Updated
2/16/19
The drama continues for another translator
This sounds like a script for
a bad reality show but the on going drama just won't stop
like reality TV. The 92.3 W222AF translator owned by
Immanuel Broadcast Network has taken the translator off the
air again due to non payment of its LMA or "lease" from
"Media One Broadcasting".
"M.O.B." has had a history of not
paying for their lease in the past. The AJC reported on
Thursday that a Cumulus executive told them that "M.O.B."
stiffed them for over $20,000 for leasing WKHX-HD-2 for
their "Jamz" station as well as damage to their equipment. (Read
More) from AJC.com
Cox Media also pull programming from
its HD-3 channel that was feeding the 92.3 translator also
due to non payment earlier this year. The channel is
currently not activated the HD-1-2- and 4 still are. HD 2 is
running its own Alternative format programmed by Steve Craig
called "The Other Side of the River" and HD-4 is feeding a
translator for Davis' La Mega 96.5 translator,
"MOB" was airing a Hip Hop format on
92.3 called "Power 92.3 Jamz" the first part of their name
had already been used on I-Heart's 96.1 WWPW "Power 96.1"
Chances are pretty good that "Media One Broadcasting" won't
be on the air anytime soon due to their past shenanigans.
No word yet on who will lease the 92.3
translator but there are several possible clients including
but not limited to Davis who could return its Jazz format on
that signal, or possibly an AM operator like Salem who could
put WGKA or WDWD on FM to help boost revenue with its
impending competition from EMF.
106.7 WYAY sold to EMF
(K-Love/Air1)
Cumulus has chosen to unload
some of their low performing stations including WPLJ New
York among others as well as Atlanta's WYAY-FM 106.7.
'Talk 106.7' anchored with a mix of
local and national talk has been ranked 20th+ in almost
every ratings book since the launch as 'All News' back in
2012.
Shortly after Kim "The Kimmer"
Peterson was added, and the station slowly started to move
away from news and tweak to an all talk format with a brand
change from 'All News' to 'Talk' with no needle movement in
ratings.
No word yet where the FM home of the
Atlanta Braves will be, doubtful they would be ok with just
a 200 watt translator. Or if any of the local talkers
Shannon, Kimmer, Mike, Shelly will be relocated to another
station but expect 106.7 to pick up either the K-Love or
Air1 satellite feed soon.
Blog: Star 94 at 30!
 This
year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of
Atlanta’s Star 94 on November 15th, 1989. It was
a bold move for the iconic station formerly known as “94Q”
WQXI-FM. However the change was necessary due to the
economic downturn at that time. Younger skewing stations
suffered as businesses where apprehensible about putting
money into those stations at that time alas the format
changes that were taking place then.
In January of 1989
longstanding CHR “Z93” dumped its Top 40 playlist think
‘Michael Jackson, LeVert, George Michael, and Berlin’ for a
more advertiser and baby boomer friendly 60s/70s Classic
Rock Hits format ‘think Doobie Brothers, Atlanta Rhythm
Section, The Beatles, David Bowie, and ZZ Top etc’. Power 99
dropped its CHR format for the Gen X friendly Modern
Rock/Alternative format ‘out went Timmy T. and MC Hammer in
came Nirvana and The Sex Pistols. Also fresh move in was
97.1 WFOX dropping its current hits sound for 50s/60s fare
like Herman’s Hermits and Elvis. Due to the bad economy the
format what was hot at that time was baby boomer favorite;
Adult Contemporary or Lite Rock.
1989 saw another
move in this time it was 104.7 FM, after the official move
in was delayed due to the first tower collapsing “Music
Radio 104.7 WALR” signed on thus setting in motion the
events at WQXI-FM. During its last few years “94Q” was
trying to find its niche in the already crowded CHR market in
Atlanta with 3 other stations all vying for the Hit Radio
listener, It left WQXI with some hard choices to make skew
the station older to grab the boomer share, add Jazz at
night to grab the modern chic hipsters, drop its long time
morning host Gary McKee, skew the station younger once again
etc. After all else failed and with the perfect economic
storm the switch was thrown just two weeks from
Thanksgiving.
Early on Star took
the AC approach pinning itself against WSB-FM “B98.5FM” and
WALR “Music Radio 104.7” the latter would give up soon after
and flip to variations of urban first as Jazz/UAC “Love
104.7” then “Kiss 104.7” a brand that had been on 104.1 WEKS
in Midwest Georgia. Star would continue to have a
personality crisis until Power would flip to “X” leaving
Star 94 as the only current pop hits station in Atlanta.
With the addition of Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke anchoring
mornings it soon found its sweet spot straddling the line
between CHR and Hot AC. Playing tons of 80s power rock
ballads, 90s pop and light rhythmic (rap edited out) songs.
Unfortunately the
honeymoon would only last for about 6 years before Cox Media
would launch WBTS “95.5 The Beat” another move in from north
east Georgia. Soon after Star saw another blow when
Susquehanna owner of “99x” would move in another signal from
Alabama and launch WWWQ “Q100.5” leaving 94.1 to once again
find its true reason for being. After trying to skew the
station younger by dumping Steve and Vikki for a very messy
morning show it would try to appease the older crowd by
skewing the station older again (sound familiar). One thing
for sure even with all the battle scars, Star 94 has beaten
all the odds with management and ownership changes it has
lasted for 30 years.
More translator drama!
 While
the dust seems to have settled for now over the Gradick /
Cumulus drama over W255CJ / WWGA (98.9) and their
interference issues then comes another one. This time its Davis' W266BW (101.1)
translator and its supposed interference with Tri-State
Comm.'s WLJA (101.1) in Gilmer County about 80 miles north
of Atlanta.
After some back and forth; the FCC
deemed that Davis did not do enough to fix any issues of
interference with WLJA so it was ordered off the air. WLJA airs a local mix of Gospel and
Country oldies music while W266BW / WJZA-AM aired a locally
originated version of the syndicated Smooth Jazz/AC format owned and
produced by Alan Kepler.
The station signed off Saturday 2/2/19
just after 4pm along with its primary AM signal 1310 WJZA-AM)
Both stations are currently dark as they look for options on
dealing with the FCC's decision.
The count is now 5 Atlanta FM
translators that has dealt with interference issues with
nearby stations the list to date:
-94.5 W233BF "Streetz" / 94.5 WFDR
(2013) Resolution: Station modified signal and bought
WFDR.
-99.3 W275DF "Old School" / 99.3
WCON (2015) Resolution: Station went off the air
permanently format moved to 87.7.
-93.3 W290AS "1160 WCFO" / 93.3
WVFJ (2016) Resolution: Station went off the air
permanently.
-98.9 W255CJ "99x" / 98.9 WWGA (2018)Resolution:
Station modified signal awaiting further action if any from
Gradick.
-101.1 W266BW "Smooth Jazz WJZA" /
101.1 WLJA (2019) Currently off the air pending
resolution.
Blog: Urban AC’s
modernizing problem!
A few weeks ago I had an
interesting conversation with a fellow program director
friend who runs a middle market Urban Contemporary station
and the topic came up of today’s R&B stations. More
specifically its lack of modernizing, some of the long
standing Urban AC’s out there like KRNB Dallas or Kiss 104.1
here in Atlanta seems to be stuck in sort of a generational
limbo.
Kiss did make a minor tweak to its play list by removing all
of the 1970s oldies however the 80s, 90s and 00s stuff they
still play makes Kiss 104 sound like a Urban version of a
Soft AC station like their sister station in Tampa “The
Dove”. The softest place on your dial isn’t Smooth Jazz
101.1 WJZA its Kiss 104.1. In my view Urban AC stations
today should sound a lot like the Hip Hop stations did 20-30
years ago.
Even today’s pop-rock AC stations like B-98.5 sound almost
exactly like Hot AC stations did back in the 90s. Listen to
an aircheck of Mix 105.1 WOMX in Orlando or Star 94 Atlanta
from 25 years ago and compare it to B98.5 or KOST in LA. It
should also be pointed out that the lack of mixing on these
stations is quite sad, on almost every holiday Kiss 104.1
will do 10 minute intervals of mixing an hour for a few
hours and that’s it. While the Hip Hop stations are cranking
out the mixes morning, noon and night and sometimes several
days straight.
Today’s Urban AC listener was yesterdays Hip Hop radio fan
who grew up on the likes of 2pac, Ghetto Mafia, Outkast,
Notorious B.I.G., Kilo Ali, The D.O.C., MC Lyte etc. Just
like the Urban AC listener of the 90s grew up on the likes
of Barry White, Curtis Mayfield, The Isley Brothers, The
Three Degrees, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye among others
have all been packed up nicely in the annals of history
where they belong to be remember fondly and enjoyed
sparingly.
Urban AC stations should spend more time focusing on
mixology on the weekends and less time airing talk shows
that are full of rodomontade that spar political and social
divides that’s what talk and community radio is for, WRFG,
WAOK, WYAY and WSB fill those voids nicely.
Old School/Mix is
gone
Steve Hegwood has had bad luck
with his other Atlanta radio property. The station
originally started out on AM 1010 WGUN replacing its
Progressive Talk/Urban Gospel programming and launched under
an LMA "Old School 1010" on January 31, 2013 after stunting
for a day with a simulcast of "Streetz 94.5".
In the fall of 2014 they added an FM
translator for the station and moved into the Hip Hop Oldies
Frey to compete with two other stations in that format
Cumulus', OG 97.9 and Radio One's, Boom 102.9. However that
would be short-lived while dealing with interference
complaints with WCON-FM also at 99.3 in Cornelia, Ga.
The brand and original format of 70's,
80s urban oldies would once again return to FM in 2016 on
87.7 a analog low powered TV station on Channel 6 who's
audio carrier can be heard on 87.75 FM.
On December 3rd, 2017 Old School 87.7 would
re-launch as Mix 87.7 with an Urban AC format to skew the
demo younger however it couldn't shake off its older sound
and thus Steve Hegwood would give up on the station all
together leaving him with "Streetz" as his only Atlanta
radio property.
87.7 has returned to its former
Spanish language format it was airing before the LMA for
"Old School/Mix".
Thrift Shop Finds
Airchecks can be found almost
everywhere even at your local Thrift shop or Goodwill. Some
might think this is the unlikeliest place to find radio
audio but the opposite is becoming more true I have even
found some local TV newscast on VHS at yard sales in years
past.
This find was a pleasant surprise for
me, the quality isn't the best and the person who was
recording this was obviously more into the music rather than
what was being said by the DJ hence the abrupt cut after the
DJ starts talking but a good bit was left intact and is
continuous.
This sounds to be recorded in January
of 1994 the beginning of 99x' second year of the stations
existence it features a un-named morning show not the
morning x, that show wouldn't start till much later. Sean Demery held mornings until Barnes and Jimmy would join
Leslie, and Sean would move to afternoons.
Click Here
(aprox
size 2mb) for the audio of
this Thrift Shop find.
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Trading Status:
Trading Break
Rules
for traders:
1) I accept
airchecks in various forms; cassettes, VHS, CD/DVD
(Audio/Data) and MP3 (encoded at the highest bitrate
possible. (192k and higher)
Make sure if you are
using a computer to encode airchecks that there are no other
programs running in the background such as OS updates or
anti-virus apps or anything that uses a lot of RAM, as this
will lead to dropped bytes making the audio stutter or parts
of the audio missing.
Make sure you silence
your os' error sounds and if you can while encoding your
airchecks just leave your computer alone until it's done
this will ensure a clean rip of your recordings.
Also please don't add
your own custom jingles to the airchecks as they are
annoying and will always get removed or do too much to
manipulate the airchecks unless it's to correct the speed or
EQ.
The best way to encode
your airchecks to MP3 without a computer is to use a digital
recorder, I use the
CC-Witness and
Tascam DR-05 both are relatively cheap but work wonders
just be careful to keep good audio levels.
Pro-tip when using the
CC-Witness to record AM Radio use a passive AM loop antenna
like the one I have they mostly run under $30. Just rest
the CC inside the loop use the tuning knob on the antenna to
get the signal as clean as you can.
Also try to stay away
from anything electrical and for best pick up if you can
record outside away from buildings and electrical wiring in
the back yard.
2) If you request first you send your stuff out first.
I have been burned to many times, If you want to
know my record please don't be afraid to ask the people on
the Radio-insight Aircheck's web board.
3) All airchecks I
request should be unscoped.
4) 3 aircheck maximum will be allotted,
unless specified.
Note about longer
airchecks.
Some airchecks
are as long as 5 to 16 hours. These files are much to
large for me to upload.
So if you request those I will have to snail mail them
to you on a mp3 data disk. However I can chop
them down to a smaller size so I can upload them if you wish.
>How
To Start a Collection
I have
tons of scoped airchecks and bits and pieces of
radio station audio that just wasn't long enough to put into
my main collection so I have uploaded it all to a separate
page called Free Audio, also
showcasing current AM music radio stations.
Click Here
Auroral and Sporadic E Monitor
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MUF Today: |
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| Auroral
DX: |
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| Es
in Europe: |
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Es in USA: |
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Geomag.
Field: |
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Click
Here for the TV Aircheck List and Tapeables from Atlanta's
DTV stations...!
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Deadbeat's List:
1) Alex Clarke (2018)
Note: Had never traded with him before
but gave him a chance in good faith I sent his
request to him but he never sent me mine, after
several follow ups and after he continuously
spammed my inbox with more request I had to
block him.
~Jason |
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