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What happen to Tallahssee's AM 1330 WCVC?

What happen to WCVC-AM 1330 they been off the air about 2 weeks. as my radio scan goes to WFLA 1270 to WBHT 1410 on my am dial.
 
Their Harris MW5-A transmitter is a goner. Owner doesn't want to spend the money to replace it
and Kepha, the time-brokerage party operating the station doesn't HAVE the money to replace it.

I USED to be the ops manager there and told the management back years ago that they needed to
start planning for this. I retired out of there while the ship was still kind of floating. You can't help owners that don't want to be helped.

You may, or may not see WCVC back on the air anytime soon. It didn't have much of an audience
with EWTN being piped in by the group running WCVC under the TBA.

The transmitter blew on October 30. It's been off ever since.
 
You think they may put the station up for sale? Think anyone would do something with it if they bought it other than pump in EWTN or some other religious format?

An update from September on the WCVC site says they are at 500 watts while it is being "repaired."
 
CapeFish,

I don't know. That probably would be the best for all concerned. I worked there
for almost 13 years total, starting back in 1983, when it was the only Christian station in the market. It actually had regular Arbitron ratings back then.

It was at one time, a country station, WMEN 1330..I grew up listening to it.
After FM grew in popularity, 94.9, WOMA (now WTNT-FM) took away a big percentage of their country audience. They attempted all news in 1975, but that didn't work at all, and the station went silent in 1976.

Dr. W.R. Crews' organization out of Spartanburg, S.C., bought it and put it on the air
Jan. 1, 1977 as WCVC (Christian Voice of the Capital.) It played mostly preacher tapes then but added in some CCM by the early 80s. It had a good bit of CCM. and a sizable audience, when I was hired in 1983. I loved working at WCVC immensely.

Today, there's not even a control room left. The station was vandalized in the past year, more than once. The burglars got all the CD/DVD players, cassette decks, and such that I'd worked really hard to get in there.

Its signal doesn't reach inside Tally's office buildings well, even at 5kw. It does have
a new tower, installed in 2001. Cumulus' 1410, ESPN, The Fan, has its transmitter located there and is diplexed off WCVC's tower.

I truly hope someone is able to do something with it. I'd hate to see it get deleted.
 
Yeah, that whole situation is a shame. I know quite a few people who could do good things with that signal. I've been there numerous times in the past, tried to help out...but like Alan said, you can't help owners that don't want to be helped. The old studio trailer and the transmitter building both should be condemned and demolished. The tower isn't in bad shape, and when the station was at full power, it actually put a usable signal just over the state line into Georgia. I don't really know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that if the right offer was made, someone could have this station for a good price. I'd sure hate to see it disappear.

-Chris Hall
www.reelaudio.net
www.rfspec.com
 
I live outside the Capital Circle, so AM Radio is a daytime-only proposition and 1330 used to boom in, but it is so odd to see it basically dark. I hope they are indeed doing "repairs" as needed and get it back to full strength.
 
If it's just going to go back to its old format, good riddance. We need to clear out a lot of these junk daytimers and Class B's with eighteen towers that were shoehorned into the AM band. I hope 1330 goes
off and stays off, unless someone acquires it who wants to program to the actual demographics inside
the Capital Circle, not to Bainbridge, Perry or Sopchoppy.

Leon County is a Democratic stronghold at the polls. So where's progressive talk radio? With 730 and 1450
preaching, and (maybe) 880 going on as Relevant Radio, does Tallahassee still need 1330 as a religious station? No wonder Tallahassee is the worst AM market in the country. No wonder WNLS fled to FM while it could, never mind the 50 kW CP.

Since WCVC been off the air I been picking up AM 1340 out of Tampa loud and clear...

And you have my sympathies... most of Tampa cannot hear 1340 clearly, and they are better off for it.
 
smedge2006 said:
If it's just going to go back to its old format, good riddance. We need to clear out a lot of these junk daytimers and Class B's with eighteen towers that were shoehorned into the AM band. I hope 1330 goes
off and stays off, unless someone acquires it who wants to program to the actual demographics inside
the Capital Circle, not to Bainbridge, Perry or Sopchoppy.

Leon County is a Democratic stronghold at the polls. So where's progressive talk radio? With 730 and 1450
preaching, and (maybe) 880 going on as Relevant Radio, does Tallahassee still need 1330 as a religious station? No wonder Tallahassee is the worst AM market in the country. No wonder WNLS fled to FM while it could, never mind the 50 kW CP.

It would be nice if someone did something interesting with an AM signal in this town one of these days. But just because Leon County is heavily Democratic doesn't mean they are not religious Catholics as well.

My big issue with Progressive Radio is that is mostly Bush-bashing 24/7. Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz of JRN are pretty good products...compared to Air America. But Jerry Springer? Al Franken? These ar ejust big fish out of water.

It would be nice if one of these AMs shook it up a bit, but is it going to happen? I don't know...I doubt it.
 
Quick update:

Kepha Communications (the Catholic group airing EWTN on time brokerage) is officially out. They
won't be involved in putting the station back on the air.

I still don't see WCVC returning to the air anytime soon.

The owner/licensee lives out of state, in Illinois. However, he does not own the station outright
as there is another party that also owns 50%. I'm guessing both parties would have to agree on
the selling terms.

This station needs a lot of work, and I'm sure he won't sell "cheap" just because of it.

If anyone is seriously interested, I can put you in touch with the licensee's local manager.
You can email me directly at [email protected] and I'll pass it along to the right folks.

The station has a 500 watt pre-sunrise authority allowing it to sign on at 6:00 a.m, 5 kw-nondirectional
daytime. They never applied for their post-sunset authorization since the wattage was very low.
 
Wait a sec... 1410 diplexed off 1330? That can't be right.. that's only 80kHz off and way too close. maybe I'm wrong, but...

..I know 1600/1680 who share a tower on Clarke Road in Ocoee(Orlando) are causing a spur on 1760 that's being heard all over the place, including the Florida panhandle. Are you sure 1410 shares a tower with 1330... or are they just on the same proeprty?

500W Pre Sunrise Authority? Not too bad.....
 
Yes, it was designed by Ron Rackley and the late Homer Haines. 1330 owns the tower site
and Cumulus' 1410 moved their transmitter there after losing a former tower site for 1410.
 
Those of you that live here, what are some format options in your opinion?
 
There aren't a lot of options. I'd say southern gospel or hispanic programming. On the dial, there are already 2 FM talk stations, 2 sports stations, 3 country stations, CHR, 2 AC stations, several rockers, urban, urban AC, NPR news/talk, classical, and a bunch of religious stations.
 
Here's an update:

WCVC has been off the air now since Oct. 30. The old Harris MW5-A was dying beyond repair.

The owner and the Catholic group operating the station under a time-brokerage agreement were
arguing over money, specifically, a late/partial payment. Ultimately, the transmitter failure stopped
everything in its tracks.

WCVC is getting a brand new Harris solid state transmitter installed tomorrow (April 26).

There is still no studio equipment in the station since the 2006 vandalisms. Nothing.

But..the owner is now trying to get the Catholic folks back..guess some folks do not learn from
past mistakes! ???
 
I was down in Tallahassee Friday afternoon, but they weren't on the air. I was about a block away when I dialed up 1330, so they probably weren't even running into a dummy load.
 
Neil,

I spoke with Mr. O'Conner (local manager) today.

Clyde Scott from Moultrie GA installed it, and they've added an Optimod into the audio chain.

Apparently they did run some tests last Thursday.

I seriously wish I had the finances to buy it, because I believe I could do something with it.
 
As nice as having a Catholic Radio station giving Latin prayers and rosaries is, if the Catholic group cannot continue....the station would have to get itself back to some sort of format.

Classic Country would be nice.....hint hint hint...with a hint of Southern Gospel and some modern Country mixed in.

Does anyone know of someone who could run that with a studio done already?

Hopefully the owner of 1330 gives it some thought.
 
CapeFish,

I'll pass your suggestion on to the powers that be. I think it has merit.

Funny that you should mention the classic country type format..I've been doing a very similar format via
Internet only and have done quite well with it. Of course, I haven't sold time since it's a Live365
'personal' level stream. (But I used to sell time on 1330 when it was a CCM station.)

It actually was a country station way back in the old days as WMEN 1330. It became WCVC on
New Years Day, 1977. WCVC stood for Christian Voice of the Capotal, as there was no other
Christian station in the market at that time.

I actually have 2 home studios. It really wouldn't be all that difficult to run the kind of format you
describe from my studios, since some other folks in town operate in a similar fashion, with an ISDN line.
Jim Chion's Saturday night program, "Sounds of Swing," on WFSQ-FM operates like this.

I've got enough country, cross-country and old material to run for weeks without repeating..and a lot of
Southern Gospel too.

I haven't pursued anything myself because I don't have the funding to operate an LMA. I wish I did!
 
If he loses the Catholic Group, how will he make anything off 1330?

You have the studios, the talent, the format, the music, etc.

LMA? He should be paying you! lol

I guess ad sales splits would be a way to get it on.
 
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