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Where's WATO?

S

southerncomfort

I heard 1290 on the air yesterday playing a cd or some jukebox progam with oldies. I road around the old WORI site on Tulsa Rd and it wasn't coming from there. Went by the old WATO site and wasnt broadcasting from there either. Seemed to have the strongest signal toward Oliver Springs. After noon, I could hear a carrier, but no modulation. Anybody else heard it on the air?
 
I heard them today around noon while going to get lunch. The audio quality was not bad at all. Good quality signal too, no power-line drop outs or fading. I listened from Oak Ridge into the Marlowe Area.

I wonder if the whole new operation will be there in the old Pirkle Building and if oldies will be their intended format? If so, with the right programming, Perhaps Pams Jingles and a high energy presentation (like WLSQ in Crossville had a few years back) and the proper marketing and promotion, Could be potential. They'll have to work it but it could be there.
 
Is there enough room at the WOKI location to support a directional array so they can get back to full power? I toyed with the idea of trying to purchase the station but the numbers just didn't add up but then I didn't know about the WOKI site. Guess I should have taken a trip out there. Keep me posted Radio30 this is an interesting story. I sure hope they make a success of it.
 
The STA is for a single tower at the old WORI site, but it didn't appear to be broadcasting from there. I think the FCC was very generous allowing 1500 watts day/ 125 watts night from there, if they can keep that and find an antenna with a good ground system, that will save them a ton of money and be a decent signal in Oak Ridge.
 
Hey all. Me again, Radio30. I noticed coming from work this afternoon that the field in front of the single tower has little white flags in stuck in the ground. Perhaps they are preparing to put up the other two towers for full power? Don't know. Sure wish that someone with info would post. I'm curious.

I'm really interested on old heritage stations like this one. Especially now that it appears that it has been saved from extinction. I'm hoping they can do well with it. Like my above post says, they will really have to ramp it up with all sorts of work and promotion but I believe there is still a future for WATO given the right programming and packaging.
 
There still hasn't been an application to modify the existing license posted on the FCC web site. you can't just replant your directional array somewhere else with out the proper engineering study and application filed at the FCC.
 
Probably just plotting it out to see if there is room for a directional array. As close as the two locations appear from here it shouldn't take much tweaking to get things back where they were. If the remaining towers are fit to move it just might work. Don't know who their engineer is but hope he's a good one.
 
radio30 said:
I heard them today around noon while going to get lunch. The audio quality was not bad at all. Good quality signal too, no power-line drop outs or fading. I listened from Oak Ridge into the Marlowe Area.

I wonder if the whole new operation will be there in the old Pirkle Building and if oldies will be their intended format? If so, with the right programming, Perhaps Pams Jingles and a high energy presentation (like WLSQ in Crossville had a few years back) and the proper marketing and promotion, Could be potential. They'll have to work it but it could be there.
Click to expand...


I too am interested in what WATO may do. I was the afternoon jock on Music Radio WLSQ in Crossville. I also had a hand in programming that station, no it wasn't all me but I had the music duties in my pocket and some of the PAMS jingles I brought from my collection to the WLSQ table, plus other secret weapons as well as the idea for reverb to be used on the whole audio chain not just the mic. We had that station sounding great! Major market sound in a small market area. It may also be why it couldn't last. Boy did we get attention from Knoxville listeners, wow it was unreal. I think the key for that was the novelty of it's sound. It sounded like an AM station circa 1975 on an FM station in 2007. Also at that time Knoxville had no one playing oldies anymore on FM. In August of 2007 we showed up in the Knoxville book we just about tied with WOKI with a 1.0 share, they were still doing their Jack clone "Earl FM" We of course had already changed our format by then to what it is today The HOG. One week later WOKI went True Oldies with Scott Shannon piped in. I think our little WLSQ thing may have had a small hand in WOKI flipping.

I've worked other oldies stations before and since, but I've never truly enjoyed what I did until we re-created Music Radio WLS. Not to say that I didn't enjoy my other places, it's just that I had more of a hand in the creative process and it worked. For only a short 5 months it was fantastic!

I would LOVE to program WATO as a nastolgic Classic Top 40 as Radio30 mentioned above. That's truly where my passion lies. I agree it could work if handled right. Sure WOKI is oldies on FM, but it's not presented in a nastolgic fun upbeat fashion. I'm the perfect guy for the job, I'm out of work and would do it if I was backed with the right people to help me. So keep me posted on what's going on, e-mail me if anyone knows any scoop. I will even fund the jingle package with my own financial backing if need be.
 
Didn't Kirk Tollet park the WLSQ calls on the 98.9 freq that he bought the CP for out of Byrdstown? And never built or maybe didn't pay the FCC for? According to the FCC web site the calls and Freq. allotment have been deleted.
 
Yes I believe that is correct, well I don't know about not paying FCC part but he did initially buy it. His intention was to revive Music Radio WLSQ on that freq. But to do that it takes team power. Music Radio was and would be a format that just one person can't run, it's high energy like current Top 40 and needs occasional massaging. We were able to pull it off in Crossville because we had 3 jocks who understood how to do it. One sales guy and he was overloaded already, plus Kirk. And I'll tell you something, ALL OF US except the account executive worked around the clock for one whole week (may have been two) to get that format kicked off on it's intended date. Burning songs in hard drive, checking their levels, re checking their levels, tightening cues and out cues, building several hot clocks, fattening up the jingles digitally editing and customizing the jingles especially the news openers and top of the hr stagers that our original package didn't have. Getting the correct sustain on the digital reverb unit was a task on it's own. We wanted that 77 WABC/89 WLS reverb sound.

Then before we turned the power back to full, all 3 of us jocks practiced a mock show for about 2 hrs with the clocks in place and reverb on. We then were ready to play "Boss Radio".

What made it hard on our sales guy was he had the local Crossville area and it's surroundings like Tansi, & the Glade, Rockwood and such, so he was constantly running and putting out occasional fires there. We were making noise in K-town so, he was finding it hard to even get time to get some of that "K" money.

So like radio30 said it will take work and team power to do a format like that especially on AM, it also wouldn't hurt to get an FM translator that shoots about 30 miles in the main area and use that as your selling tool to quiet the potential advertisers who down the AM band. It could really sound good! What's sad is it could be more exciting sounding than many FM's. Of course that's the programmer in me talking.
 
Music Radio Aircheck

So the bigger question is.....(for those of us who did not get to hear much of the station)
How do we get a aircheck of the station? Surely somebody thought to record all this magic!

TK
 
I'd love to hear that myself. Sounds like it was extremely hard work and loads of fun.
 
Air check heading your way via e-mail. Hope you enjoy :) I know I sure had FUN doing those air shows.
 
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