County wants WAGI blocked from moving out town

[MLB]

LYNNE P. SHACKLEFORD, Spartanburg Herald-Journal

GAFFNEY-- The Cherokee County Council is asking the Federal Communications Commission to block WAGI's attempt to move out of town.

The Upstate radio station that has been a mainstay in Cherokee County homes over the past 30 years has applied to move its station transmitter to York County, about 30 miles east of Charlotte, N.C.

Gaffney Broadcasting CEO Dick Kinard said he plans to sell the station if the FCC approves the move.

The county board passed a resolution Monday urging Kinard's request be denied. Councilman Bailey Humphries, who made the motion, said the radio station provides a needed community service and employs 20 people.

Humphries is just one of many who have expressed concern that the radio station could be moving out.

"I'm just heartbroken about it, to tell you the truth," said 76-year-old Sadie Morris, a faithful WAGI listener. "I listen to Carolina in the Morning, I catch the obituaries at noon and I always listen to Swap and Shop. I feel like they're a part of my family."

Kinard is a co-executor of the late Bright Parker's estate. Parker, who died in June 2005, and her husband Raymond established the AM radio station in 1962 and then purchased the FM station in 1973. WAGI operates at 105.3 on the FM dial.

Kinard, a Greenville resident, said his aunt wanted the station to be sold upon her death and the proceeds divided among her beneficiaries. The Parkers had no children.

Kinard said the new station owner would determine whether the programming would change.

Loyal Gaffney High School football fans have also expressed concern about the possible move. Gaffney Broadcasting covers all Friday night football games as well as other Gaffney High basketball, Clemson basketball and other area sports programs.

"I hope they still decide to cover the games because it's certainly impossible for me to make all of them," said Harry Lee, a longtime fan who can't attend every Gaffney High football game because of health problems. "I know the future is unknown, but I don't know what I'd do if they didn't carry the games."

The opening in the Charlotte market came when Statesville-based WFMX FM (105.7) received FCC approval to relocate to the Winston-Salem-Greensboro area, clearing the way for WAGI to move into the larger market.

According to the FCC, the application and regulatory process could take up to two years.

Lynne Shackleford may be reached at 487-7146 or [email protected].

 

[goldenman]

> LYNNE P. SHACKLEFORD, Spartanburg Herald-JournalIt all sounds good, but how much of a chance does the county have of stoping it?
> GAFFNEY-- The Cherokee County Council is asking the Federal
> Communications Commission to block WAGI's attempt to move
> out of town.
>
> The Upstate radio station that has been a mainstay in
> Cherokee County homes over the past 30 years has applied to
> move its station transmitter to York County, about 30 miles
> east of Charlotte, N.C.
>
> Gaffney Broadcasting CEO Dick Kinard said he plans to sell
> the station if the FCC approves the move.
>
> The county board passed a resolution Monday urging Kinard's
> request be denied. Councilman Bailey Humphries, who made the
> motion, said the radio station provides a needed community
> service and employs 20 people.
>
> Humphries is just one of many who have expressed concern
> that the radio station could be moving out.
>
> "I'm just heartbroken about it, to tell you the truth," said
> 76-year-old Sadie Morris, a faithful WAGI listener. "I
> listen to Carolina in the Morning, I catch the obituaries at
> noon and I always listen to Swap and Shop. I feel like
> they're a part of my family."
>
> Kinard is a co-executor of the late Bright Parker's estate.
> Parker, who died in June 2005, and her husband Raymond
> established the AM radio station in 1962 and then purchased
> the FM station in 1973. WAGI operates at 105.3 on the FM
> dial.
>
> Kinard, a Greenville resident, said his aunt wanted the
> station to be sold upon her death and the proceeds divided
> among her beneficiaries. The Parkers had no children.
>
> Kinard said the new station owner would determine whether
> the programming would change.
>
> Loyal Gaffney High School football fans have also expressed
> concern about the possible move. Gaffney Broadcasting covers
> all Friday night football games as well as other Gaffney
> High basketball, Clemson basketball and other area sports
> programs.
>
> "I hope they still decide to cover the games because it's
> certainly impossible for me to make all of them," said Harry
> Lee, a longtime fan who can't attend every Gaffney High
> football game because of health problems. "I know the future
> is unknown, but I don't know what I'd do if they didn't
> carry the games."
>
> The opening in the Charlotte market came when
> Statesville-based WFMX FM (105.7) received FCC approval to
> relocate to the Winston-Salem-Greensboro area, clearing the
> way for WAGI to move into the larger market.
>
> According to the FCC, the application and regulatory process
> could take up to two years.
>
> Lynne Shackleford may be reached at 487-7146 or
> [email protected].
>

 

[goldenman]

It sounds good but how much of a chance does the county have of stoping it?

 

[moedog1]

> It sounds good but how much of a chance does the county have
> of stoping it?
>
It seems to me the chances are nil. That is because, as far as I know, WAGI has not applied to change the COL. They have only applied to change facilities, and I imagine WAGI will continue to put a city grade signal into Gaffney. I have to wonder what WAGI's ratings are in Gaffney/Cherokee County, considering the large number of Charlotte and Greenville/Spartanburg stations that come booming in there. In this case, I think 105.3 can better serve the public good by targeting the Charlotte market hwere several progam nitches are open. After all, Gaffney would still have 3 local stations. My question would be whether 105.3 will be able to get approval for their 1500 ft tower in York Co. which has county wide zoning.

 

[artsutton]

> > It sounds good but how much of a chance does the county
> have
> > of stoping it?
> >
> It seems to me the chances are nil. That is because, as far
> as I know, WAGI has not applied to change the COL. They
> have only applied to change facilities, and I imagine WAGI
> will continue to put a city grade signal into Gaffney. I
> have to wonder what WAGI's ratings are in Gaffney/Cherokee
> County, considering the large number of Charlotte and
> Greenville/Spartanburg stations that come booming in there.
> In this case, I think 105.3 can better serve the public good
> by targeting the Charlotte market hwere several progam
> nitches are open. After all, Gaffney would still have 3
> local stations. My question would be whether 105.3 will be
> able to get approval for their 1500 ft tower in York Co.
> which has county wide zoning.
>
I've seen the county by county numbers...the audience share in Cherokee County usually has WAGI # 1 or #2 in Cume and either in that rank or a little lower on AQH. The audience shares are small percentage wise of the total radio audience since, as you suggest, both Greenville-Spartanburg and Charlotte signals are very strong there. The two AMs there have little audience and both are sunrise to sunset daytimers so neither will be able to come to the plate and pick up popular local programs such as high school sports, etc. now done by WAGI.

I don't know officially, but I suspect WAGI will modify their application to either the WBAV site west of Gastonia....or one of the tall towers north of Gastonia. That way they don't have to worry with zoning or the FAA...both issues which could potentially "bog down" a routine transmitter site move as this is. Regardless of where they locate ultimately at any of these sites, they still will place a city grade over Gaffney and will be officially "licensed" to Gaffney. I suspect their only involvement there will be a "whispered" ID hidden in a spot set at about 10 til the hour.

 

[goldenman]

I think this whole thing is sad, removing a local station. I know yes I know it will make more money if it can be heard in a major market. But it is sad for the town and the local listeners who listen. I worked for a local station in my home state this past summer. Some of the best times I have ever had. The station is a part of the community where I live, and so is WAGI for it's listeners. I for one will hate to see it move, and start speaking spanish or what ever new and improved thing it does.
Long live local live! radio!.> > > It sounds good but how much of a chance does the county
> > have
> > > of stoping it?
> > >
> > It seems to me the chances are nil. That is because, as
> far
> > as I know, WAGI has not applied to change the COL. They
> > have only applied to change facilities, and I imagine WAGI
>
> > will continue to put a city grade signal into Gaffney. I
> > have to wonder what WAGI's ratings are in Gaffney/Cherokee
>
> > County, considering the large number of Charlotte and
> > Greenville/Spartanburg stations that come booming in
> there.
> > In this case, I think 105.3 can better serve the public
> good
> > by targeting the Charlotte market hwere several progam
> > nitches are open. After all, Gaffney would still have 3
> > local stations. My question would be whether 105.3 will
> be
> > able to get approval for their 1500 ft tower in York Co.
> > which has county wide zoning.
> >
> I've seen the county by county numbers...the audience share
> in Cherokee County usually has WAGI # 1 or #2 in Cume and
> either in that rank or a little lower on AQH. The audience
> shares are small percentage wise of the total radio audience
> since, as you suggest, both Greenville-Spartanburg and
> Charlotte signals are very strong there. The two AMs there
> have little audience and both are sunrise to sunset
> daytimers so neither will be able to come to the plate and
> pick up popular local programs such as high school sports,
> etc. now done by WAGI.
>
> I don't know officially, but I suspect WAGI will modify
> their application to either the WBAV site west of
> Gastonia....or one of the tall towers north of Gastonia.
> That way they don't have to worry with zoning or the
> FAA...both issues which could potentially "bog down" a
> routine transmitter site move as this is. Regardless of
> where they locate ultimately at any of these sites, they
> still will place a city grade over Gaffney and will be
> officially "licensed" to Gaffney. I suspect their only
> involvement there will be a "whispered" ID hidden in a spot
> set at about 10 til the hour.
>

 

[upstate29650]

> I don't know officially, but I suspect WAGI will modify
> their application to either the WBAV site west of
> Gastonia....or one of the tall towers north of Gastonia.
> That way they don't have to worry with zoning or the
> FAA...both issues which could potentially "bog down" a
> routine transmitter site move as this is. Regardless of
> where they locate ultimately at any of these sites, they
> still will place a city grade over Gaffney and will be
> officially "licensed" to Gaffney. I suspect their only
> involvement there will be a "whispered" ID hidden in a spot
> set at about 10 til the hour.

I agree with this scenario.

G

 

[thebroker]

This would make much more sense than building a new tower, and not just from the perspective of expense. I just learned last month at the TAB Convention of new Federal regulations regarding new tower construction. Due to a new agreement between the FCC and several tree-hugger-ish groups, folks building new towers are required to jump through even more hoops in the area of environmental protection. This includes approval by the state Historical Preservation folks, as well as clearance from any and all Native American tribes which may potentially have ever lived in the area of the new tower at any point in history. This provision even applies to existing towers built before 1994 when you plan to make changes to the tower which include an FCC application (including hanging an additional antenna, even a DTV or IBOC antenna for the station that's already there).

I was absolutely stunned to hear about this, because it was all new to me. In fact, had the workshop not been conducted by Roy Stewart from the FCC as well as several very prominent communications attorneys, I might not have bought it.

I said all that to say this: It would make far more sense to hang WAGI on another tower, so long as it was built after 1994. With a Class-C FM, there's a little more wiggle-room in determining where to locate a transmitter site.

 

[moedog1]

Speaking of the WBAV tower, that is one impressive looking broadcasting site, as seen driving up or down I-85. I know its far from the tallest, but being self supporting, it looks good. But it seems I remember it being the source of a lot of controversy about 15 years ago. I think it is within the boundaries of the the Kings Mountain Historical Park, and there was a movement to have it torn down. I guess whoever owned 101.9 then won, but I wonder if they made some kind of deal to never make any changes in the structure. That would prevent 105.3 from moving there. A little off topic, but I have wondered if that impressive tower might have been originally built for TV instead of FM. I have read on another website that back in the mid 50s there was a big war between WSPA-TV and WDBJ/7 in Roanoke over spacing issues. For several years WDBJ was not allowed to install its transmitter on Poor Mountain because WSPA said it was too close to its proposed facilty. I believe the present WBAV tower would be too close to Poor Mt. in VA, but think of how WSPA would be able to serve Charlotte (which only had one TV station at the time)from there, as well as Greenville/Spartanburg. Does anybody know anything about that?

 

[upstate29650]

> Speaking of the WBAV tower, that is one impressive looking
> broadcasting site, as seen driving up or down I-85. I know
> its far from the tallest, but being self supporting, it
> looks good. But it seems I remember it being the source of
> a lot of controversy about 15 years ago. I think it is
> within the boundaries of the the Kings Mountain Historical
> Park, and there was a movement to have it torn down. I
> guess whoever owned 101.9 then won, but I wonder if they
> made some kind of deal to never make any changes in the
> structure. That would prevent 105.3 from moving there. A
> little off topic, but I have wondered if that impressive
> tower might have been originally built for TV instead of FM.
> I have read on another website that back in the mid 50s
> there was a big war between WSPA-TV and WDBJ/7 in Roanoke
> over spacing issues. For several years WDBJ was not allowed
> to install its transmitter on Poor Mountain because WSPA
> said it was too close to its proposed facilty. I believe
> the present WBAV tower would be too close to Poor Mt. in VA,
> but think of how WSPA would be able to serve Charlotte
> (which only had one TV station at the time)from there, as
> well as Greenville/Spartanburg. Does anybody know anything
> about that?
>

It looks as if it was built originally for TV. I'm not so sure that site would have effectively served Greenville, though.

G

 

[RickRose]

> It looks as if it was built originally for TV. I'm not so
> sure that site would have effectively served Greenville,
> though.
>
> G
>


If this would have happened I would assume the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville -Anderson market would be considerably different.

 

[artsutton]

> Speaking of the WBAV tower, that is one impressive looking
> broadcasting site, as seen driving up or down I-85. I know
> its far from the tallest, but being self supporting, it
> looks good. But it seems I remember it being the source of
> a lot of controversy about 15 years ago. I think it is
> within the boundaries of the the Kings Mountain Historical
> Park, and there was a movement to have it torn down. I
> guess whoever owned 101.9 then won, but I wonder if they
> made some kind of deal to never make any changes in the
> structure. That would prevent 105.3 from moving there. A
> little off topic, but I have wondered if that impressive
> tower might have been originally built for TV instead of FM.
> I have read on another website that back in the mid 50s
> there was a big war between WSPA-TV and WDBJ/7 in Roanoke
> over spacing issues. For several years WDBJ was not allowed
> to install its transmitter on Poor Mountain because WSPA
> said it was too close to its proposed facilty. I believe
> the present WBAV tower would be too close to Poor Mt. in VA,
> but think of how WSPA would be able to serve Charlotte
> (which only had one TV station at the time)from there, as
> well as Greenville/Spartanburg. Does anybody know anything
> about that?
>
This was the original or among the first sites for WBTV which was the first TV station for the entire area. It came on the air in 1949. I can't say for a fact if WBT's FM went on the air there or not. I do believe that WBT actually surrended it's first FM license only to get another one later on. There was a lot of that going on in the early days of FM.

Channel 7 was never at that site. Actually Channel 7 was allocated to Columbia and Walter Brown fought many years and used much of WSPA Radio's profits to get the FCC to move Channel 7 to Spartanburg. He finally won. It didn't hurt that Mr. Brown had major political connections in Washington through Strom Thurmond and the former SC Senator who also served under Roosevelt as Secretary of War/State. I can't remember my history tonight. Mr. Brown actually served with these gentlemen in Washington during WW2.

At one point, I believe that Channel 7 either operated from or had a CP to operate on Paris Mountain but later went to its present site.

It should also be noted that for a while both Channel 7 and WAIM TV 40 in Anderson were both CBS affiliates. Wilton Hall was the owner of WAIM...and the Anderson Independent Mail newspaper. While Mr. Brown and the Peace family which owned the Greenville News and WFBC Radio/TV built an empire and died wealthy individuals....Mr. Hall ended up under house arrest and the IRS seized his estate just before his death. Mr. Hall was reported to be much more active in local/state politics than the Peace and Brown families.

 

[moedog1]

In all respect, I believe you have some of your history mixed up. I'm pretty certain WBTV cam eon the air from Spencer's Mountain which is between Gastonia and Charlotte. Part of the tower is still there and, like the WBAV facility, can be seen from I-85. I'm not certain, but I think Kings Mountain would have been a little too far out for a Charlotte station to broadcast from in 1949---TV stations at that time were not allowed to broadcast with as much power at then. But concerning what channels were allocated to what city, I going to have to look that up. My memory is that no channels were allocated to any SC city in the 1946 allocation. In the 1952 allocation, Columbia was originally an all UHF city. Channel 10 was allocated to Anderson, but this was immediately called into question. Channel 67 came on in Columbia as the first SC TV station, followed quickly by channel 23 in Greenville, channel 40 in Anderson, and channel 5 in Charleston. Very quickly, channel 10 was switched to Columbia, most accounts say Strom Thurmond was responsible for that. WIS agreed to broadcast at a low power in order to not retard development of UHF there. Two other UHF channels had been allocated there, 25 and 31, and WCOS had a CP to build on 25. If you want to see the huge tower WIS broadcast from in their early years, it is still next to their present studios on Bull ST. FOr the next 10 years or so a major battle was waged between WIS and WNOK (which was partly owned by Fritz Hollings!) and the various owners of the channel 25 CP. The Us wanted WIS to move to UHF 31 in order to level the playing field. Fat chance--with Ole Strom's help, WIS got their tall tower in Elgin, I think in 1959. In 1961 WNOK moved to 19 and WOLO finally came on on 25. Almost immediately WOLO started trying to get channel 8, after WBTW moved from 8 to 13. Meanwhile, in the upstate, a CP for 49 in Spartanburg was issued but never built. WFBC got channel 4 in Greenville, blowing WGVL/23 out of the water (there were also CPs for UHFs in Camden and FLorence, but they were never built). Meanwhile channel 7 in Spartanburg was held up for a few years--the question I don't know is whether that was becasue of competing applicants, or the fuss between WSPA and WDBJ. Sorry I've gotten so much off topic...

 

[radioranch]

> It sounds good but how much of a chance does the county have
> of stoping it?
>

The county has really no chance of stopping it since all they are doing is moving their tower (minor change). Unless of course they can find some technical issues to prevent it.

CC tried to move 1170 WWVA from Wheeling WV to Cleveland last year and backed down after a public outcry. But CC was still planning on being behind in Wheeling. In this case, the estate is getting out of radio and won't have to deal with the backlash.