Yesterday, the FCC newspaper/tv/radio crossownership rule went away so Cox's application to move 95.5 transmitter to midtown can be granted by the FCC. The rule has grandfathered WSB, WSB-FM and WSB-TV joint ownership with the AJC newspaper but the additional stations Cox added in Atlanta, WSBB 95.5, WALR 104.1 and WSRV 97.1 could not place a primary signal (60 dBu) over the entire corporate limits of the city of Atlanta where the AJC is published. Now they can. Of the three most recently acquired FMs, only 95.5 can move deep within the city and that change required a FM near Anniston AL to change its signal and a FM at Greenville, GA to move much closer to Columbus, GA. Those changes were made years ago when Cox filed the application to move 95.5 but it sat on hold due to the cross ownership rule. Now the application can be granted and it will give 95.5 100,000 watts from the center of the market with slight signal null toward a FM near Rome, Georgia but for all practical purposes will match the signal of WSB-FM 98.5. This signal improvement will probably finish off what audience is left on 750 AM which filled in the west side of the Atlanta market where 95.5 present transmitter site near Chateau Elan doesn't reach very well. I've been told that's about 20% of the total WSB News Talk audience remains on AM-750.
WALR is stuck where it is due to other spacing factors..in fact it is moving to a shorter tower west of Dallas/east of Carrollton but will remain at 100,000 watts after it lost its present site 100KW due to a overlap with an upgraded 93.3 WVFJ. It does appear WSRV could now move as close as the Jimmy Carter Blvd/I-85 tower site if it reduced power to 50,000 watts. No word on whether Cox plans to make that move which would sctually add population covered by the primary signal in the radio market boundaries. One would surmise that Cox would have already filed for that change as it did with 95.5 and wait for the FCC to change the rule.
WALR is stuck where it is due to other spacing factors..in fact it is moving to a shorter tower west of Dallas/east of Carrollton but will remain at 100,000 watts after it lost its present site 100KW due to a overlap with an upgraded 93.3 WVFJ. It does appear WSRV could now move as close as the Jimmy Carter Blvd/I-85 tower site if it reduced power to 50,000 watts. No word on whether Cox plans to make that move which would sctually add population covered by the primary signal in the radio market boundaries. One would surmise that Cox would have already filed for that change as it did with 95.5 and wait for the FCC to change the rule.