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WXOF 96.3 Yankeetown Upgrade and Frequency swap

G

gamefreak

I guessing that 3.500 Watt Class A WXOF 96.3 The Fox may be moving to 96.7. The signal is getting upgraded to a C3 at 14,500 Watts. At least according to the construction permit on Radio-Locator.

Seems like a nice upgrade. 96.3 The Fox has always had problems out towards Inverness and Floral City. (Floral City isn't even in its 50dBu contour.) As well as most areas of Citrus County south of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park and East of Lecanto Hwy. This upgrade will enable The Fox to cover all of Citrus County respectively and more. Adding signal coverage to Hernando County as well as Ocala. Yes, Ocala will actually be in the 50DbU contour after this upgrade.

Signal Map for WXOF 96.3 (Class A)
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WXOF&service=FM&status=L&hours=U

Signal Map for WXOF 96.7 (Class C3)
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WXOF&service=FM&status=C&hours=U
 
My guess is the 96.7 Frequency used to have a LPFM located in Inverness.

Maybe with the 96.3 frequency vacated The Gull Group could put up a Translator in Inverness for WXCV 95.3. Given the fact that Citrus 95 just barely covers Inverness with a 50Dbu Signal. This translator can cover Inverness and possibly Floral City. I already know if WXOF 96.7 is at the Yankeetown site they can't put 96.3 on the same tower. Also the only location were 96.3 could get Class A status is from Yankeetown. At least at 3,500 Watts.

But a Translator with a more central location within Citrus County may be a possibility. They could even put AAA or some other format with a niche audience. Or Classic Alternative from the 70's thru early 2000's.
 
Couple of issues with your scenario. First a translator for an FM station cannot be used to extend their coverage area, only fill in dead spots caused by mountains, etc. This would be a hard sell in flat Florida. Second, to grow a new translator there would have to be a filing window which is not expected in the near future. Third, if they vacate 96.3 in favor of 96.7 they cant just turn it into a translator. 96.3 goes back into the freq pool but not for Yankeetown because of the now new second adjacent 96.7.

An alternative scenario, still far fetched and requiring a new filing window: Gull owns the currently deceased WINV 1560 in Beverly Hills/Inverness that supposedly was simulcasting WXOF when it was on the air. IF a translator frequency could be obtained for WINV and put up on that tower in Inverness, then bring back the simulcast with WXOF (or move it to WXCV if you wish) VIOLA you have extended the FM's primary coverage via the back door so to speak. Kosher, hmmmmmm?
 
I already mentioned with WXOF moving to 96.7 on a C3 license would mean a new station on the 96.3 frequency would have to be put elsewhere other than the Yankeetown/ Crystal River area. At least something a good 10 miles awhile such as Lecanto, Beverly Hills or even Inverness.

Seems that you are spot on with everything else. I actually didn't know that FM Translators were not allowed to fill on coverage holes for full power FM stations.

Also with WXOF 96.3 the only place they would be able to obtain Class A coverage is in Yankeetown. Otherwise they're will be interference problems with WTMP 96.1/ Dade City. To a lesser extent 96.5 WDBO in Orlando. So if a station in Citrus County were to use the 96.3 frequency it would only be a LPFM or Translator.
 
Nostalgia said:
Couple of issues with your scenario. First a translator for an FM station cannot be used to extend their coverage area, only fill in dead spots caused by mountains, etc. This would be a hard sell in flat Florida.
Click to expand...

Well, points 2 and 3 are correct, but the first point is not quite accurate. Translators can be used to extend an FM station's range. When used that way (Known as a non-fill-in translator) the translator cannot be owned by, nor receive direct financial support from the primary station's licensee. The translator has to receive the primary signal off the air and it has to make its income via the 30 seconds of spots that they can run each hour, but that can actually add up to a rather tidy sum if the translator is rebroadcasting a popular signal into a populated area. Non-fill-in translators also have their coverage limited to the equivalent of 250W at 30 meters. It is also possible to daisy chain translators with one feeding another to extend the range of a primary signal far beyond its normal area. Of course, this is like Christmas lights of old. If one fails near the beginning of the chain, the whole group goes down.
 
I was aware of non-fill in translators and their restrictions, but I thought those were the limited to non-comm FM. I have never heard of a commercial translator repeating someone elses signal under the goodness of someones pocketbook but I guess it could be. Do you know of any?
 
I have talk to the owners of WOCA and the lpfm by email they are going to do a study to move translator from 96.7 to 96.3 the lpfm on 96.7 in Chassowistka is looking at moving from 96.7 to 107.9 and his Inverness 96.7 is going back to 103.9 they were unaware of the upgrade so I had let them know.
 
Nostalgia said:
I was aware of non-fill in translators and their restrictions, but I thought those were the limited to non-comm FM. I have never heard of a commercial translator repeating someone elses signal under the goodness of someones pocketbook but I guess it could be. Do you know of any?
Click to expand...

It happened extensively in northern Alabama about 10 years ago. I haven't paid much attention down there lately, don't know if it's still happening.
 
w9wi said:
Nostalgia said:
I was aware of non-fill in translators and their restrictions, but I thought those were the limited to non-comm FM. I have never heard of a commercial translator repeating someone elses signal under the goodness of someones pocketbook but I guess it could be. Do you know of any?
Click to expand...

It happened extensively in northern Alabama about 10 years ago. I haven't paid much attention down there lately, don't know if it's still happening.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that north west Alabama "Rocknet" wasn't very successful. I think he had about 5 translators and was simulcasting two different rock stations... using two translator locations to pick up the originating stations and daisy chaining the signals to the translators in the more populated area. Those translators are all running Alabama Public Radio now, I believe. They were relaying Rock/Alternative stations from Birmingham to areas around the Shoals. When the originating station(s) in Birmingham started moving frequencies the guy operating the Rocknet translator network was no longer able to pull in an OTA signal from the new frequencies/transmitter locations of the Birmingham stations and the network just kind of fell apart after that.

There was a similar set up in Montgomery with the oldest translator carrying Birmingham's AC "Majic 96", a newer translator relaying Auburn's Alternative "the Tiger" and two or three translators relaying Greenville's urban WKXN. Greenville's WKXN may have had more non-fill in translators than any other station at one time... I think they had about 7 or 8 around central Alabama. WKXN was able to pull in decent ratings in Montgomery with 3 very low powered translators despite the competition from Hot 105, which had the biggest FM signal in the state of Alabama. The Montgomery situation died off when the translators were sold to local broadcasters who started carrying AM and HD-2 signals at an upgraded 250 watts instead of the old 10-100 watt non-fill in power.

If Zach picks up on this thread he would be the one to fill in the details on how those translators worked...
 
Nostalgia said:
I was aware of non-fill in translators and their restrictions, but I thought those were the limited to non-comm FM. I have never heard of a commercial translator repeating someone elses signal under the goodness of someones pocketbook but I guess it could be. Do you know of any?
Click to expand...

Yes, up until the allowance for AM stations getting on translators, non-fill-ins were the most common type. In the non-com band, non-fill-ins can be fed by satellite or other methods (so called "satellators") but commercial non-fill-ins have to be fed off the air. The profit for the translator operator is that they can sell 30 seconds of bona-fide commercials per hour to pay for operations. Suppose you sell two 15 second spots at just $10/ea, for 12 hrs per day. That's $240 per day. Based on a 5-day week, that's $62,400 per year using very conservative numbers. Many translator owners also have multiple translators. If you have 10, you're potentially looking at $600k per year. Not bad considering you have very low overhead.
 
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