So that's indeed all there is in Emporia, VA.? Gas stations?
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WEVA Emporia
- Thread starter Jw1963
- Start date
Emporia has a Walmart. Wikipedia says it's the third smallest city in Virginia population wise. Does anyone need an AM to "feed" am FM translator?
Guess so.
Roughly 5800...small town. Way back when, I'd almost bet that radio programming included NASCAR races on the weekends.
Who knows, might have still been a staple on the air with the racing heritage of the local area.
The problem with this poor little beleaguered AM station is it's a daytimer with no FM translator. Because NASCAR season starts in February and ends in November, likely some races run into signed-off hours. I wouldn't want to be the station owner who promotes broadcasting the races, only to sign off partway through. Sports fans get upset when you do that. Given this area, I wouldn't want to chance being firebombed or dragged by my feet tied behind an F150 with American flags stuck in the rear bumper through town.
In looking at the local businesses in Emporia, only a small few might be eligible to advertise: Boyd Chevy/GMC, Rosie's Gaming Emporium, and Southern Virginia Medical Center. The rest are Walmart (BZZT), Cracker Barrell (BTTZ), Dollar Tree (BZZT), and various gas stations.
The other little towns in the reasonable coverage of the station are even smaller in populations with fewer numbers of potential frequent advertisers.
It's tough to keep even the utility bill paid on so few local businesses spread out over several miles. As a salesperson, you're killing yourself driving around to little towns for the chance at contracts that won't even pay to fill your gas tank.
Looking at Dun & Bradstreet, the Emporia zip code has just under 200 retail outlets, about 10 banks and the same of insurance companies. About 30 auto repair shops (some will buy and actually pay).
This does not equal billing but if the station works on connecting with the community, the station might be able to bill enough to cover a salary and expenses. Naturally an FM translator would have made this a game changer as far as billing goes. We can't forget most do not listen to AM even if there is a local station.
It looks like the zip code is about 12,500 population. Including Greenville County and the independent city of Emporia, the station's universe should be about 17,000-18,000 people. There's 24 stations received. Among those is a non-commercial religious FM, an urban contemporary on FM and this AM daytimer located in Emporia. Emporia is about 62% Black so the Urban station should do well.
This does not equal billing but if the station works on connecting with the community, the station might be able to bill enough to cover a salary and expenses. Naturally an FM translator would have made this a game changer as far as billing goes. We can't forget most do not listen to AM even if there is a local station.
It looks like the zip code is about 12,500 population. Including Greenville County and the independent city of Emporia, the station's universe should be about 17,000-18,000 people. There's 24 stations received. Among those is a non-commercial religious FM, an urban contemporary on FM and this AM daytimer located in Emporia. Emporia is about 62% Black so the Urban station should do well.
Sorry, I thought we were talking about prospects for this station going forward, not twenty or thirty years ago. That's already happened, and was much different circumstances than today.
I'm not sure how current that D&B report is. When zooming in just via Google Maps, it shows active businesses in the town of Emporia. There seemed to be a lot of unoccupied commercial real estate within the city limits.
Then maybe a better option for the new owners would be to go non-comm and run on donations. Just covering expenses, likely including one meager GM/AE/Traffic/AP/AR/PD/MD-role.
Agree. Playing R&B in mono on an AM station might appeal to a senior sector, but not sure whether there would be enough local businesses remaining that would become regular financial supporters of music on AM.
I can say this. Unless the station is about something local versus all about a certain music format, it will certainly not succeed. It might be a buy/sell/trade show in the morning, community announcements or simply local voices doing liners. If local is an essential, you have some things for advertisers to hang their hats. Granted, the AM daytimes is all about small businesses.
The station was full service with a AC format for many, many years. When they went dark in April they were still carting up currents. it was a neat little station, the building is/was a time capsule, but like a lot of small town AM's nobody is around now to tell the stations story.
They have PSRA and PSSA, which gives them standard (6am) sign on and a sign off 2 hours after local sunset. its only about 10 watts or so, just enough to cover the town and not much else, being a Canadian clear its not much there interference wise at night. They had a LPB transmitter which they used for PSRA & PSSA service.
The FM in town is WYTT 99.5 FM which was a super late comer (licensed around 2003). history cards show this was supposed to be WEVA FM.
They have PSRA and PSSA, which gives them standard (6am) sign on and a sign off 2 hours after local sunset. its only about 10 watts or so, just enough to cover the town and not much else, being a Canadian clear its not much there interference wise at night. They had a LPB transmitter which they used for PSRA & PSSA service.
The FM in town is WYTT 99.5 FM which was a super late comer (licensed around 2003). history cards show this was supposed to be WEVA FM.
The FM serves Roanoke Rapids.
They were carting up songs as late as this April????
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