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Maine End of the Zone

mrradioguy said:
It did however put his rimshot Class A on a subchannel and translator that covered the metro.

As for getting rid of live talent. Money doesn't matter to King, he's worth a half a billion dollars. He can operate those stations just on residual checks.
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I knew he put it on a translator. For some reason, I read "HD" as "FM" and based my remark on that.
 
So he held on longer than most with live talent, installed a new transmitter, and ran possibly 2 stations at a loss for years, and this is a problem for someone why? He did his best and cared about his stations.

As to the guy leaving, sometimes when things change you evaluate your life and find you have other priorities. That's not inherently a sign of some issue with the new owners.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Remember, to preserve night time operation they need several towers or reduce to very, very low power.
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They already did that. They went down to one tower with 620 watts at night several years ago. They used to be 5 kW directional at night. Obviously 620 watts ND is quite a bit better than what some others have to do. Another similar situation, 910 WTOS is 210 watts at night after also being 5kW. I expect 910 will also go dark eventually.
 
jlehmann said:
They already did that. They went down to one tower with 620 watts at night several years ago. They used to be 5 kW directional at night. Obviously 620 watts ND is quite a bit better than what some others have to do. Another similar situation, 910 WTOS is 210 watts at night after also being 5kW. I expect 910 will also go dark eventually.
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910 has a translator though giving WTOS a metro signal into Bangor.

620 passed on a translator during the revitalization windows. They didn't even apply for one.

If we're taking bets on the next AM to go silent in Maine, WDEA is my guess.
 
mrradioguy said:
910 has a translator though giving WTOS a metro signal into Bangor.

620 passed on a translator during the revitalization windows. They didn't even apply for one.

If we're taking bets on the next AM to go silent in Maine, WDEA is my guess.
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I think at one time the 98.3 translator was running 620, but they changed it to WZLO via a KIT HD sub?

I agree that WDEA will be the next to go, Townsquare has been very aggressive shutting down AMs, especially those without translators.
 
WZON and WZLO both filed Silent STAs stating "The station is currently off the air for financial reasons. The licensee will advise the Commission when on-air operations have been restored."
 
jlehmann said:
They already did that. They went down to one tower with 620 watts at night several years ago. They used to be 5 kW directional at night.
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Any reason for that? Google street view (last updated July '23) shows 2 towers at the site. Was there enough of a savings in the electric bill to justify it?
 
Maintaining a directional array is costly. Real estate is frequently more valuable than the station at many spots. If there is an online presence or a translator, it makes sense. With AM radio listening declining even further, any investment in AM is usually not recovered. And if you're not profitable, cutting costs to lessen the red ink makes good sense.
 
kevtronics said:
WZON and WZLO both filed Silent STAs stating "The station is currently off the air for financial reasons. The licensee will advise the Commission when on-air operations have been restored."
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Which actually extends their life a bit, or at least WZON's because they can come back on the air within a year from a long wire and refile an STA claiming loss of tower site since the towers are going to be dropped.
 


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