I discovered this station after i dxed it today from altamonte. From what i heard, this station is great! it plays oldies. i know it targets the villages but this is what orlando needs. the jocks sounded good as well in my oppinion. it's pretty sad when you have to dx lake county to hear good radio in this town. good job wvlg. your 1000 watt signal comes in just good enough for me to hear it on my eton e10 outside my house. keep it up. only thing they do not do is stream online. but this is a good local radio station. i hope it stays this way. this is how radio should sound in my opinion. anyone else dx this station on a regular basis? do you think it is good? i am only 20 but it sounds good to me.
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wvlg
- Thread starter austingrace
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Someone referenced this station on the New York board last month. This is truly a great station because it is "live and local". When you listen to WVLG, you feel like you're in the Villages. It makes every other local station sound like XM.
M
MN Maniac
Guest
Is Fred Petty still with WVLG? I worked with him/for him at WOCA-WMFQ Ocala back in the early 1990s.
One day, I heard an ad for The Villages on my local cable channel here in Minnesota. Recognized the voice as Fred's. Someone later told me he was working for The Villages and WVLG.
One day, I heard an ad for The Villages on my local cable channel here in Minnesota. Recognized the voice as Fred's. Someone later told me he was working for The Villages and WVLG.
that i do not know.
but it is such a breath of fresh air to hear good live and local radio in this day and age. i was listening to wvlg once again yesterday and enjoyed it. i found out that if you listen on a car radio it comes in pretty good here in altamonte. i think you can hear it in orlando as well. man, this is pretty bad when people like us sit here bragging on a station in a retirement comunity but i have no shame in admiting i listen to them. it is good live and local radio. i really hope it stays this way. a lot of stations can learn from this.
but it is such a breath of fresh air to hear good live and local radio in this day and age. i was listening to wvlg once again yesterday and enjoyed it. i found out that if you listen on a car radio it comes in pretty good here in altamonte. i think you can hear it in orlando as well. man, this is pretty bad when people like us sit here bragging on a station in a retirement comunity but i have no shame in admiting i listen to them. it is good live and local radio. i really hope it stays this way. a lot of stations can learn from this.
Is WVLG not the kind of station that should be nominated for a small market Marconi?
I agree, WVLG is a great live and local am station; I've been listening since either early 2001 or late 2000; I cannot recieve them here in s.e St,Petersburg, but once I get up to around S.R. 52 on I-75 (while on the way to visit my parents that live about 28 miles south of the Villages- in the Ridge manor/Webster area), they start booming in and overtaking the 640 out of Havana.austingrace said:
If you actually go to the Villages, at least in Spanish Springs or Sumnter Landing, WVLG is piped in everywhere, in the parks, town squares etc; they also have remote studios in Sumter landing; they do many remotes on the weekends.
They are actually a little under 1000 watts,something like 930 watts days and 870 watts nights and are live and local 6 am through midnight and when I woke up around 3am this past Monday morning, I discovered that either they have improved their overnight automation to sound live or maybe they are now live overnight. (I fell back asleep before I could listen for a time check or a current temp).
WVLG is better than anything that the big corporations (ClearChannel/CBS/Cox/Salem ad nasueam) have to offer in the St. Petersburg Tampa market.
In addition to the Villages, their signal is pretty strong as far north as Belleview (Marion county) and as far south as Bushnell and Wesbster.
DRT
yes. wvlg deserves every reward they can get. i hope the owner reads this thread i listened to it again today and enjoyed it vary much. i love wvlg. i wished more stations were independently owned. all the big companies have basically the same format in every market in my opppinion.
the only thing they need to do is stream but i could understand why they would not do it. expenses, lack on interest, or they would lose that local flavor witch separates from other stations. the jocks are vary good and in to the music. the sound quality of this station is good as well. the best way of hearing them h ere in altamonte is a car radio.
if they had ratings they would have vary high books all the time.
keep it up wvlg. show these people what radio is all about. it gives a good feeling hearing local radio. no vting, no repeats of the same songs. it is cool.
the only thing they need to do is stream but i could understand why they would not do it. expenses, lack on interest, or they would lose that local flavor witch separates from other stations. the jocks are vary good and in to the music. the sound quality of this station is good as well. the best way of hearing them h ere in altamonte is a car radio.
if they had ratings they would have vary high books all the time.
keep it up wvlg. show these people what radio is all about. it gives a good feeling hearing local radio. no vting, no repeats of the same songs. it is cool.
I believe it is owned by the development company that runs the Villages, as are the local newspaper and cable news channel. That does tend to add a promotional bias to the overall presentation -- as in proclaiming "It's a great day in the Villages" the day after a tornado tore through, damaged hundreds of homes, and killed people a few miles away. Still, when developers do better radio in a small town than radio companies would, it does offer a bitter lesson. Maybe there's an argument for going back to the days when insurance companies and other non-radio entities owned stations and used them as vehicles of business promotion and community pride.
WVLG am-640 as well as the the major damage and deaths were in nearby Lady Lake. WVLG did an outstanding job of covering the disaster and I don't really recall them using their "it's another great day in the Villages" that day; they not only covered the storm itself, but for weeks were constantly devoting a good portion of their programming giving people tips on how to deal with the insurance companies, who to contact in fast tracking building permits; etc.smedge2006 said:
The tornadoes caught a lot of people by surprise and brought attention to the fact that NOAA did not have a station that penetrated the Villages, so even people with emergency radios didn't not get an alert in most cases; NOAA has since corrected that situation and has put a new NOAA weather radio station on the air in nearby Sumnterville.
The Villages
Daily Sun put out a special edition late that morning as well, which showed a lot of the damage as well as giving insurance contact info; emergency shelter info etc.
drt
st petersburg
I work at WVLG as one of the on-air weather forecasters and it's really nice to hear the nice comments on our foremat. As for Fred Petty,...I've been here 3 plus years and I don't recall anyone by that name.
The reason this station sounds good is the on air jocks are as professional as they get. Gary Mack on Sat. mornings worked at WSB in Atlanta where he hired the staff for the Neal Boortz show and in the 60s was one of the "Boss Jocks" on 93 KHJ in L.A. Great guy to work with, too. Geo Rudolph in the mornings was P.D. at KUMU in Honolulu. Others came from WBZ Boston, WJR in Detroit, WHP Harrisburg, PA, etc. The Villages has a lot of retired radio people to draw from and as every one in the industry knows, radio never gets out of your blood.
We are presently the #1 AM station in the Gainesville - Ocala - Leesburg area.
and it's a great place to work!!
K.L.
The reason this station sounds good is the on air jocks are as professional as they get. Gary Mack on Sat. mornings worked at WSB in Atlanta where he hired the staff for the Neal Boortz show and in the 60s was one of the "Boss Jocks" on 93 KHJ in L.A. Great guy to work with, too. Geo Rudolph in the mornings was P.D. at KUMU in Honolulu. Others came from WBZ Boston, WJR in Detroit, WHP Harrisburg, PA, etc. The Villages has a lot of retired radio people to draw from and as every one in the industry knows, radio never gets out of your blood.
We are presently the #1 AM station in the Gainesville - Ocala - Leesburg area.
and it's a great place to work!!
K.L.
I'm glad someone from WVLG saw this thread; this past week, I happened to be driving by Mulberry Grove (don't remember what County Rd that is); but there's a Publix, Beales. fire station there etc and I was almost tempted to pull over (don't use my cell phone while driving) and call WVLG and see if any one there had read this thread.radioweather said:
Here I am in a top 20 market (Clearwater/St. Petersburg/Tampa) and this market wouldn't know a live and local AM station if it bit them.
Between WLBE and WVLG, there is more live and local AM music programming than all the AM stations in this market.
Just curious, I'm assuming the main studios are still adjacent to the town square in Spanish Springs? I know a few months ago, I saw the remote facility in Sumter Landing.
Also glad that you still carry the Paul Harvey show and also enjoy "Focus on the Villages", a lot of useful information for listeners throughout the area, whether they live in The Villages or nearby. Then the rest of the day; it's great music and up to date weather and news all day.
In their "infininte wisdom"(sic) we have had two talk stations here drop Paul Harvey; WFLA dropped him several years ago and more recently a daytime talk show person got in a "snit", thought Paul Harvey was taking too much time from his diatribes and that station (WWBA) dropped Paul Harvey's show.
Any one who hasn't listened to WVLG, should give them a try at 640 AM.
drt
st. petersburg,fl
I just started an ad campaign today on WVLG targeted at seniors 62 and older. It would be great if the power of this station could be increased. I realize there would be a null towards the waste of a station in South Florida WMEN. But 500 watts is absurd for a station with their quality programming.
tanner said:
Because of WMEN in Boynton Beach, WVLG probably is not able to increase their power much, without moving their transmitter and towers for more land to set up a directional pattern and you're right there would have to be a null to the s.s.e.
I would hope without going directional they could at least get approval to go to maybe 2,500 watts day and 1,000 watts night, versus their current 930 watts day and 860 watts night.
As it is, they cover all The Villages, Leesburg, Lady Lake, Summerfield, Belleview, Wildwood, Oxford, Tavares , Eustis and Coleman.
That's a good bit of territory, but for a station as good as they are, it would be better to have even more people in a larger geographical area to be able to enjoy WVLG.
Unfortunately from my location, 640 from Havana booms in day and night.
drt
st. petersburg
I get locked on to this great Oldies station on my drive from Orlando to Gainesville. The DJ's actually have fun, rather than faking it & being obnoxious like the rest. Do they really get to choose their own songs?
I'm 27 & I love the way this station presents itself on the airwaves. Why isn't anyone else doing this anymore?!
I'm 27 & I love the way this station presents itself on the airwaves. Why isn't anyone else doing this anymore?!
Hey guys. i have wvlg on right now. it is like i am adicted to it. it is all i listen to on the radio right now. now if only they had 1000 watts at night i think i could hear them here in altamonte. during the day they come in ok but a car radio works best here. I hope they go to 2000 watts days. that would be vary cool. if only that 640 station was not in west palm. now that would be great!!! wvlg 50000 watts? ahhahahhah that would rule. show these corperate people how radio really is, but i am dreamign there. anyway, i am glad to see someone that works at wvlg reading this thread. no wonder wvlg sounds soooo good. I am 20 but i will tell you what, the only times i use my radio is to listen to wvlg and to my fm transmitters that i own. you guys keep it up and i hope nothing happens to wvlg because if something does, the people that did something to it would regret it a great deal.
Another happy WVLG listener here. They are the best! I listen by day in the Four Corners area, but lose them at dusk. I too wish they could boost power. But better yet, they should be on the Internet. If they are owned by The Villages developer, why don't they capitalize on the national exposure this great station would get them on the Internet. I think the word of their programming and good DJ's would spread quickly around the country! They could mention the web station in the local ads they do around the county. They already have web cams in both town squares, so why not a little good music to go along with them? (I'm watching them set up for the Sarah Palin appearance right now, as I listen to WVLG. Of course, right now, I have the other little problem, which is listening to the lightning! But a web stream would fix that!) My wife and I average visiting The Villages about once a week. I turn the car radio to 640 as soon as we get to Clermont. Unfortunately, my newest car has the poorest AM reception I think I've ever had in a car. Anyway, how about it Karl, can you get em on the web???
I agree! An internet stream would be great. I listen on the car radio as well when I'm out and about. I live in Deltona and I would be a full time listener if there was a better signal or an internet stream.
Bob
www.cflradio.net
Bob
www.cflradio.net
Nice to see all the buzz about VLG. The streaming bit comes up a lot at our staff meetings, but the cost is prohibitive (licensing rights, etc). Many part time residents ask me about this because they want to listen to our station when they go back north. As for the power...we are up against WMEN at 640 in S. Fla and there is another 640 in N. Ga...Atlanta I believe. To increase the power to 50KW or even 10KW would be a big hassle with the FCC let alone constructing a new antenna array This station was originally a religious format based in Wildwood and Wildwood is still the city of license. The developer bought the station and moved to The Villages as a tool to sell homes here..but it has gone way beyond that. How many small AMs have a complete on-air staff and 2 weather guys? WVLG makes a tidy profit also.
drt...that road you were on by Mulberry was CR42 and yes, there are two studios.. Spanish Springs (750-9854 or 750-WVLG) and Lake Sumter Landing (259-6400). Also, we dropped Paul Harvey when we went from ABC to FOX News.
K.L.
drt...that road you were on by Mulberry was CR42 and yes, there are two studios.. Spanish Springs (750-9854 or 750-WVLG) and Lake Sumter Landing (259-6400). Also, we dropped Paul Harvey when we went from ABC to FOX News.
K.L.
My parents have a house in The Villages and WVLG is hella powerfull there. I was surprised to realize that they came in all the way to the Orlando airportt and very well, too. I have no idea how this station is so powerful with so littel power.... I'm curious about how this could be. Radio-locator lists them as an AC station, but bassed on what i've heard, (and yes it is very good station), its more 50's-70's Oldies. Also they are not useing IBOC. I am curious if they would ever consider broadcasting in AM Stereo. My parents have a Chrysler Town And Country 2001, and it would be cool to here WVLG in C-QUAM. One day when i go down there I'd like to get airchecks from them, but on a radio such as the Sony SRF-42 or SRF-A100. My boombox, (which I record cassette airchecks on while in The Villages) just has crappy AM. Perhaps one day I'll get the Meduci AMX-2000 and record from that. BTW it should be noted that The Villages is a great place to DX from... I have the discontinued 6 foot telascoping antenna on my Boombox, have to have that to receive good FM.
WVLG is very locally run, good production, etc.
John
WVLG is very locally run, good production, etc.
John
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