I would call that number and find out what happens. My guess is that it is someone's cell number, and would probably roll over to voicemail, but would be interesting to see what happens.
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WCTA 810AM Alamo,TN Dark?
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I would call that number and find out what happens. My guess is that it is someone's cell number, and would probably roll over to voicemail, but would be interesting to see what happens.
Stations can take a very long time to sell, just like newspapers. It can take years before the right person comes along. Many owners want many multiples of what the station is worth, which is usually the problem. One such station that carried a price tag of $100,000 finally sold for $25,000 including the tower site and building, far less than the appraised value of the building, tower and land. The station was doing some billing and actually was about at break even the prior 3 years so long as the owner/manager didn't take a salary.
Maybe WCTA is for sale.
This station is a mystery to me. I'd do something like the community announcements channel on cable TV, charging about what a classified ad would cost to do an all Tradio/Community Announcements format and then try to sell as many area churches as I could so I could be billing anything at all. At least some folks might listen and my costs would be very, very low. Advertise that garage sale or item you want to sell for $1 a day or put your Church on the air for $10-$20 per quarter hour. At these low rates, cash with order required.
Maybe WCTA is for sale.
This station is a mystery to me. I'd do something like the community announcements channel on cable TV, charging about what a classified ad would cost to do an all Tradio/Community Announcements format and then try to sell as many area churches as I could so I could be billing anything at all. At least some folks might listen and my costs would be very, very low. Advertise that garage sale or item you want to sell for $1 a day or put your Church on the air for $10-$20 per quarter hour. At these low rates, cash with order required.
What you describe is similar to what happened with WHDM of McKenzie, TN, the first station that I ever worked for. I worked there in 1990-1991. They went off the air circa 1995-1996. I don't know the exact dates, but it was after 1994 because I remember hearing them run ads for our U.S. Senate race that year. They "sold" in 1996 for "$1 plus assumption of all debts." In 1997, I saw them listed in the Broadcasting magazine as selling for $27,000. The seller was listed as the wife of the owner whom I had worked for, leading me to believe that he had died by then. In 2000, I passed through the area and tried to stop off and visit the station. (Hey, who wouldn't like a visit from an alum?) But even though it was about 2:00 on a weekday afternoon, the door was locked, and no one was there. (If it had been like that 10 years earlier when I had inquired about a job there, my radio career might have played out quite differently!) At some point since then, they have been acquired by WMUF of Paris, TN, and moved to studios there. An FM translator has also been added since then. My guess is that their old cinder block building in McKenzie has been razed since then.
I am not from that immediate area and have never lived there, so I cannot comment on the specifics of what you describe here. However, I agree that SOMEONE should try SOMETHING. Otherwise, your suggestions are similar to those that I mentioned here earlier this week.
AG, if you can get their number, message it to me, and I might try to call them to see what I can find out.
According to the list that was posted on Recnet of applications for FM translators for AM stations, WCTA wasn't on the list. Apparently they aren't making any effort to improve their situation. 
And now it sounds like WCTA is silent again, and their Facebook page is down. Could this be the end for good?
It is time to put this station out of its misery. My parents' generation is slowly dying off, and my generation is NOT going back to AM radio!
I suspect that this station may meet a fate similar to that of WFUL in Fulton, KY. I may have said this somewhere earlier in this thread, but a super Wal-Mart was built across the road from where WFUL used to be, leading me to believe that the property became worth more than the station. My guess is that something like this may eventually happen with WCTA as well. (Not saying that a super Wal-Mart will be built nearby, only that the station will continually be devalued until something else is worth more than the station itself. That has probably already happened!)
I suspect that this station may meet a fate similar to that of WFUL in Fulton, KY. I may have said this somewhere earlier in this thread, but a super Wal-Mart was built across the road from where WFUL used to be, leading me to believe that the property became worth more than the station. My guess is that something like this may eventually happen with WCTA as well. (Not saying that a super Wal-Mart will be built nearby, only that the station will continually be devalued until something else is worth more than the station itself. That has probably already happened!)
I went by the studio on Monday and the sign about who to contact in Chattanooga was down. The older sign with the Missouri number was still up, but the e-mail is very likely down because it was for the previous contact who has died.
I agree that the building the studio is in is probably worth more than the station itself even in the bad shape it's in. But I don't think Crockett County will be seeing a new Walmart any time soon, even with the combined populations of Alamo and Bells (Around 5000).
I believe that the email that you sent me earlier was to their lawyer. He answered me within a day or two. It was their engineer (who I believe resided in Missouri) who has since died. But of course, I don't live there, so I could be mistaken.I went by the studio on Monday and the sign about who to contact in Chattanooga was down. The older sign with the Missouri number was still up, but the e-mail is very likely down because it was for the previous contact who has died.
I agree that the building the studio is in is probably worth more than the station itself even in the bad shape it's in. But I don't think Crockett County will be seeing a new Walmart any time soon, even with the combined populations of Alamo and Bells (Around 5000).
What strikes me is that the longer that nothing happens, the less likely it becomes that anything ever will happen with this station. I remember reading a wikipedia article (not radio-related) that mentioned that west Tennessee is losing population, so the remaining population is aging. This doesn't bode well for this, or any other AM station, particularly in rural areas.
And apparently they're back on. It's mostly dead air, but occasionally you'll hear the generic filler music and the same old messages that new programming is coming. But it sounds like the NOAA weather radio and TRN and CBS news are still off.
They apparently have NOAA radio back along with the generic filler music now but there's still a lot of dead air.
The old "tree falling in the forest" analogy works here. If a station that nobody listens to has dead air, does it really count as dead air?
Only when I tune in for a few minutes I guess.
I kinda had the same feeling when I did the midnight to 6:00 a.m. Sundays on the old WDXN in Clarksville back when I lived there in 1993. Probably one of the most thankless shifts of all time, especially for a station like WDXN! I probably should have tried to give away a million dollars just to see if anyone was listening!
It looks like they could at least cut the message that new programming is coming soon.
You know radio. They still call it "new" long after it has gotten OLD to the rest of us!
I noticed a few days ago that WCTA was still on-the-air around 8:30 at night, although the station is supposed to be daytime only. When I checked again around 8:45, it appeared to be off.
The "new programming soon" announcements and filler music that's been on for several years needs to go. If they want to run NOAA weather as a filler, then let it run!
The "new programming soon" announcements and filler music that's been on for several years needs to go. If they want to run NOAA weather as a filler, then let it run!
I think what I'd do is go all NOAA Weather with a CD player with a 15 minute track that has a Legal ID on it that is louder than the NOAA feed and drop the filler. Just put the CD deck on repeat. One broadcaster called the repeating ID blurting in over programming as 'redneck automation' when he did this on his Georgia station.
WCTA stands for "we can't transmit anything!"
I remember a small AM station that had a six-CD changer on repeat all night, with some way (I forgot how) of dropping a legal ID once every hour.
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