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WQMS Quitman

SomeRadioGuy said:
WQMS has been a raging flaming dumpster fire for more then a decade. I dont think it's made anyone any more in at least a decade. I think one time it was even up for sale on Ebay... i wanna say the middle part of the last decade.. the owner lived in Indiana or something, Conquer Communications? It's been through a succession of owners I don't think this station has even been on the air consistently since the early 2000's most likely.

Joe Dunagan (Conquerer) sold it in 2006 to Stephen Hellinger, a jewish radio show host named Stephen Hellinger from Miami.... Hellinger sold it about a year later in mid 2007 to Randolph Johnston of Fresno, CA who sold itm Randolph sold about 18 months later to ACME BRoadcasting of Florida. They sold it in 2010 to Matadors, the current owner who did at one time have it on the air with country music.

As best I can tell from what I know, only Matadors ever had it on the air at any point. Joe Dunagan, Stephen Hellinger, Randolph Johnston, and ACME only had it on to keep the license.

It's a giant turd. It probably deserves to get deleted.

The only thing that would stand any chance of surviving in Quitman is a non comm FM you could get grants and donations for. .and it would even be sketchy at that.
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Joe Dunagan had it on the air with a sports format for a while. I'm not sure about any of the other owners except Matadors - they installed an Armstrong transmitter and new automation system to get the station back on the air with satellite country and Rick and Bubba in the mornings. There wasn't (and still isn't) enough local ad $$$ to keep it on the air. I've said for several years that the license needed to be deleted.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
WQMS has been a raging flaming dumpster fire for more then a decade. I dont think it's made anyone any more in at least a decade. I think one time it was even up for sale on Ebay... i wanna say the middle part of the last decade.. the owner lived in Indiana or something, Conquer Communications? It's been through a succession of owners I don't think this station has even been on the air consistently since the early 2000's most likely.

Joe Dunagan (Conquerer) sold it in 2006 to Stephen Hellinger, a jewish radio show host named Stephen Hellinger from Miami.... Hellinger sold it about a year later in mid 2007 to Randolph Johnston of Fresno, CA who sold itm Randolph sold about 18 months later to ACME BRoadcasting of Florida. They sold it in 2010 to Matadors, the current owner who did at one time have it on the air with country music.

As best I can tell from what I know, only Matadors ever had it on the air at any point. Joe Dunagan, Stephen Hellinger, Randolph Johnston, and ACME only had it on to keep the license.

It's a giant turd. It probably deserves to get deleted.

The only thing that would stand any chance of surviving in Quitman is a non comm FM you could get grants and donations for. .and it would even be sketchy at that.
Click to expand...

I worked a few times when Joe owned it and they needed someone to board op some Saints games. He was a really nice guy, probably a bit naive about small town radio. He brought in someone to manage the station (I don't rememner his name) who was shady as could be. Joe tried hard but just couldn't make it stick.

I do wish something could be done with it besides letting it rot but with hardly anything in Quitman to speak of as far as potential revenue, I certainly understand why it hasn't been successful. Doesn't make it any less unfortunate in my book.
 
I'm not saying Quitman can support WQMS but many times the problem with a lack of revenue is more about who runs the station day to day and the lingering reputation of the station. It might be a new owner but merchants pile on all the past mistakes on the new owner until they can prove themselves over time. And plainly put, many that claim to be able to sell don't get the part about building relationships with clients based on working for their continued success.Then there are so many stories about a distant owner learning half the business was sold for cash that supplemented the manager's income as those orders never made it on the books.

It was likely 20 years ago or more when I last heard WQMS. As I recall, they were doing an automated Blues format. They were running a couple of 3 to 4 unit breaks an hour then. As I recall the owner had one or two other stations and likely offered a combo buy with WQMS at a 'pick up' rate. I think the rate was $1.40 per unit and I think I was told they were billing about $5,000 to $6,000 a month. Given how online shopping and national chains have diminished the profit margins of local mom and pop businesses, it would be a extremely tough to make it. Then again if the county newspaper is healthy, there's a chance. Add in debt or major expense and it's usually enough to keep a station like WQMS in red ink.
 
Observation: Qutiman doesn't fit into the equation. It is the "Meridian" translator. Quitman is just a placeholder.
 
Seems my memory is faulty. On one trip to Nashville, I got to listen to WQMS on my southerly return and WQMA on northerly trek. I looked up my notes. My earlier post is about WQMA in Marks.
 
Also, there is a letter in their correspondence file indicating that the FCC did approve their latest STA request.
 
Translators for daytime only stations may operate 24/7. This is a big advantage for the daytime only where the shortest broadcast days are during the peak advertising period.
 
The mention of Marks, a few posts up, suggests there may have been some confusion about the fact that the town of Quitman is in Clarke County, while the town of Marks is in Quitman County. The two locales are maybe 200 miles apart.
 
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