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Jax AM Swaps and Changes

T

trusty

Back in 1965 (IIRQ), Jacksonville had at least 3 Top-40 AM stations: WPDQ/600, WAPE/690 and WMBR/1460. Well, I found that in 1989(?), WPDQ had moved to 690 and 600 was filled with WOKV. Then, WOKV went to 690 and the 600 frequency got WSNY(?). (I think Disney was in the picture somehow.) But, before that, WPDQ had found itself on 1460 (remember IIRQ), and WMBR went into hiding.

All I know is, WPDQ is in Illinois, WMBR in Massachusetts, but the Big Ape is still a Jacksonville station - FM only.

I give up. Can someone clear this up for me (or point me to a website that can (I can't find any.))? Thank you.

And what's a WBOB?
 
trusty said:
Back in 1965 (IIRQ), Jacksonville had at least 3 Top-40 AM stations: WPDQ/600, WAPE/690 and WMBR/1460. Well, I found that in 1989(?), WPDQ had moved to 690 and 600 was filled with WOKV. Then, WOKV went to 690 and the 600 frequency got WSNY(?). (I think Disney was in the picture somehow.) But, before that, WPDQ had found itself on 1460 (remember IIRQ), and WMBR went into hiding.

All I know is, WPDQ is in Illinois, WMBR in Massachusetts, but the Big Ape is still a Jacksonville station - FM only.

I give up. Can someone clear this up for me (or point me to a website that can (I can't find any.))? Thank you.

And what's a WBOB?
Click to expand...

LOL! While most of these changes happened quite a few years ago, it's certainly nothing unusual in the radio industry. Dr. Tillery can probably provide us some exact timeline dates. As an example, over the years, AM 600 has had several format changes and call letter changes. During a large percentage of the '60's and '70's AM 600 was WPDQ, WAPE's arch rival Top 40 station. Then at some point in the late 70's it became Sunny 60 WSNY (Call letters were previously on 1240 AM in Schenectady, NY) an Adult Contemporary Music station, BEFORE it transitioned to News/Talk WOKV in the early '80's. Then around 1994, WOKV acquired the superior AM 690 frequency, and moved the WOKV calls and format to 690, where it has remained to this day. I'm a bit fuzzy on what happened to AM 600 in 1994 right after the 'OKV move, but eventually AM 600 became a sports station as AM 600 WBWL The Ball. That lasted for several years until Disney bought the frequency in Jax, and AM 600 became one of the many Radio Disney AM facilities around the country. Disney decided in 2010 to sell several of it's medium market stations, including Jacksonville, when on October 1, 2010 Chesapeake-Portsmouth moved their Talk formatted WBOB to the AM 600 position, where it remains today. The WBOB calls are rather new to Jax, they were used at one time in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and then reappeared in the Cincinnati market, before being moved to Jacksonville, originally on 1320AM. If this all sounds a bit confusing, well, to the casual observer or listener, it probably is! And this is only the tip of the swaps and changes that have occured in just Jacksonville. In some cases, like the WPDQ call letter moves, the AM 600 WPDQ, had nothing to do with the WPDQ that was on AM 1460 in the '80's, and the WPDQ that was briefly on AM 690 in the early '90's. Several heritage call letters have been moved around over the past few decades, because, I would guess, they were either familiar, and/or there was some sentimental value involved. I'm sure that some other keen radio observers can shed more light on some of the other Swaps and Changes over the years!
 
WBWL was around till the summer of 2002. They had one piece of the Jaguars rights, along with WOKV and 96.9 FM. They all were co-flagship stations.

They went to mainly an ESPN format in 2001, but soon after Cox sold it to Disney. Before they did, WBWL simulcasted 96.9 (then Kool, the oldies station) for a few weeks, back when it was actually a very good oldies station.

ESPN went to 1460 AM, while 1570 AM went to Sporting News Radio.

Then, they went to Radio-Disney. WOKV has been here as long as I can remember at 690 (from Charleston). When I started listening around 1999 or 2000, they still had most of the same lineup they had today, except for afternoon drive before Hannity became syndicated.

It is very confusing. Jacksonville has a lot of AMs with big influences.
WOKV for a few seasons had the Georgia rights, so we heard Larry Munson's calls on 690.
 
When the WOKV call letters and news-talk format moved from AM 600 to AM 690, the WPDQ call letters moved from AM 690 back to AM 600. While the new WOKV 690 became Jacksonville's 50,000 watt news-talk outlet, the old, yet new, WPDQ 600 briefly programmed an adult standards format. Within a year WPDQ 600 became all sports WBWL "The Ball" later becoming a Radio Disney affiliate and is now news-talk WBOB.
 
younglee981, while it IS ironic that AM 600 WBOB is now a conservative news-talk station on WOKV's orginal signal, the real funny thing is, they AREN'T really giving them any serious competition! A year or so ago, I thought maybe with WBOB's move to AM 600, they might be able to get around a 2 share, but, that has yet to happen for a number of reasons. IMO, WBOB's sloppy transition from AM 1320, to 1530 (daytime only) for a couple of months during the Summer of 2010, and then finally landing at the AM 600 position on Oct. 1, 2010, was an audience killer. Then along came the PPM ratings technology on the heels of this move. While WBOB has some strong syndicated weekday programming, they still need to develop a stronger local presence, with some sort of local morning personality/local news type presentation to kick off the day and really compete with WOKV. But without a big promotional push and at least a class A FM to go along with it, this idea would, most likely, be in vain. WBOB continues to be way less consistent than they need to be to give AM 690 WOKV any real headache. FYI - WBOB has formally applied to the FCC to upgrade both the daytime and nighttime power of AM 600, but if the past is any indication, over the past few years, Chesapeake-Portsmouth has had a habit of upgrading their AM facilities in Jacksonville, only to turn around a short time later and spin them off to religious broadcasters.
 
jmtillery said:
When the WOKV call letters and news-talk format moved from AM 600 to AM 690, the WPDQ call letters moved from AM 690 back to AM 600. While the new WOKV 690 became Jacksonville's 50,000 watt news-talk outlet, the old, yet new, WPDQ 600 briefly programmed an adult standards format. Within a year WPDQ 600 became all sports WBWL "The Ball" later becoming a Radio Disney affiliate and is now news-talk WBOB.
Click to expand...

Dr. Tillery, Thank you for the AM 600 timeline clarification!
 
Is it any wonder why AM is in the mess its in, call letters, frequencies and formats are changed almost as often as people change their sox with only big signal
survive as listeners get frustrated and confused. WJAX was Jacksonville for 75 years and basically just dissappears for all practical purposes. Every nit wit follows every other nit wit when changing a station to a sports format with "the game" or "the score" or "the fan" etc. Under the WEEI call letters (Edison Electric Illuminating since 1922) WEEI was until recently the high rated sports station in North America, there was never any need to ditch the most so prestigious and a natural. JAX appears everywhere as in JAX liquors along with every where else in North Florida....always in the public eye. Whats the first thing that comes to mind when you hear of WFXJ? probably something to do with FOX news. Dumb and dumber only these people did not even change it to something really related to sports. 930 would likely be in much better shape today if they had kept the WJAX call letters.
 
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