WVKO-AM 1580 is changing formats again!

[fybush]

The FCC will allow a class B station to downgrade to class D. They're not "dead set against" it at all.

And Radio-Locator's automated FCC updates simply grab the new daytime data and plug it in. If there's no new nighttime data, the old nighttime data stays there until a human comes around and sees it needs fixing. That can apparently take quite a while over there.

 

[CPSteinmetz]

The FCC will allow a class B station to downgrade to class D. They're not "dead set against" it at all.

Which is the reason that the FCC granted this application on 1/3/13.

 

[knowbetter]

The FCC will allow a class B station to downgrade to class D. They're not "dead set against" it at all.

Which is the reason that the FCC granted this application on 1/3/13.

Somebody asked for it.

I am not trying to be smart with that answer, btw, but someone, One would have to assume the owner, would have to make the application. I think the question everyone has to ask is WHY. One would think that the current owners know there is more value in a ful time station, vs a part time one. Last rumor was this construction isn't likely, so I wouldn't worry much until someone starts clearing land or starts working on the tower site. (I didn't look too hard, is the 820 CP necessary for anything short of adding the 1580 towers?)

The only real reasons, in my mind anyway are...

Money... Some one is paying them to downgrade, so someone else can upgrade. One scenario, although this is just "an example speculation" on my part, and is in no way anything but a likely guess, is that the folks who own the catholic radio station here, could possibly have interest in the 1580 station in Georgetown, KY, for another Catholic Station. That 1580 is 10kw day, but only 45 watts at night. My Guess would be if this station in Columbus lost it night pattern, that station could increase their nightime coverage, and loosen their pattern. Remember the WOWO thing a few years ago. Someone could have more interest there, I think there is or was a catholic station there before, but it was limited somehow... The combining of the tower site only fuels this speculation.

It could be a Clear Channel thing, but I hardly think CC would spend any money on improving that AM.

I think it's a Canadian clear, but it's hardly likely that would affect anything here

Could be that they lost their lease with the city on the Morse road property, but that seems unlikely after a few years.

time will tell..

by the way, I kind of like the new format!

 

[gabigley1]

It was just announced on WVKO AM, that as of ten minutes ago, the new WVKO-AM 1580 website site is up!

Here it is: http://www.1580thepraise.com/

I was hoping they would hire Sean Gilbow as news director and Michael Allwood as the new WVKO-AM station manager. Liked hearing the morning news with Sean and the neat shows Michael Allwood produced for the old progressive talk WVKO-AM.

From the new WVKO-AM site:

HELP KEEP GOSPEL ON THE AIR!
This YOUR station Columbus. We're working hard to keep Gospel music on the air.

Come out and show your support! Stop by the station for our Radio-THON
Saturday, January 19, 2013 from noon until!

 

[xmusicmatt]

Nicely done website for a small operation.

 

[markbohach]

The FCC will allow a class B station to downgrade to class D. They're not "dead set against" it at all.

Which is the reason that the FCC granted this application on 1/3/13.

Somebody asked for it.

I am not trying to be smart with that answer, btw, but someone, One would have to assume the owner, would have to make the application. I think the question everyone has to ask is WHY. One would think that the current owners know there is more value in a ful time station, vs a part time one. Last rumor was this construction isn't likely, so I wouldn't worry much until someone starts clearing land or starts working on the tower site. (I didn't look too hard, is the 820 CP necessary for anything short of adding the 1580 towers?)

The only real reasons, in my mind anyway are...

Money... Some one is paying them to downgrade, so someone else can upgrade. One scenario, although this is just "an example speculation" on my part, and is in no way anything but a likely guess, is that the folks who own the catholic radio station here, could possibly have interest in the 1580 station in Georgetown, KY, for another Catholic Station. That 1580 is 10kw day, but only 45 watts at night. My Guess would be if this station in Columbus lost it night pattern, that station could increase their nightime coverage, and loosen their pattern. Remember the WOWO thing a few years ago. Someone could have more interest there, I think there is or was a catholic station there before, but it was limited somehow... The combining of the tower site only fuels this speculation.

It could be a Clear Channel thing, but I hardly think CC would spend any money on improving that AM.

I think it's a Canadian clear, but it's hardly likely that would affect anything here

Could be that they lost their lease with the city on the Morse road property, but that seems unlikely after a few years.

time will tell..

by the way, I kind of like the new format!

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

 

[gabigley1]

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

Any idea on why on why Bernard Radio would file such an application with the FCC? They may be about to lose their present lease for their towers site is the only reason I can think of. Maybe the city of Columbus has other plans for that site on Morse road.

 

[markbohach]

Don't know Artie- maybe they're hoping for a merger...Saint Bernard Broadcasting..
move over and let the big dog eat... rescuing Columbus from bad radio.

Stranger things have happened.

 

[knowbetter]

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

this whole thing makes little sense....

Someone (and I will assume Bernard Radio), filed to move and diplex into another licensee's site/array... and the second station didn't know about it? Seriously, Mark, how does that happen?

If the second station didn't have a clue about this, if memory severs me, it is a fraudulent filing, the FCC generally doesn't think too highly of those! Who paid for the filing? Who is going to pay to the antenna system/diplexer. Why/how could any consulting engineer make this filing without having permission of the affected parties, which to be seem like both licensees?

Short oh WVKO being absorbed by Gabriel, there is no sense to this, and more, what do they have to gain from it?

 

[markbohach]

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

this whole thing makes little sense....

Someone (and I will assume Bernard Radio), filed to move and diplex into another licensee's site/array... and the second station didn't know about it? Seriously, Mark, how does that happen?

If the second station didn't have a clue about this, if memory severs me, it is a fraudulent filing, the FCC generally doesn't think too highly of those! Who paid for the filing? Who is going to pay to the antenna system/diplexer. Why/how could any consulting engineer make this filing without having permission of the affected parties, which to be seem like both licensees?

Short oh WVKO being absorbed by Gabriel, there is no sense to this, and more, what do they have to gain from it?

I can't answer a lot of this but I know the consulting engineer very well. He has done all of my work for several years including helping me find and move the two FM translators. He is the best at what he does. My understanding is that he was told by someone at Bernard that they had reasonable assurance (or whatever exactly the term the FCC expacts) of use of the Red Rock 820 site. Bernard paid for the engineering and filing fees.

It is not the consultant's job to verify that a site is actually available. In my cases, I secured the lease options or FAA clearance or whatever it was that needed done. When I was comfortable that everything was secure I then told him to go ahead and file the application.

As far as the surprise part of this with St. Gabriel. Since this was a minor change application , it simply didn't get noticed until the construction permit was issued. I look at the FCC daily digest often and I missed it. It just flew under the radar until it started to be discussed here.

As far as the FCC legal ramifications- I'll leave that to the lawyers.

If it were ever to actually be built, the cost would fall solely on Bernard. The costs would include a re-proof
of WVGS's night pattern and engineering to bring it back into compliance if needed.

 

[mavtv]

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

Any idea on why on why Bernard Radio would file such an application with the FCC? They may be about to lose their present lease for their towers site is the only reason I can think of. Maybe the city of Columbus has other plans for that site on Morse road.

My bet is that Bernard wanted to sell the land to developers to make some money as when the sold there now former sister station WRBP in the Youngstown market they made certain to keep the mineral rights under the transmitter site so i could only assume it was to make a profit even though CEO Christine and VP Skip could be up to any number of things.

 

[gabigley1]

This is from the Franklin County Auditor website.
That 9 acres of land that the WVKO-AM towers are on was sold. In May of 2008, the land was sold
to Morse Glen Holding Co. LLC. Columbus Urban Growth owned that land from 12-14-2000 and sold
the land to Morse Glenn Holding Co. LLC before being made defunct by the City of Columbus.

My guess is Morse Glen Holding Co. LLC has other plans for the land. Maybe more apartments?
Morse Glenn is an 350 unit apartment complex located adjacent to the WVKO-AM tower site.

More on the Morse Glen apartments here:

http://www.castocommunities.com/communities/propdetail.php?id=168

 

[del_griffith]

Artie: That's what I saw when this was first announced. I didn't think it was owned by the city any longer.

I would have thought (but could be wrong) that there would have been a long term lease on the tower property. If that wasn't the situation, then shame on Bernard. If it was, then my guess is they are being compesated.

No mater the ins and outs of the change, it only makes an already very difficult station to be sucessfull with in any type of mainstream format even more difficult if not impossible to be sucessful with unless some bizarre niche is found to put on it.

 

[gabigley1]

Bernard Ohio, licensee for WVKO-AM-FM, has had it's licenses renewed over the objections of Percy Squire, the previous owner.

Here is the new posting by the FCC:

http://www.fcc.gov/document/renewals-and-assignment-applications-bernard-ohio-llc-granted

Scroll down the page to see the PDF link.

 

[gabigley1]

Here is another a story on this via mavtv:

http://rbr.com/fcc-turns-down-petitions-against-d-b-zwirn/

 

[gabigley1]

Was listening to WVKO-AM this morning. The Rev. Mel Griffin said he mentioned the old
call letters of the radio station he used to work at by mistake. He said he used to work
at Joy 106.3. He said both he and Pastor Mike Reeves started in radio at WVKO-AM as a gospel station.

Here is the scheduled of the old Joy 106.3 website with Pastor Mike Reeves and The Rev. Mel Griffin:

http://web.archive.org/web/20090310170122/http://joy106.com/programming.asp

Believe it or not, The Columbus Dispatch did a story on the station last week:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...or-returns-gospel-to-am-dial-in-columbus.html

The Columbus Dispatch Friday April 26, 2013 ‎
By JoAnne Viviano

An AM radio station that once had a long tradition of serving the central Ohio black community has been reborn under a 24-hour gospel-music format.

Pastor Mike Reeves, who operates WVKO (1580 AM), said offerings include music as well as live worship services and inspirational, health-related and call-in programming.

Will the format last? Pastor Mike Reeves said on the air couple of days ago that the ad agencies
are passing the station by. He said the ad agencies will typical not give the format and black
formatted station ad time. Also, the station uses "interns" as DJs according to Rev. Mel Griffin
this morning. He then went on to say they have "bloopers" on the air but he wants to give the
interns a start and chance because WVKO-AM radio gave them a start in radio.

 

[xmusicmatt]

Will the format last? Pastor Mike Reeves said on the air couple of days ago that the ad agencies
are passing the station by. He said the ad agencies will typical not give the format and black
formatted station ad time. Also, the station uses "interns" as DJs according to Rev. Mel Griffin
this morning. He then went on to say they have "bloopers" on the air but he wants to give the
interns a start and chance because WVKO-AM radio gave them a start in radio.

I hope it does... Honestly it's something different and while it's not everyone's cup of tea.. We already got AM covered for other formats... I wish them the best.

 

[knowbetter]

This is from the Franklin County Auditor website.
That 9 acres of land that the WVKO-AM towers are on was sold. In May of 2008, the land was sold
to Morse Glen Holding Co. LLC. Columbus Urban Growth owned that land from 12-14-2000 and sold
the land to Morse Glenn Holding Co. LLC before being made defunct by the City of Columbus.

My guess is Morse Glen Holding Co. LLC has other plans for the land. Maybe more apartments?
Morse Glenn is an 350 unit apartment complex located adjacent to the WVKO-AM tower site.

More on the Morse Glen apartments here:

http://www.castocommunities.com/communities/propdetail.php?id=168

actually, the land, while owned by Casto, can not be built on, as it's a watershed area. From what I understand, Casto is pleased to have the radio station on it, they can't do much more with it other than to make it some Kind of simple park or wilderness area, so they are fairly happy to get getting the rent!

I think the simple consensus is that someone has something to gain by getting WVKO off the air at night...

So far, the only likely benefactor would be the Clear Channel station in Hillsboro at 25 watts at night. My guess is that if WVKO lost it night pattern, and looking at the daytime batter, the CC AM at 1590 could move, and increase night power and pattern.

Let's hope that doesn't happen, the last thing Columbus needs is to loose a full time station, to benefit the CC folks elsewhere.

 

[gabigley1]

I know all the engineering folks involved in this- including the consulting engineer who filed
this with the FCC.

I understand that nobody at St Gabriel had any idea this was being filed and no agreement is in place
at this time to proceed with this move.

FWIW- the way this would work would be that WVKO would diplex into existing towers that are
used for WVSG at night but not used in the day. WVSG is non directional during the day and uses only one of the six towers. To make this work, at sunset, WVKO would sign off and WVSG would then go to their directional night pattern. The equipment and engineering needed to accomplish this would be very large $$$.

this whole thing makes little sense....

Someone (and I will assume Bernard Radio), filed to move and diplex into another licensee's site/array... and the second station didn't know about it? Seriously, Mark, how does that happen?

If the second station didn't have a clue about this, if memory severs me, it is a fraudulent filing, the FCC generally doesn't think too highly of those! Who paid for the filing? Who is going to pay to the antenna system/diplexer. Why/how could any consulting engineer make this filing without having permission of the affected parties, which to be seem like both licensees?

Short oh WVKO being absorbed by Gabriel, there is no sense to this, and more, what do they have to gain from it?

I can't answer a lot of this but I know the consulting engineer very well. He has done all of my work for several years including helping me find and move the two FM translators. He is the best at what he does. My understanding is that he was told by someone at Bernard that they had reasonable assurance (or whatever exactly the term the FCC expacts) of use of the Red Rock 820 site. Bernard paid for the engineering and filing fees.

It is not the consultant's job to verify that a site is actually available. In my cases, I secured the lease options or FAA clearance or whatever it was that needed done. When I was comfortable that everything was secure I then told him to go ahead and file the application.

As far as the surprise part of this with St. Gabriel. Since this was a minor change application , it simply didn't get noticed until the construction permit was issued. I look at the FCC daily digest often and I missed it. It just flew under the radar until it started to be discussed here.

As far as the FCC legal ramifications- I'll leave that to the lawyers.

If it were ever to actually be built, the cost would fall solely on Bernard. The costs would include a re-proof
of WVGS's night pattern and engineering to bring it back into compliance if needed.

St Gabriel had no idea Bernard filed this application and was then granted an FCC CP. Mark, how much money are we taking to build this out and test it?

 

[markbohach]

Ohhh Artie- Take the highest number you can think of and triple it.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars plus a huge pita for WVSG.