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WGMA "The Country Giant"

M

mike704

Guest
If you're a fan of radio history check this out:

http://www.univox.com/radio/mikewgma.html

I recall the beginnings of full time country music radio in South Florida. How it started and sadly how it ended.

Now days it's fairly common for the FCC to grant stations permission to upgrade their facillities but in 1967 it was quite rare. WGMA 1320 Hollywood went from a 1,000 watt daytime only adult music station to a 5,000 watt modern country powerhouse. This was great news for Hollywood, which media wise lived in the shadow of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Now Hollywood had it's own full time radio voice.

Thanks to Dave Citron for suggesting the article, it was fun to recall it all.

Mike Sheridan
 
The studios on Sheridan are being bulldozed, if not already gone....One has to wonder how much longer before the array does, too....What was once open fields now sits in the middle of prime real estate, and, you know what that means for AM radio, right?
 
> The studios on Sheridan are being bulldozed, if not already
> gone....One has to wonder how much longer before the array
> does, too....What was once open fields now sits in the
> middle of prime real estate, and, you know what that means
> for AM radio, right?
>

Thanks for the update, nothing surprises me anymore. The days of really local radio are gone anyway. I wonder how many people listen to the ethnic programming on the station?

The studio/office building was built onto the front of the original transmitter building. The transmitter building already had a small studio in it. Back in the days when the studios were located elsewhere the studio at the transmitter site was used overnight so that an engineer wasn't needed. The overnight jock needed a First Class FCC Operator License.

I remember visiting Tim Baxter out there one night before I went to work there. WGMA had a big floor to ceiling window in the air studio at the front of the building which overlooked the parking lot. The cows broke out and were roaming around the parking lot! It seemed appropriate for a Country station.

Back when there was nothing there the towers seemed huge, now they seem small. It might be difficult finding another site for the array. In Greensboro, NC that resulted in WBIG 1470 going off the air. The porperty became more vaulable than the radio station that sat on it.

Mike
 
> > The studios on Sheridan are being bulldozed, if not
> already
> > gone....One has to wonder how much longer before the array
>
> > does, too....What was once open fields now sits in the
> > middle of prime real estate, and, you know what that means
>
> > for AM radio, right?
> >
>
> Thanks for the update, nothing surprises me anymore. The
> days of really local radio are gone anyway. I wonder how
> many people listen to the ethnic programming on the station?
>
>
> The studio/office building was built onto the front of the
> original transmitter building. The transmitter building
> already had a small studio in it. Back in the days when the
> studios were located elsewhere the studio at the transmitter
> site was used overnight so that an engineer wasn't needed.
> The overnight jock needed a First Class FCC Operator
> License.
>
> I remember visiting Tim Baxter out there one night before I
> went to work there. WGMA had a big floor to ceiling window
> in the air studio at the front of the building which
> overlooked the parking lot. The cows broke out and were
> roaming around the parking lot! It seemed appropriate for a
> Country station.

Is this the WKIS building you're talking about? I used to live just down the street from there. With all the growth the area's experiencing, I wouldn't be surprised. Although I doubt the tower site would be demolished. As prime as that real estate is, I'd think they'd want to save it as-is instead of having to rent tower space from someone else. Isn't a present-day AM running off that array, too?<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie</P>
 
WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> > Thanks for the update, nothing surprises me anymore. The
> > days of really local radio are gone anyway. I wonder how
> > many people listen to the ethnic programming on the
> station?

I'm sure there are plenty.

If you want to hear something interesting, listen to the
Indian music on Dil Ki Awaz, on sister station WHSR (980)
on Saturday afternoons (per
http://www.univox.com/radio/2004may.html ).

It's nice to listen to even if you can't understand the words.

(You can hear it on WHSR's web site, Mike.)

> Is this the WKIS building you're talking about? I used to
> live just down the street from there. With all the growth
> the area's experiencing, I wouldn't be surprised. Although
> I doubt the tower site would be demolished. As prime as
> that real estate is, I'd think they'd want to save it as-is
> instead of having to rent tower space from someone else.
> Isn't a present-day AM running off that array, too?

WQAM, I think. It's also Beasley.

I don't know about WPOW. Their other three stations are in north Broward and Boca.

73s from 954

PS... Don't try to listen to WWNN or WSBR on the web soon:
<center>
wnnhealthtalkradio.com

wsbrmoneytalkradio.com

This domain name expired on 05/03/2005
</center><P ID="signature">______________
JUNE Edition OF South Florida Radio News
http://www.univox.com/radio/2005june.html

The Baddad of Saddam Hussein (plus bonus election Y2K track) http://www.univox.com/radio/saddamz.html</P>
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> > Isn't a present-day AM running off that array, too?
>
> WQAM, I think. It's also Beasley.

As far as I know, WLQY/1320 (which is now owned by Entravision, but with studios on Biscayne Boulevard) is still on the Sheridan array...WQAM is in Virginia Key, diplexed with WKAT, on one tower.

-A. Sanchez
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> > > Isn't a present-day AM running off that array, too?
> >
> > WQAM, I think. It's also Beasley.
>
> As far as I know, WLQY/1320 (which is now owned by
> Entravision, but with studios on Biscayne Boulevard) is
> still on the Sheridan array...WQAM is in Virginia Key,
> diplexed with WKAT, on one tower.
>
> -A. Sanchez

Is that a recent move for QAM? When I lived there, I seem to recall hearing 560 bouncing off the pipes in my bathroom in the middle of the night :)
<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie</P>
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

The year was 1978 and WGMA, along with most stations back then, turned their transmitter off from about midnight to five or six AM each and every Monday morning. Jerry Wichner (K4ALW) broadcast his laidback style of call-in and country music Tuesday through Saturday morning, and I, Joel Wilson, did my one and only DJ show on Sunday mornings. I was terrible and never played music to the public again. WLQY has been 100% Creole for many, many years now.

They ran 5KW into two four-tower parallelogram DA's, but they now only use two towers in the daytime. WLQY has no <a target="_blank" href=http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wlqy&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&sid=&x=10&y=3>web </a>presence.
<P ID="signature">______________
_____________________________________________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subscriber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology</P>
 
WLQY web site

> The year was 1978 and WGMA, along with most stations back
> then, turned their transmitter off from about midnight to
> five or six AM each and every Monday morning. Jerry Wichner
> (K4ALW) broadcast his laidback style of call-in and country
> music Tuesday through Saturday morning, and I, Joel Wilson,
> did my one and only DJ show on Sunday mornings. I was
> terrible and never played music to the public again. WLQY
> has been 100% Creole for many, many years now.
>
> They ran 5KW into two four-tower parallelogram DA's, but
> they now only use two towers in the daytime. WLQY has no web
> presence.

It's not in radio-locator, but it is in Google:
http://wrci2000.addr.com/wlqy.html
(WLQY.com is forwarded there.)

73s from 954<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> The year was 1978 and WGMA, along with most stations back
> then, turned their transmitter off from about midnight to
> five or six AM each and every Monday morning. Jerry Wichner
> (K4ALW) broadcast his laidback style of call-in and country
> music Tuesday through Saturday morning, and I, Joel Wilson,
> did my one and only DJ show on Sunday mornings. I was
> terrible and never played music to the public again. WLQY
> has been 100% Creole for many, many years now.
>
> They ran 5KW into two four-tower parallelogram DA's, but
> they now only use two towers in the daytime. WLQY has no web
> presence.
>
I Worked there in 1979....nights, I recall driving up on the place late at night,and wondering if it was on...since the night pattern was pretty tight. Also, I walked over to that giant window, I knocked on it. Funny thing was that thick glass did not budge. I actually kinda hurt!

At the time I was there, WGMA was "The greatest Country....". I Also did mid days at 1430 WQDI in Homestead...also..."The Greatest Country..."....I had the hardest time remembering where I was!
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> Is that a recent move for QAM? When I lived there, I seem
> to recall hearing 560 bouncing off the pipes in my bathroom
> in the middle of the night :)

Nope.....When I worked at WKAT in '94, for one, and *our* tower was in Virginia Key (again, QAM shared it with ours), I remember our CE going on vacation, and posting a memo that George Corso from QAM would be the point man in case something went wrong...They've been in Virginia Key since '87 or so, after leaving the Herald self-supporting tower.
 
Re: WGMA/WLQY plus Beasley's WKIS, WQAM & WHSR

> > Is that a recent move for QAM? When I lived there, I seem
>
> > to recall hearing 560 bouncing off the pipes in my
> bathroom
> > in the middle of the night :)
>
> Nope.....When I worked at WKAT in '94, for one, and *our*
> tower was in Virginia Key (again, QAM shared it with ours),
> I remember our CE going on vacation, and posting a memo that
> George Corso from QAM would be the point man in case
> something went wrong...They've been in Virginia Key since
> '87 or so, after leaving the Herald self-supporting tower.

Huh... guess my water pipes just liked listening to sports talk, then :-D

In continuation of my ongoing "Post Number Dedication Program" (otherwise known as the "J.C. Has Way Too Much Time On His Hands" program), this post is dedicated to 780 WBBM-AM, Chicago.
<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie</P>
 
WQAM transmitter site

> Huh... guess my water pipes just liked listening to sports
> talk, then :-D

Go to www.recnet.com, and you'll see the coordinates for the WKAT and WQAM transmitter sites are exactly the same (25-44'36 N / 80-9'14 W), and you will see both of them placed on an 'island', between Coral Gables and Miami (and nowhere near Hollywood or Broward for that matter.....

Not sure what was up with your water pipes, but I stay away from that which is not condoned by the FDA.
 
I preferred The Lady around 1979. Was that 1320AM?


> If you're a fan of radio history check this out:
>
> http://www.univox.com/radio/mikewgma.html
>
> I recall the beginnings of full time country music radio in
> South Florida. How it started and sadly how it ended.
>
> Now days it's fairly common for the FCC to grant stations
> permission to upgrade their facillities but in 1967 it was
> quite rare. WGMA 1320 Hollywood went from a 1,000 watt
> daytime only adult music station to a 5,000 watt modern
> country powerhouse. This was great news for Hollywood, which
> media wise lived in the shadow of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
> Now Hollywood had it's own full time radio voice.
>
> Thanks to Dave Citron for suggesting the article, it was fun
> to recall it all.
>
> Mike Sheridan
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
> I preferred The Lady around 1979. Was that 1320AM?

Yes apparently advertisers and listeners did not agree with you. People who wanted this music already had several outlets on FM, it was redundant.

One can only assume there was some advertiser backlash from the change. "The Lady" didn't last long and ended with the station going dark and being sold.

I was out of work and was hired to do 7-mid. After I saw what they had planned I backed out. A decision I never regretted.

Mike Sheridan
 
> I preferred The Lady around 1979. Was that 1320AM?

Yeah ... http://www.univox.com/radio/wady.html

<center>
wady315.jpg
</center>

Mike mentione it in his WGMA history, too:

> > If you're a fan of radio history check this out:
> > http://www.univox.com/radio/mikewgma.html
> > Mike Sheridan
<P ID="signature">______________
See WJNA and WFTL</P>
 
> Great picture. I have that too on the back of a 1980 (or
> so) Fla. singles magazine that I still have.

March-April 1980.

<center>
wady315.jpg
</center>

I thought *I* was bad at saving things.

I wrote for that magazine (p 32 & 41).
(What's your excuse for saving it for 25 years????)

BTW, I think I only listened to WADY a few times.
I mostly listened to WTMI and WAXY back then.

73s from 954<P ID="signature">______________
See WJNA and WFTL</P>
 
Re: WGMA \

This thread hasn't been posted in five years but I ran across it today and it brought back alot of memories. I use to listen to WGMA 1320 The Country Giant back in the 1970's when I lived in Miramar, FL. Jerry Wichner was a favorite DJ of mine as I went to school with Mark Wichner his son at Miramar High School. I remember back in those days the only way you could get country music in south florida was WGMA 1320 or WIOD 610 AM, I always hated we couldn't get WIRK FM in our area since of course FM with it's stereo sound was much better. Still WGMA filled a great void in country music in south florida back then. I don't know if Jerry Wichner is still with us or passed on or what happened to KC Jones or the rest of the WGMA crew but know they have my best wishes where ever they are. Chuck/CEO WLRE radio
 
Re: WGMA \

Jerry Wichner passed away sometime around the mid-1990's he was also a Ham radio operator and was active on the Ham bands after his radio career.

I heard from KC Jones awhile back, I think because I had some of the old WGMA jingles. He is out of radio I believe. Back in the 1970's WEXY-1520 was still playing country from Oakland Park (the north side of Fort Lauderdale) but they were daytime only. Miami had WWOK at 1260 also playing modern country music.

Both WGMA and WWOK came along at just the right time. The "Elvis Generation" didn't know what to think of the psychedelic music of the late 60's. Lots of old rockers turned to Country music.
 
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