-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
WCFO-AM 1160 sold to religious organization
- Thread starter rohocop2121
- Start date
Savage doesn't seem to fit 106.7's live-and-local format. Although 106.7 is putting on Ben Shapiro...albeit at 5 AM.
WGST could fit in Savage 3-6 PM if they moved Dave Ramsey to noon-3 and played the previous day's show, and got rid of the bit players.
But Savage would be an improvement over the Chattanooga Boo-Boo.
BTW: Does anyone know how well the Kimmer is doing in his daypart? I know he leads WYAY's dayparts but what about the other talkers? How is he comparing to Rush over at You Know Who (or as the Kimmer would say, We Suck and Blither).
K
kf4rca
Guest
Does that also include their sister station on 1690 (which probably ain't worth nothing)?
Nope...Weber is keeping that one, for now.
Plus Savage is syndicated by Westwood One (Cumulus).
So it appears Weber is taking an almost $10M haircut on the sale of WCFO. He purchased the station for $10.4M and is selling for $750K.
I'm guessing Weber needed to take this loss for tax purposes. Besides...values seem to keep going in one direction for radio stations in general...down. Who would have ever guessed $18M would buy you a full market FM signal in Chicago!
I'm guessing Weber needed to take this loss for tax purposes. Besides...values seem to keep going in one direction for radio stations in general...down. Who would have ever guessed $18M would buy you a full market FM signal in Chicago!
K
kf4rca
Guest
I think most of his accounts were trade-outs. He only had a handful of accounts anyway. I don't know how he made the electric bill.
Weber had Jeff Davis running things and Jeff is a master salesman; he can sell ice to Eskimos. I have no knowledge of their financials but the 1690 facility was always a rich man's toy and nothing more. Weber was said to have bought 1690 so he could hear the night signal on his bedroom radio. (He owned 1160 first and then bought 1690) Davis was then tasked with making 1160 "not bleed profusely." He has more than $25M tied up in these two puddle jumpers but that is a mere five percent of his net worth so no harm done...
Remember, Weber first owned the former WGKA at 1190, and got some notice when he put himself on the air and started mixing other types of music into the classical playlist. Being on the air did not allow him time to live the kind of lifestyle to which he was accustomed so he sold it to Salem for quite a profit. I suppose he missed it so he bought 1160 from Billy Corey, who loves to buy and sell things. Corey had upgraded the station to 50KW day.
A daytime AM station is of course worth very little these days. And WCFO has one of the worst 50,000-watt signals ever created. The station is not commercially viable and not of value to companies other than the likes of the buyer.
He bought 1190 for $2M and sold to Salem for $8M. Not bad for a couple of years making bird calls...
WCFO actually has a decent signal by Atlanta AM standards. It points more than 50 KW towards Atlanta from Austell and at 1160 Khz does ok. That signal is riddled with technical issues which makes it seem to be weaker than it really is. It is usually distorted and not very dense/compressed/loud. 1690 is not, technically, a very good sounding station either.
If there's an expanded band station in Atlanta at 1690, what was the "main" station in the regular AM band that was related to the 1690? And did that station have to sign off at some point? (I remember when the expanded band first happened, that was the deal. You want a 10kw station between 1610 and 1700, you get it, but after 5 years, the other one goes off.)
Atlanta's 1690 began as 1470 WBIT in South Georgia's Adel. Way back in the late 1980s, early 1990s, when the FCC expanded the AM band from 1600 to 1700, it put a list together of AM stations which received very high levels of interference. It asked any of the stations listed to request an expanded band channel. The stations which were eventually chosen got a construction permit to move to the expanded channel. WBIT got the permit for 1690. WRGA on 1470 in Rome, GA pumps 5,000 watts at night straight toward South Georgia/Florida and pretty much wiped out WBIT's nighttime signal. Investors bought WBIT with the 1690 permit then moved it to Atlanta. The 1470 was surrendered long before the five years the expanded band stations were given. That deadline was extended at least once by the FCC but they eventually made stations decide to keep the old channel or take the new one. As I recall, WAOK had a permit but decided 5KW at night on 1380 was better than 1KW on an expanded band channel. Plus they could increase WAOK's daytime signal to 25KW from 5KW. Keep in mind too, early on a lot of auto radios didn't have the expanded band channels so that caused pause for many stations. The expanded band allocations are based on mileage separation and not signal protection as other AM frequencies. They all must operate with 1kW and also must have more than a quarter wave height tower which is most commonly used tower height for AM stations. The taller tower reduces skywave signal, increases groundwave. I believe there are only two Georgia AMs in the non expanded band which operate with half-wave towers....WSB and WAFS (originally WGST in 920). I have not tried in recent years but when 1690 signed on, you could pick it up reliably across a great swath of the South. Other stations on the same channel...that's what really snuffs out coverage for AM and FM too.... as many will discover when the thousands of new FM translators take to the airwaves.
Boy did I miss the mark on this list. Some more Georgia AMs with half-wave (very tall) towers...WSEM on 1500 in Donaldsonville, GA; WQCH(formerly WLAF) at 1590 in Lafayette, GA; WGAU 1340 in Athens, GA, WNEX 1400 in Macon, GA; WMVG 1450 in Milledgeville and WGGA 1240 in Gainesville, GA; WXLI 1230 in Dublin, GA; WZOT 1220 in Rockmart, GA; WAOS 1600 in Austell; WCLA 1470 in Claxton; WLBA 1130 in Gainesville; WSEG 1400 in Savannah; WTNL 1390 in Reidsville; and WUFE 1260 in Baxley.
Corey also took co-owned 1170 out of Cumming off the air so that 1160 could increase their day power from (IIRC) 10kW to 50kW. 1170 had a good Americana format and, IIRC, the WMLB callsign. 1160's day signal became markedly better with the power increase.
How many Atlanta-area AM stations operate with 50,000 watts in the daytime? There are nine, including the soon to be Catholic-programmed WCFO.
640 WGST
680 WCNN
750 WSB
1010 WTZA
1050 WPBS
1080 WFTD
1160 WCFO
1420 WATB
1550 WAZX
Of course, only WSB and WCNN have decent power at night. All these other stations must reduce power after dark to anywhere from 1,000 watts (WGST) to zero.
50,000 watts is the maximum power for all FCC-licensed AM stations in the U.S. But there is one that is not licensed by the FCC. 1180 Radio Martí in Marathon, Florida, runs 100,000 watts around the clock, directional at Cuba.
640 WGST
680 WCNN
750 WSB
1010 WTZA
1050 WPBS
1080 WFTD
1160 WCFO
1420 WATB
1550 WAZX
Of course, only WSB and WCNN have decent power at night. All these other stations must reduce power after dark to anywhere from 1,000 watts (WGST) to zero.
50,000 watts is the maximum power for all FCC-licensed AM stations in the U.S. But there is one that is not licensed by the FCC. 1180 Radio Martí in Marathon, Florida, runs 100,000 watts around the clock, directional at Cuba.
Even WCNN has to power down to 10kW and go hard directional (with 8 towers) at night, with big nasty nulls over Cobb and especially Gwinnett.
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wcnn&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C
Are there any grandfathered AM stations with higher power? There are some FM stations grandfathered with power up to 320kW, like WBCT out of Michigan (albeit a Class B with only 781' HAAT)
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=wbct&nav=&x=0&y=0
In 1950 WGST had an FM side at 94.1 that was licensed at 345kW. Not sure if that plant was ever built.
Long long time ago WLW had 500kW at night. If you lived near the station your lights would modulate with the music.
WLW ran 500 kw day and night. They slightly directionalized to protect the adjacent channel station in Toronto.
The old WATB, now WWSZ, is only licensed for 15kW under their CP to move to 1430kHz. At their existing 1420 kHz frequency, they're only licensed for 1000 watts. WTZA, WPBS, and WFTD have to power down some during critical hours. But all the ones except for the first three are class D daytimers with negligible licensed night power.
- Status