No Flip AND 100.3 WNOX Now promoting new TALK morning show on FM!

[richstrunck]

Has something gone wrong with the flip of WNOX 100.3 to the programming of present day Q93. Is something else up?

Just posted on the 100.3 WNOX facebook page this afternoon a post promoting the syndicated morning show "The Rude Awakening" syndicated by Fox Radio starting May 6th MONDAY. No mention of WKVL in the post either, now WKVL is no longer streaming on tune-in.

Journal had sent a press release saying they were taking over the station and had applied for a waiver to simulcast the Q93 signal on 100.3. As a former station owner I had never heard of such a waiver rule and instantly thought "Stunt". Stations simulcast signals in markets all the time and a waiver is not required, as far as I know. In fact because of Knoxvilles terrain several signals have been used to simulcast over the years most recently Jack FM!

While I live in Cincinnati I know the market well because I owned a station in southern Ky at one point. So Ive been monitoring, something appears amiss here. WNOX has been promoting that they were moving to 850, just heard it 15 minutes ago but its outdated and say's the change will happen May 1st, its after 8PM pretty obvious its not happening today!

Anybody have any idea what's going on here?

 

[RMarino]

The Rude Awakening with Mike & Shyne will be a local show. They were on this morning after 7 talking about it for a few minutes. They said they will be on 850, not 100.3.

As for the rest of it, I haven't a clue what they are doing. I was giving Journal the benefit of the doubt about all the previous criticisms regarding this takeover. But after today, I'm beginning to believe Journal is really messing this up. How difficult can it be for them to flip the switch and load the Q100 imaging into the automation system?

 

[knoxside]

Maybe, just maybe Pirkle is making it difficult for them to close. Journal is a well run operation and I find hard to believe that this is their fault. They are probably waiting for Johnny to do something that was spelled out in the contract. Could be they're not promoting the change because they feel there could be an 11th hour issue that will prevent them from closing on the deal. Hopefully, we'll wake up tomorrow and all will be right with the world - Q Country will be on at 100.3.

 

[SuperQ]

<<<As a former station owner I had never heard of such a waiver rule and instantly thought "Stunt". Stations simulcast signals in markets all the time and a waiver is not required, as far as I know. In fact because of Knoxvilles terrain several signals have been used to simulcast over the years most recently Jack FM! >>>

The Jack signals did not overlap city grade signals. This only applies to signals that overlap city grade (70dbu) contours and that overlap includes the great majority of one of the cities of license. There was certainly no overlap in either Norris or Maryville. And in fact, the stations didn't overlap at all. That's why SC was able to have them both when the Knoxville limit was 5 FM's based on contours.

In the case the entire community of Karns would be in a city grade overlap with both stations.

 

[richstrunck]

Go to the Facebook page it clearly states, The show will be on 100.3 WNOX!

 

[richstrunck]

OK get the engineering rule as it applies to ownership groups, you are correct!

 

[richstrunck]

Just heard a statement may be coming to the effect "it looks like the deal is off"!! Due to the Dick Broadcasting Lawsuit!! Don't know how that could happen though the License is now (I thought) assigned to Journal, sound like Pirkle has a mess on his hands!

 

[radioboy]

A mess that, apparently, the FCC has allowed by approving the deal in the first place.

 

[eacalhoun1]

I know little about Twitter, but could it be that the WNOX 100.3 logo is simply still "attached" to the twitter account? I am way out of earshot of the K'ville OTA signals, but listening online at different times today (on the WNOX 100.3 website) the different local announcers keep saying things like, "make a car preset for AM 850 because that will soon be our new permanent home". I also noticed some new liners that only refer to AM 850. I believe their "staff" meteorologists are also only referring to AM 850. I still heard some "100.3"-only references and there's the combined top-of-hour station ID for both WNOX and WKVL. However, I must agree that something seems bungled and amiss about this Q93 flip.

 

[richstrunck]

Go to the Facebook page it clearly states, The show will be on 100.3 WNOX!

The phrasing that I see on Facebook appears to be what was used on Twitter earlier today--where there's no specific station mentioned. When I saw the tweet, I assumed that 850 was the station that was meant--especially since the show would start at 7:00 (which would be more appropriate for a daytimer).

https://twitter.com/WNOX1003/status/329911973267525632

Why would you promote it on a soon to be defunct station facebook page and then not promote it will be on 850 AM and BTW WKVL was NOT available on TuneIn earlier today which I thought was odd!

 

[richstrunck]

I know little about Twitter, but could it be that the WNOX 100.3 logo is simply still "attached" to the twitter account? I am way out of earshot of the K'ville OTA signals, but listening online at different times today (on the WNOX 100.3 website) the different local announcers keep saying things like, "make a car preset for AM 850 because that will soon be our new permanent home". I also noticed some new liners that only refer to AM 850. I believe their "staff" meteorologists are also only referring to AM 850. I still heard some "100.3"-only references and there's the combined top-of-hour station ID for both WNOX and WKVL. However, I must agree that something seems bungled and amiss about this Q93 flip.

I heard those promos as well but they were saying May 1st and were never updated!

 

[frombus149]

The WNOX programming was on (over the air) on AM850 WKVL & 1140 WLOD today. Could Journal be getting cold feet?

 

[BRH]

I wonder, as someone said earlier, if Journal isn't waiting on Pirkle to fulfill his obligations. I know it was mentioned that upgrades to equipment were part of the deal. All of Journal's stations broadcast in HD. I wonder if Pirkle was supposed to upgrade 100.3 to digital capabilities and that hasn't happened yet? I know the stereo pilot is still off as of now. Just wondering. Because if the signal was ready, you'd think they'd put a loop of some sort on and turn the stereo on so they could mess with the sound processing and audio chain setup.

Also, could be an issue of Journal not being ready yet. They'll be broadcasting from their studios, so maybe the new STL (studio to transmitter link) isn't setup yet. Also a new studio will have to be setup for either 100.3 or 93.1's new format.

 

[BillBattle]

I wonder, as someone said earlier, if Journal isn't waiting on Pirkle to fulfill his obligations. I know it was mentioned that upgrades to equipment were part of the deal. All of Journal's stations broadcast in HD. I wonder if Pirkle was supposed to upgrade 100.3 to digital capabilities and that hasn't happened yet? I know the stereo pilot is still off as of now. Just wondering. Because if the signal was ready, you'd think they'd put a loop of some sort on and turn the stereo on so they could mess with the sound processing and audio chain setup.

Audio chain sounds good to me. The switch to stereo is easy in my past experience a flip of the switch on the back of the exciter and stereo pilot light and separate left and right signals.

 

[BRH]

I wonder, as someone said earlier, if Journal isn't waiting on Pirkle to fulfill his obligations. I know it was mentioned that upgrades to equipment were part of the deal. All of Journal's stations broadcast in HD. I wonder if Pirkle was supposed to upgrade 100.3 to digital capabilities and that hasn't happened yet? I know the stereo pilot is still off as of now. Just wondering. Because if the signal was ready, you'd think they'd put a loop of some sort on and turn the stereo on so they could mess with the sound processing and audio chain setup.

Audio chain sounds good to me. The switch to stereo is easy in my past experience a flip of the switch on the back of the exciter and stereo pilot light and separate left and right signals.

What about STL link. Is that still done via antenna of is that all digital now? I know getting the link from the studio to the transmitter could be tricky sometimes. When I used to work at 99.1/99.3 during the 90s, our studios were off Merchants Dr in N Knoxville. And the 99.1 transmitter was between Loudon & Lenoir City, while 99.3 was near Jefferson City. So we had to lease tower space from Channel 6 and bounce a signal off their tower on Sharps Ridge in two seperate directions. (wasn't easy). So I know there can be issues with hiss and so forth if that link isn't perfect. Wonder if that could be an issue with 100.3 moving to Journal's studios?

 

[BRH]

Also, could be an issue of Journal not being ready yet. They'll be broadcasting from their studios, so maybe the new STL (studio to transmitter link) isn't setup yet. Also a new studio will have to be setup for either 100.3 or 93.1's new format.

I'm a native cheesehead, so I may be a bit biased, but if Journal planned enough to have already added signage (see http://www.wbir.com/news/article/272550/2/Changes-coming-to-Knoxville-radio-station), my hunch is that all of the studio-related issues have already been dealt with.

Interesting. I hadn't seen that Ch 10 story. Sounds like they're ready to go but waiting on some piece of paperwork to clear. Hmm. I thought that everything had been finalized already legally.

 

[BillBattle]

I wonder, as someone said earlier, if Journal isn't waiting on Pirkle to fulfill his obligations. I know it was mentioned that upgrades to equipment were part of the deal. All of Journal's stations broadcast in HD. I wonder if Pirkle was supposed to upgrade 100.3 to digital capabilities and that hasn't happened yet? I know the stereo pilot is still off as of now. Just wondering. Because if the signal was ready, you'd think they'd put a loop of some sort on and turn the stereo on so they could mess with the sound processing and audio chain setup.

Audio chain sounds good to me. The switch to stereo is easy in my past experience a flip of the switch on the back of the exciter and stereo pilot light and separate left and right signals.

What about STL link. Is that still done via antenna of is that all digital now? I know getting the link from the studio to the transmitter could be tricky sometimes. When I used to work at 99.1/99.3 during the 90s, our studios were off Merchants Dr in N Knoxville. And the 99.1 transmitter was between Loudon & Lenoir City, while 99.3 was near Jefferson City. So we had to lease tower space from Channel 6 and bounce a signal off their tower on Sharps Ridge in two seperate directions. (wasn't easy). So I know there can be issues with hiss and so forth if that link isn't perfect. Wonder if that could be an issue with 100.3 moving to Journal's studios?

STL can be tricky as it is line of sight, but that all has been known for months and 100.3 transmitter is on the highest point around. That is a piece of cake to hit from anywhere in Knoxville. Look where there current studios are and short STL tower they have.

 

[Elkhosen]

All day today on 850, 1140, 100.3 and WNOX's online stream, they are calling themselves "Talk Radio 850 WKVL, the Voice of Knoxville”. WKVL's website is still a blank page.

 

[richstrunck]

Just heard on the webstream a promo for "The Rude Awakening" airing on WKVL starting Monday. wonder why they didn't post that on the Facebook page. Sounds to me like the studio's and STL are not issues! Sounds like something legal to me?

 

[Hello Larry]

It's SO difficult to refrain from speculation and hearsay on a forum like this isn't it? It seems apparent that Journal is a seasoned operator going into a deal with the full knowledge that Oak Ridge FM has a track record of problematic deals.

It is hard to find details on M&M's suit, therefore it's difficult to estimate. Depending on who did what, and how that comes out in depositions, that one may be $2 million or more.

Dick Broadcasting is fresh off of a favorable state supreme court opinion. A lower court judge would be hard pressed to go against that. It is $10 million in actual damages plus litigation costs and twelve years of interest. It is unlikely Oak Ridge FM will be able to get out of this one.

If you were sitting in Milwaukee and looking at a $6 million dollar transaction with a company that's already facing a $15 million headache would you roll the dice so you can meet an arbitrary date? Or would you ask your Knoxville employees for their patience, be diligent and make sure you have a clean sale?