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The Crystal Coast is a vast AM wasteland!

B

BLewis

Guest
Hi All! I was at Atlantic Beach this past week. It was my first trip there in a good few years. I remember the days of WMBL 740 and WBTB 1400. Now, in Atlantic Beach...or even back on the mainland in Morehead City, you can scan the AM band and the tuner will not stop. I've noticed posts about WDLX AM recently...I see that still no one is manning that store, either...sloppy automation coverage of local breaks!! I did notice a station on 910 AM, with Spanish Praise and Worship programming...who is that?? Are either of the AM channels in Morehead/Beaufort still available...or were they surrendered when they went dark? I have a hard time believing that, especially 740, is simply impossible to operate and sell.

I did get my first chance to hear SAM 105.1. It's actually a pretty neat format. I noticed an earlier post about their automation being quite sloppy...however, when I was there, it was quite smooth. It was actually hard to tell it was a satellite delivered format...though; it has NO jocks, like most Jacks, Sams, and Franks....
 
AM 740 is gone for good, it's frequency sold to Clear Channel which took it dark in early 2000 to upgrade WLTQ AM 730 in Charleston, SC. I believe there were plans to resurrect 1400 WBTB from Pine Knoll Shores, but that license was turned in as well. AM 910 is WSRP from Jacksonville. There's an AM 1120, a classic country station, you can receive somewhat well along the Crystal Coast, WSME licensed to Camp Lejeune. It was on 1580 until a few years ago. Other than Jacksonville AMs and a faint signal from AM 1330 in Havelock, the AM dial is, like you say, pretty dead locally.

> Hi All! I was at Atlantic Beach this past week. It was my
> first trip there in a good few years. I remember the days
> of WMBL 740 and WBTB 1400. Now, in Atlantic Beach...or even
> back on the mainland in Morehead City, you can scan the AM
> band and the tuner will not stop. I've noticed posts about
> WDLX AM recently...I see that still no one is manning that
> store, either...sloppy automation coverage of local breaks!!
> I did notice a station on 910 AM, with Spanish Praise and
> Worship programming...who is that?? Are either of the AM
> channels in Morehead/Beaufort still available...or were they
> surrendered when they went dark? I have a hard time
> believing that, especially 740, is simply impossible to
> operate and sell.
>
> I did get my first chance to hear SAM 105.1. It's actually
> a pretty neat format. I noticed an earlier post about their
> automation being quite sloppy...however, when I was there,
> it was quite smooth. It was actually hard to tell it was a
> satellite delivered format...though; it has NO jocks, like
> most Jacks, Sams, and Franks....
>
 
Yeah...I did get the classic country on 1120 from time to time. What is 1330 in Havlock doing? I know YEARS ago, it was just a simulcast of the Havlock FM...I mean, this was back in the Q-105 days. During the daytime, 910 was pretty strong...the scan didn't stop on it, but it was fairly strong. I remember, as a kid, hearing 740 all over the place. Not just because it was popular, back in the day; but it's signal went on forever (considering it was a 1Kw AM). Such a shame that frequency is dark for good!


AM 740 is gone for good, it's frequency sold to Clear
> Channel which took it dark in early 2000 to upgrade WLTQ AM
> 730 in Charleston, SC. I believe there were plans to
> resurrect 1400 WBTB from Pine Knoll Shores, but that license
> was turned in as well. AM 910 is WSRP from Jacksonville.
> There's an AM 1120, a classic country station, you can
> receive somewhat well along the Crystal Coast, WSME licensed
> to Camp Lejeune. It was on 1580 until a few years ago.
> Other than Jacksonville AMs and a faint signal from AM 1330
> in Havelock, the AM dial is, like you say, pretty dead
> locally.
>
> > Hi All! I was at Atlantic Beach this past week. It was
> my
> > first trip there in a good few years. I remember the days
>
> > of WMBL 740 and WBTB 1400. Now, in Atlantic Beach...or
> even
> > back on the mainland in Morehead City, you can scan the AM
>
> > band and the tuner will not stop. I've noticed posts
> about
> > WDLX AM recently...I see that still no one is manning that
>
> > store, either...sloppy automation coverage of local
> breaks!!
> > I did notice a station on 910 AM, with Spanish Praise
> and
> > Worship programming...who is that?? Are either of the AM
> > channels in Morehead/Beaufort still available...or were
> they
> > surrendered when they went dark? I have a hard time
> > believing that, especially 740, is simply impossible to
> > operate and sell.
> >
> > I did get my first chance to hear SAM 105.1. It's
> actually
> > a pretty neat format. I noticed an earlier post about
> their
> > automation being quite sloppy...however, when I was there,
>
> > it was quite smooth. It was actually hard to tell it was
> a
> > satellite delivered format...though; it has NO jocks, like
>
> > most Jacks, Sams, and Franks....
> >
>
 
> Yeah...I did get the classic country on 1120 from time to
> time. What is 1330 in Havlock doing? I know YEARS ago, it
> was just a simulcast of the Havlock FM...I mean, this was
> back in the Q-105 days. During the daytime, 910 was pretty
> strong...the scan didn't stop on it, but it was fairly
> strong. I remember, as a kid, hearing 740 all over the
> place. Not just because it was popular, back in the day;
> but it's signal went on forever (considering it was a 1Kw
> AM). Such a shame that frequency is dark for good!
>

There was an article in a trade mag a few years back which stated coastal eastern NC was the single worst place in the entire USA to own an AM station, regardless of its power. Anybody remember which magazine that was, or the date?

1330 in Havelock is a waste of electricity at this point. They just slam the carrier on in the morning and slam it off at sundown, often in the middle of a song. NextMedia could probably make as much money by taking it dark and saving on the electric bill as they could by selling it.

1320 in Washington is another good case in point. They're supposed to be a daytimer too, but they leave a dead carrier on all night. Doesn't that get expensive?

If 1070 in Greenville ever follows through on their planned 50-kw upgrade, they will be THE dominant AM east of I-95.

KL

<a href="http://home.nc.rr.com/gttyson/lastradio.html">The Last Radio Station<a>
 
> If 1070 in Greenville ever follows through on their planned
> 50-kw upgrade, they will be THE dominant AM east of I-95.
>
> KL
>
> The Last Radio Station

One of their engineers did some contract work for us this past week. he assures us that the upgrade is in the works and on the schedule.

Mike Afflerback, the owner of 1120 in Jax, as well as 1450 and 1490 in New Bern is streaming his station, and has a plan in the works for his Winterville CP. The call letters will be WECU. Why didn't somebody think of this before?
 
It could be worse.

You could be living on Prince Edward Island in Canada.

According to this week's (August 1st) issue of Scott Fybush's Northeast Radio Watch, the last two AM stations in that province have both applied to the CRTC to move to FM.

If both requests are granted, PEI will have no AM radio stations, although I suspect that there are a couple of powerful stations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that are (for the moment at least) still on the AM dial whose signals reach PEI.
 
I haven't paid much attention to 1070. I did used to listen to them as a Spanish station. Their website looks decent. How do they sound? We rarely get them in the Double R City. The 50Kw upgrade could make them quite viable, if they play their cards right.

About the WECU calls. I THINK the 60's-era student station on ECU's campus was WECU. It was a carrier-current station and there is an aircheck of them on reelradio.com. They had a 'big' market sound to them...at least, the aircheck did.

If 1070 in Greenville ever follows through on their
> planned
> > 50-kw upgrade, they will be THE dominant AM east of I-95.
> >
> > KL
> >
> > The Last Radio Station
>
> One of their engineers did some contract work for us this
> past week. he assures us that the upgrade is in the works
> and on the schedule.
>
> Mike Afflerback, the owner of 1120 in Jax, as well as 1450
> and 1490 in New Bern is streaming his station, and has a
> plan in the works for his Winterville CP. The call letters
> will be WECU. Why didn't somebody think of this before?
>
 
I worked for WFAY in Fayetteville for about a month - back in 2001. In my opinion, all AMs in SE NC are just ghastly. I couldn't find -anything- along I-95 worthy of a good listen when I was there. And may hell rise up and swallow that pit of swill where I worked.

> > Yeah...I did get the classic country on 1120 from time to
> > time. What is 1330 in Havlock doing? I know YEARS ago,
> it
> > was just a simulcast of the Havlock FM...I mean, this was
> > back in the Q-105 days. During the daytime, 910 was
> pretty
> > strong...the scan didn't stop on it, but it was fairly
> > strong. I remember, as a kid, hearing 740 all over the
> > place. Not just because it was popular, back in the day;
> > but it's signal went on forever (considering it was a 1Kw
> > AM). Such a shame that frequency is dark for good!
> >
>
> There was an article in a trade mag a few years back which
> stated coastal eastern NC was the single worst place in the
> entire USA to own an AM station, regardless of its power.
> Anybody remember which magazine that was, or the date?
>
> 1330 in Havelock is a waste of electricity at this point.
> They just slam the carrier on in the morning and slam it off
> at sundown, often in the middle of a song. NextMedia could
> probably make as much money by taking it dark and saving on
> the electric bill as they could by selling it.
>
> 1320 in Washington is another good case in point. They're
> supposed to be a daytimer too, but they leave a dead carrier
> on all night. Doesn't that get expensive?
>
> If 1070 in Greenville ever follows through on their planned
> 50-kw upgrade, they will be THE dominant AM east of I-95.
>
> KL
>
> The Last Radio Station
>
 
> I worked for WFAY in Fayetteville for about a month - back
> in 2001. In my opinion, all AMs in SE NC are just ghastly.
> I couldn't find -anything- along I-95 worthy of a good
> listen when I was there. And may hell rise up and swallow
> that pit of swill where I worked.
>

What caused you to leave WFAY?
 
> AM 740 is gone for good, it's frequency sold to Clear
> Channel which took it dark in early 2000 to upgrade WLTQ AM
> 730 in Charleston, SC. I believe there were plans to
> resurrect 1400 WBTB from Pine Knoll Shores, but that license
> was turned in as well. AM 910 is WSRP from Jacksonville.
> There's an AM 1120, a classic country station, you can
> receive somewhat well along the Crystal Coast, WSME licensed
> to Camp Lejeune. It was on 1580 until a few years ago.
> Other than Jacksonville AMs and a faint signal from AM 1330
> in Havelock, the AM dial is, like you say, pretty dead
> locally.
>
> > Hi All! I was at Atlantic Beach this past week. It was
> my
> > first trip there in a good few years. I remember the days
>
> > of WMBL 740 and WBTB 1400. Now, in Atlantic Beach...or
> even
> > back on the mainland in Morehead City, you can scan the AM
>
> > band and the tuner will not stop. I've noticed posts
> about
> > WDLX AM recently...I see that still no one is manning that
>
> > store, either...sloppy automation coverage of local
> breaks!!
> > I did notice a station on 910 AM, with Spanish Praise
> and
> > Worship programming...who is that?? Are either of the AM
> > channels in Morehead/Beaufort still available...or were
> they
> > surrendered when they went dark? I have a hard time
> > believing that, especially 740, is simply impossible to
> > operate and sell.
> >
> > I did get my first chance to hear SAM 105.1. It's
> actually
> > a pretty neat format. I noticed an earlier post about
> their
> > automation being quite sloppy...however, when I was there,
>
> > it was quite smooth. It was actually hard to tell it was
> a
> > satellite delivered format...though; it has NO jocks, like
>
> > most Jacks, Sams, and Franks....
> >
>
hey anybody know who owns the old 740 site on radio island? i know the building is still there but is the tower standing? and what happened to WBTB's tower?
 
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