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WCTA 810AM Alamo,TN Dark?

I looked back at WHDM for some clue as to what might happen with WCTA, and I see that they are now co-located with the Paris stations that bought it.

http://paristnchamber.com/dt_team/bentonweatherford-broadcasting/

That is a chamber of commerce site, but about the only place where I found an address for WHDM. Meanwhile, their old studio in McKenzie (143 N. Main St., if I remember) is apparently now vacant. Last time I tried to stop by there (16 years ago!), there was no one there. Another former employee posted an old photo of their original studio on a Tennessee radio Facebook page, which leads me to believe that the building itself is still vacant.

Meanwhile, another station that I formerly worked for, WDXN of Clarksville, was bought by Saga Communications, and moved to their studios on State Line Road in the Ft. Campbell area. Their previous building on West Dunbar Cave Road (which was to have been the HQ for TennAire Communications, of which WDXN was to have been the flagship) is now the Clarksville Sewing Club, or something like that. Their original studios in downtown Clarksville were damaged in the 1999 tornado, and subsequently torn down.

I suspect that if anyone with deep pockets were to buy WCTA, they, too, would move it, which would be the end of their studios being in downtown Alamo.

And yes, WPFD is still a goner, never to return.
 
Yes, the days of the P, F and D are long gone for Fairview, just now a memory, if that. That was years ago. Likely the same fate as WCTA.

I wonder what WCTA was back in the early days. Was it more like WPFD in Fairview, an AM station that arrived later to the AM dial and always seemed to hobble along just just enough revenue to stay but not enough to do much more than pay a salary to a person and maybe some commission to a salesperson here or there? Was WCTA a small town station heard in every business and the lifeblood of a small community as many small market stations were and some still are?
 
I grew up in Dyersburg, but I can remember WCTA coming on some time in the 80's. I moved to Alamo in 2000 and they always seemed to be a station that was just hanging on to me.
 
b-turner said:
It seems WCTA came to the party a bit late. I'd suspect they never had the chance/budget to do much more than exist.
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Weird to be putting a "W" in the search engine, but curiosity overtook me as I crept past this thread, Bill.

WCTA Alamo TN signed on the air November 28, 1983. They were not only late, they arrived after everyone else had left, and all that remained was an overturned 8 foot table and a broken punchbowl on the floor. No wonder this little station struggles. Someone take it out back and put the suffering old girl out of her pain.
 
WCTA was not the only one. There were a rash of new AM stations in Tennessee in the '80s. The aforementioned WPFD in Fairview, and WQSE in White Bluff and WQSV in Ashland City, the latter two of which signed on under different calls than they use now. I believe that all three of these signed on in 1982, and all three are/were the ONLY stations in their respective towns. WPFD is gone forever, and WQSV was off the air for a year from 2013-2014. I may have mentioned that earlier in this thread. An attempt to buy WQSV during the year that it was off the air apparently fell through.

I believe that there were other new AM stations in TN in the '80s, but these are the ones that I am familiar with. Not only was the party over, but the janitor was cleaning up that broken punch bowl, and uprighting that table!
 
I'm familiar with WPFD, WQSV and WQSE.

My parents lived off Charlotte Pike, near the freeway exit, so in not much time I could be at any of the three stations. I always found WPFD locked up on visits.

I found WQSV on the square in Ashland City and WQSE tucked away on what amounted to a driveway called Hall Lane north of White Bluff proper.

Somewhere I have an aircheck of WQSV back when it was WAJN. Then it was oldies and I never recall hearing a conventional ad, just weather just past the top of the hour sponsored by Ashland Flooring and time checks given as "Brown Concrete and Block" time. I might have the phrasing incorrect as it has been a long time.

The folks that got WQSE in White Bluff after it was running continuous CDs for a long time and the owner trying to sell it through a real estate agent were a really nice couple that opted for a Southern Gospel format. They built a house onto the cinder block station building. As I understand it, they never really billed very much but then again it was more of a ministry for them. In fact, their daughter had worked for my Dad at one point, so we had sort of a bond in that.

As I recall, all of these stations, while doing something more than nothing, were sure not big financial successes. I'd say mostly they just barely got by.

If my memory is correct, the guy that had WPFD, worked just before WPFD came on at WQSE under its earlier call letters. I recall hearing him do a swap shop with trivia question and taking many calls from folks trying to guess the answer. Hearing him on WPFD made me click to that swap shop program not only because of the distinctive voice but a couple of phrases he used on the air.

I always thought back then, it might be nice to operate one of those stations but in the early 1980s and even in to the 1990s, AM radio was more viable than it is today.

I have to suppose WCTA was likely in the same boat as WPFD, WQSE and WQSV....too close to a larger community and too many listening choices to develop a substantial long term audience. It seems the AMs that weathered the storm were those where they'd been around more than a generation so listening was more ingrained in the mind of locals.

I recall WPFD, WQSE and WQSV all had really low advertising rates. The rates meant they needed to sell a bunch to make it. I suppose if they went higher they'd get no takers but lower, it was a struggle to find enough folks to sign up. If I recall, I think WPFD's big package was 150 spots for $375. I think they had maybe 10 advertisers at times I listened. At WQSE, a thirty was $2.50 and I think WQSV had a deal where you got a spot every other hour for about $1.10 each. Then again, under the WAJN call letters I think the weather sponsor, getting a 20 word spot every hour, paid $125 a month.
 
I remember WQSE when they were tracking CDs. As I understood it, that was primarily overnight, with six CDs on a CD changer on repeat. I recall that (at the time) they were really big on playing "indies" and trying to break new talent into the music industry. But with such a small signal, I am not sure how much they could have done for anyone. It seemed like they had just changed their calls from WBDX, but I could be mistaken about that.

I probably said this earlier in this thread, but I remembered seeing WPFD listed for sale in one of those real estate magazines that anyone can find on a stand in front of a convenience store. That was about 1995 or so. After my parents retired and also moved here (2000), my dad started listening to WPFD because they were playing classic country at the time. But they soon sold, apparently to hispanic owners, and shifted to a Spanish-language format. It was apparently NOT the same group that had bought WIZO and changed it to WHEW, because they were not simulcasting WHEW, contrary to what had been said back about that time. Sometime after that, they left the air, but I do not specifically recall when that was.

I don't remember when WQSV was WAJN; that was probably before I moved here. They are now back to (primarily) an oldies format, but nothing appears to have changed from their programming from right before they went off the air. Corky went off the air, due to (he said) lack of advertiser support, but yet returned to the air a year later with the exact same programming! (Ironically enough, the deal to buy them during that year that they were off the air would have changed their calls to WJNA, and I believe that you must still search WJNA on radio-locator to find out anything about them.)

I am sure that there are other solo AM stations in other parts of TN that signed on during the '80s, and I see what appear to be some such stations listed in an old TN almanac that I have, but I am not familiar enough with those to comment on their programming, or their history.
 
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As I recall, WAJN would have been in the 1980s. My parents got transferred back to Nashville about that time. They moved away from Nashville by about 2005, maybe a year or two earlier. I recall WPFD with the classic country...20 minute sets, a couple of spots and repeat on my last visit to their house. Actually not a bad playlist.

From the WAJN to WQSV days, I recall seeing in the trades that WAJN was silent and to be auctioned. So, WAJN with their oldies format didn't make it. From my visits, it seemed WQSV varied between Oldies and Southern Gospel. I'm guessing whatever Corky threw in the CD deck to play while he took off to sell within the hour and make it back to the studio to play a long string of commercials before network news on the hour. In fact, I stopped in once to find the station unlocked and nobody inside. I figured he had a sales call, maybe to a business on the square, tossed on a CD and left the building.

I'm sure there were many other 80s AMers but I don't know of them.

One thing interesting, when WQSE was tracking CDs, I called the number that was to a real estate company that had a huge price tag on the station. The guy took my number. The next day the folks at WDKN called to see if I was interested in selling their lite rock automated FM saying the agent gave them my name and number. The automation was bunches of multiple CD players rack mounted. I looked at the log and they only had maybe 10 commercials a day. They, like many owners of AM/FM small town owners, didn't want to split dollars from the AM with the FM. They wanted someone to call on accounts in Nashville. I never got that thinking that the AM would somehow suffer if the local client bought ads on both the AM and FM. In fact, out in Texas in one town, the salespeople that sold the AM station's country format were not allowed to mention the automated top 40 FM unless the client brought it up. They did about $12,000 in billing on the AM but only about $600 on the FM. I can't grasp the problem if, say, $6,000 went to the AM and $6,000 to the FM but I found that thinking in more than one place and seemingly at WDKN. It wasn't long after that the FM WDKN had was sold. I don't recall what it became but my initial thought was it might have become Lightning 100's sister station, The Phoenix that lasted several years.
 
b-turner said:
As I recall, WAJN would have been in the 1980s. My parents got transferred back to Nashville about that time. They moved away from Nashville by about 2005, maybe a year or two earlier. I recall WPFD with the classic country...20 minute sets, a couple of spots and repeat on my last visit to their house. Actually not a bad playlist.
From the WAJN to WQSV days, I recall seeing in the trades that WAJN was silent and to be auctioned. So, WAJN with their oldies format didn't make it. From my visits, it seemed WQSV varied between Oldies and Southern Gospel. I'm guessing whatever Corky threw in the CD deck to play while he took off to sell within the hour and make it back to the studio to play a long string of commercials before network news on the hour. In fact, I stopped in once to find the station unlocked and nobody inside. I figured he had a sales call, maybe to a business on the square, tossed on a CD and left the building.
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Looks like they have generally settled on an oldies format. http://www.wqsv790am.com/ However, they still have bluegrass all day on Saturday, and gospel all day on Sunday. Some local church programs at 9:00 a.m. on weekday mornings. So in other words, absolutely no change at all from what he was doing right before the yearlong shutdown. He must have some form of computer automation now, because the oldies now run all night.
I'm sure there were many other 80s AMers but I don't know of them.
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I'm sure that there are/were some up in east TN, but apparently none of the eaststaters ever check in on the statewide board anymore.
One thing interesting, when WQSE was tracking CDs, I called the number that was to a real estate company that had a huge price tag on the station. The guy took my number. The next day the folks at WDKN called to see if I was interested in selling their lite rock automated FM saying the agent gave them my name and number. The automation was bunches of multiple CD players rack mounted. I looked at the log and they only had maybe 10 commercials a day. They, like many owners of AM/FM small town owners, didn't want to split dollars from the AM with the FM. They wanted someone to call on accounts in Nashville. I never got that thinking that the AM would somehow suffer if the local client bought ads on both the AM and FM. In fact, out in Texas in one town, the salespeople that sold the AM station's country format were not allowed to mention the automated top 40 FM unless the client brought it up. They did about $12,000 in billing on the AM but only about $600 on the FM. I can't grasp the problem if, say, $6,000 went to the AM and $6,000 to the FM but I found that thinking in more than one place and seemingly at WDKN. It wasn't long after that the FM WDKN had was sold. I don't recall what it became but my initial thought was it might have become Lightning 100's sister station, The Phoenix that lasted several years.
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That one is now the Fish, along with another station primarily serving the east side of Nashville. Both stations had been Thunder 94 in the '90s before the one on the west side became the Phoenix. Not sure why the Phoenix was never programmed over the eastside frequency, but I remember listening to it on a fairly regular basis back when I lived in south Nashville. The other frequency was simulcasting Lightning 100 at the time.
 
I remember The Phoenix well. My Dad and I have almost exact opposite tastes in music. We were headed somewhere in his car and he asked if there was a radio station I wanted to listen to. In younger days it would have been a top 40 or rock station that would drive him up the wall after a few minutes. I figured I'd see what he thought of The Phoenix. He absolutely loved it and had me set a button on his car radio.

He was a country music listener by then after beautiful music and MOR had vanished from the dial. The Phoenix became his station and he mentioned in phone calls even months later how much he liked the station.

I figured WDKN's FM became The Phoenix. I sort of feel like it never got the chance it deserved on that frequency.

Maybe the thinking at WQSV is maybe by the station having a silent period and coming back, people in Ashland City and that side of the county might support it after they saw they might be without a station. Maybe the programming was just what they knew and had available. In my mind doing what didn't work is likely not the best route. I'd think trying to serve the whole county might be a better idea.
 
I'm an eaststater so I will chime in on the AM stations that went dark over here. WATO in Oak Ridge is now gone as is WMTY AM 670 which had a real good signal. AM 850 almost went under but is back on using a long wire in the WGAP Maryville tower. but it is only a shadow of it's former self running 1kw. AM 1580 in Knoxville is now gone.
 
b-turner said:
I remember The Phoenix well. My Dad and I have almost exact opposite tastes in music. We were headed somewhere in his car and he asked if there was a radio station I wanted to listen to. In younger days it would have been a top 40 or rock station that would drive him up the wall after a few minutes. I figured I'd see what he thought of The Phoenix. He absolutely loved it and had me set a button on his car radio.
He was a country music listener by then after beautiful music and MOR had vanished from the dial. The Phoenix became his station and he mentioned in phone calls even months later how much he liked the station.
I figured WDKN's FM became The Phoenix. I sort of feel like it never got the chance it deserved on that frequency.
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The Phoenix was definitely at the right place at the right time. They were right there to cash in on the popularity of "Oh Brother Where Art Thou." They were on the air roughly during the years that I lived in south Nashville (1998-2002), but I did not start really listening to them until right after 9/11. When they left the air, Lightning 100 incorporated most of their playlist, and even had a Sunday evening program ("Lightning Crossroads") that played a lot of Phoenix-type tunes, but unfortunately, that did not last long.
Maybe the thinking at WQSV is maybe by the station having a silent period and coming back, people in Ashland City and that side of the county might support it after they saw they might be without a station. Maybe the programming was just what they knew and had available. In my mind doing what didn't work is likely not the best route. I'd think trying to serve the whole county might be a better idea.
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Agreed that they seem to be serving the northern half of the county better than us. They used to have a program called "south Cheatham chatter," but it was apparently discontinued when the host of the program moved away. He has Facebook friends from this end of the county, but one of them is a county commissioner, and another calls high school basketball games over 'QSV.
 
knoxbob said:
I'm an eaststater so I will chime in on the AM stations that went dark over here. WATO in Oak Ridge is now gone as is WMTY AM 670 which had a real good signal. AM 850 almost went under but is back on using a long wire in the WGAP Maryville tower. but it is only a shadow of it's former self running 1kw. AM 1580 in Knoxville is now gone.
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Thanks for that. My assumption is that stations in small towns in east TN historically did well because the mountainous terrain probably prevented signals from stations in neighboring counties from coming in. But now we have more competition, from TV, including cable TV, and the internet.

I am going to look those stations up in my TN almanac. It is from 1986, so stations that came on after that would not be listed, anyway.
 
They're still doing the same as they've been for 5 years now with TRN and CBS news, NOAA weather radio, and generic music in between. There are times they've been off, although it's probably where one of the segments didn't run like it should have. But like I said about WIRJ 740 and WJPJ 1190 in Humboldt I think that nobody in charge is paying attention to when there are problems.

I also noticed that the sign on the door now shows a Chattanooga area number to call for information.
 
With football season coming, I can't believe that they couldn't at least sell out Friday nights with high school football. Bring in a couple of guys with day jobs to call the games, then let the station "go back to sleep" or whatever. Seems that they could sell church service time on Sunday morning as well. But it may be too late for all of that.

Thanks for the updates. Keep 'em coming. I still check in from time to time.
 
firepoint525 said:
With football season coming, I can't believe that they couldn't at least sell out Friday nights with high school football. Bring in a couple of guys with day jobs to call the games, then let the station "go back to sleep" or whatever. Seems that they could sell church service time on Sunday morning as well. But it may be too late for all of tha

Thanks for the updates. Keep 'em coming. I still check in from time to time.
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They're still daytime only but I know that doesn't stop some stations. There still doesn't seem to be any effort being made to get local programming or even ads on there even though they still claim new programming is coming soon. I still think they're just on to stay legal until they can sell it, but like I've said before who would want it?
 
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