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Crestview Radio

J

jimmcc

At the intersection of Highway 4 and US-85 in Crestview there is what appears to be an abandoned AM tower that I see when I trevel to and from Destin. I was curious as to what station and frequency this once was. The tower appears to be under 200 feet in height.

Thanks

Jim
 
jimmcc said:
At the intersection of Highway 4 and US-85 in Crestview there is what appears to be an abandoned AM tower that I see when I trevel to and from Destin. I was curious as to what station and frequency this once was. The tower appears to be under 200 feet in height.

Thanks

Jim
Click to expand...

It's possible that could be either WJSB-AM 1050 licensed to Crestview, or, perhaps, the former WGTX-AM 1280 Defuniak Springs tower site. Once WGTX became WDSP, I understand they moved the tower site somewhere closer to the beaches although I don't know for sure. WDSP had a CP to increase its power to 8.9kw-daytime with a tower move, but that CP has long since expired. I'm not aware of any other AMs in the area that tower may have occupied at one time...

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]
 
jmtillery said:
jimmcc said:
At the intersection of Highway 4 and US-85 in Crestview there is what appears to be an abandoned AM tower that I see when I trevel to and from Destin. I was curious as to what station and frequency this once was. The tower appears to be under 200 feet in height.

Thanks

Jim
Click to expand...

It's possible that could be either WJSB-AM 1050 licensed to Crestview, or, perhaps, the former WGTX-AM 1280 Defuniak Springs tower site. Once WGTX became WDSP, I understand they moved the tower site somewhere closer to the beaches although I don't know for sure. WDSP had a CP to increase its power to 8.9kw-daytime with a tower move, but that CP has long since expired. I'm not aware of any other AMs in the area that tower may have occupied at one time...

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]
Click to expand...

WDSP is for sale.

They never built out their CP, it was esentially usesless as you had to put up a 2nd tower and the signal coverage increase was about nill.

That tower isn't that of Max Howell's WDSP, because De Funiak Springs is about 40 air miles due east of Crestview. THe station is licensed for 5KW Day/46 Watts Night, Non Directional.

This map shows where the WDSP tower is:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WDSP&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
It even shows Crestview on it.

Jimmcc, do you have a digital camera you could take a few pictures with? It may not necessarily be an AM tower.

The WJSB-AM 1050 tower is south of Edgewater and Lakeview Drive, West of Lindberg Street and about 500 feet north of West James Lee Blvd/Routes 10 and 90.
 
Side question is 1050 still on the air? They only ID as the FM upon sign off (im sure it's a daytimer if it is)

-Rob
 
robfwb said:
Side question is 1050 still on the air? They only ID as the FM upon sign off (im sure it's a daytimer if it is)

-Rob
Click to expand...

Yes, WJSB-AM 1050 is a 3,100 watt non-directional daytime only station. The FM, WAAZ-FM 104.7, on the other hand, has a very impressive signal.

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]
 
Tibbs2 said:
Does it have working Strobeys ?
Click to expand...

The tower has beacons but if I remember they are not lite. I rarely make the trip at night. Visually, the tower appears to be under 200 feet.

It gives the appearance of being an abandoned AM tower as it has no side or top mounted communications antennas and the site is offset enough from Highway 4 and US-85 to account for ground radials.

Google Earth coordinates are 30.712160 -86.571566

Just a curiosity to fill the drive time.
 
Crestview had a station on 1010 that had it's license returned to the FCC about 10? years ago. I can't remember the call letters, but I'm sure some deep Google search could find some old information about it.
 
1010's tower is still standing and is located about a mile south of the intersection of I-10 and SR85 on the west side of the highway.....I can't remember the the callsign....the only other AM tower in the Crestview area is WJSB, which is next to their studio and also supports the WAAZ FM antenna. That tower is on the west side of Crestview just north of US90

If the tower location given in the initial email is correct, that tower isn't an AM tower....maybe an abandoned 2-way tower.....

cw
 
cceng said:
1010's tower is still standing and is located about a mile south of the intersection of I-10 and SR85 on the west side of the highway.....I can't remember the the callsign....the only other AM tower in the Crestview area is WJSB, which is next to their studio and also supports the WAAZ FM antenna. That tower is on the west side of Crestview just north of US90

If the tower location given in the initial email is correct, that tower isn't an AM tower....maybe an abandoned 2-way tower.....

cw
Click to expand...

CW.. THANKS for the informaiton!

Someone suggested it was the AM tower for WDSP 1280 in De Funiak Springs! I knew that wasn't true and I suspected it wans't an AM tower at all.
 
cceng said:
1010's tower is still standing and is located about a mile south of the intersection of I-10 and SR85 on the west side of the highway.....I can't remember the the callsign....the only other AM tower in the Crestview area is WJSB, which is next to their studio and also supports the WAAZ FM antenna. That tower is on the west side of Crestview just north of US90

If the tower location given in the initial email is correct, that tower isn't an AM tower....maybe an abandoned 2-way tower.....

cw
Click to expand...


That's the tower I was referring to. My bad on the initial location. Google Maps shows it at the intersection of P. J. Adams Parkway and US-85. In all my many drives through there I never noticed the Parkway splits off Highway 4 (it goes straight off Hwy. 4) and that Highway 4 turns into S. Antioch and runs into 85 further south. I've may have been costing myself addition drive time but then would have never seen the tower.

Thanks for solving the mystery and the for geography lesson.

Jim
 
That was a long time ago. I feel certain that 1010 was stronger than 10kw, but I didn't have access to that information back then and I didn't listen to sign ons or sign offs. Then again, they may have just had a very good 10kw signal. Even WJSB 1050 has a very good 3kw signal, at least for this area. Does Crestview have better ground conductivity than the rest of Dixie?

Does anyone know why, or how, 1010 wound up loosing it's license? Surely the license was worth something in 1989 when they went out of business. And the company Wikipedia says owned it in the end just let it expire in 1996? Surely it was still worth something in 1996. Did they get a tax write off for that loss? What is missing from the story?

WAAZ 104.7 does have an awesome signal in their target market (Crestview, Milton, Defuniak Springs), but they are on a short tower with a horrible signal compared to other 100kw stations. If they moved to the tall, WFBD-DT, tower at Escambia Farms and tweaked their marketing to the entire coverage area (Fort Walton, Pensacola, Andalusia, Evergreen, etc.) they could dominate South Central Alabama just like the old Power Pig did. Or if they updated everything and moved south to one of the downtown Fort Walton towers, that station has the potential to be the major player on the coast. We'll just have to wait 10 years or so and see what happens with WAAZ. Tibbs and cceng would probably chime in and say "It ain't broke, so they're not fixing it."
 
How is the master of radio on the Panhandle ??? I mean co-masters (CW of course) and WAAZ's Jimmy Whitaker?
Yes, we've talk about him before. Been a while. Wonderfully good, honest straight-forward gentleman from the old school. Wish
there were millions of him in the industry. Think he's about the last one. "Tibbs (uh-huh) --------- we don't need all that
damn power, whose gonna listen? er,, deer, bears. The government's rules force me to up my power or loose it. That's
why my dad got out of this business when the government took control (what insight back before the day!!!!!!!!!!)"
Hell, I guess I'll take it up to 43,000 WATTS at Eleven feet" Jimmy does it his way...for sure...poledo! Gotta love him for that.
He is the one person who IIIIIIIIIIIIIII would beg not not upgrade or move.

"Them city slickers (slimey) don't get why I don't want to sell this or move to the ^&*)(%$ beach." I had to laugh and
I was in awe. He actually liked me pretty well, I think. Laughed at my big plans. Like Wooten, he saved me pain, agony
and $$$$. But, he said he'd call me when he was ready to sell it. Actually, said, I would be one of the few. Asked
me for my private home number. I told him I'd send him the number (10-15 years ago.) Never did. I'm not taking the
man's treasure. I couldn't live up to his standards or pedigree. Need to send him some cool old stuff on WSM-AM
650's tower. He went on and on about that tower, Country Music and Nashville. ---- I pray he is okay. Charlie,
you would have mentioned otherwise. Right?

I do remember seeing 50kw in the old 1980's FCC broadcasting books for something in Crestview. Guess that was
WAAZ-AM. Hum! Not sure. Getting old. Could you imagine that? Braves games and cussing the FCC. Talk about a
cool renegade! The thought of Mr. Whitaker on 50kw watts. That would be entertainment at it's best. And if there was
one frequency not jammed by Castro, it would have been that. I wouldn't want to be Castro if he made Jimmy
Whitaker mad for interference. He'd show up at Castro's door demanding it to stop. And it probably would. Am I wrong, CCENG?

By the way poledo --- you're logic is sane. Just not as sane as Mr. Whitakers in the scheme of things. We've all been
brainwashed to over-compete, over-consume, over-dominate and (in my case) over think (and over post). Over and out.
 
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