Atlanta FM Dial

[e-dawg]

How did Atlanta FM become a mess? There's any uniform plan for the ATL metro area. There are lots of Rimshots stations, but not much metrowide radio stations. The only radio stations that have towers near the center of Atlanta are.

88.5 WRAS
89.3 WRFG
90.1 WABE
91.1 WREK
91.9 WCLK "Jazz 91.9"
92.9 WZGC-FM "Dave fm"
94.1 WSTR-FM "Star 94.1"
94.9 WUBL "94.9 THE BULL"
96.1 WKLS "Project 9-6-1"
98.5 WSB-FM "B98.5"
99.7 WWWQ "Q100"
100.5 WNNX "Rock 100.5"
101.5 WKHX "Kicks-FM"
103.3 WVEE "V-103"

 

[BIGSTICK]

All the station's suck except WABE, and it is pathetic for a metro this size, Atlanta got royally screwed when frequencies were being dolled out.

 

[taylorengineer]

All the station's suck except WABE, and it is pathetic for a metro this size, Atlanta got royally screwed when frequencies were being dolled out.

All these stations sux, technically and in terms of programming except WABE??!!
Are you off your meds today, Brent?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

When the FCC assigned FM frequencies, Atlanta was a much smaller city and received less frequencies. Relaxation of the move-in rules in the late 1980's allowed a number of stations to move into the market. But they still had to city-grade their original city of license and therefore could not move all the way into Atlanta.

 

[BIGSTICK]

All the station's suck except WABE, and it is pathetic for a metro this size, Atlanta got royally screwed when frequencies were being dolled out.

All these stations sux, technically and in terms of programming except WABE??!!
Are you off your meds today, Brent?

No, but would you like to illiterate a bit more???

 

[fybush]

How did Atlanta FM become a mess? There's any uniform plan for the ATL metro area. There are lots of Rimshots stations, but not much metrowide radio stations. The only radio stations that have towers near the center of Atlanta are.

Atlanta was still a relatively small town when FM was being born. Look at the central Atlanta FMs you cite, and most of them match up almost exactly to the AMs that existed in the 1940s/50s/60s: 92.9 went with 1190, 94.1 with 790, 94.9 with 1420 Decatur, 98.5 with 750, 101.5 with 1080, 103.3 with 590. 96.1 and 99.7 were independents. That's about as much radio as the Atlanta of that era could profitably support.

In the meantime, Atlanta is just close enough to other fairly sizable metros (Chattanooga, Birmingham, Augusta, etc.) that by the time the city started growing and FM started booming, a lot of channels were already spoken for in those areas or in smaller communities just far enough from Atlanta to have their own identities (Athens, Rome, even Gainesville and LaGrange back then.)

Until the 1990s, it wasn't as easy to shuffle the dial to move a frequency in - remember the first, failed attempt to bring 100.5 in from Anniston to Sandy Spring in the late 1980s?

In retrospect, north Georgia should probably have been part of the Class B spacing territory, which would have allowed for a few more signals to be shoehorned in when it would still have mattered.

 

[jabba17]

How did Atlanta FM become a mess? There's any uniform plan for the ATL metro area. There are lots of Rimshots stations, but not much metrowide radio stations. The only radio stations that have towers near the center of Atlanta are.

88.5 WRAS
89.3 WRFG
90.1 WABE
91.1 WREK
91.9 WCLK "Jazz 91.9"
92.9 WZGC-FM "Dave fm"
94.1 WSTR-FM "Star 94.1"
94.9 WUBL "94.9 THE BULL"
96.1 WKLS "Project 9-6-1"
98.5 WSB-FM "B98.5"
99.7 WWWQ "Q100"
100.5 WNNX "Rock 100.5"
101.5 WKHX "Kicks-FM"
103.3 WVEE "V-103"

Except for the public stations and 100.5, but including WABE, all of these stations comprise ATL's original allocations.

Atlanta was still a relatively small town when FM was being born. Look at the central Atlanta FMs you cite, and most of them match up almost exactly to the AMs that existed in the 1940s/50s/60s: 92.9 went with 1190, 94.1 with 790, 94.9 with 1420 Decatur, 98.5 with 750, 101.5 with 1080, 103.3 with 590. 96.1 and 99.7 were independents. That's about as much radio as the Atlanta of that era could profitably support.

Yes, all those station pairs shared (or almost shared, in the case of WQXI 790/WKXI 94.1 and WAVO 1420/WAVQ 94.9) call letters at first.

When did 99.7 pair up with 920 (under Meredith after Tech sold off WGST?) and 96.1 with 970 (under Gulf Broadcasting, prior to Taft?)?

 

[gregg75]

Those 3 college stations are just sitting on good signals. Nobody listens to whatever
they have.

 

[BarryATL]

At the time the frequencies were assigned out, it was assumed that Birmingham would be the big metro for the southeast. Birmingham made one mistake that cost them big time... they chose not to invest in their airport in the 1960s. That single decision changed the tide and Atlanta became the booming economy.

 

[upstate29651]

In retrospect, north Georgia should probably have been part of the Class B spacing territory, which would have allowed for a few more signals to be shoehorned in when it would still have mattered.

Disagree. This isn't the northeast, where larger population centers are closer. Plus, a solid B (C2 equivalent) wouldn't cover metro Atlanta. It's just a case of "it is what it is".

G

 

[RoddyFreeman]

At the time the frequencies were assigned out, it was assumed that Birmingham would be the big metro for the southeast. Birmingham made one mistake that cost them big time... they chose not to invest in their airport in the 1960s. That single decision changed the tide and Atlanta became the booming economy.

And you're lucky for that. You get to listen to 106.7!

 

[secondchoice]

At the time the frequencies were assigned out, it was assumed that Birmingham would be the big metro for the southeast. Birmingham made one mistake that cost them big time... they chose not to invest in their airport in the 1960s. That single decision changed the tide and Atlanta became the booming economy.

Another issue was the Black Church bombing that killed some little children. A friend of the family worked commercial real estate at that time. His son said it killed several of his deals as corporations would not locate offices in Birmingham and went to Atlanta where integration was not violently opposed.

 

[trusty]

At the time the frequencies were assigned out, it was assumed that Birmingham would be the big metro for the southeast. Birmingham made one mistake that cost them big time... they chose not to invest in their airport in the 1960s. That single decision changed the tide and Atlanta became the booming economy.

Another issue was the Black Church bombing that killed some little children. A friend of the family worked commercial real estate at that time. His son said it killed several of his deals as corporations would not locate offices in Birmingham and went to Atlanta where integration was not violently opposed.

The business reaction to the civil rights movement determined the growth of both cities - opportunity for Atlanta - bad timing for Birmingham. Both cities were segregated, but both black and white business leaders in Atlanta recognized the coming change, got together and decided that fighting integration would be bad for business, plain and simple (I lived in both cities and experienced the atmosphere.)

Refresh your memory with the very attractive slogan at the time - "Atlanta: A City too Busy to Hate". (How can any business turn that down?)


ATL is quite a town with a great history; it deserves better radio - radio that would be good for business.

 

[secondchoice]

In retrospect, north Georgia should probably have been part of the Class B spacing territory, which would have allowed for a few more signals to be shoehorned in when it would still have mattered.

Disagree. This isn't the northeast, where larger population centers are closer. Plus, a solid B (C2 equivalent) wouldn't cover metro Atlanta. It's just a case of "it is what it is".

G

I live north of Jasper GA , and WNNX 100.5 (C2) is still listenable. It will not stop scan all of the time but I doubt their are a lot of PPM's up here. IMHO The real problem with the move in's and some of the Atlanta COL's is the C, C1, C0's in the adjacent cities. If they went B's too then maybe something could be done. To the north Louisville and Cincinnati have B's (except for a couple of grandfathered stations like WMAZ). East Tennessee has several pure C's that cover a lot of rural area not in their market but good luck with down grades, unless Cumulus or CC owns both.

 

[fybush]

In retrospect, north Georgia should probably have been part of the Class B spacing territory, which would have allowed for a few more signals to be shoehorned in when it would still have mattered.

Disagree. This isn't the northeast, where larger population centers are closer. Plus, a solid B (C2 equivalent) wouldn't cover metro Atlanta. It's just a case of "it is what it is".

I suspect there's a middle ground somewhere that could have given Atlanta a few more signals with full-market coverage.

It's true that the southeast isn't quite as densely packed as the northeast corridor, where even the Bs are mostly short-spaced...but there's also a very big difference in density between the I-85 corridor through NC/SC/GA and what you find out west, where you can still go hundreds of miles between significant population centers. I'd venture to say that the denser parts of the southeast (not just the 85 corridor, but also south Florida) are closer to the northeast in density these days than they are to the Texases and Utahs and Nebraskas.

If you were starting the FM allocations process from scratch these days, I don't think it would look the way it did in the 1940s or in 1964, when the current spacings were established.

 

[Navig8or]

Quote from: Scott Fybush on July 10, 2012, 05:02:13 PM
Atlanta was still a relatively small town when FM was being born. Look at the central Atlanta FMs you cite, and most of them match up almost exactly to the AMs that existed in the 1940s/50s/60s: 92.9 went with 1190, 94.1 with 790, 94.9 with 1420 Decatur, 98.5 with 750, 101.5 with 1080, 103.3 with 590. 96.1 and 99.7 were independents. That's about as much radio as the Atlanta of that era could profitably support.

Yes, all those station pairs shared (or almost shared, in the case of WQXI 790/WKXI 94.1 and WAVO 1420/WAVQ 94.9) call letters at first.

94.1 was originally 1550's FM (WSMA AM / WDJK FM Smyrna. 94.1 became 790's FM around 1965 (WQXI AM / WKXI FM)

 

[Mr_Winston-Salem]

New Orleans was the big city in the southeast. And Birmingham was investing in their airport. Birmingham was a young city and grew with the steel industry. Atlanta's airport was always bigger with more traffic than the other southeast cities, dating back to the 20s or 30s when Atlanta's airport was #3 in the nation. Atlanta didn't care as much about Birmingham as it did New Orleans. Atlanta had the best rail, highway and air transportation for industry, but New Orleans has one of the best sea ports in North America. When sea ports were the most desirable growth engine and you couldn't truck or fly freight, New Orleans became the big city in the southeast. With rail, air and highway transportation, Atlanta caught up and finally passed New Orleans to become the southeast's largest city in 1959, when Gwinnett County was added to metro Atlanta. From that point, Atlanta has been the top city.

 

[jabba17]

Quote from: Scott Fybush on July 10, 2012, 05:02:13 PM
Atlanta was still a relatively small town when FM was being born. Look at the central Atlanta FMs you cite, and most of them match up almost exactly to the AMs that existed in the 1940s/50s/60s: 92.9 went with 1190, 94.1 with 790, 94.9 with 1420 Decatur, 98.5 with 750, 101.5 with 1080, 103.3 with 590. 96.1 and 99.7 were independents. That's about as much radio as the Atlanta of that era could profitably support.

Yes, all those station pairs shared (or almost shared, in the case of WQXI 790/WKXI 94.1 and WAVO 1420/WAVQ 94.9) call letters at first.

94.1 was originally 1550's FM (WSMA AM / WDJK FM Smyrna. 94.1 became 790's FM around 1965 (WQXI AM / WKXI FM)

Was this the original 94.1 allocation (WGST-FM or WATL-FM, with 300kW power, IIRC?)

 

[BSteve]

If memory serves correctly 94.1 was WGST-FM sometime in the mid-fifties.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

The 1954 Broadcasting Yearbook shows 94.1 as WGST-FM.