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Atlanta regional FM radio in 1950

R

RickRose

99.5 WGAU-FM Athens GA 4400
90.1 WABE Atlanta GA 400
94.1 WGST-FM Atlanta GA 345000
95.5 WBGE-FM Atlanta GA 14000
97.5 WATL-FM Atlanta GA 44000
98.5 WCON-FM Atlanta GA 54000
103.3 WAGA-FM Atlanta GA 50000
104.5 WSB-FM Atlanta GA 48500
96.1 WGAA-FM Cedartown GA 5500
93.3 WRBL-FM Columbus GA 46200
107.9 WDAK-FM Columbus GA 10000
103.9 WDUN-FM Gainesville GA 300
104.1 WLAG-FM LaGrange GA 5100
92.3 WCOH-FM Newnan GA 4200
106.5 WRGA-FM Rome GA 1400
106.1 WLET-FM Toccoa GA 10000 CP

A lot has changed in the last 55 years but somethings remain the same. Many of these calls live on other frequencies and some allotments have changed.

I e-mailed 93.3 a few years back and they knew nothing about the 93.3 allotment that once was licenced to Columbus. I do not know how long 93.3 Columbus existed but I believe there had to be a decent gap before the relaunch of 93.3 up the road in Manchester in the early 80s. I would assume the WSB-FM on 104.5 was right before the Journal bought the constitution which soon moved WSB to 98.5 and shutdown 104.5fm. It was many years before an Athens licenced 96.7 moved to 104.7 soon expanding coverage into the Atlanta market (which is the closest an Atlanta market station comes to the 104.5 allotment. I do find it interesting the 96.1 allotment started in Cedartown before making the move into Atlanta. I left the Columbus 107.9 allotment because of its later change to Macon and eventually Hampton to serve the Atlanta market. 104.1 is still licensed to LaGrange (though it did spend time on 104.9fm), 106.1 to Toccoa and 90.1,94.1,98.5 & 103.3 to Atlanta. Previously Atlanta licensed 95.5 & 97.5 have come back in recent years to serve the Atlanta market after serving lower population areas. If I remember correctly the 92.3 Newnan allotment eventually moved to 96.7 and now serves a chunk of the Atlanta market.

97.5 once sported the WATL call leters that now live on WB 36. The WCON-FM calls now serve NE Georgia 99.3 Cornelia. The fact that Fox 5's WAGA calls existed on AM 590 and FM 103.3 (which actually started on 102.9) was interesting when i discovered it.


thanks to Jeff Miller's website
 
> A lot has changed in the last 55 years but somethings remain
> the same. Many of these calls live on other frequencies and
> some allotments have changed.

Do you know which of these stations were actually built out? I doubt WGST-FM was built out at 345 kW. When looking through the WGST collection at Georgia Tech, I found few references to the FM.
 
> > A lot has changed in the last 55 years but somethings
> remain
> > the same. Many of these calls live on other frequencies
> and
> > some allotments have changed.
>
> Do you know which of these stations were actually built out?
> I doubt WGST-FM was built out at 345 kW. When looking
> through the WGST collection at Georgia Tech, I found few
> references to the FM.
>
Didn't WGST move their transmitter into north Georgia sometime during the 50s to try to get a higher elevation and serve a larger area? Seems they also did some simulcasting with a Greeneville station. About the same time they were trying to have a network with programs fed to small stations...I think it was the Dixie network....I believe their studios were on Forsyth street in a hotel...can't remember which..may have been the Ansley. I think the network was a flop. They tried feeding some country bands, and Uncle Eb Brown(Bill Lowery)...and news on the net and I suppose the small stations would pick it up off the FM signal to rebroadcast.
 
What were the format if any on these stations??? I know that even today WMC FM100 over in Memphis has kept its extremely high power of 300kw after all of these years. However, even the curvature of the earth blocks its signal no farther than 71 miles out past it even though it is a very flat area of the country with virtually no obstructions. Its signal goes out at the same time as its other 100kw stations in town as you leave the city. I wonder why WGST-FM was forced to go downward and FM100 was not?
 
> What were the format if any on these stations??? I know that
> even today WMC FM100 over in Memphis has kept its extremely
> high power of 300kw after all of these years. However, even
> the curvature of the earth blocks its signal no farther than
> 71 miles out past it even though it is a very flat area of
> the country with virtually no obstructions. Its signal goes
> out at the same time as its other 100kw stations in town as
> you leave the city. I wonder why WGST-FM was forced to go
> downward and FM100 was not?

I believe WGST-FM's license was canceled and WKXI->WQXI-FM->WSTR was a later applicant.

Note that WMC-FM's vertical power is 96 kW, so with the typical whip antenna in a car, the coverage area would be less. Also, their antenna height is relatively low.
 
Great stuff, Rick.

Could WCON be the Atlanta Constitution's FM station (paired with WCON AM 550, which was in operation until the AJC merger when Cox turned it back to the FCC)? Or is the timing off?

WCON Channel 2 was to be Atlanta's ABC affiliate until the merger that allowed WSB to move to channel 2, which was a big technical advantage in those days.

WATL FM was probably the sibling of WATL AM (and WATL TV, which was on channel 36 for about nine months in 1954 near the Wendy's on Peachtree Street just down from the White House restaurant).



> 99.5 WGAU-FM Athens GA 4400
> 90.1 WABE Atlanta GA 400
> 94.1 WGST-FM Atlanta GA 345000
> 95.5 WBGE-FM Atlanta GA 14000
> 97.5 WATL-FM Atlanta GA 44000
> 98.5 WCON-FM Atlanta GA 54000
> 103.3 WAGA-FM Atlanta GA 50000
> 104.5 WSB-FM Atlanta GA 48500
> 96.1 WGAA-FM Cedartown GA 5500
> 93.3 WRBL-FM Columbus GA 46200
> 107.9 WDAK-FM Columbus GA 10000
> 103.9 WDUN-FM Gainesville GA 300
> 104.1 WLAG-FM LaGrange GA 5100
> 92.3 WCOH-FM Newnan GA 4200
> 106.5 WRGA-FM Rome GA 1400
> 106.1 WLET-FM Toccoa GA 10000 CP
 
> Great stuff, Rick.
>
> Could WCON be the Atlanta Constitution's FM station (paired
> with WCON AM 550, which was in operation until the AJC
> merger when Cox turned it back to the FCC)? Or is the timing
> off?
>
> WCON Channel 2 was to be Atlanta's ABC affiliate until the
> merger that allowed WSB to move to channel 2, which was a
> big technical advantage in those days.
>
> WATL FM was probably the sibling of WATL AM (and WATL TV,
> which was on channel 36 for about nine months in 1954 near
> the Wendy's on Peachtree Street just down from the White
> House restaurant).
>
>
>
> > 99.5 WGAU-FM Athens GA 4400
> > 90.1 WABE Atlanta GA 400
> > 94.1 WGST-FM Atlanta GA 345000
> > 95.5 WBGE-FM Atlanta GA 14000
> > 97.5 WATL-FM Atlanta GA 44000
> > 98.5 WCON-FM Atlanta GA 54000
> > 103.3 WAGA-FM Atlanta GA 50000
> > 104.5 WSB-FM Atlanta GA 48500
> > 96.1 WGAA-FM Cedartown GA 5500
> > 93.3 WRBL-FM Columbus GA 46200
> > 107.9 WDAK-FM Columbus GA 10000
> > 103.9 WDUN-FM Gainesville GA 300
> > 104.1 WLAG-FM LaGrange GA 5100
> > 92.3 WCOH-FM Newnan GA 4200
> > 106.5 WRGA-FM Rome GA 1400
> > 106.1 WLET-FM Toccoa GA 10000 CP



WATL-FM did simulcast the AM programming in the mid 50s including some Atlanta Cracker baseball games. WAGA-AM had the Cracker games, but at night when they were obligated to carry CBS shows WATL-FM would pick them up.
WATL did block programming in the mid 50s with pop music in the daytime and country at night. WATL-FM disappeared about the time the AM changed to WAOK.
 
> high power of 300kw after all of these years. However, even
> the curvature of the earth blocks its signal no farther than
> 71 miles out past it even though it is a very flat area of
> the country with virtually no obstructions. Its signal goes
> out at the same time as its other 100kw stations in town as
> you leave the city.

"Superpower" stations like WMC-FM are not protected from interference any further from the tower than if they were running just 100kw. So it could be that interference was limiting your WMC reception.

> I wonder why WGST-FM was forced to go
> downward and FM100 was not?

I suspect most of the stations on that list were permits that were never built. Most of the ones that were built went off the air sometime in the 1950s. If a station existed at some later time with the same call letters and/or on the same frequency, it's a completely different license. When they applied for a new license after having surrendered the old one for cancellation years ago, the new license was subject to the new rules. Including the one that limited the station's power to 100kw.

I have a copy of the Jan./Feb./Mar. 1951 "White's Radio Log". By that time the WCON/WSB situation had cleared up; 98.5 had changed calls from WCON-FM to WSB-FM and the 104.5 facility was gone. Also, WCOH-FM in Newnan had moved from 92.3 to 96.7. And, a WGBA-FM had appeared on 95.1 in Columbus.
 
So called "super-power" FM's like WMC-FM, are not only protected as if they're only 100kw, but also fall under the pre-1964 grandfathered short-spacing. I've not looked, but it's likely that there are stations 1 to 3 channels up or down from 99.7, that would not be permitted under today's rules. Obviously, this means that interference is likely to even greater than stations licensed under today's rules. Technically speaking (from an HAAT perspective), WMC-FM is a C-1. I suspect their higher power has kept them their full C classification. Although I applaud them, historically speaking, one wonders why they've not increased tower height and reduced power to 100kw. The electricity cost would have to be less, as well as coverage being "fuller", due to fewer antenna bays. They're currently running 12 bays (antenna gain 6.2), which would require a TPO of roughly 50kw, in order to reach 300kw ERP.

WGST-FM was not forced to lower their power. As others have said, it's highly unlikely that they ever operated at that power level, and, as it was with many other FM pioneers, the licensed was surrendered in the 50's. The channel was subsequently allocated to Smyrna, and debuted there at WKXI in the early 60's.

WATL AM/FM was a J.W. Woodruff station, co-owned with WRBL/Columbus, and WGPC/Albany. <P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>
 
> WGST-FM was not forced to lower their power. As others have
> said, it's highly unlikely that they ever operated at that
> power level, and, as it was with many other FM pioneers, the
> licensed was surrendered in the 50's. The channel was
> subsequently allocated to Smyrna, and debuted there at WKXI
> in the early 60's.

In the early '60's, I "discovered" WSMA, a new station in Smyrna at AM/1550 playing Top-40 music. The owner had just returned from England with the Beatles' latest (England-only) release of "She Loves You". Since it hadn't been released in the states yet, WQXI & WPLO were playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (and whatever the flip side was) to death, so this new 10,000-watt daytime-only station in Smyrna was refreshing. It played what it wanted to (and they say JACK and DAVE are new formats :).

They had some rare, but cutting-edge, personalities spinning the records and a new PD who came from WAKE and rebranded the station as WYNX - "Winks-1550" - playing the popular - and obscure - Top 40 music. Their big competition was WFOM (24 hrs. but weaker signal) in Marietta. WSMA apparently made such a dent in the market that WFOM started a campaign that branded it as "....the station that doesn't run down at sundown..."

I called Tommy Goodwin (afternoon DJ) at WSMA and told him what WFOM was doing. Then I and some friends sat back and listened. After the next record ended, TG came on the air and said, "Some stations don't run down at sundown. They're run down twenty-fours hours a day.." That was it. He played a spot and another record. WFOM immediately stopped their "campaign" (It lasted less than a day.).

What does this have to do with the thread subject? WSMA simulcast on a new FM they started to further compete with WFOM - WSMA (later WYNX) FM at 94.1 (later sold to WQXI for its FM (playing instrumentals of Top-40 hits) WKXI (later WQXI-FM & WSTR). WSMA/WYNX didn't have the personnel (or the advertisers) to carry the signal until midnight (much less 24 hours), but they had much bigger plans than signing off the FM with the AM at sundown! (That's when I moved to Florida, so someone else will have to pick up the story.)

There was not much FM promotion until WKXI, so not very many people remember it, but WSMA-FM was the first to occupy 94.1 after WGST-FM. That's why they have to ID themselves as WSTR - Smyrna/Atlanta.
 
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