WIBN off air

[cold_coffee]

Stations and formats live and die by the book. If ratings are
low people get fired.

Stations pay several thousand dollars to be able to use the book.

So, it does matter that we get accurate results.

When I see that dark stations are getting ratings it causes
a credibility and reliability problem for the ratings service.

We want the truth. A station thats off the air has zero listeners.
It doesn't get a 4 or any numbers in the real world.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Again, if the diary keeper states "oldies station" and is not call letter or positioning statement specific, it will get shared among all the oldies stations in the market. Which would be WASK and WIBN.

Ok, we're good so far.

It doesn't matter if you are off the air.

This is where the "huh?" comes from. If someone wrote down "Oldies" on April 27th, clearly they were listening to WASK, and WASK should get the full ratings credit.

Similarly, if someone wrote down "98.1 FM" on April 27th, that diary should be disqualified.

We're not discussing what Arbitron's policies are. (I think most of us are already familiar with those.) The discussion is about the absurdity of giving ratings to a station that could not possibly have received listeners.

I haven't seen the demos in this book, but if I were WASK's GM and I found that I was in shouting distance of moving up a spot in some salable demo, I'd be complaining to Arbitron. Loudly. The difference between being 5th in A25-54 and 6th 25-54 translates to lots of $$$.

 

[gr8oldies]

Is there a review process?

 

[k105mark]

Again, if the diary keeper states "oldies station" and is not call letter or positioning statement specific, it will get shared among all the oldies stations in the market. Which would be WASK and WIBN.

Ok, we're good so far.

It doesn't matter if you are off the air.

This is where the "huh?" comes from. If someone wrote down "Oldies" on April 27th, clearly they were listening to WASK, and WASK should get the full ratings credit.

Similarly, if someone wrote down "98.1 FM" on April 27th, that diary should be disqualified.

We're not discussing what Arbitron's policies are. (I think most of us are already familiar with those.) The discussion is about the absurdity of giving ratings to a station that could not possibly have received listeners.

I haven't seen the demos in this book, but if I were WASK's GM and I found that I was in shouting distance of moving up a spot in some salable demo, I'd be complaining to Arbitron. Loudly. The difference between being 5th in A25-54 and 6th 25-54 translates to lots of $$$.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I was near Lafayette on I-65 this morning (8/9) and WIBN is back on the air with a decent signal where I was.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

In the past good signal on I 65 and ratty off the Interstate. Would really like to know if it is the same as it was...

The odd thing is the station didn't notify the Commission of silent status until 5/21/2010. How long has it been off, several months?

The FCC has them silent as of 7/21/2010 Link: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1368376

As of today it is still "silent" at the FCC. THis is also why they received Arbitron numbers while off. No acknowlledgement until a week or so ago. Arbitron and the FCC didn't have noted approved legal knowledge it was off so they got the splinter credit. hmm.

Also means same transmitter site. No facility changes noted.

 

[gr8oldies]

WASK can ask for a diary review I believe. I don't know if the book can be reissued.

 

[Apollo7979]

The odd thing is the station didn't notify the Commission of silent status until 5/21/2010. How long has it been off, several months?

Actually Chief, they did notify the FCC of their silent status the Monday following the tower incident (April 19th). In the original informal document, John Balvich cites a notification of suspension of operations due to technical issues and writes that the station would resume operations within 30 days. When that didn't happen, he revised the startup date to be within 90 days of that most recent filing, which was on May 19th. For some reason, the FCC doesn't have the May update on their website anymore, but they seemingly did everything by the book in that regard.

As for the signal, the station literally has no processing besides an Orban Optimod so reception is always thin in areas where it should be booming. In terms of clarity, they do seem to have a slightly better signal over Lafayette now. This could be due to the fact that they realligned their antenna bays to face Lafayette as opposed to Rensselaer. An additional antenna bay on the new tower probably didn't hurt, either. I'm curious how this slight technical adjustment affected reception in Illinois... particularly, in Hoopeston and Watseka, which are two communities within WIBN's primary contour.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

A new bay? Additional bay? This require an sta or minor mod as it would increase the ERP.

 

[k105mark]

The odd thing is the station didn't notify the Commission of silent status until 5/21/2010. How long has it been off, several months?

Actually Chief, they did notify the FCC of their silent status the Monday following the tower incident (April 19th). In the original informal document, John Balvich cites a notification of suspension of operations due to technical issues and writes that the station would resume operations within 30 days. When that didn't happen, he revised the startup date to be within 90 days of that most recent filing, which was on May 19th. For some reason, the FCC doesn't have the May update on their website anymore, but they seemingly did everything by the book in that regard.

As for the signal, the station literally has no processing besides an Orban Optimod so reception is always thin in areas where it should be booming. In terms of clarity, they do seem to have a slightly better signal over Lafayette now. This could be due to the fact that they realligned their antenna bays to face Lafayette as opposed to Rensselaer. An additional antenna bay on the new tower probably didn't hurt, either. I'm curious how this slight technical adjustment affected reception in Illinois... particularly, in Hoopeston and Watseka, which are two communities within WIBN's primary contour.

Yesterday morning we were getting reception in Champaign/Urbana.

 

[Prais]

Any advertisers there?

 

[BobOnTheJob]

When I listened, it was all PSA's.

 

[Apollo7979]

A new bay? Additional bay? This require an sta or minor mod as it would increase the ERP.

I found that strange, too. However, they mentioned the antenna and the intent on filing the proper paperwork in their resumption of operations letter.

The following is from the WIBN's correspondence folder on the FCC website (sorry for the caps...the blurb is a copy and paste job)...

"EXIBIT 3

'Description: RESUMPTION OF OPERATIONS

'FOLLOWING RECONSTRUCTION OF ITS TOWER AND REPAIRS TO THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM AND TRANSMITTER BUILDING RESULTING FROM AN ACCIDENT ON APRIL 17, 2010 CAUSED BY A SEVERED GUY WIRE, STATION WIBN RESUMED OPERATION WITH ITS LICENSED PARAMETERS ON JULY 27, 2010, EXCEPT THAT THE STATION'S OMNI-DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA WAS REPLACED WITH ONE WITH AN ADDITIONAL BAY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTINO73.1690(C)(1). AN APPLICATION FOR MODIFICATION OF LICENSE PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 73.1690(C) OF THE COMMISSION'S RULES IS IN PREPARATION AND WILL BE FILED AS REQUIRED."

 

[Apollo7979]

Any advertisers there?

I've also heard Indiana Beach ads, but that's more than likely a trade.

 

[Prais]

Sorry. I meant "any advertisers in Chambana?" I'm aware of their pitiful ad load.