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WDRZ-FM 103.1 in Etowah

C

coltsfan

Guest
Saw this station's webpage on the net and noticed the name has been changed to J103? When I lived in East Tennessee, you could pick this station up all the way from Chattanooga to Knoxville. They played Christian rock and it was then known as Super Power 103. I DO know that they had major transmitter trouble and were going to have to spend lots of money to keep 103.1 on the air. So what happened? Did someone buy it out and move it to Chattanooga or what?
 
> Saw this station's webpage on the net and noticed the name
> has been changed to J103? When I lived in East Tennessee,
> you could pick this station up all the way from Chattanooga
> to Knoxville. They played Christian rock and it was then
> known as Super Power 103. I DO know that they had major
> transmitter trouble and were going to have to spend lots of
> money to keep 103.1 on the air. So what happened? Did
> someone buy it out and move it to Chattanooga or what?
>
What is on the web is totally confusing. Radio Locator and FCC records think the station is WLLJ-FM.

There is all kinds of Google results showing WDRZ being lashed together with the station in Trenton, GA and sharing the website for J103. The website lists no call letters and lists no towns other than Chattanooga.

Someone who lives in the area may have to tell us the rest of the story.
 
> > Saw this station's webpage on the net and noticed the name
>
> > has been changed to J103? When I lived in East Tennessee,
>
> > you could pick this station up all the way from
> Chattanooga
> > to Knoxville. They played Christian rock and it was then
> > known as Super Power 103. I DO know that they had major
> > transmitter trouble and were going to have to spend lots
> of
> > money to keep 103.1 on the air. So what happened? Did
> > someone buy it out and move it to Chattanooga or what?
> >
> What is on the web is totally confusing. Radio Locator and
> FCC records think the station is WLLJ-FM.
>
> There is all kinds of Google results showing WDRZ being
> lashed together with the station in Trenton, GA and sharing
> the website for J103. The website lists no call letters and
> lists no towns other than Chattanooga.
>
> Someone who lives in the area may have to tell us the rest
> of the story.
>


While not exactly from the area, I'm pretty sure that the legal ID they run is WBDX-Trenton/WLLJ-Etowah, running the same programming on 102.7 and 103.1FM. When I first noticed the station around 1999 (when it actually changed I don't know) it was running Salem Communications "Today's Christian Music" satellite format for the most part, though I think most of the programming is local now. With the two transmitters I've heard them in Knoxville and as far northwest of Chatt as Monteagle.
 
Back when I was in East Tennessee, their transmitter tower was actually at the Athens exit just off of I-75. You could see it from the Interstate. At times, they would have so many problems they were even MONO for a while. Their studio at the time was in Cleveland behind some motels and apartments in an office complex. When I visited their studio, everything was set on big tables as if they were anticipating a move at any time to somewhere else. Then i heard one weekend that the whole staff was let go because someone else was taking it over, then all of a sudden they are playing classic rock, then pop..i think somewhere in there they simulcasted KIX FM, then I can't remember what happened after that.
 
I was Ops Manager/PD/Mornings there (J-103)for 2 years until the end of '03. The 103.1 signal has the calls WLLJ and has been a 24-hour simulcast of WBDX, Trenton, GA (Chattanooga market) since early '98 if I recall correctly. The frequency is actually owned by a guy in Houston who leases the signal to the operators of WBDX-WLLJ. It's supposed to be "lease-purchase" arrangement, but they've never been able to raise the money to buy it. The transmitter is still in the place off I-75 near Athens. It went off frequently when I was there and the engineer complained that the operators hadn't spent a dime on equipment in the years they had operated it (they don't actually own either freq-they're paying on the Trenton signal but don't own it yet). And the location meant the engineer was always at least an hour away from getting to it. When it's on it's strong...I had a friend who was a PD for South Central in Knoxville who told me he and his kids listened to me on the way to school each morning.

When I was there the station was local from 6am to 7pm and used Salem's "Today's Christian Music" format at night and overnight. I understand the station dropped Salem last year and went all local. It's a pretty lame operation and has been a revolving door for the ten years it's been on the air...it's had 8 PD's during that time. CINO if you understand the terminology. Unfortunately, you don't know how bad until you get inside.



> Back when I was in East Tennessee, their transmitter tower
> was actually at the Athens exit just off of I-75. You could
> see it from the Interstate. At times, they would have so
> many problems they were even MONO for a while. Their studio
> at the time was in Cleveland behind some motels and
> apartments in an office complex. When I visited their
> studio, everything was set on big tables as if they were
> anticipating a move at any time to somewhere else. Then i
> heard one weekend that the whole staff was let go because
> someone else was taking it over, then all of a sudden they
> are playing classic rock, then pop..i think somewhere in
> there they simulcasted KIX FM, then I can't remember what
> happened after that.
>
 
well....i see from their webpage staff photos that there are at least some cute women working there!
 
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