Smile FM buys WGVS 850

[Thunderstorm]

Muskegon, MI -- Ed and Jennifer Czelada’s Smile FM has closed a $25,000 deal to buy the currently-silent WGVS (850) from Grand Valley State University. Smile FM currently owns more than two dozen contemporary Christian stations around Michigan, but WGVS will become its first in the Muskegon market. One the sale closes, Grand Valley State University will still own news-talk “Power 95.3” WGVS-FM in Muskegon as well as its Grand Rapids, MI market simulcast WGVU-FM (88.5) and the currently-silent WGVU (1480).

[originalzzmfmjock]

From my understanding the deal only involves the license and the transmitter. The towers are still scheduled to be torn down and the property sold to developers. Smile will have to find another tower location in the Muskegon area for their signal and go through all of the signal tests, etc. the FCC will require them to do in order to re-locate the signal.

[Bull Shannon]

From my understanding the deal only involves the license and the transmitter. The towers are still scheduled to be torn down and the property sold to developers. Smile will have to find another tower location in the Muskegon area for their signal and go through all of the signal tests, etc. the FCC will require them to do in order to re-locate the signal.

The old transmitter/studio building on Pontaluna Road has already been torn down. The towers surely aren't far behind.

[Sholmes]

Just what is not needed more religious stations

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Ben Zonia]

From my understanding the deal only involves the license and the transmitter. The towers are still scheduled to be torn down and the property sold to developers. Smile will have to find another tower location in the Muskegon area for their signal and go through all of the signal tests, etc. the FCC will require them to do in order to re-locate the signal.

Stations who have sold their land usually get an STA to operate nondirectionally from another location. WCCW 1310, for instance, is operating from its original tower site on Barney Rd., until they decide where to locate a permanent facility. These STAs don't require site testing.

[Deleted User 15840]

What is the purpose of buying an AM station for a Christian Music format other than for a FM translators situation. Does 850 already have an FM translator?

[Ben Zonia]

What is the purpose of buying an AM station for a Christian Music format other than for a FM translators situation. Does 850 already have an FM translator?

Well, that's the way the FCC rules are. Having an AM station allows a translator to have a much larger coverage area in many cases. If you want to blame somebody, blame the FCC. Just a few years ago, translators were hopscotching across the band 1, 2, 3, 53, or 54 channels to get to a better frequency, even when there were interference complaints. Reportedly, some intermediate facilities were built on top of furniture pieces and licensed to get to the next hop. Finally, they allowed them to move to any suitable frequency.

And new proposals to expand the FM band do not address AM to FM station migration like Canada, Mexico and many other countries have already done. The rules in other countries are much more flexible. The FCC says "dance", and the applicants and licensees do anything to get what they want by complying with existing rules.

Long ago, the FCC stopped regulating formats in general, though outlawing obscenity.

I suspect that WCCW 1310 will try to get a translator soon. Then if they apply for the old 5000 watt Day facility, which according to some calculations, could only be 12 watts nondirectional Nights to protect WIBA 1310 Madison, WI, they'd have a more or less complete facility. They even have the existing tower to put a translator on without paying for tower space nearby.

[humblenewsman]

From my understanding the deal only involves the license and the transmitter. The towers are still scheduled to be torn down and the property sold to developers. Smile will have to find another tower location in the Muskegon area for their signal and go through all of the signal tests, etc. the FCC will require them to do in order to re-locate the signal.

The old transmitter/studio building on Pontaluna Road has already been torn down. The towers surely aren't far behind.

Those Pontaluna road towers are now down. Drove by the site yesterday to see crews clearing the red and white scrap.

[ftballfan]

What is the purpose of buying an AM station for a Christian Music format other than for a FM translators situation. Does 850 already have an FM translator?

Well, that's the way the FCC rules are. Having an AM station allows a translator to have a much larger coverage area in many cases. If you want to blame somebody, blame the FCC. Just a few years ago, translators were hopscotching across the band 1, 2, 3, 53, or 54 channels to get to a better frequency, even when there were interference complaints. Reportedly, some intermediate facilities were built on top of furniture pieces and licensed to get to the next hop. Finally, they allowed them to move to any suitable frequency.

And new proposals to expand the FM band do not address AM to FM station migration like Canada, Mexico and many other countries have already done. The rules in other countries are much more flexible. The FCC says "dance", and the applicants and licensees do anything to get what they want by complying with existing rules.

Long ago, the FCC stopped regulating formats in general, though outlawing obscenity.

I suspect that WCCW 1310 will try to get a translator soon. Then if they apply for the old 5000 watt Day facility, which according to some calculations, could only be 12 watts nondirectional Nights to protect WIBA 1310 Madison, WI, they'd have a more or less complete facility. They even have the existing tower to put a translator on without paying for tower space nearby.

Smile FM has a redundant translator in TC, so I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those end up in the Midwestern portfolio. I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened yet. Also Interlochen has the redundant 94.7 translator if Midwestern also wanted a translator for 580, unless 88.7 has signal issues in parts of TC (which would be a shock considering how massive that signal is).

[ChrisWL1980]

What is the purpose of buying an AM station for a Christian Music format other than for a FM translators situation. Does 850 already have an FM translator?

850 did not have an FM translator previously. Smile FM has one in the Muskegon market on 102.5, which I believe relays 88.3 WSMZ.

[cckadlec]

This news was already posted some time back in the forums here with some better information.

I'm curious what the source of that original news story was because oh my goodness, what a mess.

WGVS will not become the first Smile FM in the Muskegon market. As mentioned, they have 102.5 right in town and 88.3 is a very easy one to hear in the area as well. 102.5 does not relay 88.3 as people keep saying; it is fed from 95.7's HD-2 signal these days.

I'm flabbergasted as to nobody mentioning that WGVS hasn't been known as Power 95.3 since its urban AC days TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO. That's so long ago that I don't even recall it (and I was a teenager then) and had to look it up.

Whoever wrote that article should have ended it with its first sentence (literally the ONLY sentence that has correct information) then stopped. They shouldn't be in the business of writing radio articles judging by this one alone. If you are calling a station by its name from almost thirty years ago, you should probably be in another business.

[Ben Zonia]

The posters here need to be reminded that translators are NOT stations. They are Class D and can be bumped off their frequency. That COULD happen, as many are on second and third adjacent frequencies to nearby STATIONS, and the FCC may decide at some point to migrate AM STATIONS to those frequencies, as has happened in Mexico and other countries to migrate AM stations to FM.

The recent FM expansion proposals for 76-88 MHz do NOT address AM migration, only more NCE-FMs and LPFMs. The electrical noise situation on AM is seriously limiting their ability to compete in many markets, and electric car manufacturers are apparently going to eliminate AM radios completely in cars.

I have been told, that technically, and even arrogantly, that electric cars comply with Part 15, even though Part 15 never imagined or addressed that such noisy circuits would be placed so closely to AM receivers. And the people who favor electric cars would like to see AM disappear, as they associate AM closely with airing opposing political points of view. To talk to or otherwise communicate with such people reveals thoughts bordering on a rabid form of Psychosis. One former AM station engineer, when even discussing TECHNICAL ASPECTS of AM with him resulted in a raging email about never discussing AM radio again. And he cited politics as the reason. We can't let thousands of stations be eliminated without migration because of such thinking.

We already let various regulatory and industry forces seriously reduce over the air TV station service areas by going digital, seriously limiting Free TV options, and also portability options. Let's not sacrifice thousands of AM stations also by increasing electrical interference and no migration options.

[A1B1C1D1]

https://fordauthority.com/2022/08/2023- ... -am-radio/

More bad news for AM stations., as the Big 3 were still building electric cars with AM. If they expand the FM dial, Biden will have to hand licenses to AM stations even though it will be many years before people have a radio that can accommodate it. With record old cars on the road, there still are GM vehicles with XM (pre-Sirius) radios.

I believe the future of car radios will be sim card as T-Mobile and Verizon are offering at home 5G making FM as much of a dinosaur as AM. Good news for all the low budget podcasters. Good news for cellular companies that can offer a car radio and wifi hotspot as an add-on to your current plan.

[Ben Zonia]

https://fordauthority.com/2022/08/2023- ... -am-radio/

More bad news for AM stations., as the Big 3 were still building electric cars with AM. If they expand the FM dial, Biden will have to hand licenses to AM stations even though it will be many years before people have a radio that can accommodate it. With record old cars on the road, there still are GM vehicles with XM (pre-Sirius) radios.

I believe the future of car radios will be sim card as T-Mobile and Verizon are offering at home 5G making FM as much of a dinosaur as AM. Good news for all the low budget podcasters. Good news for cellular companies that can offer a car radio and wifi hotspot as an add-on to your current plan.

As Jack Klugman/Dr. Quincy, ME might have said, "Free over the air radio didn't die, it was MURDERED!

There are plenty of areas where such high frequency cellular signals drop out, where FM is usually there, and AM is almost ALWAYS there. This is just one more example of corporate greed. Look at what's happened to over the air TV. TV stations in all but the flattest terrain have holes in their signal areas, which require one or more translators, and even then it doesn't cover as much area as analog TV did. I don't think digital TV adds that much to the experience as analog TV. Analog 525 lines were plenty, except for spoiled children.

[Deleted User 15840]

The posters here need to be reminded that translators are NOT stations. They are Class D and can be bumped off their frequency. That COULD happen, as many are on second and third adjacent frequencies to nearby STATIONS, and the FCC may decide at some point to migrate AM STATIONS to those frequencies, as has happened in Mexico and other countries to migrate AM stations to FM.

The recent FM expansion proposals for 76-88 MHz do NOT address AM migration, only more NCE-FMs and LPFMs. The electrical noise situation on AM is seriously limiting their ability to compete in many markets, and electric car manufacturers are apparently going to eliminate AM radios completely in cars.

I have been told, that technically, and even arrogantly, that electric cars comply with Part 15, even though Part 15 never imagined or addressed that such noisy circuits would be placed so closely to AM receivers. And the people who favor electric cars would like to see AM disappear, as they associate AM closely with airing opposing political points of view. To talk to or otherwise communicate with such people reveals thoughts bordering on a rabid form of Psychosis. One former AM station engineer, when even discussing TECHNICAL ASPECTS of AM with him resulted in a raging email about never discussing AM radio again. And he cited politics as the reason. We can't let thousands of stations be eliminated without migration because of such thinking.

We already let various regulatory and industry forces seriously reduce over the air TV station service areas by going digital, seriously limiting Free TV options, and also portability options. Let's not sacrifice thousands of AM stations also by increasing electrical interference and no migration options.

Could it be a workable solution to expand even more for FM, from 54 MHz-72 MHz (72 MHz-76 MHz is for airport beacons) and place the AM stations on that portion of the band. I know that the power would have to be limited because of co-channel interference. And you’re correct, translators are not stations and should’ve never been allowed to exist on an already crowded FM band.