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Calling all engineers..need advice on buying WFTL up for auction March 2nd

Need advice from engineers on the value of the stations up for auction in Ft Lauderdale owned by James Crystal. They go on the block March 2nd. I may have someone who may buy them or at least one. He travels to West Palm Beach regularly. Owning radio stations might be right up his alley. I think he could do a syndicated business talk show. Worried about the condition of the station WFTL.. Is it worth it. Would it financially drain him? Haven't talked to him about it yet.. Have any engineers in Miami, Ft Lauderdale seen the stations? thanks
 
It's currently got 5kW day and 1 kW night with an application to go 50kW day and 24kW night with what looks like a cluster f*c^ of an antenna. Make sure the engineer you talk to knows directional AM antennas. If you can't find someone who knows directional AMs to do a due diligence for you, don't buy it.
 
In my opinion as a broadcast engineer with lots of experience with AM, WFTL is much better off with their existing powers/patterns.
There is nothing to be gained by increasing the power into tighter directional patterns. The station will only gain coverage over the Atlantic Ocean.
 
I'm gonna concur with you Frank. 5kW is more than enough to cover the Ft Lauderdale to Port St. Lucie area with West Palm being right in the middle of the lobe. and the antenna is simpler to make that pattern. Also, I'm counting 14 STA extentions over the past 10 years. Some of them being held up by the FCC's "Red Light" policy for outstanding regulatory fees. Something is going on here, if the station is going up for auction that explains a lot, but there are gonna be a lot of things to sort out with this one. It's not going to be a clean purchase by any means. Unless you can get this thing for a song, and I'm talking CHEEP, you might do well to just move on.
 
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