Long-Silent AM Stations in Florida

[smedge2006]

Not stations that went dark in the 20's... but stations since NARBA and the current frequency plan (post-1941) that have gone silent and will likely stay that way short of someone bidding in an auction for the frequency.

Ones I can think of:
WCFI (WTMC) 1290, Ocala
WCNU 1010, Crestview
WJOE 1080, Port St. Joe
WXPQ 1530 Babson Park (Webber College -- not a carrier current but an actual station, 250-watts, apparently directional toward the swamps between eastern Polk County and the Florida Turnpike).

Any others out there?

 

[radioboy]

WJOE-AM 1080 in Port St. Joe is one I grew up listening to in the summer, when we went on vacation.

Also:

WGKR-AM 1310 - Perry, FL

 

[MN Maniac]

Now that the FCC allows FM translators to rebroadcast AM stations, expect a few of these allocations that have been "left for dead" to be resurrected. The lastest example is WNZF-AM 1550 in Bunnell. It has come back to life, thanks to the W292DE translator on 106.3.

 

[cd637299]

I am no expert as to the status of the licenses, but I am basing these on old Vane Jones books, and stations I used to hear.....footnotes where applicable:

WKKO 860 Cocoa
WTRS 920 Dunnellon
WLVF 930 Haines City (1)
WJCM 960 Sebring (2)
WKMK 1000 Blountstown
WSUG 1050 Clewiston (3)
WQIK 1090 Jacksonville (10) (wasn't this 50,000w?)
WSOS 1170 St. Augustine
WAVS 1190 Ft. Lauderdale (5)
WBGC 1240 Chipley (7)
WRIM 1250 Pahokee (3)
WSVE 1280 Jacksonville
WWAK 1450 Redwater Lake (Hawthorne) (4)
WRGI 1510 Golden Gate or Naples (6)
WCCZ 1550 New Smyrna Beach ( 8 )
WINV 1560 Beverly Hills (7)
WBGB 1580 Mt. Dora (9)
WOWY 1590 Clewiston (3)
WPRV 1600 Wauchula

(1) Not heard last I went through HC, but still may have the license...was last Spanish Gospel
(2) Now on 1050 of course, but if this is not the same licensee should this count? I know WFLA wanted the move to upgrade themselves....WJCM was dormant for many years
(3) Shown as on-air in the Jones books AND I think Mr. Eduardo's info had address for WSUG....but I never heard thse
(4) I was sure I heard this station while staying in Marion County, 1988 or so....maybe running lower power than the 1k allotted....I discussed this with Mr. Tillery....wish I recorded it....very homey-sounding...but can't find any on-air info
(5) Yes they moved, but was dormant for many year....if different licensee, should it count?
(6) Not sure if the current 1480 was the same license...again, dormant for years
(7) I'm not sure of the status
( 8 ) Is this considered the same licensee as the current Bunnell? Quite a distance....I count this
(9) If the Bithlo 1580 is on, I suppose you can strike this one off
(10) WQIK *was* on 1050 with lower power, and now home to WROS...but the 1090 did exist

Anyway, any clarifications are welcome. If we wanna count stations that moved frequency, I could make a longer post!

WXPQ 1530 has to be the most forgotten one in this thread! I seem to recall hearing it w/ college football on a drive one day.

cd

 

[swfl]

I am no expert as to the status of the licenses, but I am basing these on old Vane Jones books, and stations I used to hear.....footnotes where applicable:

WKKO 860 Cocoa
WTRS 920 Dunnellon
WLVF 930 Haines City (1)
WJCM 960 Sebring (2)
WKMK 1000 Blountstown
WSUG 1050 Clewiston (3)
WQIK 1090 Jacksonville (10) (wasn't this 50,000w?)
WSOS 1170 St. Augustine
WAVS 1190 Ft. Lauderdale (5)
WBGC 1240 Chipley (7)
WRIM 1250 Pahokee (3)
WSVE 1280 Jacksonville
WWAK 1450 Redwater Lake (Hawthorne) (4)
WRGI 1510 Golden Gate or Naples (6)
WCCZ 1550 New Smyrna Beach ( 8 )
WINV 1560 Beverly Hills (7)
WBGB 1580 Mt. Dora (9)
WOWY 1590 Clewiston (3)
WPRV 1600 Wauchula

(1) Not heard last I went through HC, but still may have the license...was last Spanish Gospel
(2) Now on 1050 of course, but if this is not the same licensee should this count? I know WFLA wanted the move to upgrade themselves....WJCM was dormant for many years
(3) Shown as on-air in the Jones books AND I think Mr. Eduardo's info had address for WSUG....but I never heard thse
(4) I was sure I heard this station while staying in Marion County, 1988 or so....maybe running lower power than the 1k allotted....I discussed this with Mr. Tillery....wish I recorded it....very homey-sounding...but can't find any on-air info
(5) Yes they moved, but was dormant for many year....if different licensee, should it count?
(6) Not sure if the current 1480 was the same license...again, dormant for years
(7) I'm not sure of the status
( 8 ) Is this considered the same licensee as the current Bunnell? Quite a distance....I count this
(9) If the Bithlo 1580 is on, I suppose you can strike this one off
(10) WQIK *was* on 1050 with lower power, and now home to WROS...but the 1090 did exist

Anyway, any clarifications are welcome. If we wanna count stations that moved frequency, I could make a longer post!

WXPQ 1530 has to be the most forgotten one in this thread! I seem to recall hearing it w/ college football on a drive one day.

cd

In regards to the WRGI 1510AM (6) in Naples that license was indeed transferred to 1480 on Marco Island. 1510 was a DT only license and started off as a simulcast of the old WRGI 93.5FM Top 40 format. It later changed it's call letters to WMIB and played a middle of the road/standards format for several years. It was later moved to 1480 to allow nighttime broadcasting. The only problem with the 1480 signal that it had to be pointed south due to short spacing with 1480 in Arcadia. This sent most of the signal south away from much of the Naples area. That station has been through many owners and changes over the years and has been discussed recently on the Tampa board along with sister stations WMYR/WCNZ.

 

[MN Maniac]

>WKKO 860 Cocoa

This license was deleted so that WGUL-AM 860 in Dunedin could upgrade it's facilities.


>WTRS 920 Dunnellon

When I worked for WTRS-FM 102.3 (1991), the AM was still operational. Which was interesting because the station had moved completely out of Dunnellon and could NOT be received at the new studios in Ocala. (Legal?) WTRS-AM was daytime only, simulcasting the FM 100% via an inexpensive FM radio which was patched into the AM transmitter. Since we coudn't monitor it, we often forgot to shut it off at sunset. Which made the people who owned 920AM in Atlanta quite unhappy. I believe it was shut off for good and the license was deleted shortly thereafter.


>WINV 1560 Beverly Hills

Originally licensed to Inverness, hence the call letters. Although they were 5,000 watts, I could barely hear them in Ocala. From what I was told, the transmitter had seen better days and the ground radials were literally rotting away. I believe this license has also been deleted (?)

 

[Nostalgia]

>WINV 1560 Beverly Hills

Originally licensed to Inverness, hence the call letters. Although they were 5,000 watts, I could barely hear them in Ocala. From what I was told, the transmitter had seen better days and the ground radials were literally rotting away. I believe this license has also been deleted (?)

I drove by this station once when in Inverness. This was after the station was supposed to have returned to the air after being silent for nearly a year. Building was vandalized, windows broken, other windows boarded up. I had heard about the transmitter but not about the radials. Tower is up on a hill, heluva place for a translator if they could find one. Electricity was on but sitting in the parking lot I was easily hearing the 1560 over in Melbourne. It was clearly NOT on the air! When it was on it was simulcasting sister station 96.3 I think. Per the FCC database it is still licensed and supposed to be radiating some RF! I am going up to the big bend area this week, I will give a listen to 1560 while driving through Citrus County.

 

[KE4KLS_Radio]

For WCCZ 1550 New Smyrna Beach, here is a link to some history:

http://cflradio.net/1550_WCCZ_AM.htm

From what I remember when living in the area, WCCZ went off the air in the early 1990's. I recall their last format change was easy listening (before that, in the 1980's, news/talk). It wasn't until 2008 when WNZF went on the air in Flagler County. I don't believe they were the same license holders as mentioned in footnote (8), but an available AM frequency for Flagler County.

 

[Poledo]

WKMK 1000 Blountstown

The calls have changed, but I believe 1000 is still alive and well in Blountstown. Until about 3 years back they simulcast sister Country 102.7 but broke off to carry oldies. If they have gone silent it's been within the last year... also, they have a monster daytime signal for that area... it easily carries up the Apalachicola river valley into Georgia while the typical AM for that area gets out about 15 miles.

1240 in Chipley went down a few years back after the owner passed but the family was trying to revive the station and make it fit for sale. There was discussion about this on the North Florida board last year with posts from the former owner's son. They had a pretty bad signal.

WTOT 980 in Marianna and WFSH 1340 in Niceville have been off the air or possibly on flea power for a few years. Quincy's 1230 and Chattahoochee's 1580 have been hit or miss... either on flea power or running odd schedules to keep the licenses alive. I believe there are a couple long silent AMs in Tallahassee and the Live Oak areas also. With Tallahassee being the worst AM market in the USA, it's hard to keep up with the stations there.

Several regular North Florida board posters would have all this information memorized if you are interested in stations just below Lower Alabama and Georgia but north of the real Florida.

 

[stereolane]

>WINV 1560 Beverly Hills

Originally licensed to Inverness, hence the call letters. Although they were 5,000 watts, I could barely hear them in Ocala. From what I was told, the transmitter had seen better days and the ground radials were literally rotting away. I believe this license has also been deleted (?)

I drove by this station once when in Inverness. This was after the station was supposed to have returned to the air after being silent for nearly a year. Building was vandalized, windows broken, other windows boarded up. I had heard about the transmitter but not about the radials. Tower is up on a hill, heluva place for a translator if they could find one. Electricity was on but sitting in the parking lot I was easily hearing the 1560 over in Melbourne. It was clearly NOT on the air! When it was on it was simulcasting sister station 96.3 I think. Per the FCC database it is still licensed and supposed to be radiating some RF! I am going up to the big bend area this week, I will give a listen to 1560 while driving through Citrus County.

I have always assumed that WINV was a project that Carl Marcocci did not have time to complete before his untimely passing. It seems out of character for that group to leave a station in this condition, but with Carl gone... who knows.

 

[Nostalgia]

>WINV 1560 Beverly Hills

Originally licensed to Inverness, hence the call letters. Although they were 5,000 watts, I could barely hear them in Ocala. From what I was told, the transmitter had seen better days and the ground radials were literally rotting away. I believe this license has also been deleted (?)

I drove by this station once when in Inverness. This was after the station was supposed to have returned to the air after being silent for nearly a year. Building was vandalized, windows broken, other windows boarded up. I had heard about the transmitter but not about the radials. Tower is up on a hill, heluva place for a translator if they could find one. Electricity was on but sitting in the parking lot I was easily hearing the 1560 over in Melbourne. It was clearly NOT on the air! When it was on it was simulcasting sister station 96.3 I think. Per the FCC database it is still licensed and supposed to be radiating some RF! I am going up to the big bend area this week, I will give a listen to 1560 while driving through Citrus County.

Wednesday evening around 5pm, the 50kw from somewhere in the Carolinas was booming in on 1560 right up till their signoff at sunset. They were so loud that i thought WINV was on the air until they ID'ed. Did not hear WINV.

 

[Ai4i]

WQIK 1090 Jacksonville (10) (wasn't this 50,000w?)
(10) WQIK...but the 1090 did exist...cd

We remember hearing them when we attended UF in 72/73
Must have moved because they were a 50kw d**timer!

 

[jmtillery]

WNZF is a seperate license from the former WCCZ.

WTRS had a person who stayed at the AM transmitter site all day as the "official" operator to take transmitter readings and to make the station legal before Asterisk Communications finally signed WTRS-AM off the air for the final time in 1993. The license was later mailed back to Washington, D. C. and the license cancelled.

The current WJCM 1050 is the same license as the former WJCM 960. This was simply a frequency change through a modification of an existing license.

WINV still operates from the same tower as it did when AM 1560 was licensed to Inverness. The only change is the COL and nothing else although the station has been off the air for sometime. It should be noted the reason behind the change in COL from Inverness to Beverly Hills was to make it possible to re-license WJQB-FM from Beverly Hills to Spring Hill.

WXPQ was donated to Webber International University - Babson Park Campus - years ago, but later went dark due to lack of interest in keeping the station. Financial reasons also played a part in taking WXPQ off the air.

It should be noted that none of the silent stations mentioned can be resurrected and returned to the air without applying for and being granted a construction permit as a new station, and only then if the new AM application specifies a Class B operation. There are no new Class D applications accepted as new stations; however an existing Class B station may downgrade to a Class D. The majority of the silent stations on the list given herein were stations that held a Class D license.

 

[jmtillery]

WQIK 1090 Jacksonville (10) (wasn't this 50,000w?)
(10) WQIK...but the 1090 did exist...cd

We remember hearing them when we attended UF in 72/73
Must have moved because they were a 50kw d**timer!

WQIK-AM once operated on 1090 with 50kw-DA-D before moving to AM 1050 and later AM 1320. The call letters on 1090 were WCMG (Country Music Greats) and was owned by Marshall Rowland. For some reason, Rowland downgraded the power from 50kw to 10kw just before moving to 1050 with 5kw. The 1090 frequency has been deleted while AM 1050 is now home to religious formatted WROS.

 

[jmtillery]

Wednesday evening around 5pm, the 50kw from somewhere in the Carolinas was booming in on 1560 right up till their signoff at sunset.

That would be 50kw WAGL 1560 Lancaster, South Carolina (Charlotte). The station uses a four tower directional pattern with the signal beamed due South; Hence the reason it booms in so well in Central Florida during critical hours.

 

[Ai4i]

Was the move from 1090 to 1050 for the purpose of getting on the air @ night? Seems that even 250w directional full time beats 50k dawn to dusk. Was it a Cocoa Beach station (and probably many others with daytime competition) that pushed the phrase, "the station that doesn't RUN down with SUN down"? We wonder why the commission never allowed stations to operate with different day/night frequencies?

 

[cd637299]

Was the move from 1090 to 1050 for the purpose of getting on the air @ night? Seems that even 250w directional full time beats 50k dawn to dusk. Was it a Cocoa Beach station (and probably many others with daytime competition) that pushed the phrase, "the station that doesn't RUN down with SUN down"? We wonder why the commission never allowed stations to operate with different day/night frequencies?

Maybe I can answer that.....I am almost positive that at the time the move was made from 1090 to 1050, the exclusive "Mexican clears" (730, 800, 900, 1050, 1220, 1570) were still taboo to run nighttime (outside of 1220 Cleveland & 1050 NYC, and Alaskans). But maybe, there was a proposal kicking around to open nighttime authorization, albeit flea-power non-D's, and WQIK/WROS decided to get on the bandwagon early.

The way that nighttimers have proliferated, it wouldn't have surprised me that if Jax stayed on 1090, it'd *have* nights by now. After all, there was *supposed* to be a fulltime 1090 for the city of Alachua, with calls even, WGAF....but I think they threw in the towel.

cd

 

[jmtillery]

Was the move from 1090 to 1050 for the purpose of getting on the air @ night? We wonder why the commission never allowed stations to operate with different day/night frequencies?

I don't know the exact reason WCMG / WQIK moved from 1090 to 1050. There was no nighttime operation gain at the time as a result of moving frequency as AM 1050 was strictly a daytime ONLY operation. My understanding, although unverified, why Mr. Rowland changed frequency is because he wanted to reduced his monthly power expenses; hence the reason for the power reduction on the original 1090 frequency from 50kw to 10kw. The power was cut by another 50% when WQIK moved to 1050. Mr. Rowland later acquired WVOJ-AM 1320 and transformed 1320 to become WQIK. This is when WQIK added night service as 1320 already had a 24-hour license with 5-kw-U; DA-N.

As for stations operating on a day frequency and a seperate night frequency, that is known as a "split frequency" operation and was authorized years ago in certain isolated cases. There was a station up North (the call letters and COL slip my mind at the moment) that operated on AM 690 during the day and operated on 680 at night. The reason for this is because day operation on 680 and night operation on 690 was not possible due to interference protection requirements; Hence the split frequency operation was authorized to allow 24-hour service through 690 Day and 680 at night.

 

[cd637299]

^^^

It's WNZK in the Detroit area....amazing, all the 680's in the East that run at night....

cd

 

[jmtillery]

^^^

It's WNZK in the Detroit area....amazing, all the 680's in the East that run at night....

cd

Thank you. I had forgotten the location although Michigan stuck in the back of my mind. Do you know if there are any other stations operating on a split frequency operation, or is WNZK the only one-of-a-kind?