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rumors about knoxville horne stations

R

ratman2005

Guest
Can anyone verify the rumors that Doug Horne will fire all the staff from his stations immediately after Christmas? I've heard this especially about the FM, 105.3. Just taking a wild guess, I imagine that most everyone on the AM "Horne Network" is a contract employee or buys their own airtime.
 
I haven't heard that rumor but I did notice that all the Knoxville area AM's are listed for sale as a group at $1.2M on a broker's web site. I think they could do better selling them individually. WATO and WGAP would work well as local stations for their COL. I haven't seen any listing for the Sweetwater/Loudon stations but those would be nice to get ahold of. Maybe if "The Broker" see this post he might have some more info.
 
"WATO and WGAP would work well as local stations for their COL. I haven't seen any listing for the Sweetwater/Loudon stations but those would be nice to get ahold of."

I disagree.

As far as I'm concerned, WGAP died in June, 2003 when the idiot manager who replaced Mike Beverly decided to create his "Network" (or as it later became known as "The NOTwork"). After the Plumleys sold the FM and the AM in late '98, nothing has ever been the same. 95.7 has undergone 10,000 format changes, and 1400 was slowly run into the ground. The name WGAP is synonymous with Glenn Morton news, Blount County High School sports, Swap N Shop, school lunch menus, Carl Wells and Ruthie Beaver, and good 'ole Country music. WGAP was Blount County's news and information leader for 50-something years. All of that's now gone. What's left? A shell that simulcasts sister station WKVL AM 850. Half the time 1400 isn't even on.

I'm afraid bringing WGAP back from the dead would be a lost cause. It's got signal limitations being on 1400 Khz especially at night. Not only that, it serves a county that that has lost its small town feel and is more or less an extension of Knoxville. Blount County is the one county in the Knoxville Metro where all of the Knoxville FM signals boom right into it's area. Not only that, much of WGAP's audience has literally died off.

With WGAP having been gone for the last 4 years for all practical purposes and the extreme amount of competition from the Knoxville stations, getting a 30-something year-old female who lives in west Maryville, drives a minivan with kids, and listens to "The Point" to listen to 1400 would never happen. On top of that, you've got a county that has been overrun with Big Box stores who don't buy local advertising.

I pity anybody who thinks he could bring WGAP it back to its glory days.

Here lies WGAP: August 1947-June 2003. May you rest in peace. :'(
 
spindoctor1 said:
It can be done very easily with the right team. Never underestimate the resurrection of a small station. IN ANY MARKET!
Click to expand...

I would echo that comment. News Talk 1400 KFRU is consistantly the number two station in Columbia, MO, a city of about 90,000 with a metro of about 180,000. Yes, a smaller market, but still works in that market.

And yes, because it is at 1400 on the AM dial, it is lower power. D/N 1000 watts.
 
"I would echo that comment. News Talk 1400 KFRU is consistantly the number two station in Columbia, MO, a city of about 90,000 with a metro of about 180,000."

I won't dispute the fact that you can run a successful AM in a small market. I work for a company now that owns and operates several heritage AM stations in markets much smaller than Maryville. One of our AMs in particular runs 500w day/44w night and bills about $700K in a town of about 10,000. It does true hometown radio right from Swap Shops to H.S. football.

But the key here is "consistently." WGAP consistently had strong numbers in Blount County. It had many years of heritage. It was a profitable. Notice everything I'm saying is in past tense. Everything that had to do that was part of WGAP's heritage is gone. Now 1400 is a shell that's off the air half the time.

In this day and age, resurrecting an AM from the dead in a town that sits in the shadows of a major, agency-driven market is a lost cause in my opinion.
 
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