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W291CI 106.1 Jacksonville

O

olmjax

Earlier this week, the station was granted a license for the previous construction permit that will upgrade the station to 250 watts @ 545ft HAAT from a tower of Hogan Rd. on the Southside of Jacksonville. However, the station isn't on the air as of September 22, 2012 so I don't know what the format of the station will ultimately be. The station, based on the FCC application, will be rebroadcasting programming for Cox Radio-owned WJGL HD2 but there is an application pending to move the translator from the Hogan Rd. tower to another tall tower owned by Renda Broadcasting near Everbank Field in Downtown Jacksonville. Furthermore, this application will slightly reduce the power of the translator to 225 watts but it will be higher on that particular tower at about 910ft HAAT, which will increase the 60dBU coverage area in metro Jacksonville. In fact, the 60dBU contour will encompass most of the Jacksonville metro area from that centrally-located tower. When I looked at the application, I noticed there were a couple of flaws with the application that could prevent or delay the FCC in granting a construction permit for this application, which are:

1) A typo with the vertical ERP that could cause some problems. On the application, it says that the station will broadcast with a horizontal ERP of 225 watts but it will broadcast with a vertical ERP of 255 watts, which is obliviously a typo because the horizontal and vertical ERP for a translator can NOT exceed 250 watts.

2) A diagram that demonstrates that the new translator will not cause any prohibited interference to any nearby full-power station. Although there are no stations on 106.1 FM near the Jacksonville area, there are two full-power, Class A radio stations on the adjacent frequency of 106.3 FM, which are WEAG-FM in Starke, FL and WKBX in Kingsland, GA. Basically, they must show that the 54 dBU of the new translator will not touch the protected 60 dBU contour of these full-powered stations.

As for the format, I believe that the station will be an urban-formatted station because of the fact that they are moving the station closer of the Urban Core, the Northside, and the Westside areas of town, which is where the majority of African-Americans in the city of Jacksonville and Duval County reside. Moreover, the two Clear Channel urban powerhouses, WJBT (Mainstream Urban) and WSOL-FM (Urban AC), have not had any serious competition for years and they are "ripe for the picking".Also, Cox Radio is the only major company in our market that has urban stations in its station cluster like, for example, WCFB (Urban AC) in Central Florida and WEDR in Miami. Other than urban, what are some of the format holes in Jacksonville that could be filled with a HD subchannel-to-FM translator station?

Coverage Maps:

1) W291CI (Licensed) from Radio Locator: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=W291CI&service=FX&status=L&hours=U
2) W291CI 60 dBU contour map from FCC website (Application): https://maps.google.com/?q=http://t...6.1&contour=60&city=JACKSONVILLE&state=FL.kml
 
otharadioman said:
Earlier this week, the station was granted a license for the previous construction permit that will upgrade the station to 250 watts @ 545ft HAAT from a tower of Hogan Rd. on the Southside of Jacksonville. However, the station isn't on the air as of September 22, 2012 so I don't know what the format of the station will ultimately be. The station, based on the FCC application, will be rebroadcasting programming for Cox Radio-owned WJGL HD2 but there is an application pending to move the translator from the Hogan Rd. tower to another tall tower owned by Renda Broadcasting near Everbank Field in Downtown Jacksonville.
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"Otha" Yes, you are correct, as I pointed out, a week or so ago, on another thread, it appears Cox has plans to launch some sort of format from WJGL HD-2 on 106.1 FM in analog. Apparently, as of what I can determine right now, while the audio will be originating from WJGL, the 106.1 translator facility is owned by a Victor Vickers, so there must be a working arrangement in play. Since the application does bring more signal to the Northside, and the urban core of Jacksonville, an "Urban" format is certainly a good guess. But, anything's possible, from an "oldies-type" format to a religious format, especially if Cox is going to launch a WJGL-FM HD-2 for a second party who pays them to re-broadcast their programming. Then an HD-2 for Cox makes perfect sense, or is that "Dollars and Cents"?! :D
 
The FCC granted the application for Class D translator W291CI (today 10-4-12) to make a minor modification of the previous construction permit, that will allow the antenna and transmitter to relocate to the downtown Jacksonville tower, with 225 watts on 106.1 FM. This application was approved rather quickly, so I'm still guessing a WJGL-FM HD 2 will appear sometime in the near future as the vehicle to feed the analog translator. :)
 
Is that a former Reach translator?
 
Today, on December 29,2012, W291CI is on the air rebroadcast WJGL (96.9 FM) HD2 channel and the format is "106.1 The Dove", which is an Oldies-based Soft Adult Contemporary format based on Cox Radio's sister station in Tampa (WDUV "105.5 FM The Dove"). I want to know does anybody think that this format will be viable in Jacksonville and do you think this station will get decent ratings.

BTW, this station has a pretty nice signal throughout metro Jacksonville particularly within the 60 dBU contour service grade area. Furthermore, the audio quality and processing is excellent for a translator.
 
Whats Jacksonville's median age? How does the population in Jax compare to Miami or Tampa. Should a full power Soft AC be launched what kind of playlist would Cox use. One modeled after WDUV or one modeled after Miami's Easy 93.1. That or should this station have a playlist different from both these stations. Considering Jacksonville is a different market than both Tampa and Miami.

I think it would work, maybe even mix in some softer Top 40 selections from the Ape, Cool and WJGH. Softer music that was once popular in the Jacksonville market between the 60's and the 80's.
 
My God, miracles indeed do happen. Back in town, and what a welcome back! Where I live in the Baymeadows area, 106.1 comes in extremely well even in the house. Did some driving around early this morning with a new preset and I experienced no issues. It's not WFEZ and that's fine. There's a lot of 70's hits Magic 107.3 featured and then some. I'm sure a lot of thought was given to the overall sound.

For those looking for a good, easy listening to station at work, at home or in the car....106.1 will do the job. When Magic 107.3 fell by the wayside and then with what happened with WSOS-FM, I said the ball was in Cox's court to fill a definate format hole. They have...I love it...as Etta James sang with such great emotion "At Last"....indeed!!! ;D
 
Found the new 106.1 The Dove by accident tonight, returning into Jacksonville from a trip away over the holidays. Its exactly like the Tampa version. Signal was good.
 
Coming back from South Florida last night, I "discovered" The New 106-1 The Dove! Started picking it up just south of the World Golf Village, and the signal quickly strengthened up from there. The signal is solid on the Southside, Northside , AND the Westside! From early observation, IMO, probably the best translator signal in Jax, so far. The signal processing and audio quality seem very good. Since Cox is constructing new antenna facilities on Hogan road, WJGL's HD signal has been down, (along with 102.9 and 104.5) I'm guessing when it returns, it will have The Dove on 96.9 HD-2. It will be interesting to see how this reappearance of the Soft AC format in Jacksonville plays out! Happy New Year! :)
 
I did some dxing while driving down along a1a from Mickler's down to Vilano Beach this morning. 106.1 was there all the way. From St Johns county, 106.9 seems to outshine 106.1 and 103.7 as the strongest signal. On my Realistic DX-400 signal meter, it shows a nearly equal strength with 106.5 with 99 watts.
 
Soft AC is a nice change. Artists like Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, Bread, Anne Murray, John Denver. You won't find any of these artists and more like them on mainstream AC anymore.

It's nice there is an alternative to the same old. Jacksonville certainly is catering to it's older listeners with WJAX and WKTZ already there. I only wish major markets like New York, LA, Chicago and countless others would give us older listeners a reason to listen to music radio

Jacksonville also has a classic country station,as well.
 
benale said:
Soft AC is a nice change.

It's nice there is an alternative to the same old.
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AMEN to that!! I really enjoy this format...and I am 44 yo. :)
 
upstate29651 said:
gamefreak said:
Whats Jacksonville's median age?
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Upper 30's

G
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I tell you I would like to see a CHR/Rhythmic here that plays a variety other than the same crap that you hear all the time on 95.1 and 97.9..something like a party station..Radio in Jacksonville is so stale..we got like 4 stations that does rock, now 2 AC stations, whatever the hell Jack FM is...two Mainstream top 40s, 2 Country and a Classic Country station, a southern gospel station, and a couple urbans...man..I tell you thank goodness for Sirius XM. I have been in smaller markets with better stations than Jacksonville.
 
I want to know if the reception in areas outside of the 60 dBU contour of W291CI in areas such as Fruit Cove, Northern St. John's County, Fleming Island and Ponte Vedra Beach, which are areas that are critically important to a Soft AC station. Is the signal solid enough in these areas or is the signal too spotty to be competitive?
 
younglee981 said:
I tell you I would like to see a CHR/Rhythmic here that plays a variety other than the same crap that you hear all the time on 95.1 and 97.9..something like a party station..Radio in Jacksonville is so stale..we got like 4 stations that does rock, now 2 AC stations, whatever the hell Jack FM is...two Mainstream top 40s, 2 Country and a Classic Country station, a southern gospel station, and a couple urbans...man..I tell you thank goodness for Sirius XM. I have been in smaller markets with better stations than Jacksonville.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you live in a town with a large military presence. Just about the same radio dial in Fort Walton. Corporate radio probably has an easy playbook to go by in military towns.


What is the average amount of time a family lives in Jax before moving on to the next town? 3 years? How does stuff like that figure into format decisions? There's really no need for heritage stations in transient towns.

I've always been fascinated by the way a military population changes the economy on a local scale. If I was only a kid again, I know what I would study in college... instead of changing majors every other quarter.
 
Otha, The signal is pretty good in northern St Johns county when using the car radio. Not so great indoors with most radios except my dx-400 which pulls in a clear signal. However a couple days ago there was some tropo action and it was fighting 106.1 Savannah. WJGL 96.9 HD-2 is on the air as of yesterday. I must add that I have been listening to this station for a week and it seems like they have a rotation of songs. I heard George Benson On Broadway and several others yesterday and heard the same songs in the same or simular order again today. I hope this will not be the case moving forward or this will get old quick.
 
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