How did it come to exist and why? It appears as though nearly all of the stations pulling ratings are Orlando and Tampa stations.
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Lakeland-Winter Haven market
- Thread starter ThatGuyOnTheRadio
- Start date
Quite simply the answer is ratings and advertising revenue.
Lakeland - Winter Haven became its own market to escape being in the shadows of Tampa Bay and Orlando. It's a Top 100 Florida market, and despite how well any of the Tampa or Orlando stations perform in Lakeland - Winter Haven, local WPCV always performs well as the number one rated station, pulling consisient double digits. If Lakeland - Winter Haven were a part of the Tampa Bay market, or even a supplemental market, that would mean WPCV and all market stations would be rated among the Tampa Bay stations resulting in WPCV not rating anywhere near where it is rated now.
Translation - a combined Lakeland - Winter Haven and Tampa Bay market would mean a revenue loss for the Lakeland - Winter Haven stations, namely WPCV. Each Lakeland and Winter Haven station would be rated in Tampa where the Lakeland - Winter Haven station coverage is inferior. Some of these stations, namely the AM signals, do not have a signal at all over Tampa Bay; Hence these stations would not even make a showing in the ratings. Right now Lakeland's Adult Standards WONN-AM 1230 and ESPN Sports WLKF-AM 1430 garners some ratings points.
The end result is Lakeland - Winter Haven would be rated in combination with Tampa - Saint Petersburg and not rated seperately in Lakeland - Winter Haven as each one is rated now resulting in much fewer agency [and to some degree fewer local retail] advertising dollars for the local LWH stations.
Lakeland - Winter Haven became its own market to escape being in the shadows of Tampa Bay and Orlando. It's a Top 100 Florida market, and despite how well any of the Tampa or Orlando stations perform in Lakeland - Winter Haven, local WPCV always performs well as the number one rated station, pulling consisient double digits. If Lakeland - Winter Haven were a part of the Tampa Bay market, or even a supplemental market, that would mean WPCV and all market stations would be rated among the Tampa Bay stations resulting in WPCV not rating anywhere near where it is rated now.
Translation - a combined Lakeland - Winter Haven and Tampa Bay market would mean a revenue loss for the Lakeland - Winter Haven stations, namely WPCV. Each Lakeland and Winter Haven station would be rated in Tampa where the Lakeland - Winter Haven station coverage is inferior. Some of these stations, namely the AM signals, do not have a signal at all over Tampa Bay; Hence these stations would not even make a showing in the ratings. Right now Lakeland's Adult Standards WONN-AM 1230 and ESPN Sports WLKF-AM 1430 garners some ratings points.
The end result is Lakeland - Winter Haven would be rated in combination with Tampa - Saint Petersburg and not rated seperately in Lakeland - Winter Haven as each one is rated now resulting in much fewer agency [and to some degree fewer local retail] advertising dollars for the local LWH stations.
jazzbo said:The station in Haines City has gone dark and the FCC has taken back the license. Anyone wanna buy it and do something? Thing is what kinda format would you use in Haines City?????
Although I’m sure that Landmark Baptist Church would be interested in selling WLVF-AM if a qualified cash buyer presented himself / herself, the license cannot be sold now because the FCC has already canceled the license and has deleted the 930kHz frequency from Haines City. My understanding is the station has been off the air for approximately a year due to the station losing its transmitter / tower site. Even if the license is still valid [which it isn't], Landmark would be required to return WLVF to the air before the FCC would approve a license transfer [the FCC will not approve silent license transfers] and that would be challenging without a transmitter / tower site as a new site would need to be identified and secured first.
If you think of it if Polk County was included as part of Tampa a few Tampa Stations will suffer. Mainly WDUV and WXTB. Why, because their signals don't cover Polk County well. WXTB's 60dBu Rimshot just hits Lakeland and its 50dBu Fringe just hits Winter Haven. WDUV 50dBu fringe extends to about Auburndale. Not really covering Winter Haven at all and barely covering Lakeland. Mainly because these 2 stations have transmitters that are well Northwest of Tampa. Not good considering Lakeland is well East Of Tampa.
The main stations to suffer out of Orlando would be lower powered stations like WPYO as well as stations out of Vouisia and Northeast Lake County. Those being WMGF, WOCL, WJHM and especially WCFB.
The main stations to suffer out of Orlando would be lower powered stations like WPYO as well as stations out of Vouisia and Northeast Lake County. Those being WMGF, WOCL, WJHM and especially WCFB.
Before it was upgraded, 94.1 was owned by Root Communications out of Daytona (as was the station that is now Star 94.5 in Orlando... it was a local Daytona signal). 94.1 was an easy-listening format that served the Lakeland - Winter Haven area.
Eventually they went to the big stick down near I-75 and became WSJT, if memory serves correctly that happened under the ownership of Paxson Communications.
Eventually they went to the big stick down near I-75 and became WSJT, if memory serves correctly that happened under the ownership of Paxson Communications.
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