Super Bowl Update: Tell City's WTCJ (AM) could get an FM translator, but not without some controversy

Tell City's WTCJ (AM) could get an FM translator, but not without some controversy

11:21 AM | Labels: Bud Walters, Central City, Cromwell Radio, FM translator, Tell City, W218CR, W219DC, WAY Media, WTCJ

Walters seeks FCC waiver to move WAY-FM translator from Central City to Tell City

If the FCC gives its approval, WTCJ-1230 AM in Tell City will be the next Tri-State AM station to get an FM translator, but the station's owner, Bud Walters of The Cromwell Group, will have to do some fancy legal footwork to make it happen.

The translator Walters has in mind for WTCJ - W219DC-91.7 FM - is now located in Central City, Ky., and simulcasts WAY-FM programming. Walters has an agreement with WAY Media to purchase W219DC (which has been OK'd to move from 91.7 to 91.5 and become W218CR) for $10,000.

If the purchase and move are approved, the translator would broadcast on 103.7 FM from a tower that Walters' Hancock Communications already owns near Pellville, Ky.

I mentioned fancy legal footwork, and here it is: As the FCC's rules now stand, Walters can't move the translator that far. So, to get what he wants, he's seeking a waiver that would allow him to do so because WTCJ is failing. To make his point, he claims that, while it was once a "vibrant" station, today WTCJ brings in less than $2,000 a month in revenue, which he writes is barely enough to cover its electric bill.

As evidence that FM translators work, Walters cites his company's experience with them and how they've improved business conditions for his AM stations.

"Our experience with in-contour FM translators carrying our other AM stations as a primary station is that business has improved for the AM station to the point that the AM station alone can now support a myriad of local service activities with advertiser support," Walters wrote. "This is truly 'AM revitalization'!"

But Walters' enthusiasm for what could be for WTCJ isn't exactly being greeted with sweetness and light by some in the radio industry. When Radio Ink broke the story on Monday, a number of folks took to the site to comment. One said, "How does moving listeners to the FM band revitalize the AM band? It is more like admitting defeat." But another, perhaps sensing something inevitable, argues, "How long does the corpse have to rot before you admit it's dead?" And it goes on.

This one will be interesting to watch. Stay tuned.