L M A stations

[sharona master]

Is there any am stations around the Cleveland area that are willing to L M A.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Curious: are you thinking of an inner-city signal or a suburban signal focusing on that specific region?

 

[sharona master]

either one

 

[vjm]

Is there any am stations around the Cleveland area that are willing to L M A.

Just one man's prespective:

WHLO 640 (Akron) - negatory
WKNR 850 - no way..that's GKB's biggest toy in their portfolio
WEOL 930 (Lorian/Elyria) - maybe, it all depends on what they get out of it
WCCD 1000 - maybe, if you want a 500 watt daytimer
WJTB 1040 (Lorain/Elyria) - what a joke
WTAM 1100 - not in a million years
WCUE 1150 (Akron) - too busy figuring out the next date of the rapture
WHKW 1220 - doubt it, the brokered preach and teach format brings in good $$
WWMK 1260 - probably not, Radio Disney likes having a presence here
WJMO 1300 - doubt it, they're doing well as a gospel station
WELW 1330 (Lake County) - a legit LMA contender, if you know you have only a narrow reach
WARF 1350 (Akron) - nyet
WHK 1420 - if you overwelm them, Salem will listen
WLEC 1450 (Sandusky) - nope, it's Erie County's heritage station
WABQ 1460 (Lake County) - just like 1330, a contender if you know your range is limited
WHBC 1480 (Canton) - nope
WERE 1490 - will listen
WJMP 1520 (Akron) - the Klaus clan will listen, but again, limited range
WWGK 1540 - no way, GKB sees value in it
WAKR 1590 (Akron) - forget it

 

[Whiplash]

IMO it would take $10,000 to $20,000 a month minimum to LMA any station in or near Cleveland. And I might be low.

 

[sharona master]

that would be more than most of those ans make anyway do not agree i think your a little hi.

 

[sharona master]

be sides most of them are not worth it the land they sit on is worth more.

 

[Tim L]

The guy (1250 WTAE) gave you a pretty good answer I think. He knows a little bit more about it than many here..Pretty good analysis of most of the Cleveland stations as well..If any station thought an LMA was worth it, they'd already be doing it by now..

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Indeed, 1250WTAE knows the landscape on this one.

I wonder how many bucks you'd have to wave under James Taylor's nose to LMA 1040 from him?

Positive: One of the most unrealized signals in Cleveland...booms across much of Cuyahoga County and beyond.

Negative: Poorly maintained. You'd get better sound out of a homemade transmitter, and the studios are probably awful. Oh, and it's a daytimer.

Do I hear $1000 a month?

 

[johnbasalla]

WJTB has "Critical Hours" coverage at a reduced wattage.

 

[Whiplash]

Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Markets of similar size. Disney LMA'd 540 in Canonsburg for 40K a month. I do believe my numbers and thoughts are correct. And to do an LMA near Cleveland would require, IMO $100,000 plus for the first year, with probably $20,000 down up front.

 

[sharona master]

i offered Taylor a $ 1000 a month he never answered me.

 

[johnbasalla]

I say you're lucky Mr. Taylor of WJTB never answered your inquiry. Why would anybody want to be on the hook for a technically challenged, poor audio quality facility, unless fixing the problems would be part of the deal?

 

[Whiplash]

Probably didnt answer, because you were $9,000 short a month. Or in the case of the signal you spoke of, perhaps $4000 short a month.

 

[Rusty Muck]

i offered Taylor a $ 1000 a month he never answered me.

Oof. Somehow, James Taylor and his son somehow believe that they can make money with that station. (There have been plenty of stories about that sad-sack operation - and of Mr. Taylor himself.)

I'd only purchase the license, raze the transmitter, and set up an entirely new station. Not sure if night service could ever be attained, but I remember reading somewhere that its' possible.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Yeah, I threw out the most challenged facility in the entire market, and clearly noted its limitations (and then some). Sharona, did you actually contact Mr. Taylor based on my message? I was only throwing out the $1000 a month figure basically as a joke.

(And yes, oddly enough, he certainly thinks it's worth more, as a sale or an LMA, either one.)

I'd ask WCCD, but New Spirit Revival Center just bought it fairly recently, and isn't likely to be looking to lease or sell it. That's a much better technical facility than 1040. At least it doesn't sound like they're loaded with buzz and mismatched equipment - Salem had the thing until they sold it to New Spirit.

WJTB won't ever get night power. WHO in Des Moines booms into the area at night on 1040. Similarly, WILB/1060 Canton increased its day power to 15 kW, will forever be a daytimer due to KYW, and for that matter, the same with Good Karma's WWGK/1540 in Cleveland (KXEL), even if it could ever build out that CP for higher daytime power.

johnbasalla, Critical Hours doesn't give WJTB anything past sunset or before sunrise. (I know, I made that mistake once, ask Scott Fybush when he gets back from California!) It governs the period right after sunrise and right before sunset. From Radio-Locator's explanation:

The two hours immediately after sunrise and the two hours directly before sunset are referred to as "Critical Hours".

AM radio signals travel farther at night due to ionization of the Earth's atmosphere. To prevent interference with other stations far away, many AM stations have to either sign off the air, reduce their transmitter power, or change their antenna patterns at night. Some AM radio stations also have to change their power or antenna patterns during these "Critical Hours" because of changes in the atmosphere at those times as well.

So, for the first two hours of the daytime operation, and the last two hours, WJTB has to use 2500 watts instead of 5000.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Yeah, I threw out the most challenged facility in the entire market, and clearly noted its limitations (and then some). Sharona, did you actually contact Mr. Taylor based on my message? I was only throwing out the $1000 a month figure basically as a joke.

(And yes, oddly enough, he certainly thinks it's worth more, as a sale or an LMA, either one.)

Judging by how Mr. Taylor and his son run the station, they are uninterested in selling out. My impression is, it'll stay in Mr. Taylor's hands until he dies.

I'd ask WCCD, but New Spirit Revival Center just bought it fairly recently, and isn't likely to be looking to lease or sell it. That's a much better technical facility than 1040. At least it doesn't sound like they're loaded with buzz and mismatched equipment - Salem had the thing until they sold it to New Spirit.

WJTB won't ever get night power. WHO in Des Moines booms into the area at night on 1040. Similarly, WILB/1060 Canton increased its day power to 15 kW, will forever be a daytimer due to KYW, and for that matter, the same with Good Karma's WWGK/1540 in Cleveland (KXEL), even if it could ever build out that CP for higher daytime power.

johnbasalla, Critical Hours doesn't give WJTB anything past sunset or before sunrise. (I know, I made that mistake once, ask Scott Fybush when he gets back from California!) It governs the period right after sunrise and right before sunset. From Radio-Locator's explanation:

The two hours immediately after sunrise and the two hours directly before sunset are referred to as "Critical Hours".

AM radio signals travel farther at night due to ionization of the Earth's atmosphere. To prevent interference with other stations far away, many AM stations have to either sign off the air, reduce their transmitter power, or change their antenna patterns at night. Some AM radio stations also have to change their power or antenna patterns during these "Critical Hours" because of changes in the atmosphere at those times as well.

So, for the first two hours of the daytime operation, and the last two hours, WJTB has to use 2500 watts instead of 5000.

Bear in mind that WJTB obviously is nowhere operating at full power. I doubt that transmitter has been looked at in nearly 20 years, if not longer.

My personal dream would be to purchase just the license, move the COL and transmitter to the Huron area (under a power reduction to 2,500 watts/1,000 critical), get an FM translator, and program specifically to the Vacation-land. Give WLEC a good and worthy competitor. (Maybe even try the unthinkable and move the frequency to 1050/AM, and hopefully squeeze some night service out of that.)

Or, I would purchase the license, and launch a new station with a Hispanic format targeting Lorain and the west side of Cleveland. That at least you could get away with even with regard to the lack of a night signal.

 

[zrl]

Well, if you won the Powerball and offered Taylor $1 million or 2 I bet he'd sell out....but for a reasonable price that would make business sense, Nathan's probably right

As far as a LMA goes, I think any station is a possible LMA if you can pay enough. These question is are you a regular radio person trying to run it as a business and (hopefully) make a profit, or are you some multi-millionaire who just wants to be on the radio to "build your brand" or some such thing.

If you're the former I think Cleveland is a no go...If you're Ken Lanci..or anyone else who fits the latter, start making calls and expect to pay such a high fee you'll always be in the red.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Or, I would purchase the license, and launch a new station with a Hispanic format targeting Lorain and the west side of Cleveland. That at least you could get away with even with regard to the lack of a night signal.

This would actually be a good fit for 1040. There's no commercial full-time Spanish-language operator anywhere in the market right now (does WDLW/1380 still do Spanish-language programming on Sundays?), though I suspect WNZN/89.1's "underwriting" is much closer to commercial content than I can figure out only speaking English.

And WNZN is licensed to Lorain, but is actually somewhat of a rimshot to its COL (transmitter is WAY out in Berlin Heights). 1040 would pick up more populated territory.

I haven't checked recently, but I suspect the Hispanic component of the Cleveland ARBs is probably just out of the noise, certainly enough for a small, decently located AM (or even class A FM or translator) to make a nut of it.

Translators are screwed, though, if the FCC adopts its recent proposal to prioritize LPFM service. The document out this week says Cleveland would see all translators (new apps) dismissed in favor of keeping channels open for LPFMs. ALL. Akron and Youngstown, too. Canton would not be affected, according to the list. I wonder if we'd see some Spanish-language LPFMs in this scenario.

(I also don't know how this affects the Clear Channel 99.1 translator, which got a CP and had it rescinded days later.)

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Well, if you won the Powerball and offered Taylor $1 million or 2 I bet he'd sell out....but for a reasonable price that would make business sense, Nathan's probably right

JT is like all small station owners, I presume...they think their facility is worth MUCH more than they can get for it, particularly post-2008.

It's the reason a lot of these stations go unsold.