to siphon listeners from the station above WOWO in the ratings. Clever idea I suppose, although I don't remember if it worked or not...
 
By then WOWO was nowhere near the #1 they had in the glory days, so they were trying to snatch a share from WMEE. After 1300 AM had been off for awhile, someone toppled the towers.
 
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