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WKFL Bushnell

stereolane said:
Well, a couple of months have passed. Anything new to report on the misadventures of Bruce Cox, and WKFL?
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Yes, they are back on the air most of the time now. (24/7 as a matter of fact) and they seem to be playing a 3 or 4 hour loop of country music taped from a satellite feed for the military. (not the actual Armed Forces network, the name escapes me). I noticed them on the air when at the Veterans' Day ceremony at the Florida National cemetary just south of Bushnell and they were on the air all the weekend; playing the same 3 or 4 hour loop over and over. No commercials, absolutely no station i.d. either. They did seem to be broadcasting at their full 1,000 watts, as opposed to the 100 watts, they were using back in September when their format of the month was ESPN then.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
 
I'm very happy to hear that WKFL is back to full power. Apparently a new transmitter was installed afterall; which is good news for WKFL listeners.
 
Back in the area today and yes WKFL does seem to be the full 1,000 watts, that's the good news;hopefully if they continue to operate 24/7 (while licensed as a daytime station), the FCC won't come knocking at their door.

I did hear a station i.d. today at 30 minutes past the hour, to the effect of WKFL, America's Military Entertainment Network (which I googled to no avail). It's as though someone record a 2 or 3 hour loop of that entertainment network at some point in time and they just keep playing the loop again and again.

I wasn't listening to them the whole afternoon, but I heard Loretta Lynn's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" around 2pm and again at 5pm, hopefully it wasn't played in between, not that there's anything wrong with the song, but once every three hours for anything is a heavy rotation.
drt
 
Apparently a new transmitter was installed afterall; which is good news for WKFL listeners.
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After years of all but nonexistent operation, who would be listening, save for DXers, AM geeks and schadenfreude artists?
 
Actually, with heavy aggressive promotions and local programming, WKFL can be a very nice local radio station catering to the local needs of Bushnell and Sumter County to which AM 1170 should have more than enough sustainable local listeners and advertisers.
 
Hard to see that one making it. Been gone for five years plus, weak daytime only signal, rural area - it would take ALOT of promotion and local programming to make it work. The locals don't even know it exists, so that is where you are starting from.
 
I didn't say it wouldn't take much hard work. I'm saying it has potential with a local owner / operator who wants to become a part of the local community.
 
Per usual I'll have to agree with Mark on this one. A local owner/operator, with proper local programming skills, like Mark, with some hard work could make WKFL a local goldmine, although small, small always has that potential, small community oriented facilities work provided you are always keeping the locals in mind, perhaps broadcasting the smallest things ie; the daily farm/ag news reports, to the local ladies club and aunt Bertha's brand new "blueberry pie" recipe, lol, they, the locals eat-it-up so to speak, in most cases sometimes as silly as it sounds these local broadcast programming techniques work, and if you build from this, they, the locals will come and thus everybody in town will make WKFL their own personal little local radio station, and in my opinion, that's about as basic as radio broadcast can get, keep it local keep it simple....
 
I think everybody would root for the success of a locally-focused WKFL. But there are some challenges here than are ever more daunting than the Cross City situation, where 1240 was down for some time. At least its partner on 940 has some heritage in the Chiefland/ Tri-County area. WKFL went on in the 80's and has no heritage. Bushnell has no heritage of listening to, much less supporting, local radio. Sumter County has not been kind to local stations not owned by a development company.
 
WKFL can become a factor in Bushnell radio, but it will be a labor of love and a long time committment by someone who either lives in the area or has ties to the area.

Being on the AM band in and of itself is one strike against it; strike two is that it hasn't had a presence in Bushnell or the surrounding area for years. It will take a lot of promotion(i.e. billboards, remotes, advertisements in the Sumter County Express - a weekly). The only station with even a remote presence in the Bushnell area is WVLG, they have a WVLG Day each year at the Sumter county fair.

It can be done, but it will be a challenge for someone, not looking for a quick buck or a quick investment, that isn't going to happen.

As of yesterday, they still seem to be playing the same loop of country music that had to have been recorded years ago, maybe a decade or more ago and no billboards or promotions, right now they seem to be on the air, just to meet licensing requirements; nothing local at all; no time no temps, no PSA's, just the same two or three hour loop over and over again.

drt
 
I understand that the station is silent once again. Power may have got shut off again.
 
ok walters said:
I understand that the station is silent once again. Power may have got shut off again.
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I'm not in the area every day, but WKFL was on the air Christmas Day playing the same tired old 2 - 3 hour country music loop and they were full power (1,000 watts), don't know if they were on the air during this past week or not. That being said, they were on the air today (Sunday, 2 Jan), but on reduced power, probably the same 100 watts they were using earlier; I haven't caught any TOH i.d.'s, I know when they were using the 100 watts several months ago, they would i.d. themselves at the top of hour, id'ing themselves as WKFL Bushnell-Orlando, which I thought was odd since there is no way the could be received in or within 35 miles of Orlando.

drt
st. petersburg
 
Could be, but the court system works so slowly that results could be a while showing up. For those of you in the know,the mortgage holder can repo the land and tower/transmitter, etc, but what happens to the liscense in Talknsports name??
 
I would imagine Mr. Walker has thought of that. I am sure Cox can't hold the license hostage forever, especially when you consider the history of the whole mess. Mr. Tillery would probably know best how that will work -
 
I have not read the WKFL complaint, so I am unable to give an informed opinion of this particular case; However, generally speaking, if a judgement is granted against a licensee for reasons such as due to a defaulted note, normally, if a suit is filed in state court and litigation follows, the state court will appoint a receiver to take over the station, sell it and pay off the note provided the court rules in favor of the plaintiff or petitioner (the person or entity who filed the suit). In order to secure the license, as part of the process, an Involunatry Transfer of Control is filed with the FCC using Form 316 along with all supporting documentation, including the court order, from the state court showing a judgement has been awarded to the petitioner.

However, the licensee has one trump card which will stop any such action dead in its tracks. The licensee has 90-days to flle Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - Debtor in Possession, and file the necessary documentation with the FCC to show a pending bankruptcy is in the works. Since bankruptcy falls under Federal jurisdiction, the bankruptcy court overrides any lower state court rulings. If a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition is filed within the 90-days, the license, any real estate, and personal property (I. E., broadcast equipment) remains in the licensee's possession pending a final ruling from the bankruptcy court.
 
stereolane said:
ok walters said:
https://www2.myfloridacounty.com/ccm/do/docket?county=60&data=984dd126718e99674e79d990960a32b6

First mortgage holder has filed again - ????? The end is near.......
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Hey Walters, that link doesn't bring up anything... can you please try again? thanks -
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I thought it might be just me or my computer, but the link didn't work for me either.

Not related directly to the legal matters; I had to be in Bushnell, this past Wednesday (the 12th) and the carrier was on, what seemed to be the 100 watt aux transmitter, but nothing but dead air.

drt,
st. pete
 
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