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Did WVFJ/RTI Win WALR/Cox Tiff?

R

RoddyFreeman

A prominent person in the Georgia radio community recently alerted me to the battle between RTI, owner of WVFJ-FM, and Cox, owner of WALR-FM.

WVFJ had permission to increase its coverage once WALR fulfilled its construction permit and moved to the Tyrone tower that houses the antenna of WHTA-FM. WALR was unable to move because Fayette County would not allow adding to the height of the tower. Cox tried other solutions, such as diplexing on the same antenna as WHTA. But nothing worked out.

The FCC data base (at FCC.gov) contains letters from both Cox and RTI to the FCC, and letters from the FCC to Cox telling Cox that they are not conforming in one way or another. To me, Cox's explanation seems perfectly reasonable, but most of the technical stuff is above my head.

My looking at the correspondence tonight was prompted by a call I received yesterday from someone at WVFJ, telling me that their new signal had been turned on. I'm wondering if an engineering type could/would be willing to explain what's going on.

By the way, I listened to WVFJ today in the northern part of Atlanta, and the signal still does not have the intensity needed to seriously compete in the Atlanta market.
 
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RTI's power increase was contingent on Cox moving/changing WALR. The two signals are supposed to remain spaced a certain distance due to the IF Taboo. Cox for whatever reason was unable to move WALR. RTI more ore less says "Hey---Cox did not build this, but we should be allowed to upgrade". Some letters went back and forth. Eventually RTI ended up with C0 status vs WALR's now C1 Status. C0 is probably more desirable than a C1. With WALR effectively downgraded, it may allow others to make some moves.

If the WALR downgrade is allowed to exist, the station will eventually become "surrounded" which will not allow them to move around to upgrade as easily.

WALR has a nice signal, and I am not sure why they entered into this contingent application process in the first place.

Check Mate.

On WVFJ's upgrade. They increased power, while I agree with "getting everything we can get" the increase will not cause a substantial increase to their signal. I think right now, with vegetation going dormant for the winter, their signal will appear better until the trees come back to life in the spring. WVFJ has a long-long obstructed path into Atlanta. Short of moving northeast several miles, increasing the tower height, or doing some sort of over the top power increase, it will always be a marginal signal into Atlanta proper. It is interesting to note that WVFJ gets beat up in some ITP locations, but as you drive north (away from them) on I-75, the signal improves nicely. Mostly because of the terrain rising as you go north.
 
Thanks, HGR. The correspondence made it sound like WALR will lose protected status in certain areas. Are you saying that WALR could possibly reverse the downgrade? And I suppose the FCC agreed that WVFJ could turn on its new signal, correct?

I suppose Cox felt WALR's signal would be better if it was closer to the city despite having a smaller signal overall. The current signal does have some holes/multipath problems across the city.
 
Yes, RTN cited another case, and the FCC went along with RTN's request. WALR going to to a C1 would cost them protection. I would expect Cox to attempt to reverse this...That fabled "final song" has not been sung yet.

And You are correct. The WALR proposal, did add to the population count within the 60 dbu contour, so it probably makes sense on that front.

(We referred to WVFJ as RTI, actually they are Radio Training Network---RTN)
 
Thanks, again. Just one more question: If Cox was successful in getting the FCC to reverse the C1 decision, would WVFJ have to revert back to its old signal?
 
Thats a great question----I dont know what the FCC would do to un-ring that bell.
 
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