On the other hand, their building in Miramar is very nice, with new equipment that's all well maintained.
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WIOD Off the Isle
- Thread starter Mike Sheridan
- Start date
On the other hand, their building in Miramar is very nice, with new equipment that's all well maintained.
Although, Neil-God did change that last word š
It was quite the radio station in its time. Uniquely South Florida.
I have a new question... iHeart already has a transmitter site not far from where they plan to locate the new WIOD site. WXBN 880 is just a little further west of the planned WIOD site and about the same distance to the south. Why not co-locate? I'm sure there must be a good reason.
There's an old post somewhere on this board from someone who said he was a former engineer with Gannett and he presented a plan to Clear Channel following their purchase of WINZ which detailed how WIOD could diplex into the WINZ array and gain stronger coverage to the north and comparable coverage to the south.
I remember sometime around the mid-'70s Gannett did a total rebuild of the WINZ transmitter site. New building, new transmitters, new towers, (one of the old ones was actually bent I was told a truck ran into it!) and new buried transmission line. You could actually hear the difference! They must have put a lot of money into it.
The WXBN towers are not even quarter wave at 880, so they would be horribly inefficient for 610.
In any event I wouldn't be surprised if iHeart has already explored diplexing at WINZ and perhaps even elsewhere and found that moving to a new site entirely was the best move. Either way, this is going to cost them a few bucks.
How much does it cost to build a new AM site anyway? We've read many times in the past few years that it's not worth it any more but apparently in this case it will be.
That's like asking "how much does a new car cost?" The cost varies. In the case of WIOD, it is very expensive. Four towers and ground system, antenna phasing and coupling equipment, 50kW transmitter.
Yeah. Ballpark? What do you think a site like that will cost them in 2021?
Not to mention purchasing/leasing the land, preparing it for construction, bringing in utilities, iHeart must really believe in WIOD to sink that kind of capital into it.
First is the cost of land. I believe the majority of sites in the Everglades are long term leases, so that may not be an immediate expense.
Then there is the building, with AC, emergency generator, water service, sewer connections. As the Everglades are protected, that requires special construction procedures.
Transmitter and towers and phaser and STL gear, racks, audio gear, etc. And the engineering cost of proofing the DA.
We are likely talking about something in the $600 k to $1 million range. There are way too many variables for anything more precise.
Then again, iHeart has had a tower deal with Vertical Bridge for 7 years. They own the towers and property, not iHeart. So I imagine Vertical Bridge has to buy the land. iHeart's expenses involve the transmitter.
Tower deal turning iHeart from owner to renter | Radio & Television Business Report
Vertical Bridge is going to take some towers off the hands of iHeartMedia.
www.rbr.com
There are many iHeart AM sites that are not appropriate for Vertical Bridge because they are not in centers of population, not high enough, and only serve as AM facilities.Then again, iHeart has had a tower deal with Vertical Bridge for 7 years. They own the towers and property, not iHeart. So I imagine Vertical Bridge has to buy the land. iHeart's expenses involve the transmitter.
Tower deal turning iHeart from owner to renter | Radio & Television Business Report
Vertical Bridge is going to take some towers off the hands of iHeartMedia.
As the deal news said, āa select portfolio of its radio towersā. Most of those are FM situation and a few AMs that are strategically located.
There are quite a few multi-tower AM arrays on the western side of Krome Avenue or west of Krome on The Trail, and few have anything on them and are "just" AM station towers.
And, as I mentioned, the Everglades are protected (some is Native American property) and I believe all transmitter land there is leased, not owned... but there may be exceptions to that in different areas.
According to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser the sites for WWFE on the east side of Krome and WQBA/WAQI on the west side are owned outright by Fenix and Univision. But they are of course heavily regulated due to it being protected land.
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How much of this cost if any can be written off for a number of years? I remember a broadcast executive bragging to me that the new studios they had just put in virtually cost the company nothing because they could write it off!
I saw the QSL in the link below in another discussion thread. I found it interesting to read and topical since the video at the start of this thread showed the old WIOD studio building basically gutted and abandoned, and the transmitters and towers may be a thing of the past within the next year or two. The description of this station and its location in this QSL makes it sound like heaven on earth! The artist's depiction of the island at the top, illustrating where WIOD's studios and towers were located back then also looks quite different than that area does now, with busy 79th Street Causeway connecting the mainland to Miami Beach and the addition of adjacent North Bay Village which, like many land parcels in that general area (and much of Miami Beach itself) may not have existed back when WIOD first went on the air but was later man-made.
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That must date back to the late 1920s because it has WIOD on 1210 kHz at the time it was written. Pretty cool.
I should ask iHeart if they'll send me a QSL card for receiving WINZ after dark in Lauderhill.
In keeping with iheart's prize policy, you will have to drive to the studio to pick up your QSL card no matter how far away you live.
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