its been off the air for weeks. Radio-locator lists them as silent. Is this temp or is is gone forever. In its heyday it had a massive signal. They fixed bad audio problem a while back and it was sounding much better, but not sure how many people were listening. Apparantly not very many if they threw in the towel.
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Is WSJC Magee gone?
- Thread starter flytrap
- Start date
It's been awhile, but at one time I worked for the radio station in Taylorsville. Actually I was the manager. I was too young to be the manager, but the attorney who owned the station chose me.
Driving from Jackson every morning, I would pass the Magee station, with its towers and its 50,000 watts. (We were 250 watts.) I would think, if these people ever wake up, they would dominate all of southern Miss. But they chose to sell time slots to preachers instead of tyring to get the mass audience they covered to listen and then sell real commericals.
The brothers who owned the station also owned a 50,000 watter in Houston, Miss. Same format. Same preachers.
Oh well. That's my rememberances.
Driving from Jackson every morning, I would pass the Magee station, with its towers and its 50,000 watts. (We were 250 watts.) I would think, if these people ever wake up, they would dominate all of southern Miss. But they chose to sell time slots to preachers instead of tyring to get the mass audience they covered to listen and then sell real commericals.
The brothers who owned the station also owned a 50,000 watter in Houston, Miss. Same format. Same preachers.
Oh well. That's my rememberances.
Henry, your comment jogs my memory ... owners were Robin and Marvin Mathis? I was a friend of one of the sons, Mike Mathis ... around 1973 ... his mother, Jeanette, widow of one of the brothers, was running the station. Once a daytimer, they got 500 watts night with a second tower. KCMO 810 in Kansas City Missouri (in case the calls don't reveal the location) was putting a 50 kw night DA lobe into Mississippi, and I can't figure out how the WSJC night facility ever got authorized.
The Mathis bros also owned the Senatobia AM, and I sorta remember them having the 50 kw daytimer (also on 810) in Jacksonville, Ala (just outside Anniston). May be wrong on that one.
WSJC was originally on 1280, moved to 790 for a modest increase in power/coverage, then made the big jump from there to 810 with 50 gallons. The Taylorsville station actually picked up the 1280 frequency that WSJC had abandoned. I think it was 500 watts, not 250, but that's not significant. Calls were WSCO maybe, for Smith COunty? I was dating a lady from Taylorsville in 1974 and the station had already shut down by then, so it's long gone.
The Mathis bros also owned the Senatobia AM, and I sorta remember them having the 50 kw daytimer (also on 810) in Jacksonville, Ala (just outside Anniston). May be wrong on that one.
WSJC was originally on 1280, moved to 790 for a modest increase in power/coverage, then made the big jump from there to 810 with 50 gallons. The Taylorsville station actually picked up the 1280 frequency that WSJC had abandoned. I think it was 500 watts, not 250, but that's not significant. Calls were WSCO maybe, for Smith COunty? I was dating a lady from Taylorsville in 1974 and the station had already shut down by then, so it's long gone.
I always thought of the 50 kw thing in Houston and Magee as being an ego thing rather than a practical business decision. The electric bill was surely a deal killer, not to mention the cost of a 50 kw transmitter. You gotta sell a lot of $2 spots (I'm sure that was all the merchants would pay in those smaller communities reached by the 50 kw) to meet those costs. In the 1971-1979 period I operated a Jackson radio station, I don't remember ever seeing WSJC show up in an Arbitron or Pulse. Maybe it was easier to sell the coverage to preachers, and I remember they always had a few here and there, interspersed with the entertainment programming.
Maybe some national spot buys were sold off the coverage map, but there were no ratings to justify it.
This old man's fuzzy memory, however, recalls a time when the GM of WJQS 1400 told me their national rep sometimes got in on a buy by offering WJQS and WSJC in combo ... one had at least some numbers in the metro, and the other delivered at least something in the TSA (total survey area).
Maybe some national spot buys were sold off the coverage map, but there were no ratings to justify it.
This old man's fuzzy memory, however, recalls a time when the GM of WJQS 1400 told me their national rep sometimes got in on a buy by offering WJQS and WSJC in combo ... one had at least some numbers in the metro, and the other delivered at least something in the TSA (total survey area).
My mothers cousin was J.B. Skelton who worked for the big WCSP in Houston. He died several years ago. I believe he also did some work for WSJC when the Mathis Brothers owned it. But didn't one of them (Marvin?) get hit by a train or something? I believe his wife ran WSJC after he died. I only remember back to the 70's and WSJC had mostly a block format. Part of the day was country and gospel and they played pop hits in the afternoon and at night after they reduced power they had black gospel. After they sold their FM 107.5 it was mostly preachers and for a while it had "Peoples Network" or "Sun Network" or whatever it was called. the also quit turning on the 50Kw blowtorch for a while. I remember they would sometimes leave it 50kw almost until 9pm. Its a shame someone couldn't do something with that station, I guess the light bill is just too high. Magee is a booming town and WSJC can be picked up from hattisburg to Jackson with no problem. The local businesses in Magee don't really have a place to advertise unless its on a Hattisburg or Jackson station.
WSJC can be heard during the day here in Mobile, albeit weakly, when it's on with 50 kw. BTW Houston is WCPC (WCSP is the defunct Crystal Springs station we recently discussed on another forum).
I remember taking a tour of the Houston station back in the early 70s. I'm pretty sure it was at night and only the FM was on. The guy running the FM took us around the station. Showed us the "time" bell hanging on the wall and the "echoplex" that was used on the air chain. I heard his song go off and asked if he needed to get that and he said "Naw, it's an album, so it'll keep playin'". Those were the days!
Did one of the sons use the last name "Huff" as his air name? I remember he sounded like he should be in a much bigger market.
Did one of the sons use the last name "Huff" as his air name? I remember he sounded like he should be in a much bigger market.
SkinnyJohnny said:
There was a Rick Huffman who did the afternoon top-40 show on WCPC; still with the station into the '90s. He did sound pretty good. That station always fascinated me during the '70s as a child living in Tupelo. On the old website Tupeloradio.com there used to be a couple of WCPC staff pictures - one from the '50s and another in the mid '70s.
I always enjoyed listening to Robin Mathis on-air ... his voice could have easily been mistaken for Pat Buttram's.
The "echoplex", whatever that was, generated an effect that I recall was more like a slap-back echo than your average reverb.
I second Mr. Bowab's remark about overhead. That was a real puzzler, for sure!
--Russell
Yeah, that's him Rick Huffman. Thanks for the info!
The echoplex was a tape loop system that I think basically had a record head and several playback heads (for different delay times). I believe there was another type that had one playback head that was adjustable for different delay times. My memory is a little foggy on it. I always thought it sounded kind of cheap.
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