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WSBB-FM Transmitter Move

At least WSB has a full FM signal to play with; other NT AM's have had to go with translators. BUT, they are still branding FM first on their promos.

For example, WLAC in Nashville, with its 1510 skywave signal that covers the SE very well, now ID's its 98.3 FM first. Check
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=W252CM&service=FX
for 98.3's "wide" coverage area.

(Of course, 98.3 has the meters.)


ALSO,

The north Ga. mountains have suffered a bit because of 95.5's move (very choppy), and Cox (or whatever it is now) owns a few stations in north Georgia. So, I wonder if WSB will show up as an HD signal on their N. Ga. stations. (maybe a translator out go Gainesville?).
 
trusty said:
For example, WLAC in Nashville, with its 1510 skywave signal that covers the SE very well, now ID's its 98.3 FM first.
Click to expand...

But it has been decades since any AM station made any money from night skywave coverage.

Very little revenue is derived from nights by any kind of station, AM or FM so night coverage after 7 PM is rather irrelevant (with perhaps an exception for play by play sports events).
 
trusty said:
[
The north Ga. mountains have suffered a bit because of 95.5's move (very choppy), and Cox (or whatever it is now) owns a few stations in north Georgia. So, I wonder if WSB will show up as an HD signal on their N. Ga. stations. (maybe a translator out go Gainesville?).
Click to expand...

Large market stations make no money off coverage of smaller adjacent markets. I doubt the Cox folks are even giving a second thought to the lost coverage areas as they gained about 3 million city grade signal potential listeners in the Atlanta MSA.

An example of this is seen in the LA market, where most of the bigger FMs are highly ranked in the adjacent Riverside/San Bernardino market. But advertisers seeking Riverside audiences buy spots at 1/10 the LA station rates to reach them, and they buy the markets separately. Because of this, only one LA based station owner even buys the Riverside/San Bernardino Nielsen report.
 
fybush said:
Except that it's not a problem.

I'd bet 98.5% or more of the listeners who tune in to B98 in Atlanta know it as "B98.5" or "98.5 FM," if not "preset #3 in my car." The brand of B98.5 is... "B98.5." Its website is b985.com, its social media accounts are @b985 or @b985fm. As best I can tell, the only place "WSB-FM" is mentioned on its website is in the link to the FCC online public file down at the bottom of the page. The letters "WSB" or "WSB-FM" appear nowhere on its FB or Twitter "about" pages.

If any of B98.5's listeners happen to be wearing a PPM meter, the PPM meter will pick up the encoding that's unique to the 98.5 signal and register the listening accordingly.

If those listeners tune into the station branded as "WSB," whether at 95.5 or at 750, their meters would pick up the encoding unique to those signals and register that listening accordingly.

To have branding confusion, you'd have to have conflicting brands. And while I know it drives the purists on these boards crazy, there's no potential for confusion here. "WSB" means 750 and now 95.5. "B98.5" means 98.5.

(The same thing applies to WBBM in Chicago, where this "conflict" has existed for quite a few years now without ever becoming any sort of real-world problem that CBS or now Entercom seems to have felt a need to address.)
Click to expand...

In fact, the only place where call letters have significant importance today is in the actual reports from Nielsen that are used by ad agencies and media buyers. Often, these buyers are out of the market, so they don't know a Breeze from a Buzz. They just know who ranks where in the target demo.

That is why Nielsen offers Total Line Reporting for simulcasts. WSB and it's FM-Whatever-It's-Called are listed under "WSB" and 98.5 is listed as WSB-FM. The seller has to make sure there is no confusion at the buying level, but that is usually obvious from the demographics that advertisers look at.

Call letters are only important as a branding device if a station uses them as their on-air identity. Most stations use names or slogans. The PPM does not care what you are called, and the diary system looks at name, slogan, talent or show names and frequency to identify stations. Call letters are only as important as the station wants to make them, from zero to one hundred percent.

To many of us, even radio history buffs, call letters today are an anachronism.
 
DavidEduardo said:


But it has been decades since any AM station made any money from night skywave coverage.

Very little revenue is derived from nights by any kind of station, AM or FM so night coverage after 7 PM is rather irrelevant (with perhaps an exception for play by play sports events).
Click to expand...

WLAC is directional night, and isn't that easy to pick up in ATL--compare with non-directional WSM 650, which comes in really easily. WBT 1110 out of Charlotte is also a class A, but is directional away from Atlanta.
 
trusty said:
The north Ga. mountains have suffered a bit because of 95.5's move (very choppy), and Cox (or whatever it is now) owns a few stations in north Georgia. So, I wonder if WSB will show up as an HD signal on their N. Ga. stations. (maybe a translator out go Gainesville?).[/SIZE][/FONT]
Click to expand...

I suppose Cox could use WXKT 103.7 to fill in the gap left by the tower move...considering that Chuck-FM has commercial-free workdays and uses no on-air talent they apparently aren't making much money today.
 
DavidEduardo said:


In fact, the only place where call letters have significant importance today is in the actual reports from Nielsen that are used by ad agencies and media buyers. Often, these buyers are out of the market, so they don't know a Breeze from a Buzz. They just know who ranks where in the target demo.

That is why Nielsen offers Total Line Reporting for simulcasts. WSB and it's FM-Whatever-It's-Called are listed under "WSB" and 98.5 is listed as WSB-FM. The seller has to make sure there is no confusion at the buying level, but that is usually obvious from the demographics that advertisers look at.

Call letters are only important as a branding device if a station uses them as their on-air identity. Most stations use names or slogans. The PPM does not care what you are called, and the diary system looks at name, slogan, talent or show names and frequency to identify stations. Call letters are only as important as the station wants to make them, from zero to one hundred percent.

To many of us, even radio history buffs, call letters today are an anachronism.
Click to expand...

There was a group that had mostly am/fm combos in a few markets that shared the same calls. None of the stations simulcast but they all had older sounding country formats, they used the call letters in the branding predominantly and all the stations shared same slogan. they sold the stations in the late 90's. The new owners freshened up the FM's stations playlist considerably and removed a lot of clutter (lost dog/ farm reports) and changed the AM stations call letters. Over time they flipped the AM's to different formats.

The biggest complaints of the former owners and higher ups wasn't the change of playlist of the FM's or flipping the AM's formats, it was that new owners changing the AM's call letters and changing weather sounders, things very few if any listeners care about.
 
DavidEduardo said:


But it has been decades since any AM station made any money from night skywave coverage.

Very little revenue is derived from nights by any kind of station, AM or FM so night coverage after 7 PM is rather irrelevant (with perhaps an exception for play by play sports events).
Click to expand...

I know that. Read the whole post. I was just using WLAC "coverage" as an example of the changes in branding (I guess it's expected that a translator would take first billing over a heritage station).

And the revenue? As a kid, I bought my first two record albums via mail order - advertised at night over WLAC/AM - and, yes, that was decades ago. :)
 
trusty said:


I know that. Read the whole post. I was just using WLAC "coverage" as an example of the changes in branding (I guess it's expected that a translator would take first billing over a heritage station).

And the revenue? As a kid, I bought my first two record albums via mail order - advertised at night over WLAC/AM - and, yes, that was decades ago. :)
Click to expand...

Was that with John R? He sold those little pet chickens.
 
For talk I think the stereo pilot adds a little noise/hiss. I listened to 92.9 today and they are running mono. The signal was clearer than 95.5. Thoughts?
 
BarryATL said:
For talk I think the stereo pilot adds a little noise/hiss. I listened to 92.9 today and they are running mono. The signal was clearer than 95.5. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Multiplex was a compromise for compatibility. There were cleaner systems but they weren't compatible with mono.
 
Although WSB is mentioning the AM only on its legal ID, I heard Scott Slade say twice this morning, "We're also on old reliable 750 AM, which has a tube transmitter."
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Was that with John R? He sold those little pet chickens.
Click to expand...

Living outside of WMAK’s nighttime signal*, I started to listening to WLAC around 1967 on a stormy night when WLS’s and WOWO’s nighttime skywave wasn’t working. I would hear records weeks before I hear them on top 40 stations. When I was stationed at Biloxi MS at Keesler AFB (twice) in the 1970’s WLAC was very listenable once you got more than 5 or so miles away from the old WLOX 1490 (now WANG) almost any night. IIRC WLAC protected a station in Boston and KGA. One of the worst kept secrets in Tennessee radio was that John R was white. The per inquiry business at night at WLAC was huge. John R sold about anything you could imagine. I laughed when the You Tube clip had the baby chicks.** Yes John R sold baby chicks. I heard the commercial many times. A friend at school actually ordered them for a FFA project thinking they were layers. The chicks did arrive alive much to everyone’s amazement. He got 80 rosters and 30 hens.


*now WNQM
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KrVu5DfQ2A
 
I drover to Toccoa today. I was able to listen to 95.5 clearly until we got close to Gainesville on I-985. About 2 miles south of Gainseville I first heard the stereo static begin. Than about 2 miles past Gainesville the signal went away quickly. I think the sudden drop is because there are hills/mountains after passing Gainesville on I-985.
 
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