Seems more like '70s through the '10s the more I listen online. I think that being so it would fall under the format category of Variety Hits rather than classic hits.
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WGTX 102.3 Truro is Stunting
- Thread starter jradioguy1
- Start date
Yeah, it seems like an overdone format for the Cape. Cape Cod technically has 4 Classic Hits formats as of now. And it was 5 until WGTX flipped to Variety Hits. Still, the format isn't very successful as Frank proved under Codcomm. Didn't take them long until they flipped Frank to Classic Hits and the slogan went from "We Play it All" to "Cape Cods Greatest Hits"..
While I'm always supportive of anyone trying to do creative things with a radio station, the reality here is pretty brutal: WGTX isn't a "Cape Cod" radio station, it's an "Outer Cape" station with a signal that misses probably 75-80% of the rated Cape Cod market's population base. Even being very generous with where the signal can be heard, you'd be lucky to come up with 15,000 for a year-round population within the 60 dBu contour. It doesn't really matter what the stations in Hyannis or Falmouth are doing by comparison, because the signals don't overlap; the only real question is how you can draw enough income out of such a tiny population base to make a signal like 102.3 viable. And no, it can't upgrade or move, because it's wedged in tightly against 102.5 in Boston and 101.9 in Falmouth.
I've been reading all the comments here and on social and love all the armchair quarterbacks. The Dunes was never properly equipped hence the poor coverage. It was licensed for 4.7 kW TPO with an ERP of 2.14 kW. Right of the bat, a 44% efficiency should tell you it was a budget design. The reality is its ERP has been around 600W with Bext 3/4 wave spaced antennas at 81 meters but at a poor position on the tower. The wide horizontal and vertical pattern covered whales and sharks pretty well. As of yesterday, x1023 began operating back at its full licensed ERP with a new GatesAir Fax5 and Shively 6813 antennas 1/2 wave spaced properly aimed with a vertical pattern designed to cover the populated mid-cape. The signal, audio chain, and performance are night and day different. As for the format... Let's just say this isn't my first rodeo. Be well radio folks.
Gary Hanna paid $180,000 for the signal. Considering he is from the MetroWest area I wonder if he is related to the Kens Steakhouse owners.
Nice to see he is going live and local but it is still going to be a tough sell to advertisers.
Nice to see he is going live and local but it is still going to be a tough sell to advertisers.
He has no relation to the Ken's family (thank god).
What about simulcast/trimulcast repeater(s)? I mean vacant frequencies are pretty scarce on Cape. One vacant frequency 98.7FM comes to mind for coverage exclusively in the lower to mid-cape area and one other vacant frequency that could cover the upper cape. Codcomm previously had Koffee FM on 98.7FM but then moved to 101.5FM. I mean a frequency move wouldn't work in the case of 102.3 FM Truro because its location as you pointed out. Would a simulcast/trimulcast be more viable for them to do?
There are currently no FM translators available on Cape Cod.
You can't just find a vacant full-power channel and apply for it. Even if it fits - and 98.7 fits as a class A, though a very constrained one (which is why WKFY moved to 101.5) - you have to first propose that the channel be added to the allocations table, and then you have to wait for it to be auctioned, and then you have to win the auction.
How constrained was 98.7? It still only put 60 dBu over the elbow of the Cape, which is why Codcomm had to not only move it to 101.5 but also acquire a translator to allow it to be heard better in the more densely-populated mid-Cape area.
I wish the new X102.3 all the best, and I hope the good people there succeed, but I also recognize the reality of a seasonal radio market that has a lot of existing players with bigger clusters and bigger signals chasing a limited pool of potential listeners and revenue. Even if they could find a way to extend their signal down the Cape to where more people and businesses are, they're still a single-station player up against several clusters with multiple signals and a lot of ability to undercut a single station to get ad buys. It's brutal out there.
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