On Monday (5/24), as RBR+TVBR on April 20 first reported would occur, Cumulus Media ceased analog broadcast transmissions for an AM radio station licensed for 1,000 watts from 1 tower located in southern Westchester County, N.Y. It’s now operating solely in HD Radio, with a Talk format including The Dan Bongino Show the centerpiece of what’s being branded as “AM1230Digital.”
While that transition points to a possibly rosier revitalization of the senior radio broadcast band in an era where Tesla electric vehicles do not come equipped with AM radios and most kHz-based properties benefit from FM translators to attract younger audiences, present-day challenges for some operators may be too demanding to even consider a future benefit.
No less than five AM radio stations in the last week have surrendered their respective licenses to the FCC. In one case, the move avoids a license revocation hearing. But, for the other AMs, it is simply a realization that FM and audio streaming are more viable options for local consumers.
That questionable license renewal involves Class D WJEH-AM 990 in Gallipolis, Ohio.
BUCKEYE FADE OUT
In November 2019, RBR+TVBR reported on the sale of WJEH, along with WNTO-FM 93.1, a Class A in Racine, Ohio, to Vandalia Media Partners from Sunny Broadcasting.
What did the buyer do with WJEH? Not much … and that’s the problem.
On April 28, 2021, an initial status conference was conducted by the Commission, as WJEH was in operation for just 28 days since Vandalia had closed on the station’s acquisition. As Vandalia notes, WJEH went silent and was granted Special Temporary Authority to remain silent for 180 days on February 12, 2020.
The reason: the station lost its tower site. “The licensee is using its best efforts to develop a new site, file an appropriate application, construct and return the station to the air,” Vandalia argued.
By late 2020, however, Vandalia found a willing buyer to take over control of the station. On November 4, 2020, paperwork was submitted to the FCC’s LMS indicating West Virginia-based Zack Media South had agreed to purchase WJEH for $4,000.
A license renewal application was then submitted, in January 2021 through the Law Offices of Scott C. Cinnamon.
This put the FCC’s wheels in motion on whether or not WJEH’s license should be renewed.
On April 2, a Hearing Designation Order was released, putting the license renewal application in the hands of Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin. The issue: After 275 days of ownership, WJEH finally went on the air. But, on Dec. 30 it started to broadcast at reduced power of 100 watts under a new STA.
Rather than fight, Vandalia surrendered the WJEH license; its call letters have been deleted.
WJEH served an area along the West Virginia-Ohio border between Huntington and Parkersburg.
PERMANENT STORM SQUELCH
In April 2015, a Class D daytimer serving Decatur, Indiana, to the southeast of Fort Wayne, lost its transmitter following a storm that saw the collapse of its broadcast tower.
It was never replaced, with the station, WJZI-AM 1540, operating under an STA.
Finally, the licensee, Lewis Broadcasting, on May 14 surrendered WJZI’s license. Three days later, the FCC cancelled it — erasing unbuilt FM translator W291DF at 106.1 MHz as part of the cancellation.
WJZI had offered local listeners a Smooth Jazz format, and prior to December 2011 it was gold-based Country WADM-AM.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA SUNSET
Between Port Charlotte and Marco Island are the many radio stations that can be found in the ever-growing Southwest Florida region, highlighted by Fort Myers and Naples.
Two of these audio choices until recently could be found on both AM and FM. Now, the AM signals — once the originating signals powering FM translators in place across Lee and Collier counties — are gone for good.
Surrendered to the Commission are WAXA-AM 1200 in Fort Myers, Fla. and WNPL-AM 1460 in Naples, Fla. From January 2018, the stations fed what is branded as “Maxima 97.3/95.7.”
Given the focus on the FM translators and not the AMs, and the ability to feed FM translators from a digital multicast signal in HD Radio, licensee Fort Myers Broadcasting Company simply gave up the WAXA and WNPL licensees.
Today, “Maxima” has an originating signal on a new HD multicast signal associated with WINK-FM 96.9.
WAXA had debuted in 1986 as WDCQ-AM, with an Oldies format. In October 1996, Fort Myers Broadcasting bought the station, changing it to WTLQ-AM. By 2009, the need to cover Collier County led Fort Myers Broadcasting to launch WNPL, as a simulcast partner of the Lee County AM.
Those two AMs aren’t the only ones now permanently missing from Southwest Florida.
FOX Sports Southwest Florida, which can be heard on W277AP at 103.3 MHz in the Fort Myers area and on W290DB at 105.9 MHz in Naples, is now being fed from the HD3 signal of WHEL-FM 93.7.
This is because the former originating station, Sun Broadcasting Inc.‘s WNOG-AM 1270 in Naples, saw its license deleted on Friday following its surrender to the Commission.
With Cuban interference and distant signals making nighttime reception a challenge, Southwest Florida is perhaps one of the nation’s most difficult regions for AM radio stations to successfully operate. And, with the disappearance of WNOG, WAXA and WNPL, just five local stations remain on the AM band that are audible in Bonita Springs — halfway between Naples and Fort Myers. They include Beasley Media Group’s Sports WBCN-AM 770, “Gelly 94.1” originating station WFSX-AM 1240, R&B WZKO-AM 1350 (branded as 107.5 JAMZ, owing to its FM translator) and two religious stations at 1410 kHz and 1440 kHz.
In Naples itself, WBCN is the lone local AM audible on a radio.
