93.3 makes several changes under new "ownership"

[Rick Rose 2.0]

My assumption that 93.3 would go listener supported under its official ownership by Radio Training Network is now true, a begathon is coming in April. The new website was promted to debut this month and commercials are being reduced. I do not know if the station will officially go totally non commercial or if they will air less commercials and take donations to stay on the air.
The guy that was PD during the time the Joy FM transformed into J 93.3 is now back co hosting mornings with Shelia Richards again. Jerry WIlliams was there as 93.3 actually made major improvements in its on air presentation. 93.3 is also set to add 11 thousand watts to its signal soon in a upgrate to class C0. In the process 104.1 will move to Palmetto and downgrade to C1 with some noticable improvements to its metro signal coverage.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I believe Kiss 104.1 will be on the same tower as Hot 107-9 and the southern signal of WILD. The Kiss antenna will be much lower than it is now but will be much closer to Atlanta. So the signal should be better in Atlanta than it currently is.

I was listening to J93.3 in the morning about a month ago on my way to the Columbus area. It sounded good but aired few commercials. That station made a big mistake years ago by trying to move into Atlanta when the tower was too far away to throw a competitive signal over the metro.

 

[taylorengineer]

J93 moved the tower site to better cover the Atlanta area a couple of years before Salem put "The Fish" on the air. It was a very good idea at the time and the measurable signal level in the Atlanta area did go up - extensive readings were done before and after. Salem actually "copied" the concept and built a very tall tower with reduced transmission power which improved their coverage in some areas.
So it was not a "big mistake." They(J93) had the format pretty much to themselves when the change was made. And things were going well until Salem came to town with a competing format. There were/are technical issues which just could/can not be overcome to make it's signal competitive with The Fish. So they have essentially thrown in the towel on Atlanta.
I wonder if the digital signal will work better when they start IBOC with the new, higher power levels recently approved for FM HD radio. I've heard rumblings that they will put up IBOC soon - it would be cool if they wound up with a signal that most people could hear on a digital radio. I have always thought J93 was a well programmed station.
The PD at J93 when the move occurred was Rod (?-I can't remember his last name) Jerry Williams, a great guy and good PD, came along after the move. He will be good for the station......I hope they do well with the new approach.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I think his name was Rod Hampton.

Tom, I respect you and your opinions, but I'm not sure I agree. Even before The Fish, did WVFJ ever hit a 1% share in the Atlanta market? And Salem's Fish format was already in other markets so I don't think they copied it from WVFJ. I believe if WVFJ had stayed a Columbus-area station, they'd be in far better shape today.

 

[Rick Rose 2.0]

When i discovered that music that sounded like mainstream pop and ac but with better words i was so dissapointed in how 93.3 sounded. I took a vacation in Dallas and checked out their station and it blew me away, it was a Christian B98.5fm. 93.3's jocks and excessive commercial breaks and talk programming made it hard to listen. I ended up making my own music station with what grew to a 500 disc collection because it was hard to wait for 93.3 to finally play a song. I do remember Rod was the best personality they had at that time and that the evening guy Chris (later PM drive co-host with Rod). The first real attempt a morning show with Ed Bostic and Sheryl Slaughter did show me they were trying to sound like a big market station. When Jerry came to host mornings (and I believe to be PD) bringing in Shelia Richards it brought the morning show up another notch.

I remember the weekend they played song simpets before J93.3 made its debut at 5:30 or 6 on Monday morning. I remember Jerry coming on the air and announcing that 93.3 would now be music all day to 8pm. The first song was the Great Adventure by Steven Curtis Chapman. i was finally seeing that 93.3 was making real efforts to be an competitive. I finally put a bumper sticker on my car but obviously i wanted a 24/7 music station that was programmed as well as any other local station.

I also felt that 93.3s signal upgrade did not really make Gwinnett and much of north metro areas into a signal that would reach those potential listeners. I was soon reading that Cox was going to trade 104.7 here to Salem while picking up a Houston signal from Salem. At this time i was also reading that salem was going to launch a fish station in Orange County California which was different then the preaching stations they mainly owned. I even emailed Salem asking to launch a fish here on 104.7 instead of a preaching station they were doing almost everywhere they owned a station. I finally learned that Salem was going to launch fish number 2 in Atlanta soon after the OC version. I actually streamed the OC Fish before our fish launched and was blown away because they were hot ac just like ours was.
I

 

[jabba17]

104.7 was LMAed by Cox from Ring Radio/Midwestern/Dickey--never owned by Cox outright. Remember AURA, the Atlanta Urban Radio Alliance, the joint marketing venture between Cox and Dickey to try and topple V-103, yet another chapter in Cox's ongoing man crush on V-103.

Dickey sold 104.7 to Salem and moved Kiss to urban 104.1 (which, IIRC, Cox originally LMAed as well before buying outright).

One of Salem's Fish stations, 95.5 WFHM in Cleveland, carries alt Christian rock on their HD-2 channel, and streams it online and on a smartphone app. They call it AlternaFISH. It would be nice if WFSH did that here. See http://www.955thefish.com/Article.asp?id=1208584

 

[taylorengineer]

I think his name was Rod Hampton.

Tom, I respect you and your opinions, but I'm not sure I agree. Even before The Fish, did WVFJ ever hit a 1% share in the Atlanta market? And Salem's Fish format was already in other markets so I don't think they copied it from WVFJ. I believe if WVFJ had stayed a Columbus-area station, they'd be in far better shape today.

I meant to say Salem took the same technical approach - increasing antenna height and lowering output power. This is done to increase the distance to the radio horizon(line of sight.) Salem's engineering folks looked at all possible ways to improve The Fish's signal just as the J93 folks did.
I have not listened to many Contemporary Christian stations so I'm not in a position to argue the merits, or lack thereof, of J93's programming approach. But as a casual listener I always thought it was a well programmed station. Rod Hampton(Thanks, Roddy....I had a senior moment)Chris, and Wayne all had a major market delivery back in the Manchester days and Jerry Williams did kick things up a notch when the station finally got settled in to it's new home in Peachtree City. But it has always sounded like a major market AC - the difference being they played Christian music instead of AC.

 

[taylorengineer]

104.7 was LMAed by Cox from Ring Radio/Midwestern/Dickey--never owned by Cox outright. Remember AURA, the Atlanta Urban Radio Alliance, the joint marketing venture between Cox and Dickey to try and topple V-103, yet another chapter in Cox's ongoing man crush on V-103.

Dickey sold 104.7 to Salem and moved Kiss to urban 104.1 (which, IIRC, Cox originally LMAed as well before buying outright).

One of Salem's Fish stations, 95.5 WFHM in Cleveland, carries alt Christian rock on their HD-2 channel, and streams it online and on a smartphone app. They call it AlternaFISH. It would be nice if WFSH did that here. See http://www.955thefish.com/Article.asp?id=1208584

The Dickeys sold 104.7 to Cox for $283M. That's MILLION - 283 million dollars! A multiple of something like 14 or 15 - it was incredible!
Cox then traded Salem a couple of Houston stations for 104.7.

 

[rhampton]

Thanks guys for the compiments (I think). First time I have posted. I could give you more insight when time allows. Rod

 

[taylorengineer]

Thanks guys for the compiments (I think). First time I have posted. I could give you more insight when time allows. Rod

Good to hear from you, Rod! Are you still keepin' the Baptists in line??

 

[secondchoice]

J93 moved the tower site to better cover the Atlanta area a couple of years before Salem put "The Fish" on the air. It was a very good idea at the time and the measurable signal level in the Atlanta area did go up - extensive readings were done before and after. Salem actually "copied" the concept and built a very tall tower with reduced transmission power which improved their coverage in some areas.
So it was not a "big mistake." They(J93) had the format pretty much to themselves when the change was made. And things were going well until Salem came to town with a competing format. There were/are technical issues which just could/can not be overcome to make it's signal competitive with The Fish. So they have essentially thrown in the towel on Atlanta.

IMHO The folks at J93 missed an opportunity to cover the Northwest side of Metro Atlanta when they did not LMA or buy WLJA when it was still on 93.5 in Ellijay. WLJA’s ownership has made facility downgrades to help other stations improve. They moved the FM from 93.5 to 101.1 (with a lower elevation on 101.1) to allow a station in the Chattanooga Market to up grade. They moved their AM WPGY from 1560 @ 1kw to 1580 with at 500 watts so 1550 could run 50KW NW away from Atlanta (I never could figure that one out). Granted 93.5 was a class A, but you could pick up Braves games in Cobb County during lightning storms at night on 93.5. Also there is WPGY AM COL is still Ellijay so they might have been able to move 93.5 farther south with a different COL. IF the COL change would be a hassle, there is a development near Jasper called Bent Tree, from the top on a clear day you can see some of the tall Atlanta buildings on a clear day. A slick engineer might have been able figure out some way around the 3 channel protection for 92.9 and 94.1 because you are 49 miles away from the Atlanta Coordinates: 33° 45' 34" N, 84° 24' 11" W and 41 miles from Smyrna coordinates 33° 52' 19" N, 84° 31' 06" W. Even if no changes where made to 93.5 they could have used "J93" on both signals.

 

[onetake]

If you ask the Fish people they'll downplay it being a Christian Format. I remember when all the record reps hoped the power of WFSH would give traction to the empty job WVFJ and WWEV did in exposing product. Fish kept a tight current playlist, then became so "safe" they were a softer oldies station. They have become more aggressive but still, big picture, all gospel music, including Gospel and Urban Praise only account for about 6% of total music sales. So whether it's Fish or VFJ they have to market themselves to a wider audience although VFj has spent 2 decades blaming the signal.
With christian music shares not growing, I wonder how some of these guys have lasted so long and still question how the Gospel cable tv channel has lasted with low numbers and revenue.
However I'm sure there will be so much hype when the Dove awards play Atlanta this year that emotion will cloud some of these arguments

 

[StoneGT]

Would love 104.7 The Fish to do an HD2 AlternaFISH. I might actually get a HD Radio.

But J93 is missing the opportunity to be the "AlternaFish" on the air in Atlanta. Being "me too" Christian AC will always be 2nd fiddle to 104.7, and just as boring. A playlist with a top 40 rock/pop and rhythmic/hip hop sound (Skillet, TobyMac, Flyleaf, Beckae Shae, etc) could possibly gain traction in this city with white and black listeners.

The national network Air 1 is a good example. But if programmed locally just for Atlanta with extra doses of Christian hip hop/urban artists, this concept could potentially increase J93's ratings, especially since they are strong on the southside.

 

[taylorengineer]

WVFJ shows very well in areas where the signal is good - at least they used to. I'm sorry.....if you can't hear the station you can't blame lack of ratings on anything else. Maybe Roddy has county by county mechanicals and can elaborate.......
Again.....I'm no expert on much of anything. But I think management at J93 made all the assumed "correct" moves. They had a big named consultant - I may be mistaken but I think it was the guy who put Dallas together - and they had, IMHO great positioning, imaging, music, and personalities. The signal was the only (and most important)thing missing.
My main criticism would be lack of money spent to promote the station. The President of Provident, Jim Cambell, was/is cheap to a fault. A very good, sincere man but never willing to invest the money in WVFJ to maximize it's potential. I don't understand when a business who sells advertising will NOT buy advertising. I just don't get it. His idea of an ad blitz was a single billboard in Cobb County. Proper positioning of any product is the most important part of marketing and this is especially true when you're marketing an intangible.

 

[taylorengineer]

Would love 104.7 The Fish to do an HD2 AlternaFISH. I might actually get a HD Radio.

But J93 is missing the opportunity to be the "AlternaFish" on the air in Atlanta. Being "me too" Christian AC will always be 2nd fiddle to 104.7, and just as boring. A playlist with a top 40 rock/pop and rhythmic/hip hop sound (Skillet, TobyMac, Flyleaf, Beckae Shae, etc) could possibly gain traction in this city with white and black listeners.

The national network Air 1 is a good example. But if programmed locally just for Atlanta with extra doses of Christian hip hop/urban artists, this concept could potentially increase J93's ratings, especially since they are strong on the southside.

I have heard that J93 will go HD and air a format similar to what you describe on one of the aux HD channels. They will then feed this to several of the many translators they own which will all be goosed up to higher power.
I'm not really sure this format could be anything more than a niche format. The mainstream Fish/J93 listener is a soccer mom and ain't gonna' be interested in what you have descibed.

 

[taylorengineer]

WVFJ shows very well in areas where the signal is good - at least they used to. I'm sorry.....if you can't hear the station you can't blame lack of ratings on anything else. Maybe Roddy has county by county mechanicals and can elaborate.......
Again.....I'm no expert on much of anything. But I think management at J93 made all the assumed "correct" moves. They had a big named consultant - I may be mistaken but I think it was the guy who put Dallas together - and they had, IMHO great positioning, imaging, music, and personalities. The signal was the only (and most important)thing missing.
My main criticism would be lack of money spent to promote the station. The President of Provident, Jim Cambell, was/is cheap to a fault. A very good, sincere man but never willing to invest the money in WVFJ to maximize it's potential. I don't understand when a business who sells advertising will NOT buy advertising. I just don't get it. His idea of an ad blitz was a single billboard in Cobb County. Proper positioning of any product is the most important part of marketing and this is especially true when you're marketing an intangible.

But let me also add that management had budget constraints to consider - the money for a huge ad campaign just wasn't there. It's easy to criticize when you're not the guy who has to count the beans and keep the jar full enough to fix supper........

 

[rhampton]

Been here 10 years as a Communications Consultant at GBC. Producing radio programs, videos and more. Driving from the southside to Sugarloaf every day. Surprised to see Jerry back at WVFJ.

 

[tlyle]

Also remember when there were several stations both AM and FM who tried to capitalize on the growing CCM market. Some have moved on. But, back in the 80's when 93.3 started, there was Victory 91.5 WWEV, Love 86 -WAEC, WFOM, WNIV, and WSSA. Most of those stations had preaching in the mornings and music in the afternoon. I am sure there were many more regional AM's trying to provide some CCM during the day and or weekends with some hours of programming.

It was an exciting time to tap into the music when it was first taking off. All of those stations wanted to sound like big market stations with the new formats, but they had no money. Many of us DJ's worked for the experience and the might minimum wage of $3.10 p/h. We all thought that Atlanta would eventually get a station like the Fish.

 

[StoneGT]

I'm not really sure this format could be anything more than a niche format. The mainstream Fish/J93 listener is a soccer mom and ain't gonna' be interested in what you have descibed.
[/quote]

Yes a niche, but could be a niche that gets better ratings than current. And I think a lot of soccer moms listen to Star & Q, so a Christian station with that sound doesn't automatically exclude them.

Air1 is on 222 stations in 40 states, including some here in GA, so they must be doing alright.

 

[onetake]

Actually Klove sounds a lot better than WVFJ, and the big name consultant WVFJ had "back then" incorporated a playlist with lots of music that, let's just say, never stayed around for the oldie library. WWEV was just as casual and loose. Fish was systematic and careful, but like a B98.
In the county by county breakdown's Tom refers to, VFJ was never a top 10 station but his reference to them doing "pretty good" is kind of hard to pin down.
I think the problem here is with more churches per capita than many cities it's size, there has always been a high expection of Christian radio doing exeptionally well in Atlanta, and it's puzzled us all. The expection was, it seems, that active Christians would actively make these stations their favorite. They'd pile in a mini van and see Amy Grant and Michael W Smith, etc., but Christians also like Michael Jackson, Santana, Chicago and yes even Madonna. The format has never been dominant in any city and the Fish's success is wrapped around family friendly vs a Christian station banner.
To their credit WVFJ did the best they could. Maybe WWEV did to. They all have/had limitations but so do Clear Channel stations. It's not just signal or management or budget or music selection or personalities. At the end of the day, the format has a low ceiling of real success in city after city where there are churches after churches.
And that's ok. No big deal. But even now with Praise blowing the numbers thru the roof, we never talk about that success or the huge Time Spent Listening ratio of WAOK with 1000 day 250 night playing the same stuff. Black Gospel. THAT's where the Christian audience is. Too bad WVFJ didn't get THAT on their radar first.