I heard TRN news on WCTA this morning, but still NOAA radio and generic music otherwise. I'm glad they're attempting to get back on the air, but this definitely sounds like they're still going to be in the same rut they were in before going silent. :-\
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WCTA 810AM Alamo,TN Dark?
- Thread starter FUN
- Start date
FUN said:
Well, just how small are these little programs? ;D
Are they designed to fit into an MP3 player?
How big did the program used to be on WCTA?
So how is this station doing now? Many stations post press releases similar to the one below, and it is usually greeted with a collective "yawn" by potential listeners, unless they are doing something new:
AMFMKYTN said:
It's still just TRN News, NOAA weather radio, and generic music for filler. They're back in the same rut they were before they went silent. :-[
Do they have an FM translator? If not, they probably need one.
The closest translators are Jackson, Dyersburg, and Brownsville. I guess it might be possible to make a deal to buy one and move it, but if the programming doesn't get any better, what's the point?
Agreed. Amazing that this station is going downhill, while another station that had been written off for dead, including by me (WDKN-Dickson), appears to be making a comeback.anotherguy said:
I'm just saying that WCTA really doesn't have a shot at attracting any newer (younger!) listeners without an FM presence.
Several months after my last post here, it seems little (if anything) has changed about this station. They are still running NOAA weather radio from the Dyersburg weather radio transmitter, interrupted several times an hour with liners about "new programming" coming soon. Other than some TRN programming and the 80's-sounding production music being used as filler, that's (still) about it.
There hasn't been an update to their Facebook page since October, and it's the same old thing about new programming coming.
I think more and more that they may just be keeping the station on to be legal in the hope of selling it to someone. But who would want it?
I think more and more that they may just be keeping the station on to be legal in the hope of selling it to someone. But who would want it?
They have the disadvantage of being sandwiched between Jackson and Dyersburg, where there are bigger (and probably better) stations in both locations.
It would be interesting to know what is the smallest county in Tennessee that has a station, and can actually support it.
The AM station in Ashland City (WQSV) is still on, but word has it that they are struggling, too.
It would be interesting to know what is the smallest county in Tennessee that has a station, and can actually support it.
The AM station in Ashland City (WQSV) is still on, but word has it that they are struggling, too.
Tiptonville has WTNV 97.3, but it's owned by Burks Broadcasting (The Pepsi/Dr. Pepper distributor) and is marketed as a Dyersburg area station, so it has an advantage of being on FM and being close to a good sized town.
The three least populous counties in Tennessee all have commercial FM stations licensed to their county seats.
WVLV-98.9 Byrdstown (Pickett Co.)
WTRZ-107.3 Spencer (Van Buren Co.)
WDUC-93.9 Lynchburg (Moore Co.)
Spencer & Lynchburg also have one non-commercial FM each.
Hancock Co., the 4th smallest, has only a non-commercial FM. And, strangely enough, a full-power (but non-commercial) *TV* station.
Lake Co./Tiptonville is the 5th smallest.
None of the bottom five have AM stations. Looks like Trousdale Co. (7th smallest) is the smallest to have an AM station, WTNK-1090. WTNK is on Trousdale Co.'s other broadcast station, a FM translator on 93.5.
Are any of these stations successful? Good question. I know WTRZ is for all intents & purposes a McMinnville station.
WVLV-98.9 Byrdstown (Pickett Co.)
WTRZ-107.3 Spencer (Van Buren Co.)
WDUC-93.9 Lynchburg (Moore Co.)
Spencer & Lynchburg also have one non-commercial FM each.
Hancock Co., the 4th smallest, has only a non-commercial FM. And, strangely enough, a full-power (but non-commercial) *TV* station.
Lake Co./Tiptonville is the 5th smallest.
None of the bottom five have AM stations. Looks like Trousdale Co. (7th smallest) is the smallest to have an AM station, WTNK-1090. WTNK is on Trousdale Co.'s other broadcast station, a FM translator on 93.5.
Are any of these stations successful? Good question. I know WTRZ is for all intents & purposes a McMinnville station.
Yeah, I was referring to "homegrown, hometown" stations, not move-ins for a nearby city in a neighboring county.
At one time, WENK of Union City was looking at putting a translator in Lake County, but that apparently never happened. Not sure what ever came of that. (They even had lettering on the building at their Union City studios for such a station, at 101.3 FM, but that frequency now belongs to WCMT-FM of Martin, with a COL of South Fulton.)
Interesting that on at least one occasion, the WENK broadcast of the Union City/Lake County high school football game was actually simulcast over KMIS of Portageville, Missouri! Meaning that Lake County was, at least for that moment, actually being serviced by a station from across the river!
Also interesting that some of those tee-niny little counties have FM stations, but not AM stations. But I suppose that some of these really small counties could not even support an AM station anymore! About as good of a sign as any that AM radio is on its way out.
At one time, WENK of Union City was looking at putting a translator in Lake County, but that apparently never happened. Not sure what ever came of that. (They even had lettering on the building at their Union City studios for such a station, at 101.3 FM, but that frequency now belongs to WCMT-FM of Martin, with a COL of South Fulton.)
Interesting that on at least one occasion, the WENK broadcast of the Union City/Lake County high school football game was actually simulcast over KMIS of Portageville, Missouri! Meaning that Lake County was, at least for that moment, actually being serviced by a station from across the river!
Also interesting that some of those tee-niny little counties have FM stations, but not AM stations. But I suppose that some of these really small counties could not even support an AM station anymore! About as good of a sign as any that AM radio is on its way out.
firepoint525 said:
The asterisk that needs to point to a footnote on this topic would be: Some of these counties do not prove anything about AM radio. If there is no "workable" frequency available, the AM radio won't work there. So many little town and counties got stuck with a 250w daylight only station on 1580 or 1540 or something like that. Can't do morning news at breakfast time. Can't do ball games, can't so ..... oh, sorry! It's not polite to insert the word I was going to use there. ;D
The other asterisk that needs to point to a footnote on this topic would be: The power-structure, the family-structure of a community that is teeny-tiny-small can be made or broken by one or two people. If you have "an ol' crab" who dominates the business community and what's left of the chamber of commerce, you may have a dysfunction business community. If you have one to three people who are positive-thinkers at the bank or the news-paper or even pastor of the dominant church in town, it can be possible for radio to thrive while radio dies trying to co-habit-ate with the ol' crab-guy. AM or FM may not matter as much as leader personalities.
What I am describing are these counties of 15,000 or less; towns-villages of less than 3,000. The text book answer is: You can't do radio in a community like that. But sometimes, people do.
And even when they CAN stay on the air, it is usually with flea power. Couldn't cover the entire county at night, unless the county was also geographically small.Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
The other footnote.. is that sometimes, according to the FCC an FM station may be in a particular small county, but in fact the station serves some nearby larger community. Quite likely, the only facility the station actually has in Podunk County is the transmitter - sometimes, not even that.
Certainly WTRZ, mentioned above, is not actually a Van Buren County station. There are two FM stations licensed to Cheatham County but both broadcast from studios near the Nashville airport and IIRC neither transmitter is in Cheatham. (not 100% certain about the latter)
Certainly WTRZ, mentioned above, is not actually a Van Buren County station. There are two FM stations licensed to Cheatham County but both broadcast from studios near the Nashville airport and IIRC neither transmitter is in Cheatham. (not 100% certain about the latter)
As you well know, that is a nationwide phenomena! And I am not convinced that the way things are done with these "phantom stations" disguised to be small market when they are not, I am not convinced that is good for the social and political health of our nation.
We probably need to get honest. If the government, the industry, and the populace agree that only metro dwellers should have locally based radio, change the rules and move the small coffee-pots to the city.
If the government, the industry and the populate agree that even rural American should have viable radio, then change some rules the other direction. Let LPFM be the commercial outlet for Podunk.
But there is no power group, no lobby group, no constituency that is motivated and powerful enough to proclaim this need to get honest.
We probably need to get honest. If the government, the industry, and the populace agree that only metro dwellers should have locally based radio, change the rules and move the small coffee-pots to the city.
If the government, the industry and the populate agree that even rural American should have viable radio, then change some rules the other direction. Let LPFM be the commercial outlet for Podunk.
But there is no power group, no lobby group, no constituency that is motivated and powerful enough to proclaim this need to get honest.
w9wi said:
you're correct...WFFI 93.7 Kingston Springs...transmitter just inside NW Davidson County...along Cheatam County line
studios on Murfreesboro Rd...not too far south of Donelson Pike
WPRT 102.5 Pegram...transmitter just North Dickson County...along Montgomery County line
studios on Briley Parkway just south of I-40
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