It's too bad that the JVC couldn't hold out and wait for a better signal before ending the Bar. The unfortunate part is that the signal is so bad in most of Palm Beach County that JVC couldn't reasonably expect good ratings. Trying to compete one West Palm, with a signal that targets Belle Glade, would be like a Fort Pierce station trying to compete in the Miami market. I enjoyed the Bar, however, when I was able to listen to it.
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93.5 in Palm Beach County
- Thread starter ScottBurns
- Start date
Never mind.
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I'm up in Port St. Lucie and never listened to the station before yesterday... but surprisingly, I can pick it up fairly well in my car even though the maps say we are totally out of the coverage area. Nice to be able to hear the True Oldies Channel! A good additional option for listeners.
Their deepest null goes straight toward you to protect the first adjacency, WGYL.
WBGF 93.5 The Bar
September 22, 2014 to January 1, 2017.
R.I.P Active Alternative Rock dies again in South Florida
93.5 The Bar cut loose their PD, Chris Chaos, back around the 13th to 15th of December, after a little over a year on the job. He was like their 4th or 5th P.D, is my understanding, in its two years. Signal is everything. Regardless of the PD, you had to fight that rimshot . . . . But, when I did tune in recently, The Bar played a "Killer Classic" from Tom Petty "Learning to Fly" into Five Finger Death Punch (a very heavy active rock band) and I just found that "programming" to be very, very odd. To me, a "Killer Classic" would be something from say, Ted Nugent (more "Killer" than some wimpy solo-Petty) which would be more appropriate up against a hard active rock band, unlike Tom Petty . . . . and, a little too much repetition with the same softer/poppier "Classic Rock" and 90s Alternative Gold that was also heard on the Gater. I think going a little bit harder could have helped, and be more unique and less like the Gater.
Also, there was a several month period, between PD's, until Chaos came on, the station wasn't adding new music. And the frustration was expressed on Facebook by listeners (along with the signal issues).
On the 20th, there was the "official" chatter on another radio industry site that new domains were registered and one was http://trueoldiesfla.com/, which is the NEW home for 93.5 WBGF "True Oldies."
As for the non-industry people, who weren't aware of the "official" press release on the 20th, the cat was out of the bag via the Bar website at http://935thebar.com/. When you clicked the "Listen Live" link, it pulled up all new graphics for "93.5 True Oldies, BUT was running the 93.5 The Bar audio for a week-and-a-half before the flip at 12 Midnight, January 1st. So, the listeners knew. The change isn't yet reflected at the JVC website at http://jvcbroadcasting.com/our-stations. According to WBGFs wikipedia, there was no formal signoff for "The Bar." It went from the syndicated HardDrive program into "True Oldies Channel."
As for Scott Shannon's True Oldies. You know the history: it went off air, but Shannon brought it back as an internet stream. THEN, back in September 2016, Dick Clark's United Stations Radio Network's stuck a new deal with Shannon to bring back "True Oldies" with JVCs 93.5 WBGF being one of the earliest and new affiliates to the terrestrial relaunch (from the web) of "True Oldies."
So, what you have now is Glades Media's "Classic Hits" on WAFC AM590/FM100.5/FM92.5 out in Clewiston, which is Westwood One's "Oldies" channel, going head-to-head in the Clewiston/Belle Glade "market" (if that is even a "market) with United Station's "True Oldies." I can't track down anything for Clewiston/Belle Glade as a "market." Glades WAFC was carrying Scott Shannon's True Oldies, until it went off air, then they picked up Westwood One's oldies channel.
Glades WAFC is
92.5 is translator W223AJ in Belle Glade.
100.5 is translator W263BT in Clewiston
590 AM is the primary station, a 930 watt flame-thrower, in Clewiston.
Thing is, 93.5 WBGF and WAFC 590 AM aren't "West Palm Beach" market stations, never were, never will be (I.M.O). But, you have to give JVC credit . . . WBGF 93.5 NEVER appeared in the West Palm books. So for it to pop with a 0.1 is commendable. But, as another industry site mentioned, the Bar didn't even rank in the last three books, and it took forever for it to eventually pop with a 0.1.
JVC should do much better with "True Oldies Channel," now that it's aligned with JVC Soft AC 95.9 The Palm WSVU. That should lock up the more affluent 40 Plus demo as a great two-station package. Plus, no airstaff is needed for "True Oldies Channel" as it is Scott Shannon all the time. On the Palm, they have only two, live, in-studio jocks. Scoott Shannon and John Tesh drop generic voice track in the other dayparts. After that, it just automation with music and liners and no music identifications (not that the format, it being so familar, needs jocks ID'ing tunes).
The Palm's primary station is 960 AM WSVU, which is 2400 watts-D. It translates on W240CI 95.9 FM in North Palm Beach at (250 watts) and W295BJ 106.9 FM Jupiter, FL at (190 watts). 95.9 is the stronger translator and they re-branded 960 AM off that.
As for the Bar: They completed the move 7 miles west, remaining a Class C3-15,500 watt station back in July 2016. The company that installed the NEW transmitter and tower tagged 93.5 The Bar in a Facebook post and had numerous pictures of the NEW equipment. So the "move" to "improve" its signal is done. Would JVC invest anymore money to downgrade to a Class A at 3,000 watts so it can moved 40 miles into Downtown West Palm Beach, remains to be seen . . . . If they could have downgraded and moved into West Palm, wouldn't they have done that from the outset, instead of moving it 7 miles, THEN moving it AGAIN, in the future?
The smart money: leave WBGF as is and purchase an FM translator (s) to get it into West Palm Beach.
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Belle Glade is in the West Palm Beach MSA, which is Palm Beach County. Clewiston is not in the market.
WBGF has a CP to move the facility almost exactly one minute of latitude and 5 minutes of longitude towards the Palm Beaches. Still, the 60 dbu will barely reach Royal Palm Beach.
Thanks for clearing up the "market" question.
As for the CP, that move is already a done deal, as I explained in the post. 7 miles east. They are still at C3 at 15,500. The Bar 93.5 talked all about the "move" and posted photos of the move and new equipment back in July 2016, extensively on the Facebook page. They really pushed and promoted that fact.
I doubt any change or additional moves to a Class A at 3,000w to move into WPB is going to/ever going to happen.
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Interesting Listening feedback/Chatter over on the "Remembering the Buzz 103.1" Public Group Facebook page. Someone made a post . . . "The Bar is gone and not surprised, no one could get (hear) them." The listeners are very insightful . . . they even comment they believe the Shark 104.3 will be gone by the end of 2017. . . if not within six month, so June. Good read to see how listeners think.
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In case anyone didn't hear the "flip" at 12 Midnight January 1st, you can catch the edited version (with songs truncated) at Format Change Archive "93.5 The Bar flips to the True Oldies Channel." The actual "flip" occurs at 1:54 mark. Started out with Temptations, Santana, Rolling Stones, the Stylistics (or was it the Manhattans).
Note: Lou Brutus and Hard Drive Radio, as with Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, both distributed by United Stations Radio Networks. USRN relaunched True Oldies in September 2016.
WBGF "True Oldies 93.5" web stream.
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I assume this is the Lou Brutus who programmed or programs several XM, and then SiriusXM channels.
Do you mean it cannot be downgraded to a class A or it cannot be downgraded to a class A and moved closer to Palm Beach? What station(s) are preventing it from downgrading and moving closer?
They could try a synchronized transmitter in downtown West Palm at a lower power. It's been done before. Shamrock tried it with WFOX 97.1 licensed to Gainesville outside Atlanta. The 97.1 booster was placed in the antenna farm in Buckhead. But it caused too many problems and was eventually turned off. Cox is doing something like that with WTSH 107.1 licensed to Aragon GA. They bought a translator at 107.1, moved it closer into downtown Atlanta and are simulcasting. (Technically, they are airing the HD3 channel of WSB-FM, but that channel is simulcasting WTSH.) Yes, it will cause some interference problems in some parts of town at 93.5, but it could work and put a better signal into West Palm.
jmtillery;6131155What station(s) are preventing it from downgrading and moving closer?[/QUOTE said:
Yes, that's it. There was a plan to downgrade to a Class A 3 K into WPB, however, it was found it would interfere with 93.7 WGYL in Vero Beach. Thus, the only option to "improve" WBGF's signal was to remain as a C3 15,500w and move 7 miles east AND protect WGYL. So, WBGF won't be moving again. It's done and its only future option is/are FM translator(s) to improve it's coverage. At the end of the day, JVC will continue (IMO) to keep The Talk 900 as a brokered outlet, as the brokering income will financially support WBGF and WSVU.
Question is, will this format flip help the ratings of WBGF?
Regardless of format, you still have the signal issues. What, because it's Scott Shannon, POOF! it magically overcomes the signal issues? (No slam on Scott, BTW). I don't think so. It wasn't the Active Rock format that was the problem; its the rimshot signal. The rock would have done much better if it hadn't had to battle against the rimshot. You have to feel bad for Chris Choas, it wasn't his fault the station died. Keep in mind, in Palm Beach County, Rock works, as the Gater 98.7 WKGR is fourth with a consistent 4.6 to a 4.8. So, will this flip to Oldies result in WBGF's rating to pop from 0.0/0.1 to the ratings of 95.9 The Palm WSVU? From September to December, for four months The Palm went from a 1.3 to 1.7 to 1.5 to 1.6 and it's 12th out of 20 stations . . . . Again . . . it's that rimshot signal for WBGF . . . and WSVU has a good AM signal with 590 and (2) FM translators.
The very smart "business" benefit of the flip is that JVC doesn't have the added expenses of paying an MD and a PD, and airstaff for an under performing station (again, because of signal; not the staff or programming, IMO). However, it seems it won't be Scott Shannon all-the-time. Was poking on social media and two of The Bar's jocks -- Jay Zeager and Colin -- mentioned their "new" radio home and Zeager said he is still on the air from 10 to 3. So, I am assuming that United Stations has tweaked Shannon's format to allow for local announcers? When WAFC 590 AM ran True Oldies (with Cumulus), Scott was the sole voice of the station.
Nice article from 2014 on Billboard Biz about the True Oldies Channel . . . . and it mentions it currently skews from 1964 to no later than 1983. You almost wish that TOC would find a Broward/Dade afflilate to fill the void left with the Magic/Beach 102.7 flip to pick up those disenchanted Magic listeners not keen to the disco and Latin lean (yes, talking to you WFLL 1400).
Oh, as a footnote. Looking for one-of-a-kind, signed guitars from guys like Ace Frehley of Kiss? Chris Chaos is on his personal Facebook page (not his productions page) he's selling all of his/most of his rock memorabilia and has about a dozen guitars. Quite the impressive collection!
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You can't use a booster (a "synchronized transmitter") or a translator to increase the coverage of a commercial station. It can only be used as fill for areas where in a perfectly flat world, there would be a signal from the licensed facility.
The only work-around is to repeat the format on the HD-2 of a station that does cover WPB and then get a translator for the HD-2.
Should be able to move South-West closer to WPB to clear WGYL and still cover WPB. The only problem I am aware that will prevent that scenario is a new station on 93.5 in the Keys owned by Max Media. My understanding there were talks between JVC and Max Media to move the Max station to another frequency to clear the path for WBGF to be a little more creative in how the chess game plays out. I'm not sure if that scenario is still an option in the works, but theoretically it may work.
I would guess that two second adjacencies in Miami would be more of an issue for them than WZFL.
Even if WBGF could squeeze in, with the help of some WD-40, they might need to come up with with a thin, east-west pattern.
Many years ago, it was this station, then WSWN-FM, that kept WTMI and Love-94 away from the antenna farm.
Then, the commission created classes C0, C1 & C2, and the rest is history.
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I got my geography mixed up for a moment. I meant to say East, South EAST and not South-West
The Miami stations could very well be an issue, however, those are second adjacent as opposed to WGYL's first adjacent. Then again we are comparing a first adjacent C2 with two second adjacent C0s. I'm no engineer and never claimed to be, but something tells me there is something simple that has possibly been overlooked that will make it work.
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