The Jesus Christ Show on WGST

[nightmanager]

Wow, they actually brought the KFI Jesus Christ show to Atlanta.

WGST could do a lot worse than mirror every single one of KFI's shows. Heck. They could just refeed the KFI signal including the LA traffic reports. Hearing about Sig Alerts on the 5 might make the usual Grady Curve backup seem a lot more casual.

 

[jal41]

Wow, they actually brought the KFI Jesus Christ show to Atlanta.

WGST could do a lot worse than mirror every single one of KFI's shows. Heck. They could just refeed the KFI signal including the LA traffic reports. Hearing about Sig Alerts on the 5 might make the usual Grady Curve backup seem a lot more casual.

WGST and KFI broadcast on the same frequency (640 AM). KFI is why WGST cannot expand nighttime coverage.

 

[jabba17]

Wow, they actually brought the KFI Jesus Christ show to Atlanta.

WGST could do a lot worse than mirror every single one of KFI's shows. Heck. They could just refeed the KFI signal including the LA traffic reports. Hearing about Sig Alerts on the 5 might make the usual Grady Curve backup seem a lot more casual.

WGST and KFI broadcast on the same frequency (640 AM). KFI is why WGST cannot expand nighttime coverage.

WGST could go directional and protect KFI. KFI is not WGST's problem.

WGST's problems are the following stations:

WMEN, Royal Palm Beach, FL, 7500W day/460W night
WVLG, Wildwood, FL, 930W day/860W night
WFNC, Fayetteville, NC, 10KW day/1000W night
CMLA, Cuba, 10K day/night

WMEN has a CP to go 50K day/25K night (directionally eastward, IIRC), plus STA to go 50K day and night. This is to overcome interference from CMLA.

If it weren't for these stations, theoretically, WGST could put up an array north/west of town and go directional south/eastward at night, protecting KFI and most other stations on 640.

I don't know what kind of protection we owe Cuba and CMLA, but we'd have to deal with WMEN first.

Sometimes you can hear CMLA after dark on 640.

 

[secondchoice]

Fixing WGST’s AM signal is do able but it would be more cost effective to upgrade and or swap one out one of the “rimshot” FM signals.

If money is not an issue WGST’s AM signal can be improved under the current rules (example 1070 AM with 50KW daytime in both Chattanooga and Birmingham). The “cheapest’ way would be to buy and shut down the stations on a frequency in the southeast and make a “clear” channel. This might be cheaper than a large directional array’s land cost.

If the FCC really cared about radio, (I sometimes I think it does not!) it would assign some of the old lower VHF analog frequencies (channel 6 and lower) which will not work in cellular service very well, and extend the FM band down and move all of the class D, C and class B’s (except stations lower than 600) that are not upgradable to at least 5 KW at night AM stations on it. Reshuffle the AM allotments so Class A’s and the remaining super B’s can run IBOC without hashing each other up at night.

 

[steveintonsay]

So, uh, why do think GST's in the tank?

 

[jabba17]

Fixing WGST’s AM signal is do able but it would be more cost effective to upgrade and or swap one out one of the “rimshot” FM signals.

If money is not an issue WGST’s AM signal can be improved under the current rules (example 1070 AM with 50KW daytime in both Chattanooga and Birmingham). The “cheapest’ way would be to buy and shut down the stations on a frequency in the southeast and make a “clear” channel. This might be cheaper than a large directional array’s land cost.

If the FCC really cared about radio, (I sometimes I think it does not!) it would assign some of the old lower VHF analog frequencies (channel 6 and lower) which will not work in cellular service very well, and extend the FM band down and move all of the class D, C and class B’s (except stations lower than 600) that are not upgradable to at least 5 KW at night AM stations on it. Reshuffle the AM allotments so Class A’s and the remaining super B’s can run IBOC without hashing each other up at night.

Agreed that it's a lot easier and cheaper to put WGST on an FM than clearing out 640. I've often wondered why nobody has bought (or attempted to buy) an eastern class A clear from another, smaller market and moved it to ATL.

I've mentioned turning TV channels 5 and 6 into an FM x-band. That would increase the size of the FM band by half again, down to 76MHz (these frequencies are already in use in Japan for FM radio). Going lower wouldn't be practical because channels 4 and 5 aren't contiguous.

 

[secondchoice]

Jabba, you are correct (4 to 5 freq. jump) but, If I “ruled radio” the new band would be digital only. It would be an “open” or free digital encoded (there are many digital compression schemes many with out the digital “delay”). The transmitters would be very “narrow” tuned allowing 87.9 87.8 87.7 87.6 channels etc. With digital tuners only you could you could even “rename” the channels like the digital conversion TV did (channel 2 now is really on an UHF freq.) This would allow the use of any old analog TV frequency. I would require antenna height to be 500 ft or more.

I could go on and on but let’s face facts there is too much lobbying money to allow this to happen.

The buying an Eastern Class A kind of did happen when WOWO Fort Wayne IN 1190’s night signal was butchered for an 1190 in NYC.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Agreed that it's a lot easier and cheaper to put WGST on an FM than clearing out 640. I've often wondered why nobody has bought (or attempted to buy) an eastern class A clear from another, smaller market and moved it to ATL.

You are making the assumption that no one has tried. I know just enough about that process to be dangerous so I read through the applications when frequencies are moved around. I suspect if a nearby Class A could be moved closer and the power increased, you would see the application on file by now. The FM spectrum has become as packed as "a can of sardines".

A couple of years ago I began looking at the LPFM concept and looking for available frequencies to put a station limited to 100 watts with the antenna at a maximum of 100 feet above average terrain. When squeezing in one of those flea-power tea-pots is close to impossible, how are you going to squeeze in a full-powered station?

It will be a good day for broadcasting and a good day for listeners when the industry understands that if a format is not good enough to pay the going price for an FM stick, it probably doesn't belong in the market.

 

[jabba17]

Agreed that it's a lot easier and cheaper to put WGST on an FM than clearing out 640. I've often wondered why nobody has bought (or attempted to buy) an eastern class A clear from another, smaller market and moved it to ATL.

You are making the assumption that no one has tried. I know just enough about that process to be dangerous so I read through the applications when frequencies are moved around. I suspect if a nearby Class A could be moved closer and the power increased, you would see the application on file by now. The FM spectrum has become as packed as "a can of sardines".

A couple of years ago I began looking at the LPFM concept and looking for available frequencies to put a station limited to 100 watts with the antenna at a maximum of 100 feet above average terrain. When squeezing in one of those flea-power tea-pots is close to impossible, how are you going to squeeze in a full-powered station?

It will be a good day for broadcasting and a good day for listeners when the industry understands that if a format is not good enough to pay the going price for an FM stick, it probably doesn't belong in the market.

No doubt that the existing FM band is about as packed as it can get, although the new regs proposed don't mandate protection for third-adjacents. I was actually referring to putting WGST on an existing FM signal, as we have discussed before, not trying to create a new one.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

No doubt that the existing FM band is about as packed as it can get, although the new regs proposed don't mandate protection for third-adjacents. I was actually referring to putting WGST on an existing FM signal, as we have discussed before, not trying to create a new one.

Moving an existing "A" channel into the Metro and then getting a power increase so that it will cover the market is for all practical purposes the same as creating a new one. The licensee gives up the old assignment as part of gaining the new assignment.

The 3rd adjacent frequency change does not alter how one commercial channel can be related to another commercial channel. I thing the 3rd adjacent frequency law/rule (congress passed a law mandating that the FCC make such a rule) was peculiar to the LPFM licenses.

As I understand all the conversation about WGST... it is usaully about the fact that the station with its AM power and patter cannot cover the market. A Class A FM woul have the same problem.

 

[DToTheJ]

So, uh, why do think GST's in the tank?

You know WGST is desperate when they look to Jesus to "resurrect" their ratings.

 

[almaniac27]

So, uh, why do think GST's in the tank?

You know WGST is desperate when they look to Jesus to "resurrect" their ratings.

Now now, no need to crucify Clear Channel Atlanta.

 

[nightmanager]

WGST and KFI broadcast on the same frequency (640 AM). KFI is why WGST cannot expand nighttime coverage.

No no, I don't care about fixing the night time coverage. THAT is a lost cause. I think rebroadcasting KFI's feed would be an improvement. Traffic reports, weather reports, news, the whole thing.

Won't happen.

But every time I listen to KFI, I am reminded it IS possible for a CC station on 640 to sound decent and totally not stink. The only thing that should be different is the location. It's CC. They could phone it in or at least run the station remotely. But obviously there are other issues.

 

[nightmanager]

deleted for being a dupe

 

[bclark71.]

The show needs some jock shouts..."Jesus Christ!"

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The show needs some jock shouts..."Jesus Christ!"

That might be something that we would need to file under "tasteless" at best, or "bad taste" at worst.

 

[DToTheJ]

I just thought of something: Father Harold Camping of Family Radio states that Jesus will be returning to Earth this May. Does CC have another show ready to go to replace this one when that happens?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Since Camping has predicted the world will end next year, you'd think he would sell some of his stations at bargain basement prices and then spend the next few months partying.

 

[Jefferson Joe]

The persona of Jesus is Neil Saavedra, who is also the Marketing Director at KFI-AM in Los Angeles. (where Bill Handel is the morning man.) His show is quite evangelical in terms of theology. But he comes across in a loving, caring way.

The first incarnation of the “The Jesus Christ Show” was on KFI’s “The Bill Handel Show.” Saavedra, who worked in Christian radio before joining KFI in 1994 as an intern on Handel’s show, was invited to join his friend for an Easter program. The condition: He had to play the role of Jesus, and he had to do it without kitsch or irony.

“There was no question he could not answer. Out of that evolved what I consider to be the most unique show in radio,” said Hande

l, who is Jewish. “It’s sort of like Dr. Dean Edell meets Dr. Laura meets Jesus on the cross.” “Elijah was suicidal; Isaiah preached naked. These are not perfect people. Job went bankrupt; John the Baptist ate bugs. It wasn’t about perfection. It wasn’t about them not having any flaws. It was about God using them, seeing in them the passion and intensity for the word of God,” KFI Jesus told his audience.

In 2006, KFI was the most-listened to talk radio station in the United States. I have not seen their ratings in a while, but in the final quarter of 2009 they were the #1 station in L.A.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Since Camping has predicted the world will end next year, you'd think he would sell some of his stations at bargain basement prices and then spend the next few months partying.

I don't know that I have ever met a person who is truly committed to a "just around the corner second coming" who know what it meant to "party".