What's 790 going to do?

[bclark71.]

The ID is fairly simple, not much more than "WSTR-FM, Smyrna & WQXI-AM Atlanta," followed by a shotguy-style Star 94 jingle.

Thanks buddy! I STILL haven't heard it, despite my best efforts.

 

[Dan Gorby]

I believe there is a strong possibility that the 790 Frequency will be turned back in to the FCC. The land value of the tower location off Chesire Bridge Road is worth far more than the AM signal is worth. And building a new multiple tower Broadcasting site is way too expensive for an AM, the return on the investment is not likely feasible. If $$$ come in to play, I think this is a no brainier.

 

[jabba17]

The ID is fairly simple, not much more than "WSTR-FM, Smyrna & WQXI-AM Atlanta," followed by a shotguy-style Star 94 jingle.

Is "WQXI-AM" legal? For that matter, is "WSTR-FM" legal? Can you legally mention your service after your call letters if the service is not actually part of your call letters (as in WSB-FM)?

 

[jabba17]

I believe there is a strong possibility that the 790 Frequency will be turned back in to the FCC. The land value of the tower location off Chesire Bridge Road is worth far more than the AM signal is worth. And building a new multiple tower Broadcasting site is way too expensive for an AM, the return on the investment is not likely feasible. If $$$ come in to play, I think this is a no brainier.

That's why WPLO moved out to Powder Springs about 25-30 years ago.

Speaking of which, could Quixie piggyback on the WDWD tower site, or the WCNN tower site in Peachtree Corners? Or WAOK or WCFO? Or could they just reduce power and go omnidirectional on one of the nearby sticks in the Cheshire Bridge radio gulch? I know at least one of the Cheshire Bridge omni AM antennas is already hosting two signals.

Quixie is already omni during the day, and throws a pattern similar to WCNN's and WAOK's night pattern at night, with nulls to the NE and NW.

Both the WDWD and WCNN sites are in floodplains which limit the value of the real estate. What about the Quixie site?

My guess is that the 790 license is too valuable to just turn in to the FCC, when some guy on a 5000W daytimer could use 790 as an upgrade (kind of like what Salem did with 590), and then ditch the 5000W daytimer, assuming they could move the signal to new real estate.

 

[BarryATL]

I am not sure the land the WQXI towers are sitting on is worth that much. It is a flood area. I am not sure the city would allow the land to be built up. There are already flood issues with Peachtree Creek and the WQXI land gives that water some place to go when we have major rains. Of course, the City sometimes does not make sense in it's decisions.

 

[Dan Gorby]

I am not sure the land the WQXI towers are sitting on is worth that much. It is a flood area. I am not sure the city would allow the land to be built up. There are already flood issues with Peachtree Creek and the WQXI land gives that water some place to go when we have major rains. Of course, the City sometimes does not make sense in it's decisions.[/QUOT.

I believe the land or portion of the land can be developed. Unless WQXI can piggyback on another site (which I believe would be difficult), and would probably involve moving the signal way out of the city at reduced power, there is no value unless you are a non-profit religious organization. AM radio is gone, no one under 40 even knows what AM Radio is. If it was your money, would you invest $$$ in a rebuild with very little projected revenue? I still think the only 2 options are 1) Selling the land and turning in the license, or 2) Selling the land and selling the 790 Frequency, (not tower site), to a religious non-profit who will move the tower site. There are big tax incentives for Entercom in this scenario.

 

[bclark71.]

Is "WQXI-AM" legal? For that matter, is "WSTR-FM" legal? Can you legally mention your service after your call letters if the service is not actually part of your call letters (as in WSB-FM)?

Good question. I always thought AM or FM were only required if there was another station with the same letters, as in the old "WQXI Atlanta, WQXI-FM Smyrna" of the late-1980s.

Would that not mean "WSTR Smyrna, WQXI Atlanta" would be more accurate/correct?

 

[jabba17]

I am not sure the land the WQXI towers are sitting on is worth that much. It is a flood area. I am not sure the city would allow the land to be built up. There are already flood issues with Peachtree Creek and the WQXI land gives that water some place to go when we have major rains. Of course, the City sometimes does not make sense in it's decisions.[/QUOT.

I believe the land or portion of the land can be developed. Unless WQXI can piggyback on another site (which I believe would be difficult), and would probably involve moving the signal way out of the city at reduced power, there is no value unless you are a non-profit religious organization. AM radio is gone, no one under 40 even knows what AM Radio is. If it was your money, would you invest $$$ in a rebuild with very little projected revenue? I still think the only 2 options are 1) Selling the land and turning in the license, or 2) Selling the land and selling the 790 Frequency, (not tower site), to a religious non-profit who will move the tower site. There are big tax incentives for Entercom in this scenario.

It wouldn't be hard or expensive to move 790 to another one of the Cheshire Bridge towers. They could keep their existing omnidirectional day signal; the only bugaboo would be how much they would have to power down at night with an omnidirectional night signal. I'm no RF engineer but going to 400-500 watts omni from 1000W DA might do it (comparing 790 with 860 and 920).

Didn't 1690 have this issue when the city of Atlanta wanted to tear down their tower and do something else with the land the tower was on? They just piggybacked on another one of the Cheshire Bridge towers (don't remember which one).

 

[RoddyFreeman]

The tower on the Lenox Rd side of that same land is used by 970, 1190 and 1600. It used to be owned by the Dickeys, but I'm not sure if it still is. It was the tower for 680 when they were a 25KW daytime station.

My mistake on the 94.1/790 ID. It does not say FM or AM.

 

[kf4rca]

The only problem with sharing a tower is that you have to install a filter to trap out the other stations frequency AND they have to install one to trap out your frequency.
That location being a flood plain gives them a good ground which is essential in AM.
But simulcasting is a sign of a bad ad market. You can't sell it so you're giving it away. Buy one, get one free. It makes no sense paying two stations' electric bills off one station's accounts receivables. Really cuts into your profit margin.
Better to just sign it off until you can come up with a marketable format.

 

[MarcB]

There is no -AM extension on a call sign. So if a station is saying for example WXXX-AM Atlanta, that's technically not legal. It would be WXXX Atlanta.

In Connecticut K-LOVE is on an AM and an FM station with the same call letters and different COL. When they first came on in August 2014 the ID was "WCCC West Hartford and 106.9 WCCC-FM Hartford."

Now some stations have an -FM extension whether or not an AM station or TV station has the same call letters or not. It depends on what it says on the license.

 

[secondchoice]

The tower on the Lenox Rd side of that same land is used by 970, 1190 and 1600. It used to be owned by the Dickeys, but I'm not sure if it still is. It was the tower for 680 when they were a 25KW daytime station.

My mistake on the 94.1/790 ID. It does not say FM or AM.

IIRC 680 was just off Holcomb Bridge in the 1970's (where I think they still are):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...4.2631137,16.5z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I believe the current 790 site is the site they have used since the 1970's:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...611,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I would like to hear how the Dickeys ended up with this site. 790 was owned by and insurance / financial services companies Jefferson Pilot / Lincoln ) so selling assets for cash should not happen.

 

[MCMagicCracker]

The station that owned the call letters the earliest doesn't have to specify AM, FM, or TV in the legal ID. That means, for example, if WEAK was first a TV station, and later an AM station signed on, the TV station's legal ID would be just WEAK, but the AM would be WEAK-AM.

So it should be WQXI Atlanta, WSTR Smyrna. But since many of the listeners don't know the AM band exists, they're probably just using the AM/FM identifiers to make it clear that there's an AM simulcast.

 

[Gregg.]

I don't think that's accurate. If TV station WEAK buys an AM station, that station becomes WEAK and the TV station becomes WEAK-TV. And if WSTR should decide to make the simulcast with 790 permanent and wanted both stations to have the same call letters, 94.1 would become WSTR-FM and 790 would become WSTR.

But I think it is accurate to put AM and FM in the legal I.D. if two stations are simulcasting and you're specifying which call letters are on the AM side and which are on the FM.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

IIRC 680 was just off Holcomb Bridge in the 1970's (where I think they still are):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...4.2631137,16.5z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I believe the current 790 site is the site they have used since the 1970's:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...611,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I would like to hear how the Dickeys ended up with this site. 790 was owned by and insurance / financial services companies Jefferson Pilot / Lincoln ) so selling assets for cash should not happen.

The Lenox Rd tower was definitely 680's site when they were a 25KW daytimer. They didn't have a directional antenna until they increased to 50KW, requiring the multiple towers at the Winters Chapel site. If you want to know when they moved, search the old Broadcasting Yearbooks on americanradiohistory.com.

 

[MCMagicCracker]

I don't think that's accurate. If TV station WEAK buys an AM station, that station becomes WEAK and the TV station becomes WEAK-TV. And if WSTR should decide to make the simulcast with 790 permanent and wanted both stations to have the same call letters, 94.1 would become WSTR-FM and 790 would become WSTR.

But I think it is accurate to put AM and FM in the legal I.D. if two stations are simulcasting and you're specifying which call letters are on the AM side and which are on the FM.

I got my rules confused. If a station is the only one with that set of call letters, no matter which band, it doesn't need a suffix. But if they're shared, the suffix is required only for FM and TV.

 

[jabba17]

The Lenox Rd tower was definitely 680's site when they were a 25KW daytimer. They didn't have a directional antenna until they increased to 50KW, requiring the multiple towers at the Winters Chapel site. If you want to know when they moved, search the old Broadcasting Yearbooks on americanradiohistory.com.

GRHOF used to have an aircheck of Boortz signing off Ring Radio in 1979.

 

[jabba17]

IIRC 680 was just off Holcomb Bridge in the 1970's (where I think they still are):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...4.2631137,16.5z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I believe the current 790 site is the site they have used since the 1970's:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...611,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

I would like to hear how the Dickeys ended up with this site. 790 was owned by and insurance / financial services companies Jefferson Pilot / Lincoln ) so selling assets for cash should not happen.

I think Roddy was saying that one of the single-antenna sites--the one used by 970, 1190, and 1690--was owned by the Dickeys, and I'm assuming they inherited it with WCNN (from 680's WRNG Ring Radio days). Quixie uses a 4-tower array that nobody else uses.

Since WPLO moved out to Powder Springs, I think the Quixie array is the only multitower array in the immediate (N. DeKalb/N. Atlanta) area, unless you count WATB 1420's 3-tower array at N. Decatur and the Perimeter. 1690 (back in the Air America WWAA days) used one of WATB's towers for its x-band regulation omni 10k day/1k night signal.

 

[secondchoice]

I did a quick search of the FCC site which is lacking on anything before electronic filing, unless the station has "cards" and WRNG had a CP in 1979 to move to the current site:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=11325

click the PN link and you get this:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...plication_id=11325&File_number=BMP-19790605AJ

I was drove from East Cobb to Norcross once a week in 1980 (Via Holcomb Bridge road because 285 was mess up even then) and you could see the towers then.

I never paid much attention to 680 in the 1970's. I assume they were a daytimer before 80/90 and wisely figured out a directional night time service right after the rules loosen up. It is weird that a COL could be a place that does not exist any more. who to they "serve" with the one 5 or 6 AM Sunday public affairs program the FCC makes you do.

 

[jabba17]

I did a quick search of the FCC site which is lacking on anything before electronic filing, unless the station has "cards" and WRNG had a CP in 1979 to move to the current site:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=11325

click the PN link and you get this:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...plication_id=11325&File_number=BMP-19790605AJ

I was drove from East Cobb to Norcross once a week in 1980 (Via Holcomb Bridge road because 285 was mess up even then) and you could see the towers then.

I never paid much attention to 680 in the 1970's. I assume they were a daytimer before 80/90 and wisely figured out a directional night time service right after the rules loosen up. It is weird that a COL could be a place that does not exist any more. who to they "serve" with the one 5 or 6 AM Sunday public affairs program the FCC makes you do.

Broadcasting Yearbook shows WRNG as 25kW day only in 1979, and adding a 10kW night signal (no mention of DA) in 1980. The 1982 Yearbook under "North Atlanta" says to see "Atlanta" for WRNG, and vice-versa under "Atlanta", so no entry for Ring Radio. 1983 shows the new WCNN calls, a proper listing under Atlanta, same power, and a CP to go to 50kW day (still no mention of DA). 1984-85 shows the same power and CP but the first mention of DA day and night. It looks like they didn't get the 50kW day up and running until 1986.

Incidentally, the 1986 yearbook shows WKLS (AM) 970 as being a 5k daytimer (which I already knew) but with a DA. Where did they pull that off?