No Storm Coverage

[D Dean]

those are 2 completely separate (and unequal) topics of discussion.  WDBL AM and FM in Springfield go back at least to the '60s.

[scottwmro]

those are 2 completely separate (and unequal) topics of discussion.  WDBL AM and FM in Springfield go back at least to the '60s.

1380 WIZO started in Franklin, TN & has always been in Franklin. It was never in Springfield. In 1996, Alice Jackson changed the call letters of AM 1380 from WIZO to WHEW. I wished that Salvador Guzman (owner of WHEW) would change the call letters back to WIZO, just for "ole times sake", and keep it hispanic. Only think is that the call letters "WIZO" must be available for him to change it back.

Today WHEW operates with 2,800 watts, daytime only, with pre-sunrise and some post-sunset.

[deltas69]

back when wizo was an oldies station..wasn't there someone named mike hight involved with it ? he allegdingly had something to do with wamg back in 88 when i did mornings..never understood his position..showed up everyday with a smelly little cigar thing,,and tried to look important..didn't understand radio at all..wasn't long after that when ernie ashworth aquired it if i remember the timeline correctly..

[firepoint525]

Everything I knew about Alice Jackson is that she is/was more of a journalist (print media) than a broadcaster, so it's possible that she might not have known what she was doing, getting into radio.

I had several conversations with Alice, and you're probably right. When she changed the calls from WIZO to WHEW, what little I listen to the station, it sounded like that's what she was into, than being a broadcaster. She had big plans for WIZO, but she told me her health was taking her down. I had to borrow some tubes from her to keep my old transmitter running until my new ones came in. This is back when I had to use a 2500 watt, CCA Transmitter, cut back to 1000 watts. This was about 1995. We had a good hour chat and I could tell her health was getting the best of her.

I recall (also back around 1995) seeing the WPFD property (apparently the station and its license, too) being listed in one of those real estate magazines that you can find in front of almost any convenience store, or on almost any street corner.

At any rate, apparently Alice considered acquiring the WPFD property back about that time, but either decided that it was not a good investment, or thought the better of it.

[oldies5161]

back when wizo was an oldies station..wasn't there someone named mike hight involved with it ? he allegdingly had something to do with wamg back in 88 when i did mornings..never understood his position..showed up everyday with a smelly little cigar thing,,and tried to look important..didn't understand radio at all..wasn't long after that when ernie ashworth aquired it if i remember the timeline correctly..

Mike Hight was the last owner of WAMG, if memory serves me correctly.  You're right....he knew nothing about radio.

[w9wi]

The FM you're thinking of 94.3, was sold told Saga from Tuned In Broadcasting. Saga changed the city of license from Springfiled to some little town in Kentucky, near Ft. Campbell, to cover the Clarksville/Hopkinsville Market. The FM tower/antenna site was move out of Robertson County as well. I forget what the call letters are, and the format is now. I've not listen to it that much at all.  If my memory is correct, it was called 94.3, "The Eagle", and was playing 70's Rock at the last time I got the chance to listen to it. That all may have changed by now.

Oak Grove, Kentucky.  The transmitter is dead on the state line (I mean, your 6-year-old could stand under the tower & lob a softball into Tennessee) and IIRC within eyesight of one of the gates of the military base.  I want to say there's another FM on that tower but can't for the life of me remember which one.  Maybe a backup for Q108.  It is in fact "The Eagle" (WEGI) with classic hits.

[courier37027]

To w9wi: Q108 studios were on State Line Road.  Tower was about fifty feet into Kentucky, as you described.  When standing at studio sound board and mic, you had one foot in each state (or one state and one commonwealth as Kentuckians would correct me). Gate 4 was the nearest Ft. Campbell base entrance. Woe to Q108 when we had a storm or power outage.  If the tower went out, we called the Kentucky electric authority (Pennyrile?) and a studio electrical outage called Clarksville Electric.  I can't recall a second FM on the tower in the 80's, although there could have been.  WABD-AM 1370 was Q's sister station and was likely on same tower.

To Firepoint: WPFD was owned by Rev. Paul Durham, former owner of Nashville Radnor Towers and pastor at Radnor Baptist, around 1986-7. Durham also owned 96.7 FM and 1570 (or -80?) AM in Centerville. I left before Centerville stations were sold to Steve Turner. Sometime in the 90's I drove by Fairview station.  Signal was distorted and poor quality.