I read a press release on another board that Washington-Holmes Technical Center, a junior college type school, has purchased WJED 91.1 from Bethany Bible College of Dothan, AL for $20,000.
First of all, it's very strange for a Christian broadcaster to sell off a radio station to a secular organization, but as far as I know, WJED was just simulcasting Dothan's WVOB to the Chipley area and was somewhat redundant with WVOB covering most of WJED's coverage area.
Does anyone know what Washington-Holmes Tech might have planned for 91.1? Right now it's a rather small signal, 700 watts at 200 feet. Does it have any room to move or grow? An increase of coverage to include Marianna or at least DeFuniak Springs would be needed to get the station up to a decent sized audience. Obviously with Dothan already having WVOB on 91.3, 91.1 won't be able to extend their coverage north, and there is another 91.1 in Fort Walton that will keep them from extending West/Southwest, are there any options to extend or move primary coverage south into the Panama City market? Is there something else I'm not seeing?
What could we expect in terms of programming from Washington-Holmes Tech to be broadcast on their new FM? The area is already covered by NPR's from Troy State, FSU, and Gulf Coast Community College and I really can't see a "student" radio station doing much in that part of Florida... which is kinda shown by the $20,000 purchase price. The station would make a good home for some high school football teams, but besides that... I'm not seeing anything more than a toy radio station on a non commercial frequency in Chipley, FL.
First of all, it's very strange for a Christian broadcaster to sell off a radio station to a secular organization, but as far as I know, WJED was just simulcasting Dothan's WVOB to the Chipley area and was somewhat redundant with WVOB covering most of WJED's coverage area.
Does anyone know what Washington-Holmes Tech might have planned for 91.1? Right now it's a rather small signal, 700 watts at 200 feet. Does it have any room to move or grow? An increase of coverage to include Marianna or at least DeFuniak Springs would be needed to get the station up to a decent sized audience. Obviously with Dothan already having WVOB on 91.3, 91.1 won't be able to extend their coverage north, and there is another 91.1 in Fort Walton that will keep them from extending West/Southwest, are there any options to extend or move primary coverage south into the Panama City market? Is there something else I'm not seeing?
What could we expect in terms of programming from Washington-Holmes Tech to be broadcast on their new FM? The area is already covered by NPR's from Troy State, FSU, and Gulf Coast Community College and I really can't see a "student" radio station doing much in that part of Florida... which is kinda shown by the $20,000 purchase price. The station would make a good home for some high school football teams, but besides that... I'm not seeing anything more than a toy radio station on a non commercial frequency in Chipley, FL.
