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Beach 95.1

T

thegreat108wpfm

After reading the news of the LMA/purchase this morning I checked out the website. It is under construction but after clicking Listen Live, the voice of Jim Dooley jumped out of the speakers.

Goofy Story Alert: Jim was the Operations Manager at the brand new Sunny 98.5 and 590/WGNE-AM (beautiful music was moved to the AM after the FM flip) and taught a course at Gulf Coast back in the 80s on Monday nights at WKGC A/F. He showed students how to run a board, produce commercials, critique airchecks, etc. Dooley and Preston Young worked together in the past at a couple of stations. So one day Preston brought a picture to PFM of Jim with LONG hair in Hawaii (he was follicly challenged, but had more hair than I have today). Preston dared me to take it to class. In a desperate act to impress all of the jocks at PFM I took it and passed it around the class before Dooley arrived. He walks in and everyone starts laughing at him, but the joke was on me. After being ratted out by a student, my aircheck was the first ever to be critiqued by the class and it sucked. Puking at its worst. Lesson of humility was learned.

Back to the point, it is good to hear him back on the air but I can still hear him saying.. fifttty nineeee DLP.....and....Sunnnny nine-ty eight pooint five. I pushed for Clear Channel to hire him back to voicetrack on Sunny a while back and believe he did afternoons for a couple of years. He is a true Panama City jock. And I mean that in a good way.
 
A little more background for you on the new Beach 95.1. Randy Sheffield, who's buying the station and now running it under the terms of an LMA, was the GM of The Woodfin Group in Panama City when Sunny 98.5 was launched (1/1/87).

Along with Dooley in morning drive (he's also the Operations Director), we have Lisa Lynnette handling middays, and I'm doing afternoons and handling music and programming coordination. We're also carrying the syndicated Tom Kent at night and his "My 70's Show" on Sunday afternoons. Dooley, Lisa and I were all part of the original airstaff at Sunny back in the day.

I'm excited about the prospects of the new Beach 95.1. You'll be hearing a lot of things from us in the coming months as we ramp up the new "Gulf Coast's Greatest Hits" format. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but I hope you'll like what you hear. The signal issue in Panama City is being addressed, and in the meantime, we are streaming at www.beach951.com.

Enjoy!

David Nolin
TDO
 
David, Any idea on what the new 104.3 coming to town will program? I also see where 101.9 Port St. Joe will be up for bids in the September auction, with a $15,000 pricetag to open it. The band is full on the Gulf Coast.
 
The Lynn Haven station was on the air for a few days and then went dark. There might be another individual on this board who can fill you in on this.... I had the 101.9 dropped in to St. Joe--and fought the Oyster Radio owner to get it. They finally gave him a Class A in Eastpoint to shut him up. I spent thousands of dollars to get that dropped in--There just ain't no money in it for now.

LJ--good to see you check in. Bailes--you little short dude! Nice to see you too....
 
I may be wrong on this (I'm getting old and anything past Monday is sort of a blur), but still...

I seem to remember talking with Charlie Shapiro back before 95.1 hit the air about either running it or consulting or something along those lines, and it dawns on me that he told me they'd paid around $1 million just to win the CP for the thing in one of the early FCC auctions. And that was before building it out only to find it covered a dog track and not much else... then getting it re-engineered to put a 60 dBu dignal over some humans and getting a new CP to move it... and then slapping a couple of translators up to actually cover lovely, picturesque and historic Panama City (and so the folks at the studio could finally hear it)... and, now...

... and, now... it's sold for $400,000? Could that be correct? Am I missing something? Tax write-off?

Is the new CP (that is, the new XMTR site) on the air? Or does the new owner get to tackle that part and build it before the CP expires?

A whole lot of trouble to be the 18th FM in a town of 37,000 people.
 
then getting it re-engineered to put a 60 dBu dignal over some humans and getting a new CP to move it... and then slapping a couple of translators up to actually cover lovely, picturesque and historic Panama City (and so the folks at the studio could finally hear it
Click to expand...

The signal issue is being addressed; the translators are (as I understand it) not part of the deal - they belong to some other entity and are just rebroadcasting the 95.1 signal. And the studios are at Bay Point, so neither of the translators can be picked up there anyway.

Again, the signal issues are being addressed. Sheffield is not in this to not be competitive. If he weren't, he wouldn't have hired the staff he has hired to run the station. Give it a chance; you might find that it's a pretty decent radio station.

TDO
 
The radio station sounds better than it ever has! As far as programming, it's better than most stations audible on PCB. It is tight, bright and all 100 per cent hits. The signal is the issue. I believe there was a sum of money paid to have an adjacent channel downgraded so WBPC could move in closer to the coast. I hope it happens--it's great to hear a small station done right and showing some of the big boys what radio stations are supposed to sound like!
 
They've sounded good here- well out of their coverage area- when tropo allows for their signal to get in. Heard several times in the past couple of months or so. Sounds good. Keep it up!

Greg Myers
Holiday
 
Tom Taylor's column here on radio-info today confirms my memory of Shapiro's $1.2 million FCC auction price just to win the CP. So what do you figure he/they shelled out in engineering fees, construction costs and operational losses to get it THIS far? Another million? For the sake of easy math, let's say it cost $2 million to cash out at $400,000. Whoa...

It's great that 95.1 sounds good, now. And I suppose it's actually a good thing that the new licensee is only into it for 400 grand, so far.

Up to this point, Beach 95.1 would make a terrific case study as an example of how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing in business. Especially in this business.

But in a market where the second tier stations are gasping for air in this extremely difficult advertising sales environment, it will take a remarkable performance for a standalone station still in the third tier to generate enough income to pay the bills and the mortgage.
 
David,

I wish y'all luck down there. The rotten economy and market saturation is working against you. But you have a good product and the will to make it happen. That goes a long way.

I did this format in Charlotte, Orlando, and Minneapolis. If done correctly, it has a ton of potential. Just keep it upbeat, tight, and most of all, FUN! It ain't rocket science. You have real local personalities which is an essential for this format. Nothing burns people out quicker than an automated jukebox with no soul or pulse.

Someone mentioned that an adjacent station was paid to downgrade. Who? I immediately thought of WTNT and noticed they're a C1. But I believe they've always been a C1 since they're under 1,000 feet (?) You're far enough away from WKSJ so as not to be an issue. Or is there a 95.3 around there that I'm forgetting about?

Drew
 
I happened to be surfing and saw your posts. First of all congratulations to Randy & Company. After chatting with him recently, I can not imagine a better person to take the station forward and make it successful again. He obviously knows the market, he's hired some very good people, and the format seems to right on target.

Redneck is just about dead on with the numbers. Whoa is right. Such is life! If my life, wife, and kids were not rooted in Boston, I would have been down in PCB full time, bought out my partner, and held onto the station. I chose to stay married. Most likely the right choice all around. And my situation allowed a good broadcaster to pick up a station with potential in a growing market at a very good price.

I will help clear up a couple of misconceptions. When the station was doing the soft a/c, we were breaking even or better. Unfortunately, the economy tanked before we were at the cash flow level needed to hire a f/t manager and staff and complete the signal upgrade. So, I was spending about 50% of my time in PCB (flying back and forth on overpriced and always late Delta/ASA to Boston). Of that 50% I was probably out on the street selling 50% of the time. I personally generated 90% or more of the revenue. The rates were as high as Styles and CC, we were reaching a high quality audience (albeit smaller), the spots worked, clients renewed, and that's what matters.
(Randy's new format has even more potential in both ARB numbers and revenue than what I was doing)

Great108 is correct about a 2nd adjacent freq taking a voluntary downgrade. I wont get into specifics other than to say I was very pleased in my dealings with Clear Channel. They were very helpful for what they would consider to be pocket change. This might surprise some folks, but CC is comprised of people, too... and there was mutual respect between us. (btw: KSJ and TNT both at 94.9 do play into the signal thing, but I'll let you guys do the research on that)

I am thrilled with the experience I had in PCB. I wanted to build a station from scratch and we did it. The good far outweighed the bad. With the exception of St Joe, I met some truly wonderful people, I looked forward to the beautiful view at Bay Point, and the family enjoyed coming down to visit, and we will be back on vacation for sure.
 
Mass Media....if you don't need all of those frequent flyer miles anymore, I will be glad to take them ;)
hope everything is good in bean town
cceng
 
fldxer said:
They've sounded good here- well out of their coverage area- when tropo allows for their signal to get in. Heard several times in the past couple of months or so. Sounds good. Keep it up!

Greg Myers
Holiday
Click to expand...


First, this is a great group of posts here, guys! You can leave the Gulf Coast, but it never ever leaves you!!! Mass Media seems like a great
example of class act in radio. To start that from scratch had to be the craziest adventure in business of your life. With the exception of white
sand, nice people and warmth and sunshine, Boston is a rock solid nice place to visit. Never lived there, but LOVE to visit.

Second, not having much to add --- Rob, can you pick up 95.1 or is it jumping over Navarre this year??? Maybe the team at 95.1 can send
you a roll of alumynum foil for that broked raydio/7 track thingy, since it's quite a track to Panama City Beach past Thomas Drive turnoffy.

Sorry...bored.
 
Diamondtwo:
A little bird who owns Beach told me you were back in the saddle again. Congratulations! The radio biz is hard to find work in but with your credentials I knew you'd get back in. I'll listen to the stream sometime. And I'm still surprised a medium-market station hasn't totally syndicated its programming (even 106.7 went with Scott Shannon wall to wall). Oh and you ain't missed nothin' up here.
Good luck
Kturnerga
 
word on the streetless has it he returned because of the pretty strobies< not the potential paycheck.

CW ~ JW = bored enough in Nashville to be trying to guess actual numbers for PC numbers...where the HELL is bobfwb?
Did he wash out to see (spelled right for this post)?
 
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