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WBMQ Savannah
- Thread starter Elephant
- Start date
Someone can correct if I am wrong; but I seem to remember this topice from years past. WBMQ used to transmit from a three-tower array located in a salt marsh behind the original studio on Oatland Island. Years of exposure detoriated the tower structures. Cumulus bought WBMQ and its sister FM station WIXV and eventually moved the studios to mainland Savannah at Television Circle.
The towers needed to be replaced; however, I think that Cumulus decided to move the transmitter site to AM 900's tower in town and it is a one-tower operation. I believe that WBMQ needed the three towers to make its directional nighttime 5000 watts to protect a station in North Carolina. Once the decision was made not to replace with three towers; they opted for the low nighttime power.
Any corrections from more informed?
The towers needed to be replaced; however, I think that Cumulus decided to move the transmitter site to AM 900's tower in town and it is a one-tower operation. I believe that WBMQ needed the three towers to make its directional nighttime 5000 watts to protect a station in North Carolina. Once the decision was made not to replace with three towers; they opted for the low nighttime power.
Any corrections from more informed?
The old towers on Oatland Island were way beyond repair. We could not even get a tower crew to climb them to replace light bulbs anymore. Thus the reason for the change. Since we protect Wilmington, NC , Lexington, KY and a Cuban station, we could not go higher than 47 watts at night without building another 3-tower array. We could not do this on Oatland Island due to protected wetlands and animals.
I worked nights at WBMQ (then WKBX) in the late 70's and early 80's. I can tell you that the nighttime signal used to be awesome. I regularly got calls from as far away as Pensacola, FL and it generally covered from Charleston to Jacksonville. Too bad, but so goes the passage of time.
On a related note, I stopped by the old studio building on Oatland Island a few years ago - my first visit since I left the station in '82. The building is there, but has been abandoned for the move to the mainland. Not much had changed in the way of decor or equipment since I had last seen it 22 years earlier, other than an inch or so of dust that covered everything. It looked eerily like they just got up and left, and abandoned all of the studio equipment in place. I talked to Big Mac (a long time Savannah radio personality) a few weeks ago and he said he and Lyndy Brannon went to the old building to do a story for WSAV -TV on old Savannah radio and found the old building taken over by rats and snakes. Glad I didn't see any when I climbed through the bushes and had my nose pressed on the old, dusty control room window.
On a related note, I stopped by the old studio building on Oatland Island a few years ago - my first visit since I left the station in '82. The building is there, but has been abandoned for the move to the mainland. Not much had changed in the way of decor or equipment since I had last seen it 22 years earlier, other than an inch or so of dust that covered everything. It looked eerily like they just got up and left, and abandoned all of the studio equipment in place. I talked to Big Mac (a long time Savannah radio personality) a few weeks ago and he said he and Lyndy Brannon went to the old building to do a story for WSAV -TV on old Savannah radio and found the old building taken over by rats and snakes. Glad I didn't see any when I climbed through the bushes and had my nose pressed on the old, dusty control room window.
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Art Sutton
Guest
As a kid growing up in South georgia...about 6 miles outside of Sylvester......I could hear 630 Savannah loud and clear at night on the transistor radio I would listen to when I should have long been asleep. You could even hear it faintly in the daytime.
If you were hearing at night it in Charleston or Jacksonville...then someone had a directional problem because it was severely nulled north and south.
Another AM down that way which got huge skywave coverage at night was 860 in Douglas, GA...another 5KW at night running east/west. I understand they got calls from out west. 570 WACL in Waycross also did well with their 1KW in places like Tallahassee and Panama City. 1470 WRGA in Rome always had a solid signal at night in South Georgia and across Florida. 1590 WALG in Albany regularly got response from Florida as their 1KW was pointed south. Chattanooga's 1070, 1150, 1370 and especially 1310 had booming signals in South Georgia at night.
Some of them still get decent coverage but only the very strongest ones since the FCC gave most AMs some amoutn of power at night..it really cut the coverage back on these stations' skywave and the fact that I would guess a majority of AMs run illegal power at night any way...the band is a clutter.
If you were hearing at night it in Charleston or Jacksonville...then someone had a directional problem because it was severely nulled north and south.
Another AM down that way which got huge skywave coverage at night was 860 in Douglas, GA...another 5KW at night running east/west. I understand they got calls from out west. 570 WACL in Waycross also did well with their 1KW in places like Tallahassee and Panama City. 1470 WRGA in Rome always had a solid signal at night in South Georgia and across Florida. 1590 WALG in Albany regularly got response from Florida as their 1KW was pointed south. Chattanooga's 1070, 1150, 1370 and especially 1310 had booming signals in South Georgia at night.
Some of them still get decent coverage but only the very strongest ones since the FCC gave most AMs some amoutn of power at night..it really cut the coverage back on these stations' skywave and the fact that I would guess a majority of AMs run illegal power at night any way...the band is a clutter.
TheTreasuryofGold said:
Anyone know how Burl Womack is doing?? Is he still living?
A
Art Sutton
Guest
BackRib said:
Allen Tibbetts is morning man at Magic 102.1 in Athens, GA. He has been there probably over 15 years..first on sister AM WRFC now on WGMG. Al Cohen and his business partners sold WTIF, a couple times after repossessing the AM and its two FM sister stations, and he stayed on in sales at WTIF where he remains today lamenting when Tifton was a great community radio town with his WTIF and Ralph Edwards' WWGS. I worked there from 1982-1986 and saw first hand how a good community radio station should be operated and the key importance of sales from the sales master himself, Al Cohen. What WTIF and WWGS did so well in the 1970s and 80s...still works well today.
Art Sutton said:
It was almost 30 years ago and my mind is a bit fuzzy about the north-south thing. I do know it had a great daytime signal along the I-95 corridor. The nights may not have been that great from Jax to Charleston, but it certainly extended way to the SW.
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