Mega/Progressive Talk frequency swap

[TommyR]

For the record, two ex-Tama stations have swapped their frequencies (and I guess renewed their leases?)...

Mega 105.7 is now on 105.3
and
North Florida's Progressive Talk is now on 105.7 ("F-M-105-point-7...that's F-M! 105-point-SEVEN!") and it's back to a 24 hour operation.

 

[younglee981]

92.5 which is in the same group is now Black Gospel as JOY 92.5 Jacksonville's inspiration station.. and they mentioned that more power is coming soon. The signal is not strong enough to cover Jacksonville just yet.

 

[jmtillery]

92.5 which is in the same group is now Black Gospel as JOY 92.5 Jacksonville's inspiration station.. and they mentioned that more power is coming soon. The signal is not strong enough to cover Jacksonville just yet.

Any power increase above its current class A classification will result in a short-spacing conflict with co-channel WNDT-FM 92.5 Alachua (Gainesville). These two stations, as class A facilities, are required to protect each station - tower-to-tower - by a minimum of 71 statute miles. So, unless the Folkston, Georgia "move-in" moves its tower North of Jacksonville, I don't see how a power increase, and classification upgrade to a C3 (a C2 is impossible under current spacing rules), is possible under current FCC FM minimum distance spacing requirements, although a directional antenna may be possible in eliminating any signal overlap between the two stations.

 

[younglee981]

right now 92.5 is in Hillard and is 328' and 6k watts..the CP moves it into JAX on the southside @ 650' and 1600 watts.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

Another station licensed to Jacksonville Beach I see too. Well, the new signal will certainly be better. Not "more power" but as far as the audience is concerned it will be since more will be able to hear it. It should be interesting to see how it fairs on the North and West side of town where a large ethnic population resides.

I'm also curious on how this move was approved. They removed radio service from Folkston.... the other 2 stations licensed to Folkston are non-comm's and I was under the impression they didn't count.

 

[nfladxer]

While the move of 92.5 to Jacksonville Beach construction permit was issued some time ago, some tower complications/negotiations arose and the original project seemingly got delayed. They've recently applied to amend the construction permit to allow the move to another nearby tower on the Southside of Jax. And, yes, a directional antenna will be utilized to protect the Gainesville market 92.5 facility.

Speaking of Gainesville, can someone remind me why WKTK-FM downgraded what was once a full class C facility. A boneheaded move - they had excellent "Koast To Koast" coverage in North Central Florida and beyond. Seems like that superior signal would be useful today trying to cover both Gainesville and Ocala. Is their current coverage good enough? From what I recall, the owners wanted to upgrade another one of their stations at 'KTK's expense. They used to have a pretty good Westside signal in Jax - they can still be heard here when the conditions are right, but of course that was before the FM dial got so crowded as the FCC allowed more stations to be squeezed in.

 

[jmtillery]

right now 92.5 is in Hillard and is 328' and 6k watts..the CP moves it into JAX on the southside @ 650' and 1600 watts.

That is still a class A facility which will fit in Jacksonville utilizing a directional antenna. However, unless they are very "creative" with the FCC, I don't see a class nor power upgrade anytime in the near future unless the FCC FM spacing rules change to allow it.

 

[jmtillery]

I'm also curious on how this move was approved. They removed radio service from Folkston.... the other 2 stations licensed to Folkston are non-comm's and I was under the impression they didn't count.

Any primary licensed radio facility "counts" as local service. Primary licensed service is defined as any AM facility (250 watts-Day +), any commercial FM (class A +) or any NCE-FM (class A + (Class A is define as 101 watts to 6kw)). Translators and LPFM are licensed as secondary services; Hence these facilities do not count towards local primary service. Taking this into account and considering the existing Folkston NCE-FMs qualify as local primary service to Folkston, this frees WFJO-FM 92.5 A to move to Jacksonville since Folkston is only required to have a minimum of one primary licensed facility in order to remove WFJO.

 

[jmtillery]

Speaking of Gainesville, can someone remind me why WKTK-FM downgraded what was once a full class C facility. A boneheaded move -

At the time of the WKTK downgrade, WKTK licensee - Entercom - also owned WLLD-FM 98.7 Holmes Beach (a class A facility). Entercom also owned WYUU-FM 92.5 C2 Safety Harbor (Tampa Bay). Entercom wanted to upgrade its class A Holmes Beach facility on second adjacent 98.7mHz. To do this, WKTK was required to downgrade from a full C to a C1 to avoiding a short-spacing conflict. As a result, Entercom created two Tampa Bay C2s. The result was Entercom increased its Tampa bay holdings Fair Market Value beyond WKTK's FMV without losing city grade coverage over Gainesville and Ocala from WKTK. The WKTK downgrade did result in a loss in signal coverage in the outer lying fringe areas, but not in the Gainesville / Ocala metro. Interestingly, Entercom traded it's Tampa holdings with CBS Radio for CBS' WRKO-AM, WEEI-AM and two additional Boston FMs.