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How Close can 106.1 WNGC get to Metro Atlanta?
- Thread starter TJB
- Start date
G
Goodtimesandgreatoldies
Guest
I am sure that the folks in Toccoa, GA wouldn`t take kind to moving their station. WNGC is a local tradition down there for over 35 years. It used to be on the frequency that the Beat is on. Changed in 1999. Cox shouln`t mess with it. Too many people and traffic in Atlanta!!!!!! NOTHING else needs to move in here! Do you want the wait on the Interstates to increase even more? There needs to be a movement for LESS people in Metro Atlanta! Hell, we are even running out of water! Keep WNGC where it is! Don`t mess with it!
You also have 106.7 as a third-adjacent, although there's some grandfathering that relates to some third-adjacents (like 94.9, 95.5, and 96.1). 106.7 and 106.1 have been right up under each other for years, so I would imagine that they may be grandfathered as well.
There's also LPFM (100W) WHLE 106.3 out of Tyrone, but don't LPFMs have to yield the right of way to a full power station?
Beyond that, I'm not sure of all the ins and outs of how close you can get for same-channels, first adjacents, etc. I think the biggest sticking point would be 105.7 on a second adjacent. You might be able to push 106.1 southward and come in from the east (and cover Athens better in the process) to avoid 105.7. You'd have to kiss Toccoa goodbye to do that, though (although Cox would probably want to change the CoL anyway).
I still like my old idea of putting alternative on 106.1 and serving both the Clemson and Athens markets.
There's also LPFM (100W) WHLE 106.3 out of Tyrone, but don't LPFMs have to yield the right of way to a full power station?
Beyond that, I'm not sure of all the ins and outs of how close you can get for same-channels, first adjacents, etc. I think the biggest sticking point would be 105.7 on a second adjacent. You might be able to push 106.1 southward and come in from the east (and cover Athens better in the process) to avoid 105.7. You'd have to kiss Toccoa goodbye to do that, though (although Cox would probably want to change the CoL anyway).
I still like my old idea of putting alternative on 106.1 and serving both the Clemson and Athens markets.
G
Goodtimesandgreatoldies
Guest
Yea. but alternative doesn`t do well at ALL in Upstate S.C. There is a long list of failures of Alternatives in the Greenville/Spartburg/Anderson S.C. Market. Clemson University has their own Alternative radio stations, anyway. 106.1 would be better off as Classic Country or maybe Classics Hits.
TJB said:
I forgot about the CoL move for WNGC (duh, since I was on that thread). I read the app for the move, and it sounded like Cox was moving the CoL of WNGC to replace 103.7 which is moving from Arcade to Maysville. There may be more to it than that...especially since moving WBTS's CoL from Athens to Doraville was a prelude to moving the transmitter.
Goodtimesandgreatoldies said:
There seems to be very little "long term philosophical thinking" that drives radio today.
In all the brouhaha over Lake Lanier and water and our fight with Alabama and Florida, one of the numbers that really hit me was some population projections over the next 25 years for metro Atlanta. Mind Boggling. And 1 to 2 million of that population increase is projected for this area starting at Cumming, around the north side of Lake Lanier and on up toward Toccoa, Cornelia and Clayton. So wise philosophical long-term-thinking at the FCC level maybe should say: "No, we are going to leave it where it is. 15 to 20 years from now the people living in that area will be saying: Why did you stand by and allow all our stations to be ripped out?"
Let me come back to "Charlantingham" in a moment.
The real world of radio has been moving from that kind of benevolent caretaker thinking at the Federal level to a level of: The allocations do not belong to communities and the public, they belong to the businesses that are licensees. For the five to 10 year time frame, it may well be in the immediate best interest of Cox to move the station and let it gin cash. Our children and grand children can worry about the future. Besides that, 25 years from now Internet or satellite or something may have killed broadcast radio as we know it, so why deprive us of what it rightfully ours NOW, to protect something that may never be.
Several years ago the Sunday edition of the AJC had a bold headline across the front page which said: "CharLantingHam?"
Beneath it was a satellite photo taken at night (early night? Before stores closed, etc?) showing this belt of visible light from Raleigh-Durham down through Charlotte through Atlanta through to Birmingham. We had learned a number of years ago that there was this big metro corridor up in the northeast from Washington and Philadelphia on up through New York to Boston. A commuter airline was developed to serve that corridor. Passenger rail service comes as near to thriving up there as anywhere in our nation.
The gist of that article what that our infrastructure should begin to recognize where it should be in the future. So what does our stat government keep trying to do? Go across the grain and develop highways and rail structure for a corridor from Macon to Atlanta to Chattanooga. Go figure.
(I feel so much better now that I have that little RANT out of my system.)
What is the duty of a corporation like Cox? What is the duty of our various levels of government? How much do we modify the infrastructure to meet the short term needs and opportunities (90 days to five years) and how much do we modify (or leave alone) the infrastructure to meet the anticipated long term needs and opportunities.
There probably is no one right answer. We all look inside ourselves for our philosophical, religious and political values, we take sides, and we argue away over what is RIGHT.
As soon as we solve this issue of WNGC, then we can move on and solve Iraq, Global Warming, the Mortgage mess, and the College Football Championship issues. ;D
P.S. In the ten years I have listened to WNGC from time to time, they have stood on stage pretending to be an ATHENS station. What is it that the citizens of Toccoa have to get indignant about now if there is a COL change?
WNGC has always been an Athens station all the way back to the 95.5 days. When Southern Broadcasting bought it in 1999 they just kept everyting in Athens. Cox could move the tower to reach people in the south and west parts of Atlanta. WNGC considered moving it to Sugar Hill in 2001 but scrapped those plans. I know WYAY and WNGC's transmitters are in Gainsville.
RhubarbFan said:
I remember the attempted move to Sugar Hill.
Nope on WYAY's transmitter--it hasn't been in Gainesville proper since they moved in in the early 80s. It was on the WFOX/WSRV (and WBTS for now) stick near Chateau Elan (http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WSRV&service=FM&status=L&hours=U ) after the move-in, and more recently moved to the Fish stick (sorry, couldn't resist) near Loganville (see http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WYAY&service=FM&status=L&hours=U ).
WYAY's studio is in Marietta with Kicks and Radio Disney, while WNGC's studio is in (I think) the Southern Broadcasting building off of Ga. 316 near the Athens Perimeter (Bogart?).
TJB said:
It's clerical... The RSV is the reallotment of the frequency. WNGC can't file to operate on 106.1 from Arcade unless 106.1 is allotted to Arcade first; the RSV is that allotment. After that goes through, WNGC can file the APP to move. (and then if the FCC agrees that it works, they grant the CP)
J
jonblaze
Guest
WNGC is not moving to Atlanta
Cox is not moving WNGC's tower anywhere. Lula is a sweet spot for the station. My guess is that they are moving the COL to Arcade from Toccoa because Arcade is in the Atlanta market and Toccoa is in the Greenville market. If Cox moves the tower closer to Atlanta, they would have to decrease the power, as there is a 106.1 (Rooster 106)in Columbus that you can pick up on the south side of Atlanta.
Cox isn't flipping formats of WNGC. WNGC is the money maker of the group. As far as WXKT 103.7, they may put that stick on WNGC's tower in Lula.
Cox is not moving WNGC's tower anywhere. Lula is a sweet spot for the station. My guess is that they are moving the COL to Arcade from Toccoa because Arcade is in the Atlanta market and Toccoa is in the Greenville market. If Cox moves the tower closer to Atlanta, they would have to decrease the power, as there is a 106.1 (Rooster 106)in Columbus that you can pick up on the south side of Atlanta.
Cox isn't flipping formats of WNGC. WNGC is the money maker of the group. As far as WXKT 103.7, they may put that stick on WNGC's tower in Lula.
WYAY's transmitter is in Chateu Elian near Lake Lainer,kicks and Disney are in Marrietta. WNGC's studios are in five pionts in Atens with WGAU. I know about the Roster 106.1 in Columbus because sometimes they cut into WNGC's signal. Sam Lake who use to do traffic on WGST and Metro networks use to do their traffic reports.
As far as I know, Cox owns its full complement of FM's in Atlanta and cannot add another one. So I don't think WNGC is going to be moving.
The other point is Cox bought that whole group of (Southern Broadcasting) stations. It appears they wanted a cluster in that area. It's not like they bought just WNGC.
The other point is Cox bought that whole group of (Southern Broadcasting) stations. It appears they wanted a cluster in that area. It's not like they bought just WNGC.
G
Goodtimesandgreatoldies
Guest
Very good point, Roddy! I thought that Cox had the limit for radio stations in Atlanta! WNGC can`t be moved to Atlanta by Cox unless they sell another station!
Wich one are they going to sell,it won't be B98.5,it could either be 95.5 wich use to be WNGC before Southern Broadcasting bought it or the River.
RhubarbFan said:
If Cox would go ahead and just sell or spin off the AJC, none of this would be an issue. Cox should have gotten out of the newspaper business entirely when they announced they were selling all but there big three papers.
Clear Channel owns nine stations in the Atlanta market (including the Newnan/LaGrange standalone cluster). They can do that because they own no newspaper (or TV station) in Atlanta. When Cox bought then WFOX in 2000, they technically owned two papers (IIRC, the Journal and Constitution were still technically standalone). When they formally merged in 2001, it seemed to pass FCC muster. But still that put an end to Cox's plans to buy more radio stations or a second TV station.
Cox needs to get over their attachment to newspapers. Their money is coming from Manheim car auctions anyway. They can follow the lead of other companies that have started in one industry, only to be better in others and get out of the industry they started in (cell-phone maker Nokia started out making toilet paper and rubber boots).
RoddyFreeman said:
The limit for ATL is 8 stations, no more of 5 each of FM or AM.
I'm counting B98.5, River, Beat, and WALR for existing FMs. That leaves one more FM.
Looking at the app attachment (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=676110 ), and if I am reading this app and understanding the thinking in it correctly, it seems like Cox could move in WNGC all they want without running afoul of market restrictions. Interference with other stations is another story, with 106.1 out of Columbus on same-channel and 105.7 on a second-adjacent--and there may be others.
Incidentally, Cox is FM-maxed out in parts of Clarke County: WGMG, WNGC, River, Beat, and WPUP--which may have been why they moved 103.7 out--plus the 2 AMs (960 and 1340). When Beat moves to the Freedom Parkway (?) tower this will free up one FM for Cox in Athens.
Here's Cox's position on the newspaper issue. It appears they are already operating under a waiver and this was an issue with the WBTS move-in, as well as the WALR move-in. From the Beat move-in app:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=600582
It sounds like all Cox would have to do with WNGC is keep the stick and CoL out of the city limits of ATL, which would probably happen anyway.
It also sounds like Cox is hoping that this newspaper cross-ownership issue gets deferred indefinitely (it has been since 1996 or so), and they will cross that bridge when they get to it.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=600582
It sounds like all Cox would have to do with WNGC is keep the stick and CoL out of the city limits of ATL, which would probably happen anyway.
It also sounds like Cox is hoping that this newspaper cross-ownership issue gets deferred indefinitely (it has been since 1996 or so), and they will cross that bridge when they get to it.
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