Atlanta's 1010 AM

[amlover]

Atlanta"s 1010 am (WGUN) will be doing and R&B oldies format starting 10/3/11 They will air some paid shows in the AM Hr.s but after 10:45 am all music. Gone all gospel, standards and big band music. If you like the r&b oldies you will like the music. Also some 60's music like Sherry by the 4 seasons will be coming.

 

[taylorengineer]

I like the late afternoon show, "The Howling Hour." He plays some stuff I have not heard for years.
I still think music is a bad choice for WGUN because it will require a support staff to make it profitable. Good sales people are hard to attract, even at the high billing FM stations. I'm not convinced WGUN will pull enough listeners to support a decent rate card.
But I'm usually wrong.........
Give them credit for trying to do something different - the current approach obviously doesn't work.

 

[BIGSTICK]

I think it sounds great, love it, like them better than KISS and MAJIC.

 

[lilburncommunityradio]

The Music is A Great Change ! It takes me back to being a kid again, and hearing some of these songs, Dazz, Strawberry Letter 23, E.t.c. Its like hearing 79 WQXI all over again .. Good Stuff ;D

 

[secondchoice]

Randy and Spiff could give this station a "signature" morning show. If you recall at one time (mid to late 1970's and early 1980s) there was the Gary Mckee show then there was 94Q and WQXI 790. 3 "stations" two signals which Jefferson Pilot sold quite well.

 

[jabba17]

Randy and Spiff could give this station a "signature" morning show. If you recall at one time (mid to late 1970's and early 1980s) there was the Gary Mckee show then there was 94Q and WQXI 790. 3 "stations" two signals which Jefferson Pilot sold quite well.

Yes, as long as they get their night service (see http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=196717.0 ). AM drive won't sell without it in the winter.

 

[taylorengineer]

No night service power increase applications posted on the FCC.gov website for WGUN yet.
I wonder if any marketing will be done to promote the switch.
Is Cumulus getting ready to dump the 106.7 format for something different? That may create an opportunity for WGUN to get some traction.

 

[secondchoice]

Randy and Spiff could give this station a "signature" morning show. If you recall at one time (mid to late 1970's and early 1980s) there was the Gary Mckee show then there was 94Q and WQXI 790. 3 "stations" two signals which Jefferson Pilot sold quite well.

Yes, as long as they get their night service (see http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=196717.0 ). AM drive won't sell without it in the winter.

There is a tread that claims they are trying to get 25 KW at night:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=196717.0

I guess there is an engineer out there that can come up with something. It might be cheaper to "buy" some of the flea power night service from several of stations on 1010 in the southeast and go with a simpler pattern (2 to 4 towers) than to built a six or eight tower array.

 

[DToTheJ]

Atlanta's 1010 am (WGUN) will be doing and R&B oldies format starting 10/3/11. They will air some paid shows in the AM hours but after 10:45 am all music...

Golly, what kind of a poor sap must you be if you can only muster 15 minutes of brokered airtime?

 

[RadioNerd78]

There is a tread that claims they are trying to get 25 KW at night:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=196717.0

I guess there is an engineer out there that can come up with something. It might be cheaper to "buy" some of the flea power night service from several of stations on 1010 in the southeast and go with a simpler pattern (2 to 4 towers) than to built a six or eight tower array.

Have to feel like if 25kw at night was doable in this market...one of the other AMs would've already tried...790, 680 or 640...but maybe those are too close to 750?

 

[LoungeLizard2]

Atlanta's 1010 am (WGUN) will be doing and R&B oldies format starting 10/3/11. They will air some paid shows in the AM hours but after 10:45 am all music...

Golly, what kind of a poor sap must you be if you can only muster 15 minutes of brokered airtime?

That would be me....

 

[taylorengineer]

Have to feel like if 25kw at night was doable in this market...one of the other AMs would've already tried...790, 680 or 640...but maybe those are too close to 750?

It can probably be done on 1010 in Atlanta. The question is at what cost?
To justify the capital outlay you would have to be billing lot's of money - which WGUN clearly is not. You could justify the cost....maybe....if you could create a signal which would cover the 15 county metro area with very little interference. But on 1010 it would be close to impossible.
640 and 790 could operate with much higher power levels at night IF they moved their transmitter sites and put up more towers. They would, just like WGUN, have to deal with limitations in coverage and would not cover the entire metro area.
680 already uses 8 night towers/10,000 watts and has very limited night coverage. I would bet the night coverage cume is less than 10,000 persons.

 

[secondchoice]

Just looking at the map, if you go east from the west side, and you can keep the signal south of Charlotte NC the interference issue with NYC’s 1010 is moot because 1010 in Black Mountain has (soon to be had with CP to down grade to a D) has a lope towards Charlotte.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFGW&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

There is nothing due east to protect at night.

If you can keep the signal north of Macon you should avoid the Jacksonville Beach 1010

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WJXL&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

With the nighttime interference issue they might have to go 50KW at night like the NYC 1010.

If they could cover 80% + of the market 24 / 7 they could LMA it to CBS or Lincoln (790 is signal challenged) for serious buck$.

 

[taylorengineer]

I'm not sure about what possibilities exist for WGUN night service. But to create the pattern you describe would take quite a few towers and a fairly large hunk of real estate.
I think it would be almost impossible to cover the northern and southern metro counties from such a facility with enough signal to overcome interference. The zip codes you could cover would not be the high income ones - but you probably could cover DeKalb county. A format oriented towards African-Americans or a liberal talk format might work with that signal.
790 at 28,000 watts has far better coverage than 1010 at 50,000 watts. Since most radio listening is in day light hours it would not be a good idea to move to 1010.
So far on 1010 all I've heard is music. I wonder what the plans are for programming, marketing, and sales. The real question is.....will the Rivers invest the money needed to make a go of it?

 

[secondchoice]

I'm not sure about what possibilities exist for WGUN night service. But to create the pattern you describe would take quite a few towers and a fairly large hunk of real estate.
I think it would be almost impossible to cover the northern and southern metro counties from such a facility with enough signal to overcome interference. The zip codes you could cover would not be the high income ones - but you probably could cover DeKalb county. A format oriented towards African-Americans or a liberal talk format might work with that signal.
790 at 28,000 watts has far better coverage than 1010 at 50,000 watts. Since most radio listening is in day light hours it would not be a good idea to move to 1010.
So far on 1010 all I've heard is music. I wonder what the plans are for programming, marketing, and sales. The real question is.....will the Rivers invest the money needed to make a go of it?

IIRC there was a plans for a station in a text book that had a 2 tower 100 degree physical spaced towers that were feed in phase. (It could have been 90 degrees out It has been over 30 years!) set up that had a fat "oval" pattern. If more towers are needed, something like WFLI's night pattern (only going due east instead of southeast) could work if the nighttime site was just east of Bremen. Land is cheap right now.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFLI&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

IMHO this has to happen within a couple of years before the AM band dies.

 

[taylorengineer]

I think the pattern would have to be much tighter than the one you used in your example, Secondchoice. But I'm only guessing - you may be correct and a more simple array might be all that's needed. Someone would have to crunch the numbers - I'm guessing their consultant is doing that.
Even 2 towers on cheap Breman real estate is going to cost several hundred thousand $$$.
The money would be better spent on putting together a great on air product with great marketing.
But then.....I AM usually wrong..........

 

[jabba17]

Have to feel like if 25kw at night was doable in this market...one of the other AMs would've already tried...790, 680 or 640...but maybe those are too close to 750?

It can probably be done on 1010 in Atlanta. The question is at what cost?
To justify the capital outlay you would have to be billing lot's of money - which WGUN clearly is not. You could justify the cost....maybe....if you could create a signal which would cover the 15 county metro area with very little interference. But on 1010 it would be close to impossible.
640 and 790 could operate with much higher power levels at night IF they moved their transmitter sites and put up more towers. They would, just like WGUN, have to deal with limitations in coverage and would not cover the entire metro area.
680 already uses 8 night towers/10,000 watts and has very limited night coverage. I would bet the night coverage cume is less than 10,000 persons.

I'm still intrigued by the idea of using WDWD 590's array for 640, 680, 790, or 1010 (http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WDWD&service=AM&status=L&hours=N ) ...although you would have to reorient the pattern due east to keep from hitting Jax. You have 4 towers to play with.

Now, with 640 you have 2 Florida stations to worry about (Royal Palm Beach/Boca Raton and Ocala).

Since the station in Sylva on 680 moved, could 680 tinker with their night pattern to increase their NE signal (http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=N )

 

[trusty]

IMHO this has to happen within a couple of years before the AM band dies.

Expensive funeral.

 

[lostinthe80s]

I like the late afternoon show, "The Howling Hour." He plays some stuff I have not heard for years.
I still think music is a bad choice for WGUN because it will require a support staff to make it profitable. Good sales people are hard to attract, even at the high billing FM stations. I'm not convinced WGUN will pull enough listeners to support a decent rate card.
But I'm usually wrong.........
Give them credit for trying to do something different - the current approach obviously doesn't work.

I love this station. I have the production skills to really help them succeed. Anyone know how to contact the Program Director or GM? If you can help me connect with them, please IM or email me at derrick @ lostinthe80s .com

 

[llewow]

Hell, if I were Randy and Spiff, I take the whole show on-line and look at small market syndication like Moby. Maybe 1010 could be an anchor, but it could be much bigger than just that.