Transmitter Move of Beach 95.1

[SCMcKinney]

As they might have said in "Airplane!", 'Guess we picked a bad weekend to move the transmitter' - Seriously, I hope all goes well for everyone in the Panhandle re: Issac

However, on Friday August 24 at 7PM Beach went off the air to 'move the transmitter'. What is involved with that? Are they physically moving a tower? Don't most stations have a backup system in place of some sort? Why would they not be able to keep broadcasting with the existing (temporary?)equipment and simply flip a switch when the big rig is ready?

 

[Poledo]

Coincidence? Beach 95.1 lit up their first transmitter/tower during hurricane Dennis in July 2005 with a simulcast of NOAA weather radio.
That was the same day Mr. Wooten got to do his good deed for the year by taking down Double O's Jammin' 92.5.
He was nice enough to take the law with him to keep him from hurting people... we all know he wanted to hurt someone for ****ing with his station while he had important work to do. Still to this day Charlie refuses to tell us (the public) the whole story of what happened that night.

If I had been with Charlie that night Double O's equipment would have been destroyed or I would have taken it home with me... If they don't know how to turn it off they don't have any business possessing it.

 

[rnigma1]

I had to help move the WJAD transmitter to their new tower in 1985. The transmitter wasn't half as heavy as the transformer... now that was a real hernia-maker. There were at least six, seven of us: the PD, owner, engineer, me and one other jock, and a couple of other guys.

 

[Poledo]

I had to help move the WJAD transmitter to their new tower in 1985. The transmitter wasn't half as heavy as the transformer... now that was a real hernia-maker. There were at least six, seven of us: the PD, owner, engineer, me and one other jock, and a couple of other guys.

Would this have been the move from Cairo to Colquitt?
Was Governor Griffin still the owner back in the 85?

I've been wondering for years when (and why) Gov. Griffin sold the WMGR AM/ WJAD FM combo and I'm also curious how tall the old Cairo tower was. The signal reached a good 150+ miles to the west from that tower and all the way to the beach... on a car radio that is.

If you know or remember any more details about WJAD from back in the 70's or 80's, I've got more questions... Like who decided not to target Tallahassee and put the tower in the middle of nowhere providing only a grade B signal to Albany, Dothan, and Tallahassee but a grade A signal to a whole bunch of small towns. The only idea I have is maybe Gov. Griffin owned some more county newspapers in the coverage area.

 

[jmtillery]

I've got more questions... Like who decided not to target Tallahassee and put the tower in the middle of nowhere providing only a grade B signal to Albany, Dothan, and Tallahassee but a grade A signal to a whole bunch of small towns.

I've often wondered the same thing. The signal is much more valuable as a full market Tallahassee station than it ever will be as a secondary Albany station. However, I'm sure the previous owner had his reasons for placing the tower at its current location that made good business sense to him.

 

[Groove1670]

You had fewer signals back then, more listeners, and less competition. Why not server all the possible communities available.

 

[jmtillery]

You had fewer signals back then, more listeners, and less competition. Why not server all the possible communities available.

The smaller communities were and still are unrated and have less advertising dollars to spend as a collective whole. The bigger ad dollars 25 years ago would have come from Tallahassee. There is less work involved focusing on one metro area that has the potential for a much higher pay-off than it is to focus on a wider area composed of smaller communities which had and still have only one or two smaller businesses that would benefit from advertising on radio.

If looking at it from an overall "serving the public interest" perspective, then catering to as many smaller communities as possible makes more sense.

 

[rnigma1]

I had to help move the WJAD transmitter to their new tower in 1985. The transmitter wasn't half as heavy as the transformer... now that was a real hernia-maker. There were at least six, seven of us: the PD, owner, engineer, me and one other jock, and a couple of other guys.

Would this have been the move from Cairo to Colquitt?
Was Governor Griffin still the owner back in the 85?

I've been wondering for years when (and why) Gov. Griffin sold the WMGR AM/ WJAD FM combo and I'm also curious how tall the old Cairo tower was. The signal reached a good 150+ miles to the west from that tower and all the way to the beach... on a car radio that is.

If you know or remember any more details about WJAD from back in the 70's or 80's, I've got more questions... Like who decided not to target Tallahassee and put the tower in the middle of nowhere providing only a grade B signal to Albany, Dothan, and Tallahassee but a grade A signal to a whole bunch of small towns. The only idea I have is maybe Gov. Griffin owned some more county newspapers in the coverage area.

Well, the transmitter was moved from the old tower in Climax to the new one near Colquitt.
Marvin Griffin died in 1982. He had sold WMGR to Toby Dowdy in the early '50s, and it was Dowdy who launched WJAD. Coincidentally, WMGR's 1952 Gates transmitter burned the day Griffin died. The Post-Searchlight was as far as I know the only newspaper Griffin owned (it's now published by his son Sam).
WJAD's studio moved from Bainbridge to Albany in 1993. After Toby died in '85, his family sold it the following year to the Guardian Corp., which owned most of the Hardee's in West Virginia. Guardian sold WJAD and WMGR to Petersen/ Radio Albany less than a decade later, and in 2001 Clear Channel bought them. (Dewey Robinson bought WMGR soon after that.)
When I first worked at WJAD in 1981. they were still going for the Tallahassee market and they had a Tallahassee phone number. A year or two later, they decided to go for the Albany market in earnest. The Tallahassee phone was exchanged for an 800 line (toll free in Georgia only), and we had to start saying "Bainbridge-Albany" in the top of the hour IDs. Then they built the 1100-foot stick in Miller County and we moved the transmitter there. The GM at the time, Charlie Rowe, could give you the whys and wherefores of those decisions better than I can.

 

[Diamondtwo]

However, on Friday August 24 at 7PM Beach went off the air to 'move the transmitter'. What is involved with that? Are they physically moving a tower? Don't most stations have a backup system in place of some sort? Why would they not be able to keep broadcasting with the existing (temporary?)equipment and simply flip a switch when the big rig is ready?

Real world information for you, SCMcKinney: Beach Radio, Inc. is a small business, an independently owned, stand-alone FM station. It did not make sense economically for us to buy a new antenna for the new site, and a new transmitter, when the equipment we have is relatively new. So the decision was made to merely move the existing antenna and transmitter to the new site. That requires a tower crew to climb the old tower, remove the antenna, and mount it on the new site, along with a moving truck to get the transmitter and other associated equipment. None of that is cheap. We did, however, install new feed line. Taking the station down for less than 48 hours was a small price to pay, given the fact that we feel the impact of the move will result in a much better listening experience for a larger universe of listeners along the Gulf Coast.

We merely moved from one existing tower to another. Thanks for your comments, and thanks for listening.

David Nolin
Operations Manager/Afternoons
Beach 95.1

 

[radioboy]

I remember listening to WJAD sometimes around 1980-82 or thereabouts. WTAL had been sold to a new owner in the fall of 1980, and the adult contemporary format changed to Music of Your Life.
WJAD's music was the closest thing in town to the AC format WTAL dumped. I remember Chuck Bear being on 'JAD during those days.

Interesting thread on the old WJAD.

@Diamondtwo: Best wishes on Beach 95.1's move. I have some family living in the Panama City area these days. Will have to listen in the next time I'm in the area.

 

[Groove1670]

The smaller communities were and still are unrated and have less advertising dollars to spend as a collective whole.

Prior to 1980, there was plenty of ad dollars in non rated markets. We were billing close to $70,000 per month in one unrated market with a population of 35,000. We were the community station, with only 4 other signals.

Times have changed.

 

[jmtillery]

The smaller communities were and still are unrated and have less advertising dollars to spend as a collective whole.

Prior to 1980, there was plenty of ad dollars in non rated markets. We were billing close to $70,000 per month in one unrated market with a population of 35,000. We were the community station, with only 4 other signals.

Times have changed.

That's excellent you were billing close to $70k from one unrated community. I'm curious what was your overall total billing during that time?

 

[jmtillery]

I remember listening to WJAD sometimes around 1980-82 or thereabouts.

The first time I heard WJAD was during the summer 1983, receiving the signal early one morning due to an atmospheric trop. I had first thought I was receiving WAIV Jacksonville until I heard the station ID - WJAD Bainbridge. Much to my surprise, the morning show host was someone I had worked with years prior and had lost track.

 

[Groove1670]

That's excellent you were billing close to $70k from one unrated community. I'm curious what was your overall total billing during that time?

600K was probably the best year. But.... we were running 12-15 min of inventory mornings and middays.

We were involved in everthing, from blood drives, to church bake sales..

As I watch the weather channel now, I remember we hosted weatherman Bryan Norcross at the local Sears store to talk about Hurricanes and weather, and you could pick up your free severe weather guide sponsored by a jazillion people. I thinh he signed the guides and took pictures with fans. ;D This was way before hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.

Good luck walking into a Sears store now, and getting a sponsorship (if it is opearated by a local dealer, you might get a high school football sponsorship). Back then, they spent a good amount of ad dollars with us.

 

[Poledo]

Good info there rnigma.

I can't imagine any reason for there to have been an existing tall tower near Colquitt, so I assume it was built for WJAD? Or was it built for WJAD with others waiting in line to lease tower space in that area?

Was there any reason a tall tower couldn't be built in Climax to maximize the signal right where it was? A Bainbridge / Thomasville / Tallahassee station wouldn't have been a bad thing.

I know they had a deadline and needed to move up to keep the FCC from downgrading WJAD to a C2. If targeting Albany was the the plan hey came up with, is there any reason WJAD couldn't have moved to an existing or new tower at Doerun? At least the FAA paperwork would have been easier for an antenna at Doerun. ... and co-location of FM/TV antennas is not a bad thing, engineers probably love it.

Was this Dowdy part of the Dowdy family that's big into South Mississippi and South-East Louisiana radio? I know they had some stations in South-West Georgia back around that time... but I thought I knew more about WJAD's history and I've never associated the Mississippi Dowdys with it.

I would have more questions if I wasn't in the middle of a squall from this pansy ass Hurricane Issac. I now know most of the media and Public Officials around Pensacola are wimps and can't take a little wind and rain when they have several days notice it's coming.

 

[Poledo]

As I watch the weather channel now, I remember we hosted weatherman Bryan Norcross at the local Sears store to talk about Hurricanes and weather, and you could pick up your free severe weather guide sponsored by a jazillion people. I thinh he signed the guides and took pictures with fans. ;D

Those severe weather guide/hurricane tracking charts were a big scam. I can remember one year when my Dad was handling advertising that he was one of the two front cover sponsors... Right under WPAP 92.5. The problem is that my Dad's business worked in the Pensacola/Mobile market. We wouldn't even go to Fort Walton for a job. Those Yankees selling adds and printing those guides didn't have any idea where Panama City and Mobile were... and after the guide had been published there was no way to get in touch with someone to demand a refund. I also had 10,000 copies of a Panama City hurricane guide to give to my customers in Pensacola. I finally through them out about 10 years ago.

 

[rnigma1]

Was this Dowdy part of the Dowdy family that's big into South Mississippi and South-East Louisiana radio? I know they had some stations in South-West Georgia back around that time... but I thought I knew more about WJAD's history and I've never associated the Mississippi Dowdys with it.

Yes. Toby's brother, Charles Dowdy, owned several stations in Mississippi.

Toby started out as a singer in Jacksonville with his own radio and TV shows in the late '40s-early 50s. He and his band released two records on Mercury in 1950: "Silver Springs/Down in Ybor City" and "Steppin' Out/Gonna Get Going." "Down in Ybor City" was written by Boudleaux Bryant, who later wrote hits for the Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson among others; he co-wrote "Silver Springs" with Toby.
Toby discovered Johnny Tillotson and gave him a leg up on his career. I remember seeing a photo of Tillotson on Toby's desk with the inscription "You will always be my boss."

 

[Poledo]

Thanks for filling in some South West Georgia blanks, rnigma.

Back to Beach 95.1... will they still need all those Panama City translators after moving closer to town?

 

[Diamondtwo]

Back to Beach 95.1... will they still need all those Panama City translators after moving closer to town?

Poledo, the 96.3 translator that shows as translating Beach hasn't been on the air since I've been back in PC (2009), and we haven't been on the 106.3 translator for awhile either. My understanding is that another operator in the market may be picking up one (or both, not sure) of those translators to rebroadcast an AM.

TDO

 

[Tibbs4]

Oh Hale?