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ESPN Radio Find A New Home for Tallahassee Florida

The former (Smooth Jazz) WJZT-FM 97.9 Tallahassee which is now Cruisin 97.9 Oldies will go to all sports begining December 1st 2010 as ESPN Radio.
 
ESPN should work out much better in Tallahassee now that it is availble 24/7 static free on FM. I'm wondering what impact, if any, this will have on WNLS-AM 1270.
 
Mark,

ESPN Radio was in Tallahassee previously on WHBT-AM 1410, with 5 kw-D and a mere 18 watts at night, making it a daytimer for all practical purposes.

It got to just over a 1 share then dropped off the Arbs completely. Cumulus flipped it back to gospel in 2008.

I think this is a good move for 97.9. Since it flipped from smooth jazz, it seems to be a station that has lost its way. I'm not a sports radio listener but I think this is something that could work out nicely. 97.9 is a stand-alone FM, incidentally.

Tallahassee still has oldies on Opus' U-106.1.

1270 The Team carries FSU sports (sister WTNT-FM 94.9 also carries the football games.) It has Fox Sports and a locally-hosted afternoon sports show.

I wish them the best. I know Louis has wanted ESPN radio back for a long time.
 
Yes Indeed it's about darn time ESPN Radio returns to Tallahassee
I just found out on WJZT's website is there a new station manger took over and the old manger Chris Cooper left the station. I guess the new manger wanted to do ESPN Radio. Let see how we do on the FM dail.
 
97.9's calls are changing to WTSM, also.
 
Alan - Were you able to verify an effective date on the call letter change? I'd be interested to know when the calls officially become WTSM.
 
Mark,

There's not anything showing on the FCC database, but the search already shows WTSM.
It does also have a new manager, Barry Kaye, whom I am not familiar with. Chris Cooper
is gone from the website, which is outdated on some pages, such as community events.

It it is Q106 that's flipping, their website is not indicating it. 106.1 did try FM Talk some time back, but it never caught on up against WFLA-FM 100.7.

Both stations probably are are underperformers for their respective owners.

I seldom listen to Tallahassee radio since I've begun working to try to build a business with Big D Country, No changes are going to open up anything for us beached radio vets.
 
1270 (The Team) weekdays afternoon show is Jeff Cameron Show (localy) 3-7pm. Yes Alan I notice on the WJZT's website sounds like a new guy Barry Kaye took over the station i didnt know Chris Cooper left the station @ 97.9
 
97.9's website and twitter accounts will both be branded as 979ESPNRadio (Twitter is
online already) with an on-air moniker of "Tallahassee's Sports Monster," hence, the
WTSM call sign.

This does make sense, since Q106 has a stronger audience base, having launched oldies
far before 97.9 did.

As I implied above, 97.9 has floundered ever since they dropped the smooth jazz format.

This could be a good move for them. Relating to sports, I do know a lot of people would like some games such as Auburn and/or Alabama Crimson Tide back on the air. I used to have them on non-sports stations and they still did well.
 
Now they can gibber about FSU finally beating Florida. Only took them 6 years....
 
Hey all,

Here's some info for ya on 97.9:

- Call letters have been WTSM for a couple weeks now.

- Line up: Mike & Mike 6-10; Cowherd 10-1, Van Pelt 1-4: Ron Vitrano (local, was on 1410 when that was ESPN) 4-7. ESPN around the clock outside of the 4-7 slot. Local show starts the 6th.

- Website should be up soon (www.979espnradio.com). Twitter (@979espnradio) and Facebook (facebook.com/979espnradio) are up and running.

- Station will stream on the site, will also be on the ESPN Radio smartphone app for blackberry, iphone and android.

- Three man staff for now: Barry Kaye - GM; Mike Fahmie - OM; Ron Vitrano - Sports Dir.
 
I am so ready for this :) Louis Pallazola but I have XM Radio since there no ESPN Radio for Tallahaseee way before someone made 97.9 FM a sports station.
 
Louis/Alan/others on this board I've talked to before...I'm doing the contract engineering for this station...and I would love any feedback on the on-air sound/processing...or anything else from your prospective that can be improved upon. I'm very happy to be involved with this great group of folks that running WTSM, and happy to see a local under-performing station getting turned around.

Thanks.
 
Hey Level 42 (Chris) I am glad ur the engineering for the station. As far I know it's a 6,000 watts station. I call the station and to let them know when they swich to ESPN Radio on thier 1st day is when I driving to work no prombs on the singal. but when I got to my office where I work and listren to ESPN 97.9 all i got is static and Star 98.9 is on top of 97.9 dail. Some other people saying that on I-10 northeast side of Tallahassee saying there a couples of dead spots in between here and there as they listen to 97.9 ESPN Radio. Where their tower is at? I hope we can get this mess out soon.
 
Yes, I noticed the dead spots by the Tallahassee Mall area...I imagine that at some point I will drive the area with the Field Strength Meter so I can get a more accurate picture of the dead spots. The WTSM tower is about 10 miles out of town on Tram Rd....station is licensed to Woodville, FL. Atmospheric conditions have been very nutty the past few weeks...so, that's a factor also.

On you office radio...is it digital tuning or analog (slide rule)?
 
analog small boom box. I remeber when it's used to be smooth jazz 979 when they 1st came on the air loud and clear in the office a few years ago but now its like what happen as they are ESPN Radio 97.9 dead spots and static.
 
It's possible that the W252BN 98.3mhz translator was not on the air when WJZT first came on. I'm sure that is hampering reception on 97.9mhz in the Tallahassee mall area. We are operating at full power, so nothing has changed on our end...but...the FM band gets more crowded every year. Thanks for the input. Just curious...what area of town is your office located? I do plan to do some driving with the field strength meter, so I wanna make sure and check your area. Thanks.
 
level42 said:
It's possible that the W252BN 98.3mhz translator was not on the air when WJZT first came on.

Originally W252BN 98.3 operated on 97.9 as a Tallahassee translator for WAFT-FM 101.1 Valdosta and moved to the present 98.3 frequency when 97.9 A was allocated to Woodville as a first primary service Class A FM, so the translator license and authorization pre-dates WJZT / WTSM.
 
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