• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM 1400 WFLL dark (WFTL)

Mike Sheridan

Mike Sheridan

Friday the station known as Mystik 1400 WFLL went dark for the first time since going on the air in 1946 as Fort Lauderdale's WFTL. Here is the article:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/439848.html

The question is, will it ever come back? Is someone willing to invest in a 1,000 watt AM radio station in South Florida where FM has been king for over 3 decades?

A few people who check in here (like me) toiled there when it was WFTL Radio 14 "The Voice of Broward" and have fond memories of the station. Some of us even got together for a reunion of employees when WFTL Gold Coast 14 was owned by Joe Amaturo. There is a site on the history of WFTL located at:

www.WFTL14.com

It might interest some to know the second TV station to go on the air in South Florida was WFTL-TV-23.

Mike Sheridan
 
The next station I run will be my first. But a 1kw class C AM with only one tower to maintain? That's just screaming to go brokered time, or a satellite format on the cheap.

Am I wrong to assume that this isn't an expensive setup to keep running?
 
Not expensive to run in respect to the physical plant. It doesn't take a lot of land and the transmitters at that power level have been solid state since around 1974. WFTL had one of the first, a Harris MW1.

The other expenses like ASCAP, BMI fees, legal fees and license are probably a different matter.

If I had the money to buy it I'd want to serve the upper age demos that are not being served by most radio stations. Good music and a local news presence. A very old idea but I think it's an idea that could be recycled.

Hey other than that there's always the other end of the scale, Radio Disney!
 
livingfruitvirus said:
Still can't think of a good thing to say about James Crystal. Weren't they supposed to flip to ESPN Radio?
Click to expand...

It looks like that is exactly what happened. The Herald article would seem to be full of errors. WFLL 1400 is still owned by James Crystal and is now running ESPN Radio.

The Mystik 1400 folks must have been doing a LMA. They own WAVS and on their website they refer to WSRF as their sister station.
 
Yes, the article in the Herald and Sun Sentinel are very inaccurate. It would have been better if a radio writer handled the article, instead of a community affairs writer not versed in the radio business. And it doesn't help the individuals that ran Mystic, it seems, were a little loose with the facts. Not that there is any conspiracy...it just irratating to see JCR being made out a villian and this whole sob story about the Carribean community loosing a voice is a bit much. Radio stations (brokered and non brokered) change formats, it happens. Its business.

WFLL (now WFTL) 1400 NEVER when dark. It didn't go off the air. And the owners (who were ALWAYS) James Crystal Radio NEVER pulled the pull. In the 5 or so years Mystic was on 1400, JCR was ALWAYS listed as the owners on the FCC's website. If you read the news local news articles, it leads the reader to believe that Mystic's operators (that is the ones who held a brokering agreement with JCR) were the owners and they "pulled the plug."

Its simple. Linda Hudson or Carl Nelson (whose names have appeared as the Station Manager and President of the station in the press) we NEVER the owners. The Mystic 1400 operation was no different than say, 790 AM The Ticket WAXY. 790 is a brokered outlet as well, its operators buy out the station's time 24/7 and program it. Heck Neil Rogers talks about it all the time, its no big business secret, these types of brokering deal. First WAXY did it with Jefferson Pilot and now, Lincoln Financial. In fact, I believe that Beasley Radio is doing the same thing over on 980 WSHR - someone (I think his name is Lesely Jacques) buys the time 24/7 365 and programs the station. In all cases, the operators who bought the time, go bang the streets and sell spots to recoup the money...a dollar a hollar, if you will.

What is seems happened, assuming, is that Mystic's advertising revenue, fell below the brokering fees they they had to pay out to JCR. But make no mistake about it, Mystic was brokered. The Herald and Sun articles sort of looked down on WSRF 1580 (it also serves a Carribean audience) but in reality WSRF is no different than Mystic. Face the only AM's that aren't brokered these days are the one owned by the "major broadcasters," i.e; Clear Channel, etc.

As for this somewhat silly comment about the only way that a Carribean format (like Mystics) can survive is that it "needs to be on an FM." Yeah, I can see a major broadcaster brokering airtime on an FM. Same old story everybody rags on AM radio. Its a viable broadcasting medium, AM can work. Its not the band that's the problem, its the FORMATS, that are put on it that's the problem...AM only sucks as bad as what its forced to transmit.
 
Oh, by the way. WSRF 1580 and WAVS 1170 are not connect in any way to Mystic or JCR, although the articles in the local press make it seem that way. WSRF and WAVS are owned by the same company, Niche Radio. There may be bad blood between Niche and Mystic, as Niche are the ones who bought WSRF 1580 out from under Mystic, about 7 years ago, which led to the first time that Mystic was off the air, which was about 5 years ago. Not sure, but WSRF and WAVS are brokering out blocks to whom ever. WAVS is the English language Carribean, WSRF is the Creole language outlet. WAVS has church/black religious, music programs, health programs, financial. The difference between WAVS 1170 and Mystic WFLL 1400 (I laugh when brokered radio station refer to each other as competition) is that Mystic was attempting a consistent 24/7 format, while WAVS blocked everything out in specialty show blocks.
 
costelloradio said:
WFLL (now WFTL) 1400 NEVER when dark. It didn't go off the air. And the owners (who were ALWAYS) James Crystal Radio NEVER pulled the pull.
Click to expand...

Actually WFLL 1400 is still WFLL according to the FCC. However a friend swears he heard them ID as WFTL at the top of the hour.

Another strange thing, if you look at the web page for WMEN. it lists 850, 640 and 1400 as WFTL. I have no idea why.

http://www.640wmen.com/
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom