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Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

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innate-in-you
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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by innate-in-you » Thu Dec 10, 2020 12:11 am

CK-722 wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:06 pm
WPBN-TV 7 used to be a wall to wall signal in Mecosta County. WWTV 9 was somewhat stronger, and WZZM 13 a close third. WKZO/WWMT 3, WNEM 5, WJIM/WLNS 6 WOOD 8, and WJRT 12 were all receivable at higher elevations, and later WGTU 29 and WGVC/WGVU 35 were receivable. Even WJBK 2 and WWJ/WDIV 4 were receivable much of the time at higher elevations with a decent antenna. The WBRN tower and the then Rapid Cablevision had head antennas for all of these except 2 and 4 at one time, or another. Of course, WOOD 8 had an off air head end antenna link for NBC programming to WPBN near Stanwood, and WNEM 5 had a another head end antenna for NBC South of Barryton. For those who are too young to remember, WNEM 5 was NBC for decades before swapping with WEYI 25 CBS.
I remember seeing other stations' IDs and weather bulletins from WPBN's VHF 7 transmitter near Harrieta. They lacked any direct coaxial cable link to NBC network programming, they picked NBC over the air from many other affiliates using over-the-air and microwave relay stations to get to NBC programming to Traverse City.

Common logos included WJMN-3, WTMJ-4, WFRV-5, WNEM-5 (NBC back then), and WOTV-8.

One night, their picture was overtaken by PBS's "Captioned ABC News" right at the 11:00 ID break.

Sporadic-E brought a signal that overpowered the OTA feed they had been using.

Logical conjecture would have that a PBS station took the channel by Sporadic-E skip, overpowering the NBC source WNEM had been using.

WUFT was in about the same azimuth as WNEM, and at about the "right" distance for an Es path on 77MHz at the typical sporadic-E single-hop distance.



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by CK-722 » Thu Dec 10, 2020 12:55 am

One night in Mecosta County, I saw the picture from WISN-TV 12 News with Jerry Taff, and the sound from WJRT-TV 12. Funny thing, Jerry Taff had been at WJRT-TV before WISN-TV.

I think you are probably right about the Channel 5 being WUFT, but remember that the head end South of Barryton for WNEM 5 was a 4 Bay 5 Element Channel 5 stacked Yagi pointed generally East.

Strange things happened to the signals during both late Summer Tropo and Sporadic E. Often, there was no picture at all at WTOM-TV. It seems like WTOM-TV had 4 Bays of Channel 5 Yagis on the tower at Cordwood Point in the early 1960s to pick it up during Tropo events that wiped out WPBN. Seems like I saw WLS-TV on it once on WTOM with their Channel 7 off air Yagis, when they were 316 kW on Marina City.

One poster said they just had to call a phone number and ring it to switch between the WNEM 5 and WOOD 8 feeds.

That WOOD and WNEM and intercity microwave links to WPBN and WTOM are fascinating.

WJRT ABC carried Saturday NBC Baseball for a few years, and probably used WWJ-TV/WDIV except when they had Sporadic E problems. They had a Channel 10 Yagi on the Clarkston intercity relay link tower, and sometimes WOOD 8 would come in better than WILX 10 during Tropo events. They were always running disclaimers when the weather bugs and alerts showed up from WOOD 8, explaining that the weather alerts were for the Grand Rapids area.


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:06 am

They were always running disclaimers when the weather bugs and alerts showed up from WOOD 8, explaining that the weather alerts were for the Grand Rapids area.
That's funny. :)

I've had the video from one station - audio from another - happen to me on several occasions in the 90's. Common examples were low power W25BI in Grand Rapids (which ran "America One" programming) vs. WEYI in Saginaw and WILX in Onondaga vs. the PBS station in Milwaukee.



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by statmanmi » Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:21 pm

audiophile wrote:
Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:17 am
From the legal doctrine of unclean hands this might backfire on the Coynes. ...

As much as it pains me to say this, Henderson will likely own the Coynes after this development. Not well thought out.
Circling back to the initial topic in this thread, Henderson's legal team asked for and were granted a couple of extensions for providing a response to Blarney Stone's FCC petition to have the WLDR license cancelled.

Yesterday the Henderson team did complete and file their answers. Call me a nerdy fanatic, but the response was fun reading this evening:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Att ... &exhcnum=2

(Note that this was the lone attachment included with two different FCC filings, one form being: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.ex ... &fac_num=0.)


Audiopile nailed the use of two legalese terms in the response: "unclean hands" and "backfire". Although my skimming of the document didn't notice actual mention of the illegal booster situation nor directly citing the ceasing of payments.


Feel free to peruse with your more experienced eyes, but things I'm perceiving and noticing are:

* Henderson and his team advising that although the programming ceased on 10/24/2019, the actual transmission did not, since electrical power remained intact. Electric bills are provided to document consumption of juice. And that 11/2/2020 was the resumption of programming, using the STA specifications from the studio tower.

* The final paragraph on page two is where "unclean hands" and "backfire" are mentioned, referencing that the upcoming trial regarding the alleged breach of the LMA may bring about the "backfire" on the Coynes.

* Also that the Henderson team has been working to lease space on a nearby Consumers Energy tower, on which all new equipment will be installed for WLDR (and apparently 99.3 WQAN/WLLS). (Page 3 merely states "...near-by utility-owned and comparable tower..."; but page 59 [if I counted correctly] is an August 24, 2020 e-mail from Mr. Henderson that notes, "I have need of an immediate proposal and someone to exchange engineering with Consumers Power Company, in Michigan, the owners of a tower we are proposing to lease space on ASR # 1000584.")

* Perhaps most entertaining is the second paragraph on page four where Mr. Henderson recounts that Ms. Sheryl Coyne did not want her husband to enter into this new venture LMA, out of concern about "...only 'screw things up'...". Best to read the whole section yourself, but I take it to mean that Mr. Henderson and others heard her to say out loud exactly "screw things up" at the signing of the now allegedly breached LMA.


Quite the drama. Reminds me from back on "Dallas" when J.R. and Bobby ended up being competitors, with all the shenanigans. Remember that? I specifically recall when J.R. opened his own retail stations with prices notably below all others--causing Bobby to say to the camera and his wife Pam (I think) that J.R. would make the discount on each gallon up with the higher volume of sales. Who needs TV with real life playing out stories from the radio biz.

Fun times! Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by Robert Faygo » Thu Jan 07, 2021 11:03 pm

He should have paid his lawyer's office the extra $500 to write that thing. Wow.

Oh, nice try on the whole Mr. Coyne isn't the vice president because of the LARA printout thing but that is not proof one way or the other of someone holding that title. LARA's online annual reporting system doesn't allow for the entry of a VP; just president, secretary, treasurer, and as many directors as you feel like typing in.


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:42 am

So what, if anything, is WLDR airing at the moment? I heard a report 101.9 was airing the "Timeless" format that had been on 99.3. (Or was it 92.3? So hard to keep track...)



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Jan 08, 2021 6:57 am

I agree that the LARA system is not at all intended to serve as a real-time / complete listing of officers (in the case of a corporation) or managers (in the case of a partnership).

That sloppy error perhaps calls into question the credibility of other statements made in the filing but more likely is a function of the filing being prepared by non-Michigan based legal counsel. I'd love to see proof that all of those alleged items to return WLDR-FM to operation were actually purchased.

A true & up-to-date copy of corporate bylaws, Partnership Agreement, or LLC Agreement - as applicable - is the only way to verify the identifies and titles of officers or managers, depending on the entity type, for a privately-held business.

How interesting that Blarney Stone evidently owns the WLDR-FM tower; I was unaware of that. If that is indeed true, I think it is obvious now who was responsible for the illegal transmission on 99.3 FM a year or two back.



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by EdWalker » Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:01 am

statmanmi wrote:
Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:21 pm

* Henderson and his team advising that although the programming ceased on 10/24/2019, the actual transmission did not, since electrical power remained intact. Electric bills are provided to document consumption of juice. And that 11/2/2020 was the resumption of programming, using the STA specifications from the studio tower.
Is this saying that there was a dead carrier on the air from 10/24/19 (when programming ceased) to 11/2/20 (when programming resumed, but from the studio tower under STA)???? There was a dead carrier for over year? Just asking....



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by ftballfan » Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:16 am

ChrisWL1980 wrote:
Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:42 am
So what, if anything, is WLDR airing at the moment? I heard a report 101.9 was airing the "Timeless" format that had been on 99.3. (Or was it 92.3? So hard to keep track...)
From what I can tell, both 92.3 and 99.3 are airing the "Memories FM" format. 100.1 was airing it, but I haven't heard anything on it in the past few days. 101.9 here in Manistee has been mostly WDEZ (Wausau) and WKQS (Marquette).

The tower Henderson mentions (ASR# 1000584) is in far northeastern Benzie County, about nine miles west of WLDR's longtime tower and 18 miles northeast of the other Henderson complex (the licensed site for WBNZ and WLLS)



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by audiophile » Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:55 am

it's phunny they are taking legal advice from me off this page! I don't have dog in this fight, it was just an observation. At least they could do is thank me in a PM or send me a gift card. :blink

$500 to have lawyer write it? Surely you are joking. A lawyer wouldn't even read it for $500, let alone write anything.


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by TC Talks » Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:28 am

I guess the bigger picture: when the fight is all over, they will still be stuck with 100,000 watt station with no transmitter in a market where there are really only three players and all three are struggling financially at the moment.

What's the end game? There really isn't one. It's like fighting over a 1997 Cadillac Brougham. It was a really lovely station at one time but it's a piece of crap now due to neglect.

I don't know anyone under 30 who listens to radio.


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by Robert Faygo » Sat Jan 09, 2021 12:23 pm

audiophile wrote:
Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:55 am
$500 to have lawyer write it? Surely you are joking. A lawyer wouldn't even read it for $500, let alone write anything.
:wink:


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by ftballfan » Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:14 am

TC Talks wrote:
Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:28 am
I guess the bigger picture: when the fight is all over, they will still be stuck with 100,000 watt station with no transmitter in a market where there are really only three players and all three are struggling financially at the moment.

What's the end game? There really isn't one. It's like fighting over a 1997 Cadillac Brougham. It was a really lovely station at one time but it's a piece of crap now due to neglect.

I don't know anyone under 30 who listens to radio.
Interlochen would likely consider moving IPR News to 101.9 if they had the opportunity to do so. 101.9, even if it were downgraded to Class C2, would put a decent signal into areas that 91.5 doesn't reach well (Cadillac, for example).



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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by TC Talks » Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:21 am

With what money? IPR isn't exactly healthy enough to buy the station.


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Re: Blarney Stone Petitions FCC to cancel WLDR license

Post by Ben Zonia » Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:07 am

ftballfan wrote:
Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:14 am
TC Talks wrote:
Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:28 am
I guess the bigger picture: when the fight is all over, they will still be stuck with 100,000 watt station with no transmitter in a market where there are really only three players and all three are struggling financially at the moment.

What's the end game? There really isn't one. It's like fighting over a 1997 Cadillac Brougham. It was a really lovely station at one time but it's a piece of crap now due to neglect.

I don't know anyone under 30 who listens to radio.
Interlochen would likely consider moving IPR News to 101.9 if they had the opportunity to do so. 101.9, even if it were downgraded to Class C2, would put a decent signal into areas that 91.5 doesn't reach well (Cadillac, for example).
The last thing we need is another CMU or IPR affiliate.


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