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WBTA The Batavia Station

Mike Sheridan

Mike Sheridan

A long time ago when my uncle lived in Alexander, NY and worked for Sylvania in Batavia we would come visit. Usually his radios were on what he referred to as "The Batavia Station". I always thought it was a great way to ID a station by the area it served. However I don't know if WBTA itself ever billed itself as "The Batavia Station". Does anyone here know?
 
Long ago the thought occurred to me that if someone put a high powered FM or TV station in Batavia it would cover a huge population. But for some reason that never happened. WBTA doesn't reach much more than Batavia but it does get involved with its community and that may explain why it has survived this long. Batavia is more famous for Oliver's Candy.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Long ago the thought occurred to me that if someone put a high powered FM or TV station in Batavia it would cover a huge population. But for some reason that never happened. WBTA doesn't reach much more than Batavia but it does get involved with its community and that may explain why it has survived this long. Batavia is more famous for Oliver's Candy.
Click to expand...

...and Batavia Downs.
 
So, what you're saying is that the allocation for Batavia was perfect. It covers its market well. They also had an FM allocation, WBTF-FM, that they sold in 1998. The new owners moved to a tower closer to Buffalo and changed call letters to WXOX as a challenger to The Edge. It gained no traction. Ultimate, the frequency was sold to an affiliate of the EWTN Global Catholic Radio network and is now WLOF (for Our Lady of Fatima). That allocation, even with the move closer to Buffalo, makes The Lake signal look good. Too bad Batavia didn't get to keep it. The old tower off Stedman Rd. in Bennington was dismantled in 2011.
 
Perhaps some sixty years ago someone might have gotten an allotment for a Class B FM in Batavia. Being midway between Buffalo and Rochester, with a 500 foot tower this station would have covered over 2 million people and it would have been a real factor in both markets. Something similar could have been done with a TV station. Today it would be impossible to find a useable channel but the idea is intriguing.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Perhaps some sixty years ago someone might have gotten an allotment for a Class B FM in Batavia. Being midway between Buffalo and Rochester, with a 500 foot tower this station would have covered over 2 million people and it would have been a real factor in both markets. Something similar could have been done with a TV station. Today it would be impossible to find a useable channel but the idea is intriguing.
Click to expand...
It was done for TV. WPXJ Batavia. Here's the link, interesting history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPXJ-TV
 
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