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Genesis move

M

MRW

Guest
Radio Genesis / WWBA/ WHBO moved from its prestigious offices/studios
in the Westshore area of Tampa to a new space at their transmitter site
in Largo. To quote a Genesis insider (who asked to remain unnamed, "take a client there -- I wouldn't even bring my dog there". Manager "Hollywood" Manning joins a long list of qualified Tampa Bay broadcast/sales professionals who is no longer on the payroll. 9a-noon on WWBA is now totally brokered programming.
Happy New Year BM & Genesis! ;D
 
Probably ESPN 1040 and 1470 too. That would explain the strange noises during the Sports Babe show when she tried to open Ronnie Lane's mic, and her complaints about the air conditioning. But I must say that some of the best radio in Tampa Bay history was housed in places that even crack dealers would have overlooked. Be nice if they spent the saved rent money on local talent, but I suspect it's just going to keep them from circling the drain a little longer.
 
Would that be the 820 transmitter site? UGH. Good luck with the RF interference into the equipment.
 
Traded in a high rise view of the city for a close up view of the City of Largo Public Works yard parking lot full of garbage trucks. I do remember a building in their tower field with a big 820 painted on it. I will be in Largo this week, I'll drive by to see if they spruced it up any. Still as frankberry said, this will be a RF nightmare.

smedge2006 said:
But I must say that some of the best radio in Tampa Bay history was housed in places that even crack dealers would have overlooked.
Click to expand...
That cant be a reference to the former crack house currently occupied by WTAN could it? ::)
 
I last saw the Largo station in 1984. Studios and transmitter were co-located. Are we talking about the same site? The building that I visited was not a trailer.
 
When I worked there (around 1996?), the building (the one shown in the picture linked above) wasn't a trailer but a pre-fab type building that I believe was raised up like a trailer would be in case the area ever flooded, and it did frequently.

The RF in that building was an absolute nightmare. I kid you not that the RF was so bad you could not dial out on the telephones because the touch tones were distorted. If you wanted to make a call out (and I'm being serious here), the board op would have to pull the level down on the control board about half way, then the touch tones would work. Also I recall the RF being so bad that we couldn't get any delay system to work. The RF got into the delay box itself so bad that it wasn't reliable.

There's room in there for three station studios and a prod room or two. Sales and programming would fit in the back no problem, so space isn't the issue.

As far as talking clients there, you just don't. Take them out somewhere. But when 820 was operating from there back in the WRFA days and before, all the money coming in was from time buys, the building didnt hurt them then. If all they are doing is brokering a lot of it out now, then they should manage fine.

Ideal? No. Practical? Probably.
 
When I left WRFA 820 in Largo in 1994, all the studios had been rebuilt with all new gear. I don't know what Paxson Broadcasting and additional owners did to the Largo building. It is an RF nightmare with the hot tower a few feet from the building. You should walk through the building with an RF meter. It is a good place to get cancer,
 
when that place was WSST on 800 RF was not a problem as WSST was only 250 watts or so. They should have lined the walls with copper screen to cut back on the rf. I bet they didnt do it...
 
It always strikes me as funny that many of these stations operated just fine from their transmitter sites for DECADES prior to the '96 telecom act. Suddenly it became low class, or you were a bad broadcaster if you didn't have posh digs somewhere in a glass tower in "cubicle city". The real issue often is that todays "I.T. based engineer" doesn't know how to work in a high RF environment. Add to that the old Gates Diplomat that is MADE for high RF situations, unlike the tiny dime store slide pot mixer bought at Best Buy.

A lot of "good radio" was created in not-so-classy surroundings. Radio isn't television. Your listeners probably don't give 2 s--t's what your studio or offices look like. Worry about the on-air product first. If someone asks why your facilities are less than stellar, tell them: The on-air product, and our listeners come FIRST.

End of rant.
 
sbe1 said:
when that place was WSST on 800 RF was not a problem as WSST was only 250 watts or so. They should have lined the walls with copper screen to cut back on the rf. I bet they didnt do it...
Click to expand...

They did put in copper screening. Whether or not the copper was properly connected to ground is another matter.
The main problem is the distance between the building and one of the towers. The tower is much too close.
They need to construct a new, properly shielded building, at a greater distance from the array. That won't happen so they will learn to live with the RF.
 
Technical issues aside. They have committed to move operations to that site so they will have to resolve those issues. But, I think there is a bigger issue at work here.

Slashing staff and instituting pay cuts for those who remain. Offering cheaper programming choices like voice tracking and utilizing more syndicated options. Accepting paid programming in dayparts that were previously forbidden. Cutting expenses to the bone. This is what we’ve seen in this market and across the broadcast spectrum. No properties and/or ownership groups have been immune. They’ve all done it to varying degrees. So I ask; Is Genesis Communications any different than the rest? Or is there something special about Genesis? Are their moves, like everyone else’s just a reaction to the new realities of greatly reduced ad revenues or is their current circumstance more a product of their own making? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Industry Insider said:
Technical issues aside. They have committed to move operations to that site so they will have to resolve those issues. But, I think there is a bigger issue at work here.

Slashing staff and instituting pay cuts for those who remain. Offering cheaper programming choices like voice tracking and utilizing more syndicated options. Accepting paid programming in dayparts that were previously forbidden. Cutting expenses to the bone. This is what we’ve seen in this market and across the broadcast spectrum. No properties and/or ownership groups have been immune. They’ve all done it to varying degrees. So I ask; Is Genesis Communications any different than the rest? Or is there something special about Genesis? Are their moves, like everyone else’s just a reaction to the new realities of greatly reduced ad revenues or is their current circumstance more a product of their own making? Inquiring minds want to know.
Click to expand...

Good comments. Good questions too. Why are they doing this?
 
I drove by the tower site today. Looks like the tower field was recently mowed, and it looked like there were workers fixing the fence around the property. The building looked just the same as the last time I saw it some time ago except for more cars in the parking lot!

stereolane hit the nail on the head. Most of the stations I started out at back in the 60's were co-located with the towers, usually with a big glass window looking at the transmitter so you could take reading every half hour without leaving the studio. Everything was 600 ohm balanced broadcast grade equipment. Not a piece of consumer or hi-z equipment in the place. With good engineering practices RF was not a problem.

As for Industry Insiders comments, I think people follow the Genesis saga because they are ALMOST a mom and pop like station (BM and family with some Atlanta backers), with only AM signals, a couple of flame throwers, and the potential to be a player. We WANTED him to succeed! But,.................. Of course, we are industry outsiders looking in so we may never know exactly what brought Genesis to their current position. (Hmmmm.........Industry Insider........... maybe...........nah....) Does anybody know how they were doing before they bought the 820 signal? Was that the tipping point?
 
I know this particular thread is about the 820 site now being home to the studios, but we must remember the condition of the 1040 site with a missing tower, houses built in the near field. missing ground system and retention ponds built in the ground field. One of the guy anchors is only a few feet from the house and in the lawn.
 
Amen to that sbe1. And you can add the 1470 site too. Tower is in dire need of paint! And according to Frank F the ground system there was always a problem. It does have a small building fronting CR 95 that I am sure at one time housed studios and offices. Big for sale sign out in front too, but that is for the land although it might work for wmgg too ;)

Looks like Genesis is abandoning their dual day/night site move of 1470 over to Tampa. Now it looks like they will go with a combined day/night site at I believe the WTMP site in Egypt Lake. A lot of engineering money has surely gone into that project which will result in a better signal over Tampa but does Tampa really need another AM signal?
 
I once worked for an FM station with their studios at the transmitter site.
RF got into everything. All audio had to be transformer balanced and isolated.
It was an ongoing problem. It's far more difficult to eliminate FM RF interference than to eliminate the lower frequency MW interference.
 
The ground system at the 1470 site shouldnt be that bad. I have an aerial shot from several years ago (less than 10) which shows all the rows where the new ground wires were plowed in. Isnt the WTMP site north of Hillsborogh and east of Dale Mabry in the middle of an apartment complex with 3 nice in line towers?
 
I think it's time to move forward a bit. If the station is really committed to an on air employee, set it up so they work from home. (Gasp!). Lower the overhead. We're past the days when you had to have a dog and pony show for every guest or sponsor on the station. Its like car dealers. Why the extremely fancy showroom? Your only paying more for the privledge in the price of the car.

Commercials? Cut em at home on your desktop or laptop. Why spend hundreds of thousands on equipment you ll never pay off? Your a host? Congrats. You're also an account executive AND producer of your spots, unless you get an agency buy. Learn. TV is peeling back on reporters in favor of "Photo Journalists". The small market mentality of shoot your own s--t now applies to markets like Tampa Bay.

Your transmitter site would be the main studio, such as it is, for legalities, your board op(s), office manager/secretary and office for your on call engineer. Your station is now streamed, twittered and facebooked.
 
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