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WGTK, Earth FM sold to EMF

94.5 is going to K-Love, that’s signed and sealed. It’s the main part of the deal. There’s no question. Air 1 is going to the weaker 95.5 / 103.3. The Answer is just sticking around a month longer than Earth FM, probably to squeeze a little more money out of it and it’s cheaper to run. Salem is just leasing 94.5-3 and 94.5-4 to continue to feed 96.9 and 102.9 which they own outright (unlike Summit / Audacy with their translators which are leased). Once those are sold I’m quite certain EMF will get control of all of the HD channels and Salem will then exit the market completely. I believe GSP is actually one of their smallest markets.

I was wondering what will become of 88.3 as well. I wonder if EMF will put one of their third tier formats like K-LOVE 90s or 00s on it?

So the 101.5 and 95.1 translators still sound like trash? Do they still sound like 98.9 HD2 and 93.7 HD4? I heard 101.5 in May and it was so bad it was unbearable.
 
KyleAndMelissa22 said:
If / when 94.5 goes to K-Love, 88.3 in Boiling Springs becomes redundant as a K-Love Signal, but maybe that would be a better choice for Air1.

I think Air 1 would work better on 88.3 Spartanburg and maybe 95.5 or 96.9/102.9 for Greenville.
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That's a good point. Charlotte already was both 94.1 and 91.9. I don't know how far west those two signals go but maybe 94.5 can reach far enough east.
 
Right now 88.3 ID’s as “WLXK, Boiling Springs, Gaffney, Spartanburg, and 94.1 and 91.9, Charlotte.” It’s not exactly a great signal but with them mentioning Charlotte in the ID, it sounds like they want to let 88.3 listeners know where they are in the Charlotte area. 88.3 does not put out a listenable signal anywhere in Charlotte, it’s a very directional signal due to so many adjacents (88.1 in AVL, 88.5 in Due West, 88.5 in Winston Salem come to mind).

All three of the mentioned cities will be covered by 94.5. I suspect 88.3 will go to Air 1 (even though there’s overlap with 103.3), or if nothing else one of the K-LOVE Classics formats. I’d be surprised if EMF sold it. I wonder how they will ID 94.5. It will likely get a customized jingle for the top of the hour ID and just mention 94.5.
 
fybush said:
Every K-Love station mentions the next nearest station's frequency in its legal ID, presumably so people traveling know where to find it in the next market.
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Interesting, it seems like their weaker/smaller signals like WEKL Augusta, WLXK, etc do but WMHK in Columbia for example is just “Columbia’s positive, encouraging K-LOVE, WMHK Columbia and reaching…”. The weak WEKL advertises the stronger WMHK while the stronger WMHK doesn’t advertise the weaker WEKL.
 
101tm said:
Interesting, it seems like their weaker/smaller signals like WEKL Augusta, WLXK, etc do but WMHK in Columbia for example is just “Columbia’s positive, encouraging K-LOVE, WMHK Columbia and reaching…”. The weak WEKL advertises the stronger WMHK while the stronger WMHK doesn’t advertise the weaker WEKL.
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Almost every single Klove signal I've ever heard does what Scott mentioned aboe

"Positive encouraging KLove for northern california....KKLC Fall river Mills, also at 93.7 in Redding and 88.3 in chico" and Chico ID'd as "KLVC Magalia, Chico, also at 99.5 in Sacramento and 107.9 in Redding"

SE WY's station IDID as "positive encouraging klove for southeastern wyomign and northern colorado... 90.9 KLWV Chugwater, laramie, cheyenne and 91.1 Denver"
Listen to the ID captured here:

WPKV Pottsburgh, PA didn't ID anyone else when i heard them years ago

I've heard WLVX 107.1 Greenville, PA mention "101.9 youngstown" as well
 
This is interesting. I’ve only paid attention to the large market EMF ID’s (KKLQ or WPLJ just mention the COL) or if I come across one OTA, so I’m not well versed with how they ID. But for the record this is how WMHK does it:

Must be a one off! Here’s where WEKL mentions WMHK
 
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radioinsight.com

Bill Love To Retire From WRTH/WLTE - RadioInsight

Longtime Greenville/Spartanburg market morning personality Bill Love has announced he will retire from mornings on Salem Media Group Classic Hits “Earth-FM” 103.3 WRTH Greer/95.5 WLTE Powdersville SC on Friday, September 29 ahead of the station’s sale to Educational Media Foundation. Love has...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
101tm said:
This is interesting. I’ve only paid attention to the large market EMF ID’s (KKLQ or WPLJ just mention the COL) or if I come across one OTA, so I’m not well versed with how they ID. But for the record this is how WMHK does it:

Must be a one off! Here’s where WEKL mentions WMHK
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I pressed "scan" on my car radio near Myrtle Beach and I can't ever recall this happening, but it went from one K-Love station to another. WMHK was the second. I know only that they were playing the same song but because I knew WMHK was at 89.7, that must have been the second one.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I pressed "scan" on my car radio near Myrtle Beach and I can't ever recall this happening, but it went from one K-Love station to another. WMHK was the second. I know only that they were playing the same song but because I knew WMHK was at 89.7, that must have been the second one.
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WMHK has a very powerful signal so that’s not surprising. It’s very directional to the north and south, but if you’re to the east and west it gets out very far.
 
Sounds like it’ll be running largely jockless except for Craig and Action with a pretty skeleton staff behind the scenes as well since today was Bill Love, Heidi Aiken, and Lee Alexander’s last day. Sue Myers will say her goodbyes tomorrow. Was bittersweet but touching hearing the tributes and sign offs for Bill, Heidi, and Lee as well as a lot of the familiar voices that came out to wish them well all the way back to the WQOK/WFBC days.
 
101tm said:
Ahh, I figured. 96.9 is bad from Greer to the east but is a much better Greenville area signal than the ultra directional 102.9. Can’t really see who would want them other than another religious broadcaster that doesn’t require a local signal since there aren’t really any AM’s left that I can see getting a translator. Iheart hasn’t played the translator game in this market and I can’t see Audacy launching another station. Summit at this point is maxed out with HD unless they wanted to give up Hot on the HD4 on 107.3 which feeds a simulcast to the 94.1 translator which is located on the 103.3 tower.
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Well the 96.9 and 102.9 translators have limited coverage areas due to full power Charlotte signals on the same channel. Both 96.9 and 102.9 from Charlotte had good signals in Spartanburg and made it into parts of Greenville County before the Upstate translators signed on. And 107.9 had a decent signal in Greenville County before the LPFM emerged. But no use compaining about this topic as it has become a common issue in multiple markets.
 
Scanning the dial I heard a promo on WGTK from one of the brokered shows that their final airing will be on 10/22, so it sounds like 10/28 is going to be D-Day for 94.5 The Answer also.
 
101tm said:
Sounds like it’ll be running largely jockless except for Craig and Action with a pretty skeleton staff behind the scenes as well since today was Bill Love, Heidi Aiken, and Lee Alexander’s last day. Sue Myers will say her goodbyes tomorrow. Was bittersweet but touching hearing the tributes and sign offs for Bill, Heidi, and Lee as well as a lot of the familiar voices that came out to wish them well all the way back to the WQOK/WFBC days.
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Any recordings of the goodbyes?
 
High-quality airchecks taken from the 103.3 FM signal of the station can be found here: https://bit.ly/earth-airchecks — this is the same as the link on the Save WRTH FM website.

The airchecks start at 8:19 a.m. Aug. 25, 2023 and currently run through 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. More will be added regularly. They are organized by day and split into manageable 60-minute segments.
 
What About WGTK?
Most discussion so far has been focused upon the end of Earth-FM. But what about WGTK? Will their programming find a new home? Such as Mike Gallagher. And don't they carry Sean Hannity? I wonder if WORD will pick up any of the former WGTK programs. Obviously they may benefit in the ratings when WGTK signs off and WORD becomes the only news/talk station. Unless somebody else will decide to flip and fill the void from the loss of WGTK. Or is that feasible?
 
tylerSC said:
What About WGTK?
Most discussion so far has been focused upon the end of Earth-FM. But what about WGTK? Will their programming find a new home? Such as Mike Gallagher. And don't they carry Sean Hannity? I wonder if WORD will pick up any of the former WGTK programs. Obviously they may benefit in the ratings when WGTK signs off and WORD becomes the only news/talk station. Unless somebody else will decide to flip and fill the void from the loss of WGTK. Or is that feasible?
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Most of Salem’s fare on 94.5 (other than Hannity) isn’t generally carried by talk stations other than those owned by Salem or some smaller market/locally owned stations. I wondered the same thing about Hannity and WORD, but since WORD seems locally/regionally focused during the day (regional meaning Eric Erickson) from 6am-7pm, there’s no room really. I can’t see them dropping Mark Levin and they seem to have a good relationship with Ground Zero which airs after Levin. It’s been on there for years now.

When WGTK signs off it will be the first time in what, 30 years that Gallagher hasn’t been on the air in the market? I know WORD carried him for ages once he entered syndication until WGTK snagged it away. I’d be a bit surprised if he showed back up on WORD. His style doesn’t seem to really fit their very far right position anymore. I’d be surprised to see a station flip to talk or pick up the Salem shows. I’m sure WORD will be gloating like they killed the competition off with their “big beautiful signal” although it didn’t really hurt WGTK.
 
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