Dark AM's in Gainesville-Ocala

[smedge2006]

I notice 1290 in Ocala and 1390 in Gainesville are silent. Can they still get up and running, and if so, what would you put on them? Liberal talk would be my choice in Gainesville. Ocala, not so sure.

 

[vadar]

Sad but true it seems. So that leaves how many AM's on the dial in Gainesville/Ocala? WRUF is still the powerhouse and of course home of the Gators. What format is 980 now? Back in the day, AM 1390 was also known as "14K", rockin Top 40 before the FMs' came along. WGGG 1230 is still in biz, that's always good. I'm a Gator Grad and WRUF AM was "it" back in the day..............

 

[Jeff2]

1290 went off the air a few years back when one of the hurricanes messed up their towers and building. I think the towers are gone so not sure if anyone would put up the money to get them back on the air.

I didn't realize 1390 was off the air. They have been Radio Disney for several years. Maybe they are just having equipment problems.

980 is back to being WDVH and has a classic country format. I haven't been by in a while but they are supposed to be getting a new tower so don't know if it's up yet or not.

I think the AM's are:

720 Standards (Hernando)
850 News/Talk/Sports (G'ville)
900 ESPN (Ocala)
980 Classic country (G'ville)
1230 ESPN (G'ville)
1290 (dark) (Ocala)
1370 News/Talk (Ocala)
1390 Radio Disney (dark?) (G'ville)
1430 Black gospel (G'ville)

 

[MN Maniac]

WGGG-1230 was off-the-air for several years also. Last time I was in the area (early 2005), they were simulcasting a sports format with WMOP-900 in Ocala.

1390 was owned by Gillen, simulcasting WYKS-105.3. Did they just let it go dark & turn the license back into the FCC?

1290 is probably gone forever. As a previous poster mentioned, the cost of reconstructing the directional array probably isn't worth the limited revenue the station could produce.

Drew

 

[BIG APE]

When I went to school in Gainesville, I don't remember WRUF being much of anything except a bunch of students.. WGGG and WUWU were the Top 40 stations Great 98 WDVH was country with Jim Brand. I think it was mentioned a few months ago that Jim is still there!

 

[redneckriviera]

Ocala's 1290 was a very good Top 40 back before FMs took over--back when 950/WLOF still ruled Orlando and 1380/WLCY was king of Tampa. A good friend of mine named Ken Steele (Stazko) was PD of 1290 in the mid-to-late 1970s--but, for the life of me, I can't remember the call-letters. What were they?

 

[billengguy]

I e-mailed the FCC about the status of 1290 in Ocala. They are deleting the license as of 12/15. They told me the present owner has until then to get the station back on the air. Not likely to happen this week! WTMC was a great Top-40 station in it's day.

 

[Jeff2]

I checked on 1390 (WAJD) and they said they are having some "equipment issues" and hope to be back on the air but not sure how long it will take.

 

[radiosanchez]

When I went to school in Gainesville, I don't remember WRUF being much of anything except a bunch of students..

While you are correct in your assertion that WRUF was (and still is) a 'bunch of students', the station is probably the best training ground in Florida (if not the South), for future radio professionals. I have WRUF to thank for my career in radio, humble though it may be, and the gentleman who says "Come On Down!!" on The Price is Right nowadays (Rich Fields), was also one of those "bunch of students" at one point in time.

Anyways, back to topic...WAJD has always been a joke...When I was up there in the mid-90s, they had it turned over to the YKS CE at the time, Wayne Irwin, who was running a volunteer-based Alternative format "Real Rock 1390"...When he left for KTK, they essentially left it running on a CD changer and a time triggered cart machine for IDs...It was not uncommon for the CD to skip for days on end. They've been doing Disney for some years now but I don't think it's the first time they've gone dark as I passed by in 2003 and noticed them off the air.

1230 was off the air from about my Sophmore till Junior year...They were part owned if I'm not mistaken by the late Sonny Bloch and part of his Talk network...When his business went kaput so did the station...Studios were in Thornebrook Village shopping center and I remember seeing the studios closed, equipment off and a big sign on the front saying "WGGG is Off The Air"...Buddy Martin of WMOP bought it to simulcast the Sports over to Gainesville.

WDVH, seems they got the Country audience handed back to them by Asterisk when they flipped YGC to Smooth Jazz and I believe their ratings aren't half bad??

 

[Jeff2]

When I moved back to Gainesville in the '80's, WGGG was a pretty decent talk station. I think they were one of the early stations to carry Rush back when he was not so full of himself. I don't remember how Sonny Bloch got a hold of it, but he got in trouble for among other things trying to raise money from listeners to finance WGGG and a few other stations. It seems he way over-valued the stations in his solicitations. I remember the studios sat empty in Thornebrook Village for quite some time after Sonny was indicted and bankrupt (and dead) and WGGG was off the air.

1430 (WTMN) is another interesting AM that doesn't get much notice. I'm not sure what kind of format they had when they went on the air but sometime in the '90's they changed to Hot Talk and carried Don & Mike and had some pretty racy (for G'ville) local programs. I remember seeing their ads on the back of RTS buses (and they stayed there long after they changed formats). When Pamal bought it (with Magic 101.3), they changed the format to sports (The Team) and they really did a nice job with it. They had Pat Dooley from the Sun as the morning host along with Leigh Scott (now on the Buzz) and Jay Anderson (I think on the Sky) doing news. They have a terrible nighttime and early morning signal which killed the morning show and eventually killed the sports format. They are now doing Black gospel and do decently in the ratings.

 

[greenie]

GGG's signal was never the same after they moved off that self -supporter tower on the Waldo road. The one with the slant feed line, which actually turns out to be very good, they don't allow them anymore. Even though they are now much closer, their night signal has serious problems by the time you hit the Archer road on 75. Not good, not good at all!

 

[Jeff2]

Random thought...WRUF (850) will have been on the air 80 years in 2008 and WGGG (1230) 60 years. The owners of WDVH (980) ignored their 50th year back in 2004 so don't suppose they'll have a 54th celebration this year. All three still show up in the ratings so not bad for old timers.

 

[smedge2006]

All three still show up in the ratings so not bad for old timers.

Yes, but most surviving members of the radio "Class of 1928" manage to crack a one share in their home markets!

 

[radiosanchez]

Random thought...WRUF (850) will have been on the air 80 years in 2008

Little known fact: Yes, WRUF did indeed 'start' in 1928, but that was only as a *Gainesville* station. The station actually traces its' origins back to 1926, when it signed on from a Methodist Church in St. Pete, as WHBN. Per documentation I have it only was on the air for rebroadcasts of church services at the time....The state bought it and moved it up to UF 2 years later.

(formerly bossmsx)

 

[radiosanchez]

All three still show up in the ratings so not bad for old timers.

I actually saw a book some years ago where WDVH-AM was outperforming KZY...Think they outranked every FM they owned except Magic.....Am I right?? Is that funny, or sad??

 

[radiosanchez]

GGG's signal was never the same after they moved off that self -supporter tower on the Waldo road. The one with the slant feed line, which actually turns out to be very good,

That turned out to be a damn good STL tower for KTK considering the distance from the studio (there) to the TX in Morristown was quite a hike.