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WTOT AM in Marianna on air?

tomservo

tomservo

A friend pointed out something to me that sorta surprised me. Wikipedia is claiming that WTOT AM 980 came back on the air in May of 2015 with an Urban Contemporary format. This is certainly news to me! ​Wikipedia is not always that accurate or current, so I figure I better ask our resident North Florida folks to see if they've heard anything.
 
WTOT-AM 980, WTOT-FM 101.7 and WJAQ-FM 100.9 were recently sold. I was not aware either of the FMs were off the air, but I was aware the AM had been dark for sometime due to transmitter issues. It would be a shame to see that AM go since it is one of the few former daytimers that was able to secure class B status with after post sunset powers were authorized for daytime only AM stations. WTOT-AM 980 is licensed for 1,000 watts ND day and 340 watts ND night. According to radio-locator WTOT-AM is on the air with an Urban format.
 
I know that both FMs are on the air, I put new transmitters in them last year. As for the AM, it also has a new transmitter...but they were dealing with copper theft issues when I was working on the FMs.
 
Is there a fence with a locked gate with razor wire around the AM tower base? That should greatly reduce, if nit eliminate any copper theft. I heard about copper being stolen several years ago. Did it happen again?
 
I was in Marriana today.
WTOT 980 is off air. I think it has been off for several years.
WTOT-FM is on the air but the signal strength is shifted East quite a bit, as if they were using a directional antenna or broadcasting from a tower closer to (or even East of) Marianna.
 
Considering that WTOT-FM's licensed for a tower site near Graceville, it sounds like someone is cheating. I don't think they could legally move the FM closer to Marianna without falling afoul of spacing to WTKX and WXSR in Tallahassee.
 
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Regarding the post about WTOT-FM "cheating"...not at all the case. They are broadcasting from their licensed tower at their licensed ERP. I installed the transmitter! There's no aux site.

I have been working on rebuilding WTOT-AM after multiple copper thefts...indeed we did make music yesterday and is a simulcast temporarily.
 
ReelAudio said:
I have been working on rebuilding WTOT-AM after multiple copper thefts...indeed we did make music yesterday and is a simulcast temporarily.
Click to expand...

Any idea what their future format plans are for the AM? I can't imagine how difficult it is going to be to make a go of it and have the AM be profitable or at least break even. It's probably a forgotten property at this point by local listeners.
 
Hope this outfit will snag them a Relay and market it as a FM station, so they can have success with this station too.

Just my two cents.

Dan <><
 
Here's a story from the Jackson County Floridian with some pics of the tower snapped in half. They're saying it took all three stations off the air, but WJAQ is back on already from a temporary facility.

I hope they can get back on the air soon; this was a tough break (so to speak) so soon after getting all that new equipment installed for the AM and getting it up and lumbering under its own weight again.
 
tomservo said:
Here's a story from the Jackson County Floridian with some pics of the tower snapped in half. They're saying it took all three stations off the air, but WJAQ is back on already from a temporary facility.

I hope they can get back on the air soon; this was a tough break (so to speak) so soon after getting all that new equipment installed for the AM and getting it up and lumbering under its own weight again.
Click to expand...

Slightly better tower picture from WTOT's own website: http://www.wtotradio.com/wtot-down-but-not-out/
 
seedless said:
So WTOT-FM also lost their tower or were they using the same tower as WJAQ?
Click to expand...

WTOT-FM transmits from a different tower near Graceville. My understanding is the WTOT-AM/WJAQ-FM tower uses an STL to transmit programming from the Marianna studio to the Gracevill tower site.
 
Yes, the STL shot was from the studio to the WJAQ/WTOT-AM tower, which fell in the storms last week...then to the WTOT-FM tower.

WJAQ is back up on a temporary antenna at the studio STL tower. They are working on getting an STL shot out to the WTOT-FM tower.
 
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