99.5 FM in LaCrosse

[Jeff2]

How the heck did LaCrosse (population 150) get a Class A FM station? Their tower and studios are in Gainesville and La Crosse is mentioned only as required.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

How the heck did LaCrosse (population 150) get a Class A FM station? Their tower and studios are in Gainesville and La Crosse is mentioned only as required.

"First service" to the community when the station was licensed.

 

[tomservo]

How the heck did LaCrosse (population 150) get a Class A FM station? Their tower and studios are in Gainesville and La Crosse is mentioned only as required.

"First service" to the community when the station was licensed.

I've heard grumbling that the FCC wants to get away from this scheme, but that's exactly right. The FCC for whatever reason doesn't view broadcast areas and see what covers who, they only look at what towns have a station licensed to them. It's this method that has allowed urban areas to suck in rural stations as move-ins: relicense to a bedroom community near the major city and call it "first local service" even though the town has 50 other signals.

 

[Poledo]

Well... How did the unincorporated town of Holt, FL with a population in the range of 1500 - 2000 people (in the area, it's not a city) get a 100,000 watt class C1 FM with the tower co-located smack dab in the middle of downtown Fort Walton Beach with all the other Fort Walton market radio station antennas? I don't know where the studio is, maybe Destin?

I bet there are a thousand other examples. Who pays attention anymore?

 

[cd637299]

Two words: Pennsuco, Florida.

WGNK 88.3 FM Pennsuco (Spanish Christian CCM) is basically a Miami station. The town itself is basically ranchos or possibly a nursery or two. I work for the US Post Office, and it's been ages since I saw a letter addressed to any address in "Pennsuco"---it's in the Hialeah ZIP Code scheme. I pass the area to/from work daily.

cd

 

[Poledo]

Throwing out places that don't even exists eh? My favorite "Mystery City" has always been "North Atlanta, GA" home of WCNN-AM. I know the back story to how WCNN wound up licensed to North Atlanta but I have never understood how 91.1 WJED, Dogwood Lakes Estates, Florida" came to exists.... Dogwood Lakes Estates is pretty much a Podunk golf course a long way from nowhere. WJED has a small, class A, signal with coverage of about a 10-20 mile section of I-10.
Being owned by a Christian college, I never understood why WJED didn't just apply for the license using the name of the nearby, unincorporated, town of "Bethlehem, FL". Makes perfect since, right?

 

[jmtillery]

Throwing out places that don't even exists eh? My favorite "Mystery City" has always been "North Atlanta, GA" home of WCNN-AM. I know the back story to how WCNN wound up licensed to North Atlanta but I have never understood how 91.1 WJED, Dogwood Lakes Estates, Florida" came to exists.... Dogwood Lakes Estates is pretty much a Podunk golf course a long way from nowhere. WJED has a small, class A, signal with coverage of about a 10-20 mile section of I-10.
Being owned by a Christian college, I never understood why WJED didn't just apply for the license using the name of the nearby, unincorporated, town of "Bethlehem, FL". Makes perfect since, right?

If a community, incorporated or unincorporated, has a post office complete with its own zip code, it meets minimum FCC requirements to qualify as a community for licensing purposes. There are other factors that the FCC considers when two or more applicants are applying for the same spectrum in two or more seperate communities. EX: If only one applicant is applying for spectrum as a first service and no other applicant is applying for the same spectrum at any other location, if the proposed community of license has its own post office and zip code, it meets mimimum requirements for allocation and licensing purposes. However, if Applicant One is appylying for 99.5 A to be assigned to community "A" while Applicant Two is applying for the same spectrum (99.5 A) to be assigned to community "B" ony a few miles away from community "A", the FCC will use other criteria such as local employment and economic base, total population and local government to determine which proposed community of license is more "deserving" of having its own local radio voice.

 

[cd637299]

There oughta be a whole thread, maybe in FCC Policy Debate, about "ghost town" cities of license, or places that don't really exist.

I believe I read somewhere (maybe here in radio-info) that North Atlanta did exist as a city or town, until 1967 or so. No idea what the name of the city is now, or if Atlanta just gobbled it up.

Last I heard, there is a CP for 90.5 in Flamingo, FL. Flamingo is the southern terminus of Everglades Nat'l Park (gubmint property), and there are no "inhabitants" I know of, outside of park rangers/employees. Flamingo Lodge, the big motel, no longer exists. There are gift shops & airboat tours.

Also is a CP for WPDJ 91.5 in the world famous : Trailtown, FL. That's on US 41 between Miami and Naples, and there are Native American villages, but I don't recall seeing any road sign "Trailtown."

Anyway, these are all within 2 hours of me

cd

 

[Poledo]

I believe I read somewhere (maybe here in radio-info) that North Atlanta did exist as a city or town, until 1967 or so. No idea what the name of the city is now, or if Atlanta just gobbled it up.

I believe North Atlanta was a bona fied incorporated city sometime before I was born. It is basically the northern community known as "Brookhaven" located inside the I-285 perimeter (since it's inside I-285 it's part of Atlanta and not a suburb). I'm pretty sure Peachtree Road will get you there from downtown Atlanta or the Buckhead area (poorly written joke, Peachtree gets you everywhere around Atlanta). I wonder if there is still a "North Atlanta" post office, library, school or train/bus station left?

 

[tomservo]

If a community, incorporated or unincorporated, has a post office complete with its own zip code, it meets minimum FCC requirements to qualify as a community for licensing purposes. There are other factors that the FCC considers when two or more applicants are applying for the same spectrum in two or more seperate communities. EX: If only one applicant is applying for spectrum as a first service and no other applicant is applying for the same spectrum at any other location, if the proposed community of license has its own post office and zip code, it meets mimimum requirements for allocation and licensing purposes. However, if Applicant One is appylying for 99.5 A to be assigned to community "A" while Applicant Two is applying for the same spectrum (99.5 A) to be assigned to community "B" ony a few miles away from community "A", the FCC will use other criteria such as local employment and economic base, total population and local government to determine which proposed community of license is more "deserving" of having its own local radio voice.

Does that also apply to translator licenses? Until recently there was a translator licensed to the unincorporated community of Golddust, Alabama, which is not a CDP as far as I know and does not have a post office of its own. The nearest is Notasulga. Then there's one active now licensed to a place called Blue Mountain, which is a CDP but still is not incorporated and has no PO. Kinda weird.

 

[Poledo]

It's all kinda weird. Isn't there an LPFM in south Florida licensed to an Interstate rest area?

 

[cd637299]

It's all kinda weird. Isn't there an LPFM in south Florida licensed to an Interstate rest area?

Ah, you must mean the Everglades Radio Network along I-75 between Miami & Naples:

98.7 Collier County Rest Area, FL (100w)
107.9 Miles City (is there such a town??), FL (90w)

^ That's per Radio-Locator....and they stream, too!! I caught the 107.9 from 60 miles east, but not the other.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/ern/default.htm

cd