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99.9 Hank FM Tallahassee singal
- Thread starter Louis_009
- Start date
It's always been kind of weak. I believe their tower is out around Wacissa.
Back in the early-to-mid 90s, Adam Levenson's Catamount Communications owned two stations: 99.9
(which was then KIX Country) and 103.1 (then Mix 103.1.) Adam flipped the formats on the two stations, and rebranded 103.1 as B-103.*
Not sure 99.9 can do much, with stations in Jax, etc. It's kind of shoe-horned in.
*Now those two stations are part of the four station cluster owned by Opus.
Now Louis..aren't you supposed to be listening to ESPN 97.9? LOL. Merry Christmas to you!
Back in the early-to-mid 90s, Adam Levenson's Catamount Communications owned two stations: 99.9
(which was then KIX Country) and 103.1 (then Mix 103.1.) Adam flipped the formats on the two stations, and rebranded 103.1 as B-103.*
Not sure 99.9 can do much, with stations in Jax, etc. It's kind of shoe-horned in.
*Now those two stations are part of the four station cluster owned by Opus.
Now Louis..aren't you supposed to be listening to ESPN 97.9? LOL. Merry Christmas to you!
99.9 has always had signal issues in Tallahassee. 10 years back they were 100kw on a tower east of town but decided they would be better off at 6kw with a tower closer to Capital Circle. It's rather rare for a station in these parts to voluntarily give up 95% of their power just to move the tower... I guess those hills in Tallahassee are bigger than they look. The move may have helped their signal inside the circle, but I still can't see the value in giving up a class C license in such a small market.
Were any other stations able to take advantage of 99.9's downgrade or have any translators popped up nearby in the last decade?
Were any other stations able to take advantage of 99.9's downgrade or have any translators popped up nearby in the last decade?
99.9 is on a short tower off of Olson Road near Capitol Circle at the Opus studios. . The old Wacissa tower is still there, but abandoned. The idea of the move was to improve in building coverage in Tallahassee...of course at the expense of Monticello, Perry, Thomasville, Cairo, Quincy, Havana coverage. With the 99.5 translator, 100.7, and 98.9 nearby, 99.9 takes a beating for sure. Not sure it was the best move on their part...and since they moved, another station upgraded, so 99.9 cannot go back to their 50kw in Wacissa...we looked at doing it a few years ago, and the only way was to go directional, which was going to be cost prohibitive.
poledo said:
I didn't realize that 99.9 was ever 100kw, but it seems to me it was a 50kw class C2 when Marshall Rowland placed the station on the air years ago. I also had always wondered why 99.9 is now a class A station. However, the 99.9 C1 in Jacksonville should not be an issue with WANK operating as a C2 or maybe even a C1 as Tallahassee has a C2 on 96.1 while Jacksonville has a full 100kw C on the same frequency. The spacing requirements for a class C1 and co-channel C2 are shorter than they are for the existing Tallahassee C2 and Jacksonville co-channel C, so there must be another station that WANK is protecting causing 99.9 to downgrade to a class A.
Every once in a while that 96.9 station in Jacksonville can pick up around Crawfordville with thier 100KW power it's comes and goes which is a good station. Hey Chris (Level 42) how are u doing? last time u said ur drining around Tallahassee checking the 97.9 singal so what r u doing to do next?
Louis, I did a drive with my Audemat FM Navigator recording 97.9, but I haven't had time to process the data yet...sometime over the holidays.
As far as I know, 99.9 was never 100kw...just 50kw. I believe there was a Central FL station that upgraded after 99.9 downgraded that is now preventing 99.9 from going back to omni 50kw. We did a study about 2 years ago...and we were gonna have to replace the antenna with a directional model to get back to 50kw...I believe Graham Brock did the study for us. The owners did not think it was worth the money, so it got tabled.
As far as I know, 99.9 was never 100kw...just 50kw. I believe there was a Central FL station that upgraded after 99.9 downgraded that is now preventing 99.9 from going back to omni 50kw. We did a study about 2 years ago...and we were gonna have to replace the antenna with a directional model to get back to 50kw...I believe Graham Brock did the study for us. The owners did not think it was worth the money, so it got tabled.
Well...when 99.9 first came on the air, I listened to it in Thomasville, GA every day. It had pretty even coverage from Perry, FL up to Camilla, GA. When they downgraded it, they lost any coverage outside of Leon county for the most part...fringe into Gadsden maybe, but it doesn't even get to Monticello now. What they gained was in-building coverage in Tallahassee...which they did not have prior. They felt like with the format change (a variation of "JackFM"), people would want to play it in the background at work...so they needed a solid in-building signal. I do think they accomplished that, but lost the ability to sell it outside of Leon County...so, could be a win or loss depending on how you look at it.
Mark,
Brian Rowland was the one that originally built 99.9, around late '90, or 91, I think. It's
first format was short lived, and it went country. I remember picking it up all the way to St. George Island one Saturday.
Haven't listened lately, but Chris is the engineer "in the know" around these parts, so the explanation for building penetration makes sense.
Louis,
I'm totally rebuilding my station. It has grown to the point of filling up two bedrooms so it seemed like the time to do some upgrading. I also tried to pursue WHTR-LPFM on 96.9 which appears to have been abandoned, as neither I nor the FCC seem to be able to locate the licensee's board members.
We've purchased a building (an office trailer) and have had some country music donated to us.
I already had a big collection to start with, so it seemed logical to move in that direction, and then..
I discovered that country was the #1 preferred format by our internet audience (where most of the listeners are) and we have become "Big D Country," an Internet station with a local focus. If you can pick up a stream, try the Terra link in my signature below. Terra syndicates Big D Country, including the weekday local morning portion from 7 to 11 a.m. That is a pretty much ad-free stream, incidentally.
I do plan on returning the Part-15 AM signal to the air in the course of the rebuild. It will
be country, like the stream. I'm transitioning from having a hobby station to beginning to build a business of sorts around the station. I'm just too bored when I'm not doing it!
Brian Rowland was the one that originally built 99.9, around late '90, or 91, I think. It's
first format was short lived, and it went country. I remember picking it up all the way to St. George Island one Saturday.
Haven't listened lately, but Chris is the engineer "in the know" around these parts, so the explanation for building penetration makes sense.
Louis,
I'm totally rebuilding my station. It has grown to the point of filling up two bedrooms so it seemed like the time to do some upgrading. I also tried to pursue WHTR-LPFM on 96.9 which appears to have been abandoned, as neither I nor the FCC seem to be able to locate the licensee's board members.
We've purchased a building (an office trailer) and have had some country music donated to us.
I already had a big collection to start with, so it seemed logical to move in that direction, and then..
I discovered that country was the #1 preferred format by our internet audience (where most of the listeners are) and we have become "Big D Country," an Internet station with a local focus. If you can pick up a stream, try the Terra link in my signature below. Terra syndicates Big D Country, including the weekday local morning portion from 7 to 11 a.m. That is a pretty much ad-free stream, incidentally.
I do plan on returning the Part-15 AM signal to the air in the course of the rebuild. It will
be country, like the stream. I'm transitioning from having a hobby station to beginning to build a business of sorts around the station. I'm just too bored when I'm not doing it!
It sounds as though this was a trade-off in that extended coverage was sacrificed in exchange for better downtown Tallahassee building penetration. Do you happen to know what station(s) is(are) preventing WANK from operating at 50kw omni directional from downtown Tallahassee? Obviously there are zoning issues that may make such a move impossible, however from a technical perspective I'm wondering what is stopping 99.9 from getting any better coverage, unless it's the new second adjancent 100.1 Live Oak that is the problem.
The only Central Florida stations I am aware anywhere near 99.9 are WXJB-FM 99.9 class A licensed to Homosassa, however, its tower is located at the Citrus / Hernando county line to better serve Brooksville, so WXJB is far enough away it should not be a problem for WANK. Also, there is a new 99.7 class A assignemnt at Silver Springs Shores (Ocala), however, again, this is far enough away it should not be a problem either. WGNE-FM 99.9, which was a full C broadcasting from Bunnell when WANK was a C2, is now a C1 broadcasting from downtown Jacksonville, so this should not be a problem as well.
Other than possibly the new Live Oak channel assignemnt, I'm wondering if, perhaps, there is anything West of Tallahassee or possilbly in Georgia that is preventing any further upgrades.
The only Central Florida stations I am aware anywhere near 99.9 are WXJB-FM 99.9 class A licensed to Homosassa, however, its tower is located at the Citrus / Hernando county line to better serve Brooksville, so WXJB is far enough away it should not be a problem for WANK. Also, there is a new 99.7 class A assignemnt at Silver Springs Shores (Ocala), however, again, this is far enough away it should not be a problem either. WGNE-FM 99.9, which was a full C broadcasting from Bunnell when WANK was a C2, is now a C1 broadcasting from downtown Jacksonville, so this should not be a problem as well.
Other than possibly the new Live Oak channel assignemnt, I'm wondering if, perhaps, there is anything West of Tallahassee or possilbly in Georgia that is preventing any further upgrades.
I must have been wrong when I called the old 99.9 a 100kw station. I thought it was 100kw short-spaced with WOOF in Dothan, but if 99.9 didn't sign on until the 90's I must be way off. Even if it wasn't short-spaced to WOOF, the two stations interfered with each other in Gadsden and Decatur counties before the FM band became overcrowded.
I have just now taken a closer look at the WOOF-FM 99.7 C1 coverage, so it appears WOOF may be another reason 99.9 cannot upgrade without using a directional antenna. Between WOOF-FM 99.7 C1 and the new FM at 100.1 A Live Oak, WANK is pretty much wedged in there where it is a class A FM.
Yes, it was the Live Oak station that was preventing us from going back to 50kw omni in Wacissa. Kind of a shame...since the Wacissa tower still has the antenna and feedline on it...and is in pretty good shape overall. Would love to see another station back on that tower. Right now, it's just holding a 2 meter ham repeater.
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