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WDUN question

How does this station do compared to others? I know WSB still tops all, but what about compared to WGST and WGKA. I know Zoller is getting some name recognition so I'm curious.
 
Careful that you don't try to compare apples and oranges.

Gainesville may be a part of the Atlanta Metro Area but the people (call them listeners if you like) of Gainesville consider their community something of an American small town. They have the good fortune of being served by a station where management seem to think they program to the listeners in something of an American small town. Listen to their morning show and news before the talk shows including Zoeller kick off and (this is a compliment on my part) it is Mayberry USA.

Asking how they compare to WSB, WGST and WGKA is to.... compare applles and oranges.

But, I too would like to hear what anyone can tell us about their ratings particularly in Hall County.
 
ClarkKent said:
I wouldn't dare compare Gainesville to Mayberry. Maybe 25 years ago...but definitely not today.

There are two distinct ways we use Mayberry in common conversation. In one case we are referring to some dinky, tiny, maybe almost backwards little village. We think of Barney, Gomer and Goober. That was not my intention.

The other usage is much warmer and complimentary. It refers to a town where everyone thinks they know everybody, a town with friendliness, charm, and community. We think of Sheriff Andy and Aunt Bee. That was my intention.

When you try to compare the community called Gainesville to the community called Metro Atlanta, it is Mayberry vs. Megaberry. When you try to compare the media of Gainesville to the media of Metro Atlanta, ..... well you get the idea.
 
I grew up in Hall County. My point above stands, I'm afraid. :-\

It's not some warm little community with rows of houses that have apple pies cooling in every window. And it's not some backward village either. It's a town that tries to be "bigger" than it is, and the traffic there is as awful as it is here in Atlanta, pound for pound. It's lost the charm it had a couple of decades ago.

All that said, WDUN is a staple there, and they do an outstanding job. I'd say they're one of, if not the leading AM station outside of Atlanta.
 
I agree WDUN really does sound like a big city station, ala, WSB. It has an excellent projection of news, traffic, and weather. It has an excellent signal as well, I don't know how many watts it has, but I can actually pick it up after dark here in Va Highland.
 
BRENT said:
I agree WDUN really does sound like a big city station, ala, WSB. It has an excellent projection of news, traffic, and weather. It has an excellent signal as well, I don't know how many watts it has, but I can actually pick it up after dark here in Va Highland.

10,000 watts directional night: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WDUN&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

They have an EXCELLENT signal in the N-NE-E metro after dark--better than any other AM in the NE metro except You Know Who. Better than WQXI, WDWD, WGST, WGKA, and maybe WCNN. They carry the Gwinnett Glads games.

That's why I was hoping they could somehow drop UGA and pick up Tech with Cox's purchase of WNGC in that other thread a while back, considering the overlap with WSB and WNGC, which also carry UGA along with WDUN.

I worked for Warren Featherbone in Gainesville a few years ago, before they shut down. Gainesville is a neat town--kind of a microcosm of ATL, with good parts, bad parts, a diverse population ranging from natives to immigrants, and worsening traffic (especially Ga. 369 and McEver Road, which is what PIB becomes when it crosses into Hall County). They're still small enough to have a homey, community feel, but they are experiencing growing pains. Maybe it's the smaller size, but they seem to be doing a better job of managing growth than ATL.
 
At 550 khz and 10,000 watts non directional daytime WDUN has a LARGER coverage area than WSB!
The daytime signal is, indeed, a monster....but they are not 10,000 watts at night. They have 2500 watts, directional, at night but all the energy is south - it probably is effectively 10,000 watts, maybe more, in the southern direction.
The Jacobs have always maintained WDUN as a top notch operation - it is a text book example of "how to do radio right."
 
taylorengineer said:
At 550 khz and 10,000 watts non directional daytime WDUN has a LARGER coverage area than WSB!
The daytime signal is, indeed, a monster....but they are not 10,000 watts at night. They have 2500 watts, directional, at night but all the energy is south - it probably is effectively 10,000 watts, maybe more, in the southern direction.
The Jacobs have always maintained WDUN as a top notch operation - it is a text book example of "how to do radio right."

I stand corrected...for some reason I thought they were 50kW day and 10kW night...must have been thinking of WCNN.
 
taylorengineer said:
At 550 khz and 10,000 watts non directional daytime WDUN has a LARGER coverage area than WSB!
I must be getting old. I remember when 550 was WGGA and WDUN was on 1240 with 1kw-D/250w-N. And I remember WDUN-FM too, later WWID, etc.

LF
 
lfuss said:
taylorengineer said:
At 550 khz and 10,000 watts non directional daytime WDUN has a LARGER coverage area than WSB!
I must be getting old. I remember when 550 was WGGA and WDUN was on 1240 with 1kw-D/250w-N. And I remember WDUN-FM too, later WWID, etc.

LF
WDUN-AM had an FM sister?! What happened to it?
 
Jacobs sold it to Katz Broadcasting in the early 80s. Katz changed the calls to WYAY, put a country format on it, and moved it to a tall tower owned by Shamrock Broadcasting so it covered Atlanta better. They also hired a kid from a Montgomery station, one Warren 'Rhubarb' Jones and put him on mornings. They bought a station licensed to LaGrange with its tower in Newnan, and paired the two to cover the metro completely. Katz decided to divest itself of its radio business, the employees did a buyout and formed NewCity Communications. NewCity eventually decided to reduce debt, and did so by selling WYAY to Cap Cities, WYAI to Cox and not too long thereafter, the rest of the chain to Cox. Cap Cities sold to ABC. In the menatime, the image was changed fro 'Y106' to 'The Eagle' and the station skewed a bit older while their other country outlet, WKHX skewed more mainstream. ABC moved the RF plant to another tower slightly closer to Atlanta. Eventually ABC sold their stations to Citadel, who now owns it. Citadel got into financial tights recently, removed the air staff, and turned the station to an automated oldies format in a move to cut costs. It's still here, as 'True Oldies' with an imported morning show.
 
littlejohn said:
Jacobs sold it to Katz Broadcasting in the early 80s.
{snip}
It's still here, as 'True Oldies' with an imported morning show.

And you wrote that in one sitting from memory !! :p
I'm so impressed.
 
John, did WYAY (after Katz purchased it) remain the same wattage and height until it moved a couple of years ago to the 104.7 site? And did WYAI remain the same wattage and height until Cox increased the power from 60kw to 100kw a few years ago?

If so, it's interesting that Katz felt they needed both signals to cover the market, but the owners subsequent to Katz used the signals for two separate stations. And though their signals were a slight handicap until recently, both stations did okay as standalones (although Kicks and Eagle sold advertising as a combo).

On the other hand, Clear Channel's desire to have 105.7 as a separate profit center pretty much doomed WGST-AM, which lost its simulcast.
 
The same company, Jacobs Media Corporation, that owns WDUN also owns 1240AM and MAJIC 102.9 FM.
 
Katz bought WYAY as a CLass C on a tower up on Friendship Road. The tower is still there. Initially it was to be increased 200' when 80-90 came out. Actually, it moved to a tower WFOX owned, which is still up here with a lot of stuff on it.. Cox owns it now. It's always been a nice facility. Wyay stayed a class C at something around 1400 feet all the time it ran off that tower. I think they took a downgrade to move a while back over to Salem's tower. 104 stayed pretty much the same till they recently made some changes. If it's still on Witcher Road, it should be a C1. It gets out well. If they moved it, it probably changed.
 
Actually, it moved to a tower WFOX owned, which is still up here with a lot of stuff on it.. Cox owns it now.

Yeah, but wasn't it already moved to the Braselton 97.1 tower when the 104.1/106.7 simulcast started?
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Yeah, but wasn't it already moved to the Braselton 97.1 tower when the 104.1/106.7 simulcast started?
Yes. Do you recall the Y106 liners that said "broadcasting from the tallest man made erection in Georgia?"

LF
 
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