74-year-old WDXI 1310 AM in Jackson has been off-the-air most of 2022 due to apparent damage to the station's transmission line and antenna tuning system. Gerald Wayne Hunt, Sr. is reported to have suffered several strokes, with some other medical issues. I haven't checked, but I assume the FM translator at 103.5 is also currently silent.
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WDXI 1310 AM (Jackson) Off The Air
- Thread starter AMFMKYTN
- Start date
It's apparently on the air.. DX'ers in IL and MO have heard it.
WDXI TN, Jackson – 9/26 0627 noted w/Oldies format, “Oldies...Cool 103” slogan ID. A good signal was heard over WIBA. (EB-MO)
+9/29 0100 noted w/Late Night Oldies mention and “Cool 103” slogan ID. The signal was mixing with KGLB and other stations. (RWK-IL)
It wasn't on the last time I checked, but that was several weeks ago. I'm glad it didn't end up off permanently, like many AM's of today.
In just a few weeks from this writing, WDXI AM will celebrate its 74th birthday, as the station signed on October 31, 1948. Jackson's other two AM's include WTJS 1390 AM (now WJTF) that signed on in 1931, and WJAK 1460 AM that signed on in 1954.
In just a few weeks from this writing, WDXI AM will celebrate its 74th birthday, as the station signed on October 31, 1948. Jackson's other two AM's include WTJS 1390 AM (now WJTF) that signed on in 1931, and WJAK 1460 AM that signed on in 1954.
I hadn't noticed 1310 or the translator on 103.5 being off, but they had still been on at 103.1 because I listen to them at times.
It's kind of unusual because 1310/103.5 has a different playlist from 103.1, even though they both have oldies formats, but I think 1310/103.5 leans more toward the 60's and early 70's while 103.1 leans toward 70's and 80's.
It's kind of unusual because 1310/103.5 has a different playlist from 103.1, even though they both have oldies formats, but I think 1310/103.5 leans more toward the 60's and early 70's while 103.1 leans toward 70's and 80's.
I'm now wondering if the Jackson, TN, area, and rural west TN in general, might be a bit "over-radioed." In other words, there are so many stations that listeners can't support them all. Not limited to west TN, of course, but this is the area that we are discussing here. When I saw the bit at the top of this thread about the owner having "medical issues," my first thought was that this is WCTA all over again.
It might not be "over-radioed", but "under-imagined". It's hard to believe that Jackson doesn't have any Adult Hits, Classic Country, or CHR/Hot AC stations. I don't think we'll see any changes at KOOL 103 or WDXI even when Gerald passes, as his sons grew up with this format, and I think they'll stick with the tried and true, although they could update the branding on FM, and keep KOOL on AM as it better fits 50s/60s formats. I don't see Grace making any changes. Thomas/Southern Stone won't admit that they need to make changes. The next thing I see in Jackson might be Dan Reaves squawking about getting a signal in town, but I don't know who would sell to him.
In the rest of West Tennessee, Forever bought all those stations in Paris/Union City/Dyer, and then tried to do Froggy or Willie or Patriot Talk clones everywhere. Paul Tinkle is just sailing along, Burks has their focus clearly on Dyersburg, and there really is no chatter anywhere else about this or that possibly being for sale.
One thing I do wonder about is this: How bad did timing affect everything? Grace, for example. They got hit with that lawsuit over Reaves and WNWS, and had to take it over after the settlement at a hefty pricetag. Then, just about the time Covid hit, something happened that forced Reaves out of the whole deal, and then the fire on the WTJS tower happened. You know WNWS is expensive to operate, so that could be driving WTJS being satellite driven. I'm fairly certain economics drove the change to WTJK to Hispanic. Garcia is really buying the airtime. As far as Thomas goes, they're top-heavy with salaries too. I'm surprised we haven't seen more syndicated shows and voice-tracking going on. Not that I'm advocating people losing their jobs, but when we see other larger markets being run remotely and sans talent, Jackson sort of sticks out.
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Trying to listen to any of this online (since I live out of market) but having no luck. Even kool103.com is a dead link. This doesn't look good for them.
I don't believe they've had any streaming for a few years now. As far as I know, they don't even have a presence on FB. There are a few pictures online from the Caravan of Stars from 7 or 8 years ago. They really have no social media or web presence that I can find. I don't know how it affects them listener-wise, since they haven't bought the book in years, if ever. I would like to hear them myself to see if they're using a format provider or programming in-house.
I would caution against relying on "heritage." These stations almost *must* have an FM translator, anymore.
Apparently instead of formats, Forever is using their (apparently) trademarked names all over west TN, whether anyone likes it or not. Froggy in Union City makes no sense to me, since KYTN is already there.
I'm probably missing something, but the current Forever Paris portfolio is something like this: WENK, WHNY, WHNY-FM, WQRQ-FM, WTPR-FM and WWGY.
WENK of Union City sold WENK, WTPR, WTPR-FM, WAKQ, and WWKF to Forever Media for $500,000 several years ago.
Forever also purchased WMUF 1000 AM and WMUF 94.1 FM in Paris several years ago. They also have 97.5 FM and 104.7 FM in that area. WMUF AM 1000 was country for years under Benton/Weatherford Broadcasting, and WMUF FM 94.1 (now WLZK) has been AC for as long as I can remember.
Forever also owns WHDM AM 1140 in McKenzie, which has a repeater at 98.9 FM.
Across the state line in KY, Forever has Froggy 103.7, 1130 AM (with 104.5 FM translator) and 1340 AM (with 97.9 FM translator). Forever purchased the KY stations about 25 years ago, recently adding the FM translators. Like Froggy 104.1 in Jackson, they haven't messed with the Froggy brand since they took over 103.7, but the two AM stations have flipped formats several times.
You might have meant WRQR for Paris, unless there is a WQRQ that I am not aware of.
Interesting that you mentioned TWO stations here, for which I formerly worked, although both of them are (thankfully!) under different management now, and one of those two also now has a different set of call letters than they did when I was working for them.
Forever does a nice job and are in a very unique position. They could very easily be the "last men standing", however I believe all of their Principals are older and I do not know what the succession plan is. They sound good, they seem to be researched and they do as good of a job as anyone being involved in the Community and I don't believe "debt services" is part of their culture.
As far as I know, Kerby Confer and Donald Alt are partners with Christine Hillard. I believe there are trusts in place for both Alt and Confer, but I don't really know about Christine's family. Since Alt and Confer own Forever in Pennsylvania, I wonder if the families would just keep them if something happened to Christine, or if they would prefer to consolidate closer to home. Alt lives in Florida and Confer is in South Carolina, so everything is already being run by long-term management, so there would really be no reason to change.
I wish`Forever would get off their obsession with News/Talk on FM stations in the Jackson area and put some of the missing formats that were mentioned earlier on on instead.
Just as soon as we start talking about this...
Three-Way, $17.4 Million Pennsylvania Deal Includes 46 Signals.
Not that this includes Forever South of Kentucky and Tennessee, but it does suggest that there are actions taking place behind the scenes that are directing the future of the company. Christine Hillard owns 10% of Forever South, and Donald Alt owns 45%, so these stations will definitely be handled differently than the Pennsylvania cluster.
I get the feeling that this is "lazy programming" on their part. Easier for them to just duplicate their existing programming over more frequencies, rather than to come up with anything new for those frequencies. This is the direct result of too few (different) owners of radio stations in any given market.
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