Real Oldies / WGVU is going away in January

[Jeff Cunningham]

Members who have contributed were sent letters in the last few days.
Last on-air day will be January 7.
They claim that it is financially draining on the college and that there are "two other oldies stations" in the area anyway.
Licenses for 1480 AM and 850 AM are returning to the FCC and they will put their Muskegon and Kentwood properties up for sale.

[Trophyhead]

Grim realities, I heard Rob Sanford sign off his shift to say he was headed for a week’s vacation, which was surprising, given the time of year.

Now, it makes sense. I listened to April Wine’s “Could Have Been A Lady” to its end last evening, looks like those experiences will be on the wane, to gone in two months.

[TC Talks]

I helped WGVU aquire those stations. They were throw away stations in the early 90's too.

[bugzapper]

From a listener's standpoint, I love that station and tune in well over 30 hours a week with the Countdown being my favorite.

But from a business standpoint(and I have never been in the business) what value does pulling a 1.7 share bring to a noncommercial station? I believe I believe having a higher share equates to the rate that a station can charge its advertisers. Since Real Oldies doesn't sell advertisements, it seems to me that pulling that high of a share is a nice feat to surpass some of the commercial stations. In my mind, that acomplishment shows a dedication on the part of the staff to provide a great community service that can only be found emitting from their transmitter.

[A1B1C1D1]

I will first assume GVSU already hired a radio broker to call around and see if anyone is interested, and yes the list would be short.

Realistically Holy Family is the most likely scenario where 1480 could stay on the air, they have 40 flood zone acres with towers already on them so the neighbors could only slow down new tower approvals with lawyers which many in Ada could afford. I'm skeptical they could either sell their daytime station or afford to run two (Spanish on daytime) stations and make it work. I've always heard they like what they have, shutting down at 7pm probably doesn't hurt them that much.

Now could someone attempt to lease from Holy Family and try to make it work by adding a single tower and tying into their existing three towers? Whose to say Holy Family doesn't cash in if a developer offers them a few million?

850 AM is probably sunk, a four tower array for 1kw is probably not feasible financially even if someone with 100 acres and tolerant neighbors and township board members were to be found. The obvious guess would be WGHN if they could afford to buy the existing property. Muskegon County doesn't have the land values Kent and Ottawa do, but property values have spiked everywhere.

[Kennelly Heaviside]

I think WGVU 1480 could diplex WJRW 1340 from a technical location standpoint Daytime. The licensee and the tower owner are likely to be cantankerous, however. Keep in mind that WMAX used to be located about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from WLAV/WJRW 1340. There are some very well protected AMs in Ohio and Indiana that would limit Night nondirectional power to probably on the order of 20 watts. When 1410 was alloted 48 watts, it was under a 40% RSS restriction for PSSA. Now it would be limited to 25% RSS. To a first approximation without much data, that would be quite a bit less. Judging from other similar situations with just 2 towers, it might allow as much as 250 watts, since the well protected stations are all in the same general direction.

However, WOOD's tower orientation is on a 15/195 axis, and WGVU's Night orientation is on a 12/192 axis, just 3 degrees different. I doubt if you could get much more than 1 kW Night with a diplex, given some other situations, just 3 degrees off with those well protected stations. But that's better than 20 watts. But it's quite a ways away from Grand Rapids, and measured WOOD radials are <<8 mS/m, like 2 mS/m. Station and tower owners might also be cantankerous though.

"Cantankerous" would probably mean high tower lease costs and obstructive conditions.

By scrolling and zooming around on this Old USGS Topographical Map, the WLAV/WJRW 1340 tower is between 1/4 and 1/2 mile Southwest of the old WMAX/WGVU 1480 tower. WFUR 1570 would be too close in frequency, 90 kHz, for diplex. WLAV/WJRW 1340 is much better at 140 kHz. There would have to be a lot of detuning for all three.

https://www.peakbagger.com/map/BigMap.a ... -999&cyn=0

WGVS 850 Night pattern would have to be similar to protect KOA especially, and other stations. WAIT 850 Crystal Lake, IL is gone Days though. WKNR 850 is 50 kW Day now however.

[format this]

So… I wonder what will happen with 35.6 and 52.6.


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[ChrisWL1980]

Holy Family also has 24-hour FM coverage from the translator at 98.3. I don't see that they'd gain much by picking up 1480 even if it is a 24-hour signal. I could see them maybe wanting to pick up 850 to expand their coverage to the Lakeshore, since none of the Grand Rapids AM's reach the Muskegon area well.

Meanwhile, I'm very sad to see Real Oldies disappear. Between that and 980 WAKV going Jethro, fans of '50s and '60s music in West Michigan are running out of terrestrial options (WAKV's former sister station Cool 101, and the Real Gold LPFM peashooter in Whitehall, may be the last ones, since Big 101.3 covers primarily 1965-1980). I've always considered Real Oldies and Big 101.3 to serve two different audiences: Real Oldies was for the real music and radio geeks (of which I consider myself one), and Big is for workplace listeners or those who just use radio as casual background noise or don't want to hear anything unfamiliar (hence their slogan: "the fun hits you know"). I bet champagne corks are popping at iHeart over this, though.

[ChrisWL1980]

So… I wonder what will happen with 35.6 and 52.6.


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And 88.5 HD2. Most likely they just ditch the FM HD equipment altogether. No point in keeping HD running for just a few hours of music programming each day.

[48125er]

I Imagine 1480 ansd 850 being bought by some right wing christian network realistically.

[Kennelly Heaviside]

With the software and other information available without spending tens of thousands of dollars, WKBZ/WGVS would also be restricted to around 20 watts nondirectional PSSA. Possibly it could be 250 watts nondirectional Days by measuring contours/conductivity at the site. Seems like Cleveland's most prominent multitalented radio person, Ted Alexander, measured the contours on WKBZ/WGVS when WKNR applied for 50000 watts Day. If those are available from their application, it might be a good place to start.

[Frosty]

TC Talks, your memory is a little shady. WKBZ 850 in the early '90s was far from a "throwaway." It was a viable commercial property until the mid-90s when GVSU assumed ownership and absolutely destroyed its commercial viability. It was pathetic. But until then, under Dave Lorenz's leadership, the 850/95.3 combo was a good local station.

[Bull Shannon]

It's been decades since I've driven through Norton Shores, but it wouldn't surprise me if the AM 850 site would be appealing to real estate developers, too. It's not far from Hoffmaster State Park, as I recall.

The AM 850 site is pretty much already surrounded by housing developments. I guarantee that it'll be used for residential development.

(Google Satellite view: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1347523 ... a=!3m1!1e3)

They've also had for sale signs up at the property last few times I've driven by recently.