So what's the matter with 540?

[smedge2006]

For a while it seemed to be making gains on DBO... but has fallen back... way back...

Who gets the blame?

Pat Campbell? Bud Hedinger? Replacing Dr. Laura with Mike (DUUUUH) Gallagher?

Is Rush giving out?

Or does FLF simply suffer from a case of GST-itis? (See the Atlanta board.)

 

[Inventor989]

Part of the problem with 540 is that antenna array. It was rebuilt in the late 80s with really narrow-banded towers and phasing system done to save $$. Audio never has sounded right. The lower on the AM dial you are, the wider the towers need to be in order to deliver better high-end audio. (Source: John H. Rees, our former CE in Rochester and probably the best AM antenna expert alive. Rebuilt CKLW and WRC antenna farms in the 70s among others. His AM in Gunnison, CO is arguably the cleanest sounding AM in the country.)

Campbell appears to have done as much as he can. Agreed, Gallagher is a questionable choice. These days, Rush has sounded better than he has in a while to my ears. Orlando's a tough nut to crack, what with heritage WDBO and a successful FM talker to battle.

I suspect there may be diary ascription problems due to the use of "WFLA" as a handle...could credit be going to the "real" WFLA?

 

[billalm]

As far as programming, I'll let the actual listeners to that station argue that point. Technically speaking, although Radio-Locator doesn't indicate it, it was my understanding that 540 is now co-located with 740, farther to the East and no longer off US-27. It used to be a real pain in East Orlando getting that station clear because the site was so far West. Wherever they're broadcasting from these days it doesn't change the fact that 540 suffers from severe electrical interference within many buildings in the metro listening area. 580 WDBO may only be 5,000 watts, but having your transmitting site at Forest Lake Rd and Kennedy sure makes for easy reception in all the important areas.

 

[Inventor989]

Thanks for the update...was not aware of the transmitter change or the diplexing. Been about 12 years since I spied tower sites in O-town. Before the site I described, I believe the original city of license was Cypress Gardens (even further west). In any case, your point is well taken. Nothing helps a station get ratings like a good signal.

 

[imho]

Towers, electrical interference; is this an engineering board?

540 is hurting because CC has never given it priority status on truly building something new and great.
WDBO is a great news station. Losing Rush hurt a bit in the short term; but they refocused on their core - news, traffic, weather; and some great talk shows. 540 does none of those particularly well.

Step back a bit, and look at the broader picture: CC news/talk stations in the region:
540 in Orlando, a distant 2nd to WDBO.
WGST a FAR distant second to WSB.
Tampa - WFLA has no big competitor, but seems to be going OK
Miami - WIOD sure isn't what it used to be - hispanic n/t is dominant
(does anyone think a Miami conservative talk station would do better than a 3-share? Their progressive talk isn't doing that well either.

Can we say then that CC can only flourish in n/t in Florida where there is no competition?

 

[smedge2006]

Does 540 have its own PD or is it someone part-timing from one of the music stations?

 

[PowerCow106]

Does 540 have its own PD or is it someone part-timing from one of the music stations?

PD is Tom Benson, who also runs Florida's Radio Network and serves as Steve Egan's superior in the Gators Radio Network.

You have to understand, Linda Bird (sp?) and CC could care less about how strong the ratings are in comparison to WDBO so long as Bud and Pat continue to rack up ad revenue, especially from live reads. Then there's the weekend brokered shows, "In The House" is a half-a-million a year account for example, and that was before they started syndicating it to other CC stations in the state.

Bud Hedinger's ratings are considered a monster improvement over Schnit Show back when 540 was a WHNZ format.

 

[Inventor989]

"imho": The question that started this thread can be directly related to 540's signal problems, hence the engineering talk. One of my early mentors made it very clear..."if you don't have a signal, you ain't on the air." You can have the best programming on the planet, but if they can't hear you, you're cooked.

 

[smedge2006]

I can't accept that 540 is at a serious disadvantage versus 580.

Yes, it doesn't go quite as far north as 580, but that's only an issue on the fringe. Remember, the metro is only Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. Not even Lake although that may change someday. In other directions, the coverage is equivalent. 540 is a laser-beam into downtown Orlando.

At night, the coverage map shows the interference-free zone (14.9 mV/m) as a relatively small strip of land in Orange and Seminole counties. But I think that map is conservative, perhaps assuming a higher level of interference from the Mexican clear than is truly the case in the real world. I've been able to hear 540 after dark as far west as I-75 in Wildwood, which should be about 3-4 mV. They seem to have heavy processing after dark that makes the audio sound robust compared to the background noise.

I think the concern about narrow-banding on the analog is misplaced. Many low-band AMs sound a little bassy or boomy because the higher frequencies are a higher multiple of the center carrier. Once they go HD, that won't be an issue as I'm sure they'll retune the array as necessary to pass IBOC.