107.1 to be Mexican, simulcast 102.3

[AMRocks]

From Tom Taylor's newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/tomtaylornow/tom-taylor-now-124793

From the Rumor Mill – a new regional Mexican service for Atlanta.
And it’s on FM. Northeast-of-Atlanta “La Raza 102.3” WLKQ Buford, owned by Greg Davis, is reportedly about to hook up with two Woman’s World Broadcasting-owned signals at 107.1, for a new simulcast. Suzanne Stone’s northwest-of-Atlanta WTSH and a closer-in translator are said to join “La Raza.” WTSH is a Class C1 licensed to Aragon, Georgia. While Woman’s World is moving translator W296BB Jonesboro a bit further to the northeast, and geo-synchronizing with WTSH. (The goal is to minimize the inevitable interference where the two signals meet.) The Atlanta-area AM dial has existing stations such as Esquivel’s Spanish contemporary WPLO Grayson/610 and Prieto’s WFTD Marietta/1080. Greg Davis himself owns a Spanish contemporary AM, “La Mega Atlanta 1290” WCHK Canton.

So I guess the deal with Cox is over? I'm surprised they'd give up access to that signal. The website no longer mentions the simulcast (unless that changed a while back.) https://www.yourgeorgiacountry.com/

 

[wavo]

From Tom Taylor's newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/tomtaylornow/tom-taylor-now-124793

From the Rumor Mill – a new regional Mexican service for Atlanta.
And it’s on FM. Northeast-of-Atlanta “La Raza 102.3” WLKQ Buford, owned by Greg Davis, is reportedly about to hook up with two Woman’s World Broadcasting-owned signals at 107.1, for a new simulcast. Suzanne Stone’s northwest-of-Atlanta WTSH and a closer-in translator are said to join “La Raza.” WTSH is a Class C1 licensed to Aragon, Georgia. While Woman’s World is moving translator W296BB Jonesboro a bit further to the northeast, and geo-synchronizing with WTSH. (The goal is to minimize the inevitable interference where the two signals meet.) The Atlanta-area AM dial has existing stations such as Esquivel’s Spanish contemporary WPLO Grayson/610 and Prieto’s WFTD Marietta/1080. Greg Davis himself owns a Spanish contemporary AM, “La Mega Atlanta 1290” WCHK Canton.

So I guess the deal with Cox is over? I'm surprised they'd give up access to that signal. The website no longer mentions the simulcast (unless that changed a while back.) https://www.yourgeorgiacountry.com/

Interesting.
The agreement between Woman's World and Cox says terms are 8 years beginning June 23, 2014 unless both parties agree to an early termination. You can read for yourself the entire agreement as it is available in the WTSH Public File. (The WTSH Public File link is still active on the link you published for the WNGC website)
There has been talk about Cox getting out of the radio/tv business altogether. This may be an important clue...

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Interesting.
The agreement between Woman's World and Cox says terms are 8 years beginning June 23, 2014 unless both parties agree to an early termination. You can read for yourself the entire agreement as it is available in the WTSH Public File. (The WTSH Public File link is still active on the link you published for the WNGC website)
There has been talk about Cox getting out of the radio/tv business altogether. This may be an important clue...

Yes, Cox will probably get out of the radio/TV business, but I doubt this has anything to do with that. I doubt the country simulcast is bringing in much revenue.

 

[jabba17]

Interesting.
The agreement between Woman's World and Cox says terms are 8 years beginning June 23, 2014 unless both parties agree to an early termination. You can read for yourself the entire agreement as it is available in the WTSH Public File. (The WTSH Public File link is still active on the link you published for the WNGC website)
There has been talk about Cox getting out of the radio/tv business altogether. This may be an important clue...

I thought Cox had bought WTSH outright instead of LMAing it about 4 years ago...guess not.

If WTSH simulcasts WLKQ, what becomes of WNSY 100.1, the current simulcast partner of WLKQ? The only hole I see that WNSY would still be filling not fully covered by WTSH would be Dalton, and then only to get good building penetration. Probably no difference in a car or outside. WNSY also has better reach into Chattanooga and Cleveland, TN, but I don't know if either of those are big Mex markets, vs. Dalton which most certainly is.

I guess Teresa Prieto sold off WPLO at some point...

 

[jabba17]

According to Wikipedia it's already happened... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTSH-FM

 

[jabba17]

...and on the La Raza website... https://www.laraza1023.com/

The new logo makes no mention of 100.1.

 

[Rickw4pc]

I worked for 107.1/1220 back in the 80s when 107.1 was WZOT and 1220/ WPLK was AC and Les owned it. I wonder why Steve Gradic didn't keep it from his dad. I guess he wanted to focus on Carrolton.

Interesting. I always wanted 107.1 to be top 40 back in the day and call it Z-107.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I thought Cox had bought WTSH outright instead of LMAing it about 4 years ago...guess not.

If WTSH simulcasts WLKQ, what becomes of WNSY 100.1, the current simulcast partner of WLKQ? The only hole I see that WNSY would still be filling not fully covered by WTSH would be Dalton, and then only to get good building penetration. Probably no difference in a car or outside. WNSY also has better reach into Chattanooga and Cleveland, TN, but I don't know if either of those are big Mex markets, vs. Dalton which most certainly is.

I guess Teresa Prieto sold off WPLO at some point...

I agree with you that this makes WNSY obsolete. I think 107.1 puts as good a signal into Dalton as 100.1.

The purpose of 1290 in Canton, also owned by Greg Davis, is to be able to use 96.5 as a translator for La Mega, the Mexican CHR format.

 

[MarkW]

How was WTSH's signal in Atlanta proper before W296BB signed on as a translator?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I worked for 107.1/1220 back in the 80s when 107.1 was WZOT and 1220/ WPLK was AC and Les owned it. I wonder why Steve Gradic didn't keep it from his dad. I guess he wanted to focus on Carrolton.

Interesting. I always wanted 107.1 to be top 40 back in the day and call it Z-107.

Several years ago, Howard Toole took me on a tour of his various sites in the Rome area. The former 1220 studio building at the transmitter site had been a church. It was wild.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

How was WTSH's signal in Atlanta proper before W296BB signed on as a translator?

WTSH was listenable across the market but did not have anywhere near the intensity to attract listeners in most areas. I'm guessing it was much stronger in the vicinity of Marietta and Kennesaw.

 

[BarryATL]

https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtal...-covers-metro-atlanta/YbzlqB2uAbP6hGE7ZZRpUI/

Rodney Ho posted on the chnage today.

 

[jabba17]

100.1 was broadcasting dead air this morning. This afternoon, they were simulcasting La Raza.

Between the two Atlanta country stations and the (formerly iHeart now Entercom) WUSY 100.7 "US 101" juggernaut out of Chattanooga which always tops the Chattanooga book (and can easily be heard as far south as Cobb County--heck, I've picked it up plenty of times in Gwinnett if the DXing is the least bit good), I'm surprised that 107.1 got any listeners at all. IIRC there's some smaller country stations along that I-75 corridor, too, including a smaller signal where South 107 moved to when Cox LMAed 107.1.

WNGC 106.1 is more of a heritage station in NE GA (although WNGC was originally on 95.5 until Cox bought it, there was another country station on 106.1 prior to the WNGC move). iHeart does have WSSL out of Greenville on 100.5, which gets a mid-six share (WUSY usually gets 9-10+ and 13+ last winter), but has to contend with interference from Rock100.5 as you go up I-85.

107.1 was always an odd bird location-wise in Cox's North Georgia cluster, considering that the rest of the cluster runs from Gainesville through Athens towards Augusta.

 

[wavo]

Yes, Cox will probably get out of the radio/TV business, but I doubt this has anything to do with that. I doubt the country simulcast is bringing in much revenue.

My thinking is that Cox is giving up a signal in an important radio market for them. A change of format would be a more likely solution if they were still gung-ho on the radio part of their business.

I find it surprising that Greg Davis is making enough money with the Mexican format in Atlanta to climb out on a limb and do this deal. Are the Mexican formats, especially in Atlanta, still viable in 2018?

 

[davideduardo]

Are the Mexican formats, especially in Atlanta, still viable in 2018?

More than ever with the population growth in that sector.

 

[jabba17]

My thinking is that Cox is giving up a signal in an important radio market for them. A change of format would be a more likely solution if they were still gung-ho on the radio part of their business.

I find it surprising that Greg Davis is making enough money with the Mexican format in Atlanta to climb out on a limb and do this deal. Are the Mexican formats, especially in Atlanta, still viable in 2018?

I don't think Cox can move it close enough to ATL to get good ATL ratings, and the cochannel translator experiment never worked that great.

Patron may not look good in the ratings, but they probably bill like crazy. I'd like to know how their billings compare.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't think Cox can move it close enough to ATL to get good ATL ratings, and the cochannel translator experiment never worked that great.

That station is, indeed, a limited rimshot and there did not seem to be a way Cox could get a better signal and still comply with ownership caps. Their efforts to improve the FM simulcast partner for WSB took precedent and I don't believe they were left with any options for that rimshot.

Patron may not look good in the ratings, but they probably bill like crazy. I'd like to know how their billings compare.

It bill in proportion to its ratings. The biggest issue is that the 65 dbu signal of WBZY only covers about 25% of the market population, and is completely deficient to the east and northeast.

 

[jabba17]

That station is, indeed, a limited rimshot and there did not seem to be a way Cox could get a better signal and still comply with ownership caps.

I thought Cox had room for one more FM in ATL (assuming ATL is a 45+ station market). The thing (besides technical issues) that had been stymieing all of Cox's attempts to move in 95.5, 97.1, and/or 104.1 had been its ownership of the AJC, and the need to re-up its newspaper cross-ownership waiver with the FCC each time they made a move that caused their existing stations to increase their overlap of their coverage areas. I thought that that rule had gone away, eliminating the need for the waiver.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-review-broadcast-ownership-rules

 

[MarkW]

If 107.1 ever wants to be a true player on a metro-wide basis, what probably would need to happen is one of two things:
-W296BB would need to go omni-directional and WTSH would need to downgrade (with a deep null toward Atlanta)
-Take the translator off the air completely, increase WTSH's signal toward Atlanta as much as possible while still meeting FCC adjacent channel protection requirements, and pair it with a lesser signal with good south side coverage (93.3? 96.7? 105.3?).

The first option is fraught with risk, since translators are not afforded protection in the same fashion full-power FM stations, and once WTSH downgrades, should the experiment fail, it may be difficult to return to their prior licensed facilities.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

My thinking is that Cox is giving up a signal in an important radio market for them. A change of format would be a more likely solution if they were still gung-ho on the radio part of their business.

I find it surprising that Greg Davis is making enough money with the Mexican format in Atlanta to climb out on a limb and do this deal. Are the Mexican formats, especially in Atlanta, still viable in 2018?

Greg Davis hired Brian Barber as GM of WLKQ-FM (102.3) at the start of the Regional Mexican format. Brian knew how to sell and price Spanish radio to make a ton of money. When Davis purchased WCHK-AM (1290) and used it to launch a Mexican CHR format on 96.5, he first hired someone else (not Brian) to run it, and it was mismanaged. Now Brian runs it, and it's doing great.

iHeart gave Davis Broadcasting a huge gift by putting Spanish on 105.3, which does not have a 60 dbu signal in the Latino hotbed that is Gwinnett. If iHeart's Spanish format were on 105.7, which has a good signal in Gwinnett, advertisers might see little need to use the Davis stations.