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WTUV - Eminence - Dead air for a week

greg.hahn

greg.hahn

These guys (105.7) have had a nearly constant dead carrier since at least July 4. I understand they are no longer being served by a competent engineer, but these guys need to know this is illegal because they aren't doing station IDs.

If they can't get their STL fixed to provide programming to the site, they need to turn off the transmitter.
 
Yes, they dismissed their engineer two weeks ago. Look for problems to crop up soon with their sister stations. I understand the WLOU site needs constant attention. I'm sure King Bee will let us know when it stops switching patterns. For their sake, hope it stops switching while on the daytime pattern!

I'm surprised Davidson Media has let this go on as long as they have. There was a application filed a year and a half ago to transfer control from Davidson to Golden Door Broadcasting. They quit filing consummation extensions last August.

Wonder how many of their listeners have migrated to the Regional Mexican station in Shelbyville?
 
Nice...sounds like no one is minding the store. Is the station all satellite? You'd think someone at the office would notice. Guess if they don't bother to keep an engineer around, they don't bother to even monitor their own signals to see if they are actually on.
 
I've have experienced a dead carrier on WTUV AM 620 numerous times while scanning the AM band. I actually remember a time when that station had a dead carrier for at least a couple of days. I've also noticed that WLLV simulcasts WLOU's programming during the overnight hours. However, a legal ID is never aired on WLLV. They simply run WLOU's Legal ID and liners on WLLV. This operation presents a horrible sound and image on WLLV. They should sign off WLLV during those hours if they aren't going to run it correctly.
 
scanman1809 said:
I've have experienced a dead carrier on WTUV AM 620 numerous times while scanning the AM band. I actually remember a time when that station had a dead carrier for at least a couple of days. I've also noticed that WLLV simulcasts WLOU's programming during the overnight hours. However, a legal ID is never aired on WLLV. They simply run WLOU's Legal ID and liners on WLLV. This operation presents a horrible sound and image on WLLV. They should sign off WLLV during those hours if they aren't going to run it correctly.
Click to expand...

And again, it's illegal. So we have frequent cases of:

1. No legal ID on WTUV-AM
2. No legal ID on WTUV-FM (for at least a week)
3. No legal ID on WLLV at night. (And transmission of superfluous IDs that misidentify the station.)

I wonder if the directional antenna patterns of 620 and 1350 are legal? The FCC might look into that if they come to town for the other things.

I hope nobody tells them.
 
greg.hahn said:
scanman1809 said:
I've have experienced a dead carrier on WTUV AM 620 numerous times while scanning the AM band. I actually remember a time when that station had a dead carrier for at least a couple of days. I've also noticed that WLLV simulcasts WLOU's programming during the overnight hours. However, a legal ID is never aired on WLLV. They simply run WLOU's Legal ID and liners on WLLV. This operation presents a horrible sound and image on WLLV. They should sign off WLLV during those hours if they aren't going to run it correctly.
Click to expand...

And again, it's illegal. So we have frequent cases of:

1. No legal ID on WTUV-AM
2. No legal ID on WTUV-FM (for at least a week)
3. No legal ID on WLLV at night. (And transmission of superfluous IDs that misidentify the station.)

I wonder if the directional antenna patterns of 620 and 1350 are legal? The FCC might look into that if they come to town for the other things.

I hope nobody tells them.
Click to expand...

I really wish the FCC would do something about operators like this. But as long as the EAS seems to function and the public file appears in order all is well.

Next time there is dead air on 620, turn up the volume and see if Mark The Spark Anderson is able to to communicate from the great beyond. "Hello Louisville! How the hell are ya?" Gosh I miss WTMT.
 
I think this company wants to lose money. I have learned that they are eliminating health insurance for the employees and everyone took a 5% pay cut this past spring. They can't keep their stations on the air and they are dissing the employees, makes you wonder why they even bother.
 
Bengalsfan said:
I think this company wants to lose money. I have learned that they are eliminating health insurance for the employees and everyone took a 5% pay cut this past spring. They can't keep their stations on the air and they are dissing the employees, makes you wonder why they even bother.
Click to expand...

It sounds like your typical "get rich scheme" gone wrong when you only see the finish line and plan the victory party but could care less about the race.
 
Just like I've been saying for some time now...this Golden Door outfit is even worse than Davidson! You've got something very fishy going on at WLLV/WLOU/WTUV.

Start with a general manager who, despite his years of "experience," is both clueless and shady at the same time; absolutely no one with any knowledge of proper day-to-day station operational procedures in charge; a poorly-equipped studio facility; a nonexistent sales force with no concept on how to initiate, develop and grow a sales effort; some marginal (at best) announcers; the distinct signs of payola...yes, gospel and Spanish-language announcers, PD's and MD's like that "grease," too; I could go on and on about this train wreck of a station combo! And the few good, competent staffers are ignored when they object, and most soon leave. Perhaps the contract engineers weren't getting paid and were warning them about ther malfeasance.

And the nighttime violations by WLOU ane not, in my opinion, due to directional system problems, but a deliberate attempt to overcome their bizarre nighttime pattern. Go to fcc.gov/amquery and take a look at all the nulls through heavily populated areas...simply put, their towers are in the wrong place, and that's an expensive fix! I know of several broadcasting hands in the Louisville area who, if given the reigns, could work wonders with these stations...but if ownership doesn't want you to succeed, which is apparently the case here, why try?
 
In response to the several messages I've received to my post asking me if I'd take a shot at resurrecting WLOU/WLLV/WTUV: Maybe, with an ironclad contract, a realistic equipment budget, total authority to correct operational, technical, administrative, programming, promotional and sales problems as I see fit, a blowtorch, a sledgehammer, a good contract engineering firm, a soldering iron, a subscrption to Pike & Fisher's FCC publications, a BSW and/or Bradley catalog, and a few good men and women...then, maybe I'd give it a go.
 
The King Bee said:
In response to the several messages I've received to my post asking me if I'd take a shot at resurrecting WLOU/WLLV/WTUV: Maybe, with an ironclad contract, a realistic equipment budget, total authority to correct operational, technical, administrative, programming, promotional and sales problems as I see fit, a blowtorch, a sledgehammer, a good contract engineering firm, a soldering iron, a subscrption to Pike & Fisher's FCC publications, a BSW and/or Bradley catalog, and a few good men and women...then, maybe I'd give it a go.
Click to expand...

I hope you have money or plenty of property for collateral because it will take lots of cash. The only signal that has the least demons is 1240 since it's non-directional the other two would be total money pits assuming the system had been neglected. But then again, even if you had 1240 what do you do with an upstart AM in 2010? I'm not saying it isn't possible but the odds are against success.

The real tragedy is WLOU. It should be the "WDIA" of Louisville today but thanks to mismanagement over the last thirty years it is just occupies bandwidth.
 
It's not to late for these stations. However, turning them into gospel jukeboxes isn't the way to get it done. And letting your FM stay off the air for two weeks isn't going to help your advertising revenue, either. However, getting someone in to take the bull by the horns and clean up the mess will cost money, and since they are now going on a year without closing on the sale, that's something that Davidson or Golden Door obviously does not have. The option they have chosen is to limp along waiting for their bailout. In the meantime, the value of the stations continue to fall. Jack Mortensen was brilliant for getting out when he did.
 
Isn't WTUV-FM a Shelbyville station? If so, how could it be profitable in Louisville? I wonder if Cumulus would be interested in buying WLOU, WLLV since they only own 1450 and 93.9.
 
radioville said:
Isn't WTUV-FM a Shelbyville station? If so, how could it be profitable in Louisville? I wonder if Cumulus would be interested in buying WLOU, WLLV since they only own 1450 and 93.9.
Click to expand...


WTUV-FM is an Eminence station. The tower is just south of Eminence, about 8 miles north of Shelbyville, so it's city grade signal does make it there.

It would cover Louisville about as well as WAKY does were it not for WLRS on 105.9. The guy who owned 105.7 saw that train coming and managed to pawn the station off on a guy that knew nothing about radio just months before 105.9 went on the air.

And by the way, WTUV is back on the air as of some time today. They were off the air for 10 days at least.
 
What people have seemed to have forgotten in the age of consolidation is that content is king. You give people a reason to listen to your station, and they will. Delivery is irrelevant. Plugging an ipod into the transmitter won't cut it anymore. Taking LOU and LLV back to the kind of station the black community turns to for news, information and entertainment for the black community would do wonders for their ad revenues. American Urban Radio Network offers so much programming that would work on these stations from TOH news to sports. I dare say WLOU had more listeners back when they broadcast SGN's The Light. WLLV has such a mish/mash of programming, nobody knows what to expect.

For all I know, they are leaving Eminence off the air on purpose. I understand they have dismissed all of La Calente's people. You would think they'd turn the transmitter off if they are giving up on it, though. Speaking of, WTUV is a east end station. It will always be an east end station. It will never serve Louisville because of the adjacent channels in Ft. Knox and Vally Station. The Vally Station situation is about to get worse since WAY-FM has an app to move it's antenna to the tower that GZB and SFR is on.
 
Bengalsfan said:
What people have seemed to have forgotten in the age of consolidation is that content is king. You give people a reason to listen to your station, and they will. Delivery is irrelevant. Plugging an ipod into the transmitter won't cut it anymore. Taking LOU and LLV back to the kind of station the black community turns to for news, information and entertainment for the black community would do wonders for their ad revenues. American Urban Radio Network offers so much programming that would work on these stations from TOH news to sports. I dare say WLOU had more listeners back when they broadcast SGN's The Light. WLLV has such a mish/mash of programming, nobody knows what to expect.

For all I know, they are leaving Eminence off the air on purpose. I understand they have dismissed all of La Calente's people. You would think they'd turn the transmitter off if they are giving up on it, though. Speaking of, WTUV is a east end station. It will always be an east end station. It will never serve Louisville because of the adjacent channels in Ft. Knox and Vally Station. The Vally Station situation is about to get worse since WAY-FM has an app to move it's antenna to the tower that GZB and SFR is on.
Click to expand...

Great point about American Urban Radio Network. I'm sure WLLV makes more money than WLOU. Don't they have mostly paid 30 minute local church programs all day?
 
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