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Pensacola's Ticket 97.1

P

Poledo

I read a news teaser on another site that W246BN'S license to cover had been cancelled for various reasons. I've read stuff on FCC.gov and can't make heads or tails of what's going on.

My main question, why is W246BN still on the air from the downtown Pensacola tower broadcasting WTKE from Fort Walton if they have no license?
 
Omni has had no problem breaking the law for the last, what... four or five years they've run the translator from Pensacola? Why would a dismissal stop them now?

Remember, they ran the station from an unlicensed location while the WDWR tower came down, went up and came down again. And they have on multiple occasions been observed originating content instead of strictly relaying 100.3 WTKE (or their actual licensed broadcaster, WDWR).

Why the FCC hasn't raided those people is beyond me.
 
Looking at the FCC correspondence folder, Hale claim's W246BN is rebroadcasting WDWR 1230 AM HD-2. I didn't know AMs could have a second HD channel.

It'll be a shame if Pensacola looses its strongest translator.
 
I don't think it'd be a shame if a scofflaw is slapped down and someone else gets it and makes it work, legally. Legally, it should not be there in the first place. Legally, it should not be rebroadcasting Hale's Ticket format at all. Legally, he's in a bit of trouble.

Despite the notice of violation that was (finally) filed against the translator, it's still on the air. I think it'd be smart for it to go back to Walnut or wherever it's licensed to until all this blows over, but I'm not a lawyer and did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
 
The story on Insight says the Long Hollow tower is over 40 miles from their currently licensed site. Neither WDWR or WTKE-FM can put a signal into Atmore, so what would they relay if they moved up to the Walnut Hill area?

Shouldn't this situation put the WTKP 100Kw upgrade in jeopardy?
 
Back when it was being stepped down from Atmore towards Pensacola, I believe the parent station was WBHY-FM, but I seriously doubt that was anything more than a ploy to get the license granted. WDWR and WTKE are both more than 25 miles from the Walnut Hill site, so I don't think they could still be legally used.
 
Them good ole boys at Omni have been at the most interesting forms of radio "business" since the late 90's. What a stellar career. I cannot imagine how the entire market doesn't know what is going and advertisers still actually advertise. My hat goes to the FCC for being on their game for the transmitter issue. I don't see why, in 2018, the FCC cares about what is on these translator stations that clutter the hell out of a dial.
 
The translator has been on since at least 2010, and I'm pretty sure that at least one complaint was filed with the FCC between then and probably 2015. So at a minimum it took them 3 years to get around to issuing a Notice to them to 'splain themselves. I have a feeling that several complaints were actually filed, because I would think iHeart and Cumulus and ADX would all not be too keen on having a new competitor that isn't playing by the rules.
 
Since my last post on this thread, the FCC has revoked both the CP and the license to cover for the Pensacola facility, which means 97.1 SHOULD have gone back to their Walnut Hill site until things got straightened out.

Of course, this did not happen. It's stayed on the air and I've heard it just about daily over here in Foley.

Two days ago they filed a silent STA noting that the previous facility was no longer available and the CP was cancelled due to "red light issues". Well, that silent STA lasted until today when they filed to resume operations. Only thing is, they never actually went silent. They were on yesterday, because I heard them while testing a new antenna outside.

So not only did they lie to the FCC, get caught, stayed on the air anyway, they then lied again about the silent STA and never stopped broadcasting from the WDWR tower.

Also, doesn't "red light" mean unpaid bills? I am pretty sure that lying to the FCC and getting caught is not a red light issue, it's a character issue.

Either way, a (new) license to cover has been filed for the Pensacola translator, so I guess it'll be totally legal now. I am curious to know if they finally dropped all local programming, or if they're going to continue to lie about that, too.
 
I won't be able to tell until tomorrow but the application says the new parent station is WTKE 1490 Milton. WTKE also applied for a "resumption of operations." Wonder if they really are back on the air? Seems like they will be "completely legal" IF 1490 is on the air.

I also just realized that a couple hours of The Ticket's daytime programming is simulcast of WFBD BlabTV.
 
Relaying the AM would certainly be legal and would let them originate programming unique to the Pensacola market. Since the AM was silent anyway due to financial issues, it might be a beneficial thing for everyone involved.

That's a smart solution to their problem.
 
Best I can tell, while all this nonsense was going on with the W246BN translator in Pensacola, Omni also moved WTKP 93.5C2 Port St Joe to 93.7C2 with a tower site much closer to Panama City. It appears they are currently running low power on STA.
 
unless it has come on the air in the past 10 days, 93.5 in Panama City or whatever City of License it is now is not on the air....the only thing hung on the tower is 2 bay low power antenna and I'm not even sure coax has been run to it.....also, the 3 phase power is not installed by the power company.....the meter box and the customer side of the 3 phase has been sitting there for 2 or 3 months unconnected.....I've been in the hospital getting a new right knee so I haven't been on top of things here since March 13.
 
Poledo - (Seedless) how did you lock in on the 93.5/93.7 signal? You must have been down on that there real redneck side of PCB. CCENG - is all that tower stuff intended for Hale's show? You should have cancelled the knee stuff so you could camp out and watch all the comings and goings of them pirates. Hehe.
 
I know for several months there was a signal on 93.5 originating from the Beach TV tower on Panama City Beach just a few hundred yards from the channel 7 studio....I never saw an FCC permit or STA for that location.....the city of license for that frequency was (is) Port St Joe.....there is no way that the FCC would allow that location to work.....I was aware of the frequency change but I haven't been keeping up with whether or not it was approved...I have no idea what city of license was assigned or requested for the 93.7 change......I assume that is what is going on on Hwy 22 with the 2 bay antenna etc. that I mentioned in my earlier post. I guess I need to do a little research on the FCC website and see what is ACTUALLY granted, etc.

cceng
 
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