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1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
Qs23
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2018 1:06 pm

1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by Qs23 »

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2173 ... -1480-850/

I can honestly say that I only really listened to 850 when I was spending the day at the beach.
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Art Van Damme
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Location: Hamtramck

Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by Art Van Damme »

Someone at GV has decided that “the great experiment” is over. The justification was well-thought out and well-written. I do not completely agree with some of the statements. However, I wonder if there was anyone to champion keeping the stations on the air? 1480 would have made a reasonable student-run station.

The demise of AM radio, will continue.

If a University decides to get out of AM completely, how many AM stations are not far behind? WKAR?
bugzapper
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Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:55 pm
Location: Hopkins, MI

Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by bugzapper »

As a long time listener, this came as a gut punch to me. "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?" So much for GVSU providing a public service to the local community. Not only local, but the signal also skips to Europe and listeners stream the music world wide. One would have thought the college would continue to stream at the very least. It wouldn't be "broadcasting" but could still let the listeners feel connected to the school. Sure, you can still listen to CDs or other oldies radio stations but they all sound sterile compared to 1480/850. The air staff at 1480/850 breath life into the music that few others can do since they played the music and lived life when this music was born.

I used to take pride in the fact I earned my Basic Level EMT certificate from GVSC along with other classes in late 70s; not so much anymore.

The many hours spent listening to 1480/850 has caused me many numerous interruptions at home as I tried to get serious work done. While listening, I could not go for any length of time without having my concentration broken by a song I had either forgotten about or had not heard in years.

I send a h u g e "Thank You" to all the staff at WGVU AM for the many years of listening pleasure. The memory of your shows will be forever etched in my mind. Thanks a million!!!
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TC Talks
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by TC Talks »

I remember launching 1480 for Matt and Michael. Some of didnt understand why we grabbed it then.
For Kristian Trumpers are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
-Romans 16:18

Posting Content © 2024 TC Talks Holdings LP.
ftballfan
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by ftballfan »

Does this mean WGVU will drop HD Radio? Then again, WVGR has operated with only an HD1 for years
jesusjenny
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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:12 pm

Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by jesusjenny »

They "Could" have kept this on the FM where it had been the last 6 months, but chose not to. The fact the station lasted as long as it did was a real blessing, but with anything - it comes down to money and politics.

In the article it mentions there are already two other "Oldies" stations in town. If they are referring to 101.3 and 98.7 - they are oldies of sorts, but not anywhere near what Real Oldies was doing. Plus, those stations are just corporate plug-in playlists an offer almost nothing.

Either way - Nice run, GV can now save a few bucks... I guess.
ChrisWL1980
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by ChrisWL1980 »

There's also the Whitehall LPFM on 98.9. Its signal doesn't carry far out of the immediate Whitehall/Montague area but it fills in the gap in part of 850's coverage area.
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Ben Zonia
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by Ben Zonia »

It's a shame if someone doesn't pick up the format, even an LPFM with a website and listen live option. They might need to pare the playlist down a bit, but not the Great Lakes regional oldies that were hits around here but not nationally. It looks like they took the Outstate Top 40s, CKLW, WKNR, WLS, and WCFL surveys and made a playlist out of it. No full power FM would play anywhere near that variety.
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48125er
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by 48125er »

MWmetalhead wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:40 am
There's also the Whitehall LPFM on 98.9. Its signal doesn't carry far out of the immediate Whitehall/Montague area but it fills in the gap in part of 850's coverage area.
True, but they've been around for years. 94.9 & 101.3's Oldies formats were both recently launched.

You won't find any 50's oldies on 101.3, but they play a decent range of 60's oldies (alongside 70's classic rock & classic soul fare).

https://1013big.iheart.com/music/

While I suspect 101.3 has had *some* impact on 1480's ratings, I think the fate would've been the same even if 101.3 were still playing poorly programmed rock music from the 80's & 90's (its prior format).

The real estate market is relatively hot - especially residential - and GVSU evidently could not ignore the financial upside. The 850 site is just down the road from Hoffmaster State Park and 1480's site is abutted by an existing subdivision and shopping.
101.3 has had the greatest impact on 98.7s ratings, which is also partly why because 98.7 mostly plays already overplayed 80s pop hits and butt Rock and an occasional 70s track or 90s song that everyone hears all the time anyways
radionut
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Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:09 pm

Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by radionut »

MWmetalhead wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:40 am The real estate market is relatively hot - especially residential - and GVSU evidently could not ignore the financial upside. The 850 site is just down the road from Hoffmaster State Park and 1480's site is abutted by an existing subdivision and shopping.
Exactly. The shutdown has been in the works for about a year. All Universities took a Financial Hit with COVID and they are look for a way to get cash. As much as I hate to see the stations shutdown how financially viable are they? I wonder what WOOD-AM numbers would be with being on FM?
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Ben Zonia
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by Ben Zonia »

No 1960s and next to no early 1970s? I'll be listening to CDs, personal track memory devices, and other streams that have them.

WOOD-FM wouldn't be that good of a signal in Kent County. The WOOD 1300 4 tower endfire array doesn't take up much land, and it's way out in Allegan County. WKBZ...WGVS 850 is a parallelogram and has a much greater wavelength being on a much lower frequency. Both 850 and 1480 are closer in, even though WMAX...WGVU 1480 doesn't take up much land.

In Canada, you may notice that AMs below 1000 and in large cities are hanging on to their AM stations and just getting translators, and even clamoring for a new AM in Toronto. Many of the upper dial position facilities on AM in Canada carry very diverse foreign languages and community service, and FM is tapped out.

If the FCC changed some rules like the RSS/RMS Standard Pattern rules in favor of just being based on the minimum Standard Pattern nulls just based on power, 10 mV/m @ 1 km X SQRT (POWER in kW), some of the large parallelograms could go to inline and slight dogleg designs, which allow more power with a lot less land.
"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."

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Ben Zonia
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Re: 1480 & 850 Shutting Down

Unread post by Ben Zonia »

It looks like the original owners of WKBZ 850 owned the whole SW corner of Section 30 of Norton Township, around 160 acres. Until fairly recently, it looks like they owned 60 of those acres. When they started building the sub around that, the outer edges were developed. Now it looks like GVSU wants to sell or has sold the central part for further sub development.
"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."

-Author Unknown
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