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WAJD-1390 says goodbye?

T

ThatGuyOnTheRadio

I haven't heard a single bit of audio come out of Gillen's Radio Disney outlet WAJD in least 3 months... granted, I don't listen every day... but in the dozen or so times I've turned in on in the last few months, it's been dead air.

I haven't seen anything from the FCC about WAJD being off SHUT OFF by Gillen Broadcasting for budget, etc.

Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
There is presently no request by WAJD with the FCC for authority to remain silent, which a station can do for one year before further action. But.... dead air is probably not considered silent, if the transmitter is on the air, they are not silent in the FCC sense. With all day dead air, they would not be doing a legal ID, which is not a fatal error, at least in terms of losing the license. If they are not able to run and relay EAS tests that is more serious.

I'd say give them a break. Maybe they have no engineer right now, or more pressing problems.

If they don't want to run it (but are not inclined or able to sell it) they should turn it off the air for eleven months, come back on for a week, then sign off for another eleven months. That does require paying attention, though.
 
Hmm... very interesting. I was not aware of a station having a year to be off the air.

I can't tell if the carrier is on or not... I will have to listen more closely next time I turn it on.
 
Gillen Broadcasting has had its share of technical issues over the years with WAJD... On the one hand I don't think AM 1390 is a real priority with management since WYKS is the real revenue producer for the company. On the other hand, WAJD can be a profitable AM station with the right programming, positioning and imaging... It just takes a creative imagination and a committment to implement a successful busines plan...

Mark Tillery
J. M. Tillery & Assocaites, P. A.
[email protected]
 
Gillen Broadcasting has had its share of technical issues over the years with WAJD... On the one hand I don't think AM 1390 is a priority since WYKS is the real revenue producer for the company. On the other hand, WAJD can be a profitable AM radio station. All it takes is a creative imagination, positioning and imaging and a firm committment to implement a successful business plan.

Mark Tillery
J. M. Tillery & Associates, P. A.
[email protected]
 
Don't be surprised if they simply shut it off and turn the license back in to the FCC. This is becoming a more common occurance, given the bad economy.

In Minnesota, Clear Channel recently did this with two of their AMs. One was a 500 watt daytimer in a small town. But the other was a 5kW regional signal on 970. The primary signal covered Austin, Albert Lea, Rochester, and Mason City, IA. A few years ago, who would imagine that Clear Channel would have given up ANY of their stations? But now, if it's not making money (a category more stations fall into each day), a viable solution seems to be "shut off and walk away."

This action would have precidence in Gainesville. Wasn't 1230 cancelled and then resurrected a few years later? I remember it was dark for a LONG time during the mid-late 1990s.
 
Guys:

That's been the "modus operandi" at WAJD for well over a decade.

For years, it simulcast the FM.

Then, they let the CE do whatever he wanted with it, and he had a 'volunteer staff' as jocks. When that CE left, they left a CD changer on there for a good 3 years or so...A timed cart machine ran the TOH ID...It was not uncommon for the ID to fail, or for the CD to skip days on end.

I remember passing by Gainesville in 2003 after they had supposedly flipped to Disney and were allegedly caring for it again, and hearing nothing on 1390.

The Gillens are clueless.
 
MN Maniac said:
Don't be surprised if they simply shut it off and turn the license back in to the FCC. This is becoming a more common occurance, given the bad economy.

In Minnesota, Clear Channel recently did this with two of their AMs. One was a 500 watt daytimer in a small town. But the other was a 5kW regional signal on 970. The primary signal covered Austin, Albert Lea, Rochester, and Mason City, IA. A few years ago, who would imagine that Clear Channel would have given up ANY of their stations? But now, if it's not making money (a category more stations fall into each day), a viable solution seems to be "shut off and walk away."

This action would have precidence in Gainesville. Wasn't 1230 cancelled and then resurrected a few years later? I remember it was dark for a LONG time during the mid-late 1990s.
Click to expand...

Pure logic would dictate that it makes more business sense to attempt to sell a station before you simply relinguish the license and take nothing for it... I'd buy 1390 if the price was within reason.

Mark Tillery
J. M. Tillery & Associates, P. A.
[email protected]
 
radiosanchez said:
Guys:

That's been the "modus operandi" at WAJD for well over a decade.

For years, it simulcast the FM.

Then, they let the CE do whatever he wanted with it, and he had a 'volunteer staff' as jocks. When that CE left, they left a CD changer on there for a good 3 years or so...A timed cart machine ran the TOH ID...It was not uncommon for the ID to fail, or for the CD to skip days on end.

I remember passing by Gainesville in 2003 after they had supposedly flipped to Disney and were allegedly caring for it again, and hearing nothing on 1390.

The Gillens are clueless.
Click to expand...

Back in the early '90s (pre Radio DIsney) I had "successfully" negotiated a Time Brokerage Agreement with Doug Gillen to TBA WAJD... We had everything all set to go, then Gillen stopped returning my calls... If was as though Gillen had been abducted by aliens, never to be seen or heard from again...

Mark Tillery
J. M. Tillery & Associates, P. A.
[email protected]
 
WAJD has no carrier. It appears to be a transmitter problem. It could be something very minor, but there's no way of knowing until someone goes out there and tries to fire it up. Within the past week, I was contacted by someone from WYKS who was inquiring if I was interested in trying to fix it, but I declined because other issues are more pressing for me right now.

I do know that Gillen bought a brand new transmitter less than 5 years ago in attempt to make the station more reliable, but obviously, that hasn't worked as well as he'd hoped. Gillen doesn't want to loose the license, he just wants it to fix itself. Well, one can hope......

If anyone knows an engineer that works very inexpensively and wants to fix the station, have them call Doug.
 
My favorite "1390 era" was when they were running automated without an automation system. This was back in the mid-1990s. Sounded like they were using a consumer CD changer on shuffle. The song would fade all the way out, then DEAD AIR as the changer loaded the next disc and found the correct track. If you cranked the volume up and listened carefully, you could actually hear the mechanical noise as the changer did it's thing. Priceless!
 
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