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WKFL Bushnell

Ok Walters once again is on the ball regarding WKFL. Broadcastamerica is somewhat misleading in his assumptions and thats fine. There happens to be a motion before the court today by-the-way, 9/20/10 so we'll see how that transpires....

Additionally I'd like to see JMTILLERY weigh in on all of this, as OK Walter's, both have a wealth of information regarding these sort of issues....
 
This is a lot of legal rigmarole over a radio station that has questionable value, even in good economic times. I have to believe that at this point, the creditors are simply tired of the situation, and are out for blood.

Again, I ask... Other than being a steward of defunct radio properties, WHAT exactly does Bruce Cox do for a living? I believe that one of Bruce's other principals / investors lived near Lake Katherine, where I lived, in Casselberry, IIRC. Originally, wasn't there a sports bar / restaurant connected to this venture? (At least, that's what I recall reading somewhere) Beyond that, Mr.Cox appears to be "all hat, no cattle" ::)
 
Stereolane has a good point, for the sake of throwing Bruce under the bus I think if Bruce Cox could find a way to make money from the court system and to pay him for all of his court appearance's he's made throughout the last bunch of years, he'd probably have a nice "FAT" bank account right about now, in whereas he wouldn't have to worry about anything defunct, he'd be sitting "pretty" on easy street, not withstanding having some extra dollars left over to buy, well, a few more stations...... I'd be inclined to think that he should really "tout" his last name, "COX" I'm wondering maybe if that would help.....
 
Stormychuck said:
Additionally I'd like to see JMTILLERY weigh in on all of this, as OK Walter's, both have a wealth of information regarding these sort of issues....
Click to expand...

StormyChuck - I'm going to remain neutral on this matter (at least for the moment) as I don't have all the balanced facts from both sides, rendering me in a position I am unable to give an informed, unbiased and objective opinion.
-JMT
 
Hey Mark - are you from Switzerland? Maybe that is where the "neutral" came from - you are rarely neutral on anything. ;D ;)
 
ok walters said:
Hey Mark - are you from Switzerland? Maybe that is where the "neutral" came from - you are rarely neutral on anything. ;D ;)
Click to expand...

Are you saying your observation has been I am a subjective individual?
 
ok walters said:
There was a sports bar involved at one point - here is the court case info from that one.

http://lakecountyclerk.org/online_court_records_detail.asp?case_id=15979763

http://lakecountyclerk.org/online_court_records_detail.asp?case_id=12006096

There was also some connection to Universal Studios or the NASCAR Grill but I don't know the details on that.
Click to expand...

I remember there were several "potential" sports bars involved in Florida and out of state. I believe the original concept was to have an outing for TalkNSports listeners as well as using the sports bar as a venue for various sports related talk programs live "from the grill".
 
jmtillery said:
ok walters said:
There was a sports bar involved at one point - here is the court case info from that one.

http://lakecountyclerk.org/online_court_records_detail.asp?case_id=15979763

http://lakecountyclerk.org/online_court_records_detail.asp?case_id=12006096

There was also some connection to Universal Studios or the NASCAR Grill but I don't know the details on that.
Click to expand...

I remember there were several "potential" sports bars involved in Florida and out of state. I believe the original concept was to have an outing for TalkNSports listeners as well as using the sports bar as a venue for various sports related talk programs live "from the grill".
Click to expand...

That is exactly what he had planned. The sports bars were to have studios in them like ESPN Zone does in Orlando.
 
This will be my final comment on this particular thread. I don't want to get caught up in the cross fire but I will share some random thoughts. I think that is is fair to assume that among most of the posters on this thread Bruce is a less than respected or popular figure. Let me pose the following:There are times when people go into business and suffer setbacks due to third parties not following through on committments. In turn the ability to follow through on the best made plans is then inhibited. Call it the domino effect. Maybe I'm missing something here due to limited exposure. In my past in other geographic areas, as a court appointed administrator in some instances and as an arbitor in others I have seen explanations for actions or failures to succeed that could best be termed "due to extenuating circumstances" and which fully explained the actions of one of the parties. That is the reason that I feel strongly that it is the court actions which will be the true statement as to who is culpable for what and as to how things will be settled. Perhaps some of the posters here have information,knowledge and/or insite that I lack. Because of that I am going to make this my final comment on this subject but will look with interest at continuing to read your fine responses and comments. That said please allow me to repeat the sum and totality of my relationship with this issue: I sold equipment and engineering services to Bruce for WKFL recently. Getting paid was as complicated as getting paid by a governmental entity but the funds are there and I and my subcontractors were paid in full. The WFHT non purchase was caused by the finance broker's lack of followthrough. The rip off report on the broker offers more insight as to his activities.
 
You definitely don't know the whole story. The long trail of destruction left by Bruce Cox was not due to someone else not following through - it was Bruce who failed to meet his commitments repeatedly. The one common denominator in all of these bad deals is Bruce Cox and no one else.
 
Agreed, and Bruce Cox's inability to keep track, now whether that means Bruce lacks total management and or business skills I'm sure these and the other issues will air it self out shortly and become clearer over time.

Broadcastamerica, now where is the fun in saying your no longer going to post, please, don't hold the rest of us hostage, but you perhaps are one of the lucky one's to settle up and have financial obligations in respect to you taken care of by Mr. Cox and fellow check writer's, it's really unfortunate that Bruce Cox can take a whole bunch of good thing's and turn them bad in just a blink of an eye, which all to often lends credence to the aforementioned, lack of management and or his business skill's....

But, we do wish him well...
 
Business considerations aside (the financial dilemma); it will be a miracle in WKFL doesn't even up doing dark permanently, rather than being dark most of the time.

Anyone tackling this job of putting this station back together will need a good credit line or deep pockets and just as important, they will need to realize that this will take time to gain listenship and re-connect with the community........... it will have to be a labor of love.

Other than being the country seat of Sumter county, about the only businesses of any size in Bushnell is the Super-Wallmart (at the western edge of the city limits); a Winn Dixie, a CVS, several fast food restuarants, several Mom and Pop restuarants, a Post Office and a funeral home.

No Publix, no Target, no Walgreens, no Radio Shack, no Sweet Bay Supermarket, no daily newspaper per se. No hospital, one small medical clinic and no radio stations out of Ocala or Leesburg really make any attempt to target Bushnell.

Even if the station goes satellite feed, I would hope that they could at least be a few hours live and local each morning and that if they can get night time authority to run that 100 watts (which btw, they have in the past, whether it was officially authorized or not, I don't know) and carry the South Sumter High School football games and maybe on Sunday's run local church services.......... Bushnell is very isolated from the rest of the county (most of the population is in Wildwood and the Sumter county portion of The Villages) and they need to have their own media voice and local connections............ just my opinion.

drt,
st. petersburg
 
drt, your opinion is a valid one, no doubt, while some of us are too busy throwing Bruce Cox under the bus, so-to-speak for his financial misgiving's regarding WKFL I remain guilty as charged your honor...

If you happen to be involved you have your hand's full and I see your dilemma. Now whether WKFL can become once again a viable entity within Bushnell's community remains to be seen and whether or not you can sell a new idea for WKFL to some who happen to be in the financial backing arena it's a slippery up hill slope, that's my opinion..

I like to see it when stations make a come back from the brink of total disaster and impending darkness and do what their suppose to do, and that's service the community and it's possible there maybe some available options should somebody have the interest to pursue them.

Two of the more respected individual's I have are for JMTILLERY and Ok Walter's they have the handle on WKFL and have knowledge an insight that I don't possess, and short of totally bulldozing WKFL and turning whatever is left back into farmland, and for the sake of sounding like a total suck-up, these two would know exactly what to to do with WKFL....

I'm really curious to see exactly what will happen to WKFL...
 
Stormychuck posted:

"I'm really curious to see exactly what will happen to WKFL... "
-----------------------------
I'm very curious as well.

I don't have a pony in the show, but do know that getting it back on the air and connecting with the community is going to be a full time job and there's going to have to be a good sales person or GM, who can convince the businesses as to why they should advertise and connect with their community. I think that if this is done properly, it will help both Bushnell and the owner, but it's going to be a long ongoing process; no one should think that this station will be #1 in zip codes 33511 and 33538 in several months, it may take several years after all the years of neglect...... there's a lot of rebuilding to be done.

There will need to be billboards and all types of promotions to let the people of Bushnell and nearby areas to know that they once again have a local radio station, and of course, since they're on the AM band, it's going to be vital to have programming not available on the Leesburg or Ocala AM or FM stations. (i.e. High school football).

drt,
st pete
 
Cox approached me about running WKFL in 2008. He told a big story of an up and coming network, with names like Frank Viola and Papa Joe Chavalier? being thrown around as "committed talent" and a list of 200 stations who had supposedly committed to taking the programming. I know Frank Viola and he says he was never involved at all - the rest of his claims were suspect as well. I found out about the lawsuits and visited the WKFL site and then went to the Sumter County courthouse in Bushnell to review the actual lawsuit files. No one in the Clerk's office (about 8 people) even knew there was a radio station almost within site of the courthouse. If the locals don't even know it is there, it is more than an uphill climb - it is a climb up a mountain without a rope.
 
This station was originally licensed to Wildwood. I never understood why one of the previous owners changed the city of license from Wildwood to Bushnell. Anyone?
 
WKFL was never licensed to Wildwood. I think the studios were there for awhile, but the CP and license was always Bushnell. The original studios were in an out building located in the former ACE Hardware parking lot. I think there is a NAPA auto parts store there now.
There was a 100' self supporting tower that microwaved the signal over to the tower site.
 
WKFL has always been licensed to Bushnell, having been constructed by the Late Jim Johnson in the mid 1980s. The orginal format was country and was known as Country 1170. Later, under Johnson's ownership, WKFL began simulcasting with WKIQ-AM 1240 Eustis. The new moniker became Country 1170 and 1240.

Sometime in the late 90s WKFL was acquired by Maranantha Ministries, owned and operated by the Reverend Henry Ferman who flipped the format to American Family Christian teaching and ministry programming. The studio was then moved to Wildwood, located in the old Kings Theatre which had been converted to a church. The radio studio was located upstairs in the former theatre projector room. And although the signal was very week in Wildwood, Ferman was able to get approval to move the studio outside of its city grade contour because WKFL was operating as a non-commercial radio station and was owned by a not-for-profit organization. Ferman later sold WKFL to Keith Walker who flipped the format to Southern Gospel and paired it with WWKO-FM 91.3 Ocala. Walker's estate sold WKFL to Bruce Cox for $155,000 in 2004. Cox paid a binder deposit in the amount of $10,000. At closing an additional $30,000 was paid representing a $40,000 total down payment along with a promisory note in the amount of $115,000 amortized over ten years at 9% per annum interest. The note is secured by the real estate and other tangible assets according to the Asset Purchase Agreement.
 
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