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WFLA On FM - It's Just A Matter Of Time
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
The Tallahassee WFLA-FM on 100.7 was moved over to FM in 2006 from sister WNLS-AM 1270.
Even on 1270, it was branded as WFLA except for the legal ID. CC blew up 100.7's former "The Beat" format. 1270 is now sports.
The FM's ratings are about double that of the 'FLA news/talk from the 1270 days.
WFLA-FM is CC's highest-ranking station in Tallahassee at #3.
Even on 1270, it was branded as WFLA except for the legal ID. CC blew up 100.7's former "The Beat" format. 1270 is now sports.
The FM's ratings are about double that of the 'FLA news/talk from the 1270 days.
WFLA-FM is CC's highest-ranking station in Tallahassee at #3.
How many times does it have to be said, call letters don't matter anymore. You brand and image the station however you want. A quick 3 second legal once an hour does not brand a station. On air imaging does. Besides, they're not gonna dump 970 anytime soon. Most likely they would dual image the station as Fox News Radio 970 WFLA... and now FM 100.7 something like that.
billalm said:
We are aware of that. Philly's WUSL proved that with me. Those calls were origionally issued for Country Station "US-1". It has been urban "Power 99" for a longer period of time. (Personally, I figured they didn't want to spend the money on the change of call sign if the format change didn't take and just left it that way.)
This is all hypothetical.
All we see is that this will happen, none of us know when or which station will take the simulcast.
If we did, we would not be announcing it here - we would be reporting/repeating it here.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Looks like Clear Channel is, shall we say, in "training" for a simulcast on 105.9 FM: A party called Radio Training Network is moving a translator from 95.3 to 105.9 FM and "plans to re-broadcast WFLA".
http://www.radio-info.com/news/clea...r-wfla-970-will-simulcast-on-an-fm-translator
Note that there is a 105.9 FM in Sarasota, which is not too far away from the Bay Area. Incidentally, one of WFLA's news guys used to play music on that station on weekends up until recently.
http://www.radio-info.com/news/clea...r-wfla-970-will-simulcast-on-an-fm-translator
Note that there is a 105.9 FM in Sarasota, which is not too far away from the Bay Area. Incidentally, one of WFLA's news guys used to play music on that station on weekends up until recently.
It will be interesting to see if the 105.9 translator will penetrate the southern third of Pinellas (let's say 54th Ave N and points south). The Buzz 105.9 licensed to Sarasota with antenna in the south Venice/Englewood area comes in on my car radio 24/7 and inside on a good radio.DToTheJ said:
I know ClearChannel is upgrading (CP) the translator on 94.5 which is now leased to Reach FM; the present antenna of that translator is on Gandy Blvd at the 95.7 tower site; the new increased power translator on 94.5 would be on Starkey Rd, at or near where 97.9's original antenna was located. Those improvements would make 94.5 a viable signal in south and central Pinellas county. Currently the translator is licensed to Gulfport and now is barely receievable in Gulfport even on a good car radio. (it has a very good signal in the n.e. quadrent of St. Pete and the Interbay area of Tampa).
drt
None of those is going to help us here in Sa-ra-so-ta! We already have a decent signal when we ride around Hillsbough and Pinellas County. HD actually works in areas where the signal on analogue is great.
The only way those are going to work is for "younger" demographics who don't tune to the AM dial.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
The only way those are going to work is for "younger" demographics who don't tune to the AM dial.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
Exactly! (Bad Jeff strikes again!badjef said:
) (which is another way of saying Jeff hit the nail on the head again!)I think this might be a transaction or test, if you will, and if the translators do work in attracting more listeners (younger and those with FM only radios*)........ then I would imagine the next step would be either more translators to the north and south.......... or a full power FM and of course that has been discussed repeatedly on this thread and most people seem to think that 97.9 would be the full power FM.
* I was surprised a few months ago, while looking at some of the I-Pod/MP3 docking stations/speaker systems that promoted the fact that there was a radio with the dock speakers. I discovered on most of these (At Target and Best Buy) were FM only, no AM band period.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
a correction, I didn't catch in time to modify; should have said Transition, not transaction.drt said:Exactly! (Bad Jeff strikes again!badjef said:
I think this might be a Transition or test, if you will, and if the translators do work in attracting more listeners (younger and those with FM only radios*)........ then I would imagine the next step would be either more translators to the north and south.......... or a full power FM and of course that has been discussed repeatedly on this thread and most people seem to think that 97.9 would be the full power FM.
* I was surprised a few months ago, while looking at some of the I-Pod/MP3 docking stations/speaker systems that promoted the fact that there was a radio with the dock speakers. I discovered on most of these (At Target and Best Buy) were FM only, no AM band period.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
drt
billalm said:
Which is why a lot of stations do the legel ID at warp speed. Meaning that the ID is played so fast you can hardly hear it.
An example is WOCL 105.9 in Orlando. The legal ID is WOCL HD1- DELAND, However the station plays it very fast that you can hardly hear it.
It could be 105-9 Sunny FM markets itself as an Orlando station. So as a result it would sound weird that the TOTH ID states its a radio station actually licensed to a bedroom community located 30 miles north of Orlando. Radio stations love having their station branded after the largest city in the Market. More people know of Orlando, Florida than the town of Deland, Florida.
The 1450 simulcast of which you refer was a temporary situation due to the 970 "upgrade".RMarino said:
In order to stay on the air during the upgrade, they lowered the power to 1kw and used 1450 to help fill in the gap.
It didn't fail, it was there for as long as they needed it.
I put upgrade in quotation marks because as they upped the power to 25kw from 5kw, but they pulled in too much of the signal from the south. The signal used to deteriorate at SR27, now you can hear it East of Orlando. They were trying to follow the growth of the population and that was toward the East in Brandon and Valrico.
Using the 105.9 "Buzz" signal, from Venice, would not work as it does not fill the Hillsborough/Pinellas/Hernando/Pasco County area.
97.9 does, though.
(106.5 would for the south end of the area to fill in the south, of course even a 106.5 hd-2 would help there)
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
badjef said:
Keep your eye out for a simulcast on 97.9 FM
It would be foolish try to send WFLA's signal to Sarasota and beyond south.
Pasco and Hernando have become bedroom communities of Tampa, however. And it must be frustrating to the folks at CC that AM 970 fizzles out by the time you reach Wesley Chapel.
Mentioning 106.5 is more wishful thinking than anything.NewsStud said:
But 97.9 is quite another matter. The Suncoast Parkway makes a daily commute to Tampa much simpler with plenty of available property for those wishing to do so. Plus 97.9 still has a decent signal for Eastern sprawl.
...and I remind you the 970 signal is already on 97.9 as an hd-2. Flip the switch and you are good to go - job done, lock up and go home.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
I really doubt any additions or improvements to WFLA to the south, as almost NO ONE even acknowledges Manatee / Sarasota counties as even being a part of Tampa Bay, although a large portion of the Skyway IS in Manatee County, there's also Port Manatee which is closer to the Gulf than the Port of Tampa and geographically Manatee County DOES border Tampa Bay. While years ago there used to be some mention of the Manatee/Sarasota area on temps at the end of a newscast but anymore, hey would rather include Polk, Hernando, and Pasco instead of the aforementioned 2 counties to the south...
I sometimes think that WFLA's OLD signal was better in Manatee / Sarasota than it is today...
I sometimes think that WFLA's OLD signal was better in Manatee / Sarasota than it is today...
There is no doubt that the 5kw pencil point signal was far superior to the south than the current 25kw is. Because they push the signal to the east and a bit better to the north at the expense of the South of the Bay coverage, now.flwfg said:
In addition to that, since the move, interference, ingression, and poor receiver/antenna design has made the problem so bad, I had to put a radio outside and run the audio inside for a dependable AM analogue signal.
With 97.9 hd-2, it is unusable to me because there is no dependability that when it mutes (due to atmospheric drift), it will come back to the hd-2.
A WFLA on FM can't come fast enough for me.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
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