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L M A stations

WDLW does Spanish programming on Sunday. Prior to becoming "The Cool Cat 1380" with its Oldies format, weren't they all-Spanish for some time?
What happened? Did they go off because sales were poor or because the owner(s) wanted out for other reasons?
 
From the WDLW Wikipedia article (good chance Nathan wrote this :D):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDLW

WDLW was flipped into a 24-hogur Spanish/tropical format by January 1999. With programming leased over to the Latino Media Group, this move made WDLW the first, and only, such licensed-station in Ohio.
Click to expand...

Doug and Lorie Wilber then bought the station...

But by that November 8, citing a lack of advertising revenue outside of Lorain in order to keep the Hispanic format on a full-time basis, WDLW switched to a 1950s/1960s rock-and-roll oldies format as "Kool Kat Oldies 1380-AM."
Click to expand...
 
Nathan... WLEC is off the bird except AM Drive. High school sports is where they stand out. BAS' WCPZ is off the bird after AM drive as well and sister country "100.9 Coast Country" (bad moniker), mostly satellite fed including AM Drive. The facility is rough... very rough. Yet, I'll give WCPZ credit in that it sounds med-large market. Randy Hugg does a good job with the imaging, etc to have the station sounding like it does. More retailers have WCPZ on than Cleveland or Toledo stations, both of which boom into the market.
 
I have always felt that a Spanish language format would be perfect for WJTB 1040. Their transmitter location in the right spot (North Ridgeville) to hit the Hispanic-speaking audience on the near west side of Cleveland, and the Hispanic-speaking audience in Lorain county.
I am going to guess that, combined, we are talking about maybe 50,000 people. Not a bad niche. Remember that there were various pirate Hispanic stations on Cleveland's near west side a few years ago. That is usually an indication of potential audience.

However, James Taylor's whole facility is one big garbage dump, from what I understand, with failing and broken gear everywhere and a transmitter that can barely stay on the air without blowing up, so a new licensee would have to put some money into improvements.

I do remember that when they first went on the air, their signal was heard quite well all the way to Mentor, south to Akron and parts of Canton, and west to Sandusky. I don't think they get anywhere near that today.
 
A new transmitter and possibly ground system, plus some better audio processing could extend WJTB's coverage a bit, but as previously mentioned, it will forever be a daytimer because it's only about 580 miles from Des Moines and WHO is protected to 750 miles. The only company that could possibly pull off an upgrade would be Clear Channel. They own WHO and could possibly waiver interference and/or go directional and pull in WHO's nighttime signal in the direction of Cleveland. Not likely, but possible. One other possiblity would be to use 1040 as a stepping-stone to an X-band (1610-1700) allocation. There are currently no X-band stations in Ohio (and very few in neighboring states) and I'm wondering if something could be shoehorned in on one of those channels.
 
You can actually pick up WJTB in northern parts of the Akron area, if you don't mind a healthy dose of static.

That's probably the biggest reason no one has LMAed or bought the station and turned it into a Spanish-language station, aside from JT's likely way-too-high evaulation of his facility - the thing is likely being held together basically by duct tape and string, and to reach its true signal potential, a LOT of money plowed into facility upgrades.

A good solution may have been to attach an FM translator to it, but that horse is probably long out of the barn. Remember, the translator Clear Channel is trying to move to the WMJI tower in Parma on 99.1 is still currently licensed to Lorain - with a North Ridgeville (WJTB's COL) temporary location.

But of course, it was moved to 99.7, which would be a non-starter for an actually operating facility...just a placeholder for CC to move it to 99.1.
 
zrl said:
The fake coverage area map from radio-locator shows a formidible coverage.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WJTB&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

But JTB's $1.95 a year maintenance budget has made this FAR from reality.
Click to expand...

Yes, this map indicates pretty much the coverage that I remember when the station first went on the air and everything was functioning 100%. Some GREAT potential for a niche format like Spanish or maybe even Pop Standards (whose audience is primarily daytime listeners) or 50s and 60s golden oldies. Run those formats lean and you should make money. Mr. Taylor, however, seems to run the station as a hobby or a tax writeoff or something, because everything is reportedly coming apart at the seams and he does not seem to care. I understand that the transmitter is sputtering along at nowhere near the original output. Every time I tune in, I hear buzzes, noises, crackles and assorted distortion. I have heard pirate stations that sounded better! What a waste.
 
HHH said:
zrl said:
The fake coverage area map from radio-locator shows a formidible coverage.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WJTB&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

But JTB's $1.95 a year maintenance budget has made this FAR from reality.
Click to expand...

Yes, this map indicates pretty much the coverage that I remember when the station first went on the air and everything was functioning 100%. Some GREAT potential for a niche format like Spanish or maybe even Pop Standards (whose audience is primarily daytime listeners) or 50s and 60s golden oldies. Run those formats lean and you should make money. Mr. Taylor, however, seems to run the station as a hobby or a tax writeoff or something, because everything is reportedly coming apart at the seams and he does not seem to care. I understand that the transmitter is sputtering along at nowhere near the original output. Every time I tune in, I hear buzzes, noises, crackles and assorted distortion. I have heard pirate stations that sounded better! What a waste.
Click to expand...

BAS should buy 1040 for a song, fix it up, and simulcast WLEC 1450.

It would give them a toehold in Cleveland, to go along with their Sandusky/Port Clinton/Lake Erie Islands (aka Vacationland) cluster.

We would get the local morning show with Vacationland institution Mark Fogg and newsman Steve Shoffner, the NBC and ONN Radio News at the top of the hour, and Dial Global's "Lounge" format of standards/oldies/soft AC.
 
vjm said:
BAS should buy 1040 for a song, fix it up, and simulcast WLEC 1450.
Click to expand...

Gawd, what a profoundly idiotic thread this turned out to be. Most of you haven't a clue what you're talking about. BAS should buy 1040 for a song? If the station could be had for a song, someone would have grabbed it long ago. And someone offered to pay Taylor $1,000 a month to LMA it? Gee, how could he pass up a deal like that?

OMW was right about one thing: JT, like most small operators, thinks his station is worth way more than it is.
 
vjm said:
BAS should buy 1040 for a song, fix it up, and simulcast WLEC 1450.

It would give them a toehold in Cleveland, to go along with their Sandusky/Port Clinton/Lake Erie Islands (aka Vacationland) cluster.

We would get the local morning show with Vacationland institution Mark Fogg and newsman Steve Shoffner, the NBC and ONN Radio News at the top of the hour, and Dial Global's "Lounge" format of standards/oldies/soft AC.
Click to expand...

Duping WLEC is unnecessary IMO... the very least because it's main bread-and-butter is sports PBP that can't be reconciled otherwise. (Mainly b/c of an encroachment on WEOL's turf via Indians and OSU rights.) By virtue of their signal alone, WCPZ currently has more of a toehold into the Cleveland market.

It's obvious J.T. will never sell the station for "a song." Hell, he may never sell it despite bags of money thrown his way. If anything, he'll hold onto WJTB until the day he dies, if not for pure ego purposes. Clearly it's not because the station makes ANY money or has any real worth. :p

And again, I'd only get the license, bulldoze everything else, and start anew.
 
I was out driving in Northern Summit County (Macedonia area) yesterday, and WJTB's signal was AWFUL...much worse than I remember last time I tried listening to 1040 there.

We're talking literally inaudible at the I-271/Rt. 8 interchange, where it should reach (see that daytime signal map, that's well within the 60 dBu signal).

I agree with my second - bulldoze the thing and grab the license only. There are Mr. Microphones that get a better range from Elyria!

Again, it'd be good for a Spanish-language operator to fill that hole in the market. I'd attach an FM translator to the thing if that's even still feasible anymore.

Other than that...DWJTB, anyone? What are they doing that isn't already covered by WJMO, WCCD and others?
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
I was out driving in Northern Summit County (Macedonia area) yesterday, and WJTB's signal was AWFUL...much worse than I remember last time I tried listening to 1040 there.

We're talking literally inaudible at the I-271/Rt. 8 interchange, where it should reach (see that daytime signal map, that's well within the 60 dBu signal).

I agree with my second - bulldoze the thing and grab the license only. There are Mr. Microphones that get a better range from Elyria!

Again, it'd be good for a Spanish-language operator to fill that hole in the market. I'd attach an FM translator to the thing if that's even still feasible anymore.

Other than that...DWJTB, anyone? What are they doing that isn't already covered by WJMO, WCCD and others?
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, both WJMO and WCCD come in decently in Elyria and Lorain... well, as decently as you can get for signals like those.

From the few times I bother to tune in, it only airs the Sheridan Gospel Network off the bird. Well, that's if they actually had an automation system to air commercials - after a minute of network spots, it's 3-4 minutes of a nice jazz instrumental in place of a local break. (Why LCCC even bothers to waste money with advertising on the station, I have no clue.) Local preachers are very few and far between, the only constant show is J.T.'s Saturday morning ego trip talk show. Crappy signal in part because there is obviously no STL link, but a bad telephone line from the studio to the transmitter. And I hit their good points.

It's a seedy, red-light-district version of WJMO and WCCD. And an insult to the fine city of North Ridgeville - if they were ever aware WJTB existed.
 
For what it's worth there are some area AM's for sale, and in other parts of the state. Got this list from the Ohio board:

WPAY/Portsmouth
WDIG/Steubenville
WKTX/Cortland
WCER/Canton
WOSU/Columbus
WASN/WGFT and WRBP FM Youngstown
WWOW/Conneaut
WVKO AM and FM Columbus, and more.
 
WCER is now spoken for by one Curtis A. Perry III, its new LMA operator, who is doing another lease-to-buy deal with owner Melodynamic Broadcasting.

The status of his previous station, DWINW, isn't known yet. He reportedly plowed $300,000 into it in a long-time LMA-to-buy, but the owner never filed a license transfer.

WCER is a decent little facility. Even if they got WINW back on, that's the radio version of The Money Pit, and would like be a gamble even for an LMA operator (assuming the land isn't sold out from under the transmitter site, and the land on Martindale IS for sale).
 
what are they asking for Wktx
 
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