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Dark Panama City FM Now Up for Sale

Where call-letters really matter today are with national advertising agencies & rep firms--and specifically with agency planners & buyers who may never interact with a seller who gives a rat's ass about a station in Mobile, Alabama. Counting on a buyer in New York or Chicago or LA to comprehend that WABD is really, truly WABB is a hell of a risk. These folks don't know station "flips" and nicknames and slogans--all they see is call-letters.

Yeah, the WABB calls were still stuck to 1480 at the time of the sale, but nowadays the FCC lets licensees cut deals allowing seperate companies to share calls on different "services," and one would think that Cumulus/EMF could have swung such a deal. Or better yet, for a token around 1 percent of the purchase price (1% of $3 million is $30k) just bought the calls.

Hard to tell. Maybe they tried and a sentimental family member blocked it. We'll never know.
 
Nah, I think WFLA might be a significant set of calls in Orlando/Tampa/St. Pete. Tally and PCB, not so much.
 
In Tally nobody knows the call letters of much of anything..or cares. They say "I listen to Talk Radio,"or "100.7" rather than WFLA.

Tally's WFLA does not get to Panama City. This weekend we lost it before we got to Blountstown and switched over to Kick'n 103.5. Coming home we had Kickn all thw way to Gadsden County.

Went fishing while visiting family in the PC area, near Callaway. Never turned on a radio the whole time we were there..
 
That was my train of thought also. WCOA would have made my list a few years back but now they lack any significant local content. Same reason I didn't include WUWF or WFSU in my significant call letters list. Most people listening to those stations will say, "I heard on NPR today...".
 
WSBZ guy, have you thought about making an offer to LMA this frequency to "test the waters" for your format in PCB? Seems like you and cceng know the most about this disaster so you must have the contacts to see if they'll let you "borrow" it for operation cost/taxes/insurance + a little something to make it worth their while to answer your phone calls.

If it takes them two years to sell it at least that's two years of tower lease fees and strobie electrical bills they won't have to pay and the power bill to run 6kw shouldn't break the bank... plus they won't have to try explaining to the FCC why this station that is supposed to be serving the public interest is dark.

a multi party trade might also be smart here. let the 95.3 guys get ahold of 104.3. let Carter move jazz to 95.3. launch a new south walton-30A targeted station on 106.3 ala WCSN in Orange Beach, alabama.

I like playing with other people's money sometimes.
 
Someone that I personally know is in the process of buying the station, so it will be back on the air shortly. Not allowed to say too much on here just yet. But he is from Tallahassee, and is a friend of mine.

He has a pretty solid plan in place.

It will not be known as "The Bay," though. Looking to launch around the first of April.
 
Heard similar, Alan. I hope he does well with it. PC can be an unforgiving market. I don't know the details on format, etc. Hope you are well sir!
 
Speaking of WFLA 100.7 the WFLF/WFLA 94.5 Parker/Panama City can be reach in Tallahassee as well. Well if 104.3 came back on the air I would said Adult Rock/AAA music Like Panama City's Independent Radio.
 
Thanks, Tibbs! I'm doing well. Busy with my own radio stuff these days..

Louis, 104.3 is coming back, but not as AAA. Launch scheduled for April 1.
 
April fools day launch.... could be interesting. I suggest stunting on April 1 with the actual format the station will be running while inserting hints to a format that would directly compete with a OO or Hale owned station.
The new Format? "The Bay" name could fit with any format. If its a stand alone station I would guess Jazz/AC, oldies, or Christian AC/Rock as most promising although those formats would bore me to death. I think Classic Country and Classic Rock could do well in PCB but would need a signal that reaches Blontstown, Marianna, Pt. St. Joe... basically as much area west of WAAZ's coverage as possible. Makes me wonder why 102.7 in Blountstown isn't straight up Classic Country. Depending on what format the new owner wants to run the 104.3 signal being central to PCB may be good enough to make a close-to-even trade with another owner for a bigger signal without prefect coverage of PCB/Bay county. I know I've posted this before but Beach 95.1 has always seemed to want perfect coverage of Bay Co. and PCB and that suggest they would love to get their hands on 104.3. I bet Beach 95.1 would do an even trade and I still think 95.1 has a more valuable coverage area for a local owner/operator.

If I may ask, is the buyer of 104.3 already in the radio ownership or programming business? Or is this a guy looking for an old age hobby at the beach? I assume if he lives in Tally and can afford to buy a radio station he probably already has a condo down there on the Gulf.

Also looking forward to seeing the purchase price once it's posted in the trade mags and in the FCC documents.
 
I dont think 104.3 WBYW will not go any higher than 6,000 watts. I would said maybe 10,000 watts. Remeber Tallahassee has GULF 104 with 100,000 watts. sometimes Gulf 104 singal can get to Panama City if u on hwy.20 or 231 about 25 miles north of Panama City. Even 94.9 TNT County can reach as there. Alan I was making a guess that would be a good fit for 104.3 for AAA/Adult Rock but like u said its wont be AAA. I used to listren to 104.3 The Bay on Tune In Radio App on your iphone and andorid.
 
He has been doing a radio program in Tally for quite some time. WBYW will be his first-owned station and he is going to move to Panama City for this.

When we talked, he was looking for a Tally station to buy, or LMA if he couldn't buy it. All the owners want absurd prices, even for the rinky-dink AMs here with poor physical facilities. (same thing I ran into). He mentioned that he also had some interest in Panama City if Tallahassee wasn't doable. This was before the Bay went dark so neither of us were really thinking about 104.3 at that time.

He has worked previously for Horizon, Cumulus, and a local outfit.

Louis, it is a class A FM. 6,000 watts is the maximum level. It will be fine for what he wants - a local station.
 
If he wants a Tally station I hear there's a super powerful AM in some podunk town north of Thomasville for sale. The owner's son claims it has enough power to solidly cover Tallaassee all of Dixie for that matter!

WSBX? Are those the calls?

For those with no sense of humor, ignore this post.
 
Poledo..now that's funny that you brought up that flamethrower!

If the feds ever visit, those calls will stand for We Shall Be X-terminated.
 
Yep. WSBX. If it were on the air the signal would be so huge it could be used to feed translators in every city and town this side of the Mason Dixon. Can't believe none of you radioers have picked up on that steal of a station. The daytime signal supposedly makes clear channels like WSB and WLW look like they're in the graveyard.

Oh well, your loss.

Insert sense of humor disclaimer here.
 
WSBX is not coming back WSBX is still in a silent STA and the station tower is in bad shape. The last thing back on 2/25/12

TRANSITION OF EQUIPMENT

ANOTHER TRANSMITTER FAILURE AND OUR ENGINEER BRYAN COVEY IS WORKING TO FIX THE PROBLEM WITH PARTS ON ORDER. WE ARE PREPARING TO SELL THE STATION AS WELL.
 
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