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Remembering A Station from the 80's, what led to the demise of WCIE Lakeland, FL

I hadn't looked at this page in almost 15 years. I did a tribute page to WCIE, that has all the details on what happened.

http://www.mindspring.com/~brucec/wcie.htm

The good news is that Z-88 from Orlando has a better signal over Lakeland than WCIE used to have in Orlando.
 
Hey rbrucecarter5,

Thanks for the info! I didn't expect a response that quickly, much more a comprehensive tribute page to the station itself! I visited Tampa, FL back in 1988. I was ultra impressed with the format and presentation. They were Christian AC at the time, but had a 3 station live syndication on Saturday Nights for a show called "Living Water." I was very impressed with what they played on that show too!
 
I also remember WCIE. The CCM station I worked for in Tallahassee and WCIE exchanged playlists on a regular basis.

It helped make the Tallahassee station better during the time we did this.
 
I was glad to hear that RTN is bringing WCIE back to Tampa with the purchace of 91.7 in St. Pete. As the former Station Manager for WCIE back in-the-day, I'm thrilled at a much more powerful signal to cover the area...
 
Although this was probably on a bigger scale, this situation sounds like what happened with at least 3 different CCM stations in my area, WMSO 640 in Memphis (1986 to Bott), WAJJ 89.3 in McKenzie, TN (2005 to a KJV Only anti-CCM church), and WNAZ 89.1 in Nashville (2011 to Bott). In all 3 cases the owners sold out because of financial problems to buyers they knew had no intention of keeping a CCM format.

In the case of WNAZ word got out that Trevecca Nazarene University was considering selling the station and listeners tried to start an effort to save it. But the college's board was determined to unload the station with no regard for saving the format, and it was very likely the deal had already been done with Bott before anyone knew.

Over time I realized that most if not all of the blame goes on the previous owners who probably sold out to the first buyer, made little or no effort to find a buyer that would keep a CCM format, and weren't honest with the listeners. It doesn't do any good to protest to the new owners who either know little or nothing about how to operate a CCM station, or are outright opposed to it. Also, most of these sales are done behind the backs of the listeners and by the time the word gets out that the station is being sold the deal is done and it's too late to stop it.
 
I'd like to see someone do a website for the history of WNAZ and the behind the scenes story of what happened with the sale like Bruce did with WCIE. I only got to listen when I was on trips to Nashville. But I have my suspicions that Trevecca's board had been wanting to unload the station for years, Bott gave them that chance, and the listeners didn't matter.
 
This reminds me of an EXCELLENT CCM station that was in the Newport News area of Virginia back in the late 80's, early 90's. I forget the call, but it was on 105.3 FM. It was owned by Pat Robertson's ministry. It was an EXCELLENT station, and I LOVED listening to it when I got to spend some time in VA with family. Then, it was gone. People lamented its loss, but it was too late. It was sold to a secular outfit. What a shame! :'(
 
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