Change is coming

When the Entercom / CBS deal goes thru, Entercom will have 3 of the original 9 inside the perimeter high powered - towered commercial FM’s: (92.9, 94.1, 94.9, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 101.5 and 103.3). IMHO they should be either #1 or #2 ratings and REVENUE wise. Does anyone have any predictions what if any flips could take place? Will 94.1 move to Colony Square or do the CBS stations move to the lower rent 94.1 studios (formerly 101.5 & 106.7 studios) near the Weather Channel? Having worked near both locations traffic can be a bear at either, but the new Braves stadium could really mess up the I 75- I 285 interchange.

IMHO: Mid-town with the MARTA station near is the winner.

I have no idea on the studio location except to say the Star 94-1 studios and offices are very nice. They would need more space for the 3 stations, however.

secondchoice said:

When the Entercom / CBS deal goes thru, Entercom will have 3 of the original 9 inside the perimeter high powered - towered commercial FM’s: (92.9, 94.1, 94.9, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 101.5 and 103.3). IMHO they should be either #1 or #2 ratings and REVENUE wise. Does anyone have any predictions what if any flips could take place? Will 94.1 move to Colony Square or do the CBS stations move to the lower rent 94.1 studios (formerly 101.5 & 106.7 studios) near the Weather Channel? Having worked near both locations traffic can be a bear at either, but the new Braves stadium could really mess up the I 75- I 285 interchange.

IMHO: Mid-town with the MARTA station near is the winner.

Click to expand...

94.1 and 101.5 are licensed to Smyrna and Marietta, respectively, and always have been, at least in their modern form (there was a 300kW WGST-FM at 94.1 at one time in the 1950s, not sure what its CoL was). Were their transmitters ever in Cobb County and not ITP?

But you are right with your main point--those 9 are the original FM allocations for the 5-county metro area. Everything else is a move-in (93.3 Columbus, 95.5 Athens, 97.1 Gainesville, 100.5 Anniston, 104.1 LaGrange, 104.7 Athens, 105.5/105.7 Canton, 106.7 Gainesville, I'm sure I missed some) or a shoehorn-in (the class A's and D's, plus a few class Cx's like 107.5 and 105.3)

jabba17 said:

94.1 and 101.5 are licensed to Smyrna and Marietta, respectively, and always have been, at least in their modern form (there was a 300kW WGST-FM at 94.1 at one time in the 1950s, not sure what its CoL was). Were their transmitters ever in Cobb County and not ITP?

Click to expand...

I assume the answer to that is yes. I've always thought 101.5 was at the 1060 site off Cobb Parkway. Not aware of where 94.1 was located. The 2 94.1 locations prior to the current were atop the Peachtree Plaza and on Bishop Street, behind Atlantic Station. The Bishop Street site is still their backup but almost never used because of 94.1's dual transmitters at the main site.

RoddyFreeman said:

I assume the answer to that is yes. I've always thought 101.5 was at the 1060 site off Cobb Parkway. Not aware of where 94.1 was located. The 2 94.1 locations prior to the current were atop the Peachtree Plaza and on Bishop Street, behind Atlantic Station. The Bishop Street site is still their backup but almost never used because of 94.1's dual transmitters at the main site.

Click to expand...

During the mid to late 1970's 1080's site was off of the "old" Canton highway not that far from where the canton Connector (off of I 75 merges) on the old route 5. At that time there you could not see an FM antenna on any of the towers. You could see the site from a barber shop I used. When I applied for a job at WBIE (a not hired because of my Air National Guard commitment) in 1977 they told me the FM was on the "candelabra"

I have heard that 94.1 was the FM for 1550. I believe the old 1550 site was just off Austell road and had a shopping center built around it which got torn down. I think there was an unused FM antenna on one of the towers. 1550 use to be a class B with 500 watts at night but never was a factor ratings wise in Atlanta radio. I believe they were an early top 40 in the 1960's.

secondchoice said:

During the mid to late 1970's 1080's site was off of the "old" Canton highway not that far from where the canton Connector (off of I 75 merges) on the old route 5. At that time there you could not see an FM antenna on any of the towers. You could see the site from a barber shop I used. When I applied for a job at WBIE (a not hired because of my Air National Guard commitment) in 1977 they told me the FM was on the "candelabra"

I have heard that 94.1 was the FM for 1550. I believe the old 1550 site was just off Austell road and had a shopping center built around it which got torn down. I think there was an unused FM antenna on one of the towers. 1550 use to be a class B with 500 watts at night but never was a factor ratings wise in Atlanta radio. I believe they were an early top 40 in the 1960's.

Click to expand...

1550 didn't have the FM antenna at the shopping center. I believe the original 94.1 antenna was on the now 1230 tower off Franklin Road. That was the original 1550 site and the tower is tall for 1550 so the only explanation would be it also was used for FM.
1550 WYNX moved to the shopping center when it went 50,000 watts.
WBIE (Now WKHX 101.5) has been at Sheppards (now American Tower) Construction junk yard since that tower went up back in the 70s. It, along with WKLS 96.1, and WPCH 94.9 were the original FM tenants. 94.1 moved to Bishop Street from Smyrna. All these stations eventually moved to the new, taller tower adjacent to the original.

You can still hear the ghost of Jim Wilder (WBIE owner and Chief Engineer) in the old building at night.....

One of my first radio adventures when coming to Atlanta was finding all of the transmitter sites. For 1080, I turned off Cobb Parkway northwest of Marietta onto Loring Road. I drove down Loring Road and didn't see the site, but then I looked to the right and saw towers that looked like they were in the house's backyard. (They are actually a little farther back.)

I looked through some old Broadcasting Yearbooks, and in 1972, 96.1 went from 510 feet to 820 feet, and 101.5 increased from 200 feet to 870 feet. So it appears the Shepherds Lane site went into service that year. However, in 1975, WKLS went from 870 to 950 feet, and WPCH came onto the tower going from 130 feet to 890 feet. I'm going to call a friend who is a CE and ask him if he knows the history.

Simultaneously with the move, 94.9's COL changed from Decatur to Atlanta yet 101.5 remained Marietta. Of course, all 3 stations have now moved to the new tower. I suppose the original tower holds some backups.

Those of us interested in Atlanta radio history should get together for lunch. I'm talking about Mr. Choice, Mr. WAVO and anyone else who is interested. Just message me through the site.

wavo said:

1550 didn't have the FM antenna at the shopping center. I believe the original 94.1 antenna was on the now 1230 tower off Franklin Road. That was the original 1550 site and the tower is tall for 1550 so the only explanation would be it also was used for FM.
1550 WYNX moved to the shopping center when it went 50,000 watts.
WBIE (Now WKHX 101.5) has been at Sheppards (now American Tower) Construction junk yard since that tower went up back in the 70s. It, along with WKLS 96.1, and WPCH 94.9 were the original FM tenants. 94.1 moved to Bishop Street from Smyrna. All these stations eventually moved to the new, taller tower adjacent to the original.

You can still hear the ghost of Jim Wilder (WBIE owner and Chief Engineer) in the old building at night.....

Click to expand...

Correction...As Roddy said, 94.1 moved to the Peachtree Plaza "missle silo" from Bishop Street. They then moved to LaFrance/New Street. WSTR has a app to move to the Shepard American Tower site for an aux site. The WSTR main has a app to move to Chester Ave American Tower. 96.1 and 94.9 also have aux sites at Chester Ave.

wavo said:

Correction...As Roddy said, 94.1 moved to the Peachtree Plaza "missle silo" from Bishop Street. They then moved to LaFrance/New Street. WSTR has a app to move to the Shepard American Tower site for an aux site. The WSTR main has a app to move to Chester Ave American Tower. 96.1 and 94.9 also have aux sites at Chester Ave.

Click to expand...

Do you think 94.1's move to the Chester Avenue site is just a business thing? I don't think there's a technical reason for doing it.