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X107.1 goes country, simulcasting WNGC 106.1 in Athens

I'm surprised Scott Smith, Market Manager for Cox Media Group in Athens and Gainesville, would make such an uninformed comment as:

"The need for a memorable name (such as Kicks or Bull) is less important now that listener’s ratings are collected electronically and not by recall."

First, very little of 106.1's and 107.1's audience is in a People Meter county; the PPM counties are in the Atlanta Metro. Second, branding a station is as important as it's always been to get listeners to return.
 
I asked him this in relation to WNGC, which never had a real memorable name. I guess Your Georgia Country is the name for the station, whatever that's worth.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Almost all of WNGC's audience is in counties where diaries are still used.
Click to expand...

I guess the old WNGC audience really does not matter much anymore. I believe that the 107.1 and 106.1 combo is aimed at Atlanta, or at least the part north of 285 were PPM is used. I would bet there is at least a 10 times price difference in a thirty second commercial between Atlanta and Athens.

I wonder will 106.1 now count against Cox's market cap? IIRC Athens did not count against Atlanta.
 
107.1 has a new construction permit to move the transmitter south to Polk county. It appears from the map that it will loose lots of coverage area. I'm not sure what they will be gaining in the move. They will be loosing NW Georgia coverage. Also, I was wondering if WNGC will still carry Georgia Bulldog sports. Rome, GA already has an affiliate at 98.7 and 1470 which is owned by Rome Radio Partners. Just curious.
 
Radiodx65 said:
107.1 has a new construction permit to move the transmitter south to Polk county. It appears from the map that it will loose lots of coverage area. I'm not sure what they will be gaining in the move. They will be loosing NW Georgia coverage. Also, I was wondering if WNGC will still carry Georgia Bulldog sports. Rome, GA already has an affiliate at 98.7 and 1470 which is owned by Rome Radio Partners. Just curious.
Click to expand...

In another thread, the discussion detailed how the station had to move off the apparently failing "big tower" and the only reasonable fix that did not loose much Atlanta market coverage was to move inward towards the center of Atlanta and lower power, using what, IIRC, is an existing tower that did not involve zoning and NIMBY issues.

Apparently a little bit of Atlanta is worth a lot more than a bunch of rural counties and very small markets.
 
I believe you are referring to the 97.1 not 107.1 and it would not be picking up anymore Atlanta overage. It looks like less Atlanta and NW coverage from the maps. The new permit is from May 15th.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Almost all of WNGC's audience is in counties where diaries are still used.
Click to expand...

Outside of the counties in the Atlanta MSA that WNGC does cover, the rest of the coverage area is unrated and not part of a Nielsen MSA.

A tiny piece of Anderson County, SC, is covered, and that is part of the Greenville / Spartanburg MSA but the piece is very very small.

Of course, all counties in the US are rated once a year for the Circulation study, but that is not really a market based survey.
 
Radiodx65 said:
I believe you are referring to the 97.1 not 107.1 and it would not be picking up anymore Atlanta overage. It looks like less Atlanta and NW coverage from the maps. The new permit is from May 15th.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. My bad. Still, the loss of Atlanta area coverage (where they got no ratings and may not even be encoding) likely does not affect what is a semi-rural trading area radio station centered on the space between Atlanta and the SC border, and is somewhat of a rimshot to the city of Athens. The 70dbu signal barely touches Athens, not a big or rated market itself and there is no other larger town except Gainesville in the coverage...a and Gainesville is close enough to Atlanta for many ATL stations to be considered competitors.

Does anyone know "fer shure" why 106.1 reduced coverage? Moves like that generally are done to allow another station to improve, to sacrifice some coverage to move closer to a bigger city (like Athens), to reduce operating expenses or for reasons like the construction of a new airport or new use for the land the tower is on.
 
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I think all along COX had this in it's plans to combine 106.1 and 107.1. I still don't see what they gain from downgrading the coverage at 107.1 if it wants to have all of NW Georgia along with all of NE Georgia on 106.1. With the new pattern you will get less NW Georgia coverage and the same interference in Atlanta from the translator and little less coverage NW and west Atlanta. I bet they end up with another CP to raise the tower at the new site in Polk county. And why the weird pattern south of the transmitter site? 107.1 will also be losing coverage along I20 where they currently have coverage. There must be a bigger plan in the works. You don't need the new 107.1 translator CP on Stone Mountain if you are simulcasting 106.1. 106.1 comes in great on the east side of Atlanta. Just my thoughts....
 
I'm going to assume geography has to do with it but the 107.1 signal is awful south of I20 as it stands now. Per the charts, it should come in fairly clear in Carrollton for example but it doesn't. I honestly can't pick it up in downtown Carrollton but per the maps, I should be. I'm not sure if it's directional or if there is some interference south of 20, down towards Columbus maybe, that is screwing with the signal.
 
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