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RIP WINV
- Thread starter Nostalgia
- Start date
Nostalgia said:
Did they just give up all together?
I understand the nostalgia for an AM station that played hits and bonded with people in the 60's or that had a successful run as a talker.
But can anyone point to any notable accomplishment by 1560 in Citrus County? Did they ever have a following once they changed from WYSE?
Is this anything to mourn, or simply a culling of the herd?
But can anyone point to any notable accomplishment by 1560 in Citrus County? Did they ever have a following once they changed from WYSE?
Is this anything to mourn, or simply a culling of the herd?
johntherogger said:
Well, they had been silent, both officially and not officially, for some time so yes, I guess you could say the owners did give up that particular charade. Their 365 days of silence finally passed and they apparently didnt even put forth the effort of firing up the Tx for a day or so like they had in the past and then go for another year.
As for NOSTALGIA for this particular station (was that a pun mr. smedge2006?), I am an old timer who literally grew up with stations just like this one in small and medium markets, and even a couple of larger ones. My particular beef here is that this asset became disposable in the eyes of the owners. Did it produce any Emmy award winning broadcasts, no. But that wasnt its fault, it was the owners. I know that they had rejected offers to purchase that station in the past. Someone saw a value in it and could have made "notable accomplishments" to their community and could have developed a following. How about local high school sports just to name one. But we will never know now will we.
For years I said the same thing, why would someone not develop their station, then a fella from a chain took me aside and explained that in an economic system like we have in this country it is just as important to control your competitor i.e. buy them out then run a lackluster format, make a deal to have them remain silent etc to insure that they never became a real competitor. If the owners were to actually entertain a sale they might create a monster that would come back to bite them. If they don't own any other broadcast properties this was a deal cut with someone who does to insure the station didn't return to the air. This is done all the time not just in broadcasting. If you control your competition you can control market rates and even your costs because you know they arn't going to be more than medeocure and you can possition yourself just one step above that. Look at how Walmart distroys their competiton then offers lower value items.
Nostalgia said:
Just what exactly would they "fire up" ??? The place is entirely open to the elements. The transmitter, when I saw it, was a gutted empty shell. Every window is broken, every door is unlocked. Despite the mess, I had my broker approach Steve Schurdell, who wouldn't even discuss it. WINV had not been on since 2007. If they WERE ON, it wasn't from the licensed site.
They didn't own the land. At one point, the real estate was listed for sale. Asking price: $387,000 but it's entirely land locked. The land owners were getting "dangerous building" violations. I suspect they were tired of that.
stereolane said:
And there we have our answer.
ellenparks said:
That may have been the thinking on one of the offers that I have personal knowledge of since it was some time ago and the facilities had not deterioriated to their current state. It would have been more viable then. All three of the Gull Group FM's do put a signal into Inverness.
jmtillery said:
I have a question about legal niceties. If I have a under-performing station and I sign a contract to transfer the license to an existing station and it becomes obvious the ultimate disposition in to silence the station being sold, everything is in the FCC record... and subject to contest or objection by a 3rd party. And I end up documenting (for better or worse) the financial arrangement. Translation: the Tax-man, the IRS is tuned in. We could get into legal expenses as a third party tries to horn-in on the deal and demonstrate THE PUBLIC is better served by another set of transactions.
Or. I could do what maybe did or did not happen in this case. I go through the motions of trying to get back on the air, I go through the motions of trying to sell in the open market. In the end, I just let it fall into the dismal swamp by doing nothing and the license is deleted. There is nothing on file for the third party to contest. For tax purposes we could have any payments from another licensee who financially encourages the abandonment of the license paid to my grandchildren or some other advantageous situation.
Is there anything in the Regulations, anything in FCC history that makes it a violation to accept "a stipend" that causes me to not renew the license when I know that another licensee is gaining a benefit?
I have no interest in the particular station we are discussing. I'm just curious to know if "a payment to encourage abandonment" has any bad legal re-courses?
(Some of us lose sleep over the most miniscule of worries. ;D ...)
If the real estate was land locked how did anyone get there? In some states areas leading to a property must be allowed by other nearby properties. I am not sure about the real estate laws in Florida.
stevations said:
Okay, maybe completely landlocked was a bit strong, but the station property sits at the end of a dead end, north-south street. The portion of Crystal Lane, the east-west street that WINV is supposed to be on, doesn't exist. It was platted, but never put in. So, even IF you wanted to build ugly Florida McMansions back there, there's one way in, and one way out, along a very narrow street with old trailers, modulars, and small, older homes as your gateway. Not exactly ideal.
On an unrelated note, I have to wonder how this station survived so long, considering what a previous poster said about the misleading, poor ground conductivity.
Amazing a thread I started in Oct 2012 about a now defuct station is still kicking around.
As for the WINV studios, Yes it did sit at the edge of a mobile home park, but I was able to drive right up to it and park in front of the building. The tower was atop the hill behind the station, accessable by foot or 4x4 on a rutted dirt path right behind the studio. I understood that they did not own the tower site but not sure if that extended down to the studio building too.
As for the WINV studios, Yes it did sit at the edge of a mobile home park, but I was able to drive right up to it and park in front of the building. The tower was atop the hill behind the station, accessable by foot or 4x4 on a rutted dirt path right behind the studio. I understood that they did not own the tower site but not sure if that extended down to the studio building too.
stevations said:
Per Florida Statutes Chapter 475, any land owner who owns land that is land locked by property owned by another person or entity has a legal right of way to said land locked land. In other words, by law, the property owner who owns the land surrounding the land locked property is required by law to give the land locked land owner an easement to access the land locked property. A prime example of an easement is a utility line right of way that crosses private property; however, the easement law applies to any land owner who has property that is land locked. A property owner cannot be deprived of having access to his or her property.
jmtillery said:
As I said, I exaggerated a bit. It's not totally landlocked, but almost, and would be difficult to develop without buying additional adjacent property. S. Prospect Terrace terminates at the WINV property, right in front of the studio. However, WINV's legal address is on Crystal Lane, which was never extended west into this area. The tower sits on a high point, in the middle of the property, south of the studio building. The place is so overgrown that it is difficult to see the tower from the studio. The studio building is well built, and I am sure it was nice long ago. It has "good bones" and could probably be rehabbed by a good contractor.
I was interested in WINV, because my wife has horses. Lots of horses around Inverness, and a place on the lake isn't cost prohibitive. I have health problems. My thinking was that I could play radio while the wife worked in veterinary medicine. I have other income from other broadcast investments, and this would have been workable, giving me something to do. Steve Schurdell would only respond to my broker with smart aleck remarks.
I still have to ask... is the ground conductivity really only 0.5?!! That is beyond bad.
The FCC ground conductivity map shows "4" for most of the north west gulf coast, but I am sure that is an average, with much of that area closer to the coast and salt water. I have no reason to doubt rfrus' report of .5 up on that hill.
http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/m3-...d-states-wall-sized-map-am-broadcast-stations
http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/m3-...d-states-wall-sized-map-am-broadcast-stations
It may be worse than that. Maybe they had a glacier run-off push some of this North Georgia soil down their way. In spite of what engineering theory may teach, we have some area up here that seem to have Ground Conductivity of NEGATIVE 2.
So how far will a signal go under those conditions? Just as soon as I invent a way to "divide by Zero" we will calculate that. ;D
So how far will a signal go under those conditions? Just as soon as I invent a way to "divide by Zero" we will calculate that. ;D
Perhaps I should have qualified my previous statement regarding land-lock property access. Although I understood from the first read that WINV's tower site is not land-locked, since there was a question about land-locked property, I was pointing out that any property that is land-locked, by law said property owner has a legal easement or right-of-way in order to gain access to the land-locked property.
Regarding the WINV building, it was well built in the mid 1960s when WYSE first occupied that building. Although I am not a building contractor, I am quite certain that building can be renovated and brought to the current building code.
Stereolane, you would have accomplished a decent coup had you successfully negotiated an acquisition of that station. It needed a local owner / operator that lives in the community who attends local Chamber meetings and other local business and charitable events. Getting involved with the Key Training Center and other worthy causes would have made WINV stand out as the community's local voice. I'm sure you would have made a decent living with it, even if it were only a hobby.
Regarding the WINV building, it was well built in the mid 1960s when WYSE first occupied that building. Although I am not a building contractor, I am quite certain that building can be renovated and brought to the current building code.
Stereolane, you would have accomplished a decent coup had you successfully negotiated an acquisition of that station. It needed a local owner / operator that lives in the community who attends local Chamber meetings and other local business and charitable events. Getting involved with the Key Training Center and other worthy causes would have made WINV stand out as the community's local voice. I'm sure you would have made a decent living with it, even if it were only a hobby.
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