Could Dickey buy Silent 680 WRGC to Bolster 680 The Fan?

[jabba17]

Art Sutton's Georgia-Carolina Broadcasting has taken 680 WRGC silent, along with WNGA in Helen (105.1).

Could Dickey buy WRGC and take it off the air permanently, or move it somewhere else on the band, or replace it with a class A FM, or go daytime only so that Dickey can improve WCNN's signal, especially at night? I seem to remember WRGC being the stymie for improving WCNN's signal to the northeast. I also seem to remember a CP to move WRGC elsewhere on the AM band that might have opened things up for WCNN.

Could Dickey justify this with a city-of-license change for WCNN from the nonexistent-for-almost-fifty-years city of North Atlanta to some actual location northeastward (perhaps in Gwinnett)?

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

The main nighttime restriction for WCNN is not WRGC in Sylva, but rather WPTF in Raleigh (which WRGC also has to protect). WCNN wouldn't gain any noticeable nighttime coverage with the elimination of 680 in Sylva.

If WRGC were to vacate 680, it would allow WCNN to operate non-directional during the day. However, given the very lax two-tower pattern currently licensed, that wouldn't be very noticeable, either.

While 50 kW non-D unlimited would be fantastic, Atlanta will probably only ever have the one. WCNN's present signal isn't shabby by any means - especially in the zip codes that count.

 

[cd637299]

I understand that WRGC has/had a CP for 540, FWIW.

cd

 

[trusty]

I understand that WRGC has/had a CP for 540, FWIW.

That's history.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Isn't there a 680 in Louisville Kentucky that Atlanta would have to deal with, too?

 

[jabba17]

While 50 kW non-D unlimited would be fantastic, Atlanta will probably only ever have the one. WCNN's present signal isn't shabby by any means - especially in the zip codes that count.

Then that means that most of Gwinnett and Forsyth counties don't count at night...

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

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

Other than WSB, is there another AM that has better coverage of the Atlanta Metro day and night than WCNN? I can't think of one.

 

[smedge2006]

WPTF's ratings are kind of anemic these days. Is it a stretch to imagine them going away? If so, how much protection would 680 still have to provide to, say, Boston or Toronto?

 

[cd637299]

WPTF's ratings are kind of anemic these days. Is it a stretch to imagine them going away? If so, how much protection would 680 still have to provide to, say, Boston or Toronto?

I'd say nil, because *I think* WRKO shoots its night signal over the ocean, and Toronto's 680 (a latecomer) shoots it straight north, as far as I know. CFTR also uses 13 towers!

Having said that, you still would have to deal with Corbin KY, Newport KY (another latecomer), Memphis, Binghamton NY, Baltimore, and many other night 680's; not worth it, especially when AM is dying anyway.

680 in Atlanta is itself a latecomer, only getting night authorization in the late 1970s! I remember listening to 680 Atlanta in the parking lot of Atlanta Stadium after a Braves game (1983?), when they ran CNN Headline News audio---it wasn't exactly clean reception, with another station under it, likely WPTF. They went from 10k to 15k night since that time, fwiw.

cd

 

[Bengalsfan]

Having said that, you still would have to deal with Corbin KY, Newport KY (another latecomer), Memphis, Binghamton NY, Baltimore, and many other night 680's; not worth it, especially when AM is dying anyway.

Newport Kentucky? Why would they have to protect a 740 near Cincinnati?

 

[ngriffin]

I think he meant the 680 in Newburgh, KY (Louisville area).

 

[cd637299]

I think he meant the 680 in Newburgh, KY (Louisville area).

Yes I did, he said, red-faced.

cd

 

[Bengalsfan]

Ah, I see. And it's spelled Newburg.

 

[jabba17]

680 in Atlanta is itself a latecomer, only getting night authorization in the late 1970s!

There is an aircheck on the GRHOF website of Boortz signing off 680 in 1979 when it was Ring Radio.

 

[trusty]

I think he meant the 680 in Newburgh, KY (Louisville area).

Which is the only one of the nine stations on 680 within a 700-mile radius of Atlanta that signed on after WCNN (12/4/67). All the others signed on 1924-1950.