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Fort Walton Radio Predictions

R

Rob

Does anyone have any predictions (or inside info) of changes in formats for the fort walton beach area?

I think in 2007, 98.1 will become a country format in competition with 105.5
104.7 will probably cease transmission
and 107.3 will buy 104.7 and have an Oaklossia county translator, move the TX to Fort Walton and become "my 104.7" and the 107.3 translator will be moved farther west to Mobile covering that area.

and they will boasting "200,000 KW of power.. my station 104 and 107 on your FM dial" (insert JAMS jingle here)
(after spending money on fixing the stereo issues with the current 104.7 tower)

Rob
 
I was going to say you have your head up your butt, but I changed my mind....before you make posts, you need to understand broadcasting, the FCC rules and business in general....I wish this list only had broadcasters on it and no civilians who don't understand what they are typing....

Rant off

charlie
 
Understand. But I did see something like this happen before in the cleveland market. Thus why I predicted something like this may happen. There was a huge swap there @ one time.

Rob
 
I think the plan rob may be talking about was the Crumulus plan to swap 105.5 to Oh Hale and cash for 98.1 and
move Country to 98.1 and give Hale another chance to provide the Gulf Coast with another stellar broadcasting
and business experience. Since no one knows who actually owns 98.1, if anyone, except maybe lawyers, the FCC
or the IRS, it's probably a moot issue.

Charlie, you gotta have a handle on 104.7 owner Jimmy Whitaker, what will he do? Is he still okay? Did he ever
take his CP up to the full 50kw? Rob, he's old school. He was happy and he wasn't buying any of this con--
solidation, big player hype. It's rare that you see anyone in any marker willing to say "don't show me the money."
He is or was like that. And a good man, to boot. Let him do his thing in peace, until he can't. Then you'll get
another station to hate.

I dunno how ya came up with the 107/104 concept, but I will say for the record that in the days after the
103.1 flip and attempt to buy Mix 103 and the pursuit of 107.9 and 103.5 in PCB, even I entertained for a few
months the thought of using the "200,000 watts of the hottest hits on the Coast" and re-introing the WPFM
call letters to 103.5 along with something similar like WBFM on 103.1, etc. to make it sound like one mega-station
combined for the effect of being the most powerful radio stations on the beach...that was right around the
pre-Waitt period, I think. It was a fleeting marketing thought. But, the stars didn't line up THANKFULLY.

Mainly though, Rob, what the hell is "Oaklossia"??? Sounds like something none of us wanna catch
on the beach down there...
 
Tibbs....I had supper with Jimmy W. about a month ago...I see him about every 6 weeks or so....good guy.....yes he did the upgrade....new tower and antenna....but still has the old McMartin 27.5kw box....he doesn't have to run it that high for his ERP so it is fairly reliable ;) Still runs the same DOS based automation system that he bought years ago but still has cart machines in the control room....one day, he will sell but I don't look for that to happen anytime soon...he still runs the board for the nighttime Braves games. He does have RDS on his station, but no stereo...he is pleased with the station and that is all that counts!

robfwb... it is spelled Okaloosa
 
You know, if Cumulus doesn't get their hands on 98.1, WAAZ would be the next logical target. Surely they could move the transmitter south to one of the downtown FWB towers and keep it a full C1.

I really can't see a dual market simulcast with commercial FM stations in the PCB, FWB, Pensacola, Dothan, or Mobile markets happening until they start up HD-2 stations. I don't think it's ever been done before.

As far as new formats, I would think that Mix 103, Kicks 104, or Magic 106 would be the most likely to flip in the next year, unless there's an ownership change of course.
 
Charlie:

Glad to know Mr. W is doing well. Reminds me that I have to get him some WSM-AM tower pictures STILL.
I bet it's a blast having supper with him. What a class act. I will reach out to him soon. I always worry i'll
wait to long. Nice to see the company you keep. He's a VIP, like you. He is probably the one person in
radio who should be allowed to keep the stereo light off. He once told me his father (I seem to recall)
turned over his radio equipment when the FCC started licensing and regulations. Proves coming from good
stock and a safe foundation of who you are is better than waffling in the radio wind of the day... let's
see: he he virtually stress free? yes. made enough money to be happy? yes. did/does things his way? yes.
ever wear a suit? i dunno, never saw him near one. general disdain for todays radio suits? i'd guess 100%
yes. Does he care if anyone wishes he'd sell, turn off the transmitter or broadcast in stereo? hell, No.
Sounds like a winner to me!!! He is.
 
I wonder whether the recent FCC ruling extending night-time hours to AM daytimers will apply to WJSB. If Mr. Whitaker was to get fulltime authority for 1050, he may want to consider doing what a friend of mine did recently up north. This fellow has been in radio 50+ years and owned an AM-FM combo for more than 30 years... and saw no reason to stop (sort of a Bobby Bowden/Joe Paterno type). So he sold the FM license for multi-millions, but kept the AM--and the land & the building & the tower & the staff. Sunk a half-million or so back into the AM plant... tucked the rest in the bank... kept all of the combo billing on the AM... and continues to do great community-oriented full-service radio. The AM sounds better than ever, is making a comfortable little profit, and everybody's happy. No, the FM hasn't hurt him. As in most instances, the new owner moved it to the bigger market down the pike, so it's out of his way. Food for thought.
 
Tibbs....I have never seen Jimmy wear (shirt wise) nothing but a pressed/starched short sleeve white shirt that was open neck...no button down collar and of course NO tie....and that is over a 30 year period ;)

Charlie
 
Charlie:

See, Mr. W's a class act. Trumps my polyester any day.

Have you ever had supper with Ron Hale??? ;D
 
104.7 is now 100KW but not overnight. He shuts down still.

He would be better off airing coast to coast am during the overnight hours.

Rob
 
OK....let's have a Broadcasting 101 class for robfwb......just because he has a 27.5kw transmitter doesn't mean he isn't running 100kw.....FM power is expressed in EFFECTIVE RADIATED POWER (ERP)....his antenna system has a gain of about 5, therefore, he only needs 20KW to be 100KW ERP......

Next BR101 topic....program rights.....you simply just don't put a program on the air because you think it is cool, you have to get the permission on the network and/or syndicator to do so....since "Coast to Coast AM" is carried on several stations in the area, I doubt Premiere would clear it for Crestview.

End of BR101 class today for robfwb......Class dismissed....

Wooten
 
The solution, IMO, is in buying an automation system to run overnight. Sure, it might cost money, but I'm almost 100% sure Prophet sells a Dell Dimension desktop running automation for around $4000. Might cost some $$ now, but I'm sure the money made in overnight ads (if they're not trades) or barter ads will pay for it pretty quick.

Just my two cents from a guy not from the area.

Radio-X
 
radiodxrichmond said:
The solution, IMO, is in buying an automation system to run overnight. Sure, it might cost money, but I'm almost 100% sure Prophet sells a Dell Dimension desktop running automation for around $4000. Might cost some $$ now, but I'm sure the money made in overnight ads (if they're not trades) or barter ads will pay for it pretty quick.
Click to expand...

The only problem with that idea is that WAAZ doesn't run very many adds at all. As far as I know the only times they run commercials are during morning and afternoon drive and Crestview high school sports. Also, I'm pretty sure they already have some type of automation during the day and evening hours, unless they are running a tape. It seems like they play the same songs in the same order.

WAAZ is fine the way it is. Love it while we still have it, it's the last local FM that has a creative playlist. And who's listing country music radio after midnight anyway?
 
I Think WAAZ is running the automation program called stationplaylist. I see one of their announcers post questions on their newsgroup. For 500.00 it is the best automation program on the market. Includes voicetracking and scheduler. I actually like it better than Prophet or Simian. The voicetrack system is so easy to use you can cut a hour shift in 15 minutes!! However WAAZ doesn't use all of the features from what I can hear. According to the pictures they posted of the studio on the net, they still use the original mic they had back in 1954, and the board is an original mono board from the 50's or 60's. I say this is a great station, I wish we had more of them like this. Kudos :)

Ps the signal is pretty good in Alabama. If they could update the audio processing it would mask the S/N issues :)
 
It is like stepping into a museum when you walk in the station. BUT the equipment is spotless and you can "eat off the floor". Waxed and buffed vinyl tile. You are right about the console and the microphone, they right out of a 1955 Gates Radio (before Harris) catalog.... I wish I could remember the name of the automation....it is not the one you mentioned....the thing has been out since the very early 90s and is DOS based....I think it called a Spotcaster.

cw
 
Maybe a Smartcaster I used the DOS Version in Alabama And Florida. The network switching on this system is not clean. I notice on AAZ it sometimes clips the news at the top of the hour. Smartcaster was known to do this if not set to the exact time. Clock had to be synced to sat receiver or forget it.

CC Eng a side question: Can you tell me what most of the of the stations you work with in Pcola are using for processing. Is any station using a Optimod 8100. Yeah I know its a old processor, :) just curious.
 
So, is the automation just for news and other clips? If so, then I understand why they're still signing off at midnight. Just kind of interesting to see an FM station sign off. You just dont see it this day and age.

Also, anybody have an idea where any pix would be of WAAZ's studio as mentioned? And is it a pretty clean mono signal or is it "muddy" like a lot of old-school mono FM's?

Radio-X

P.S.: Random question, but why is it that all the FM'ers that still sign off at night broadcast in mono? ;D
 
I know that all CC stns in Pcola are using at least 8200s with Aphex Compellors driving them....haven't been in the rack room there in about 6 months....they have their own engineer.

Yep that's it...Smartcaster...I couldn't remember....I would imagine that Jimmy W has not gone 24 hrs because he doesn't have a remote control system on his transmitter....that would cost a couple of thousand $$$ to do it right and that is the only way he would do it if he decided to....There is a warm body there when they are on the air.....something many stations don't do....in Panama City the CC stns (6 stations, 5 FM and 1 AM) have at least 1 person at the studio 24/7....this person may or may not have announcing skills but at least if a transmitter goes off or if Prophet (computer on air system) goes "tu" (that's an engineering term...I will let you figure it out as the moderator would probably delete my message ;) ), they can either reset the transmitter (or call me) or get the audio back on the air....much better than waiting until your morning drive crew comes in and finds the station(s) of the air...which happens quite often in this market on other stations....I think it is money well spent to man a station 24/7 and I have always fought to keep this going...even though the dollars can be quite substantial...better than missing a couple of hours of drive time while you get something repaired that could have been fixed at 2am.....pissing off listeners who have radio alarm clocks to get up to go to work ;)
PLUS if there is severe weather or breaking news, it can be put on the air or someone can be called in to help.....just running the NOAA weather radio isn't enough sometimes....our media partner's (CH7) weather people stay late...even overnight if there is a chance of severe weather and they can call the CC studios and coordinate a feed over our direct link with CH7 taylored for the radio audience....sometimes just putting TV audio on the air doesn't help out the radio listeners when the weather people say "if you look here, you can see the hook echo of the tornado and you can see where it is headed"...that can really piss off a radio listener :mad:
 
He can get spacialaudio 4 for $299 which does fine but it's complex. Where is this forum for WAAZ?

Rob
 
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