OMW reported a week ago that WJER-FM’s proposed new facilities had hit the FCC database, and provided pictures of construction for the new WRQK/106.9 tower which will also eventually hold the antenna for the 101.7/North Canton facility.
Some minor updates:
* A trip back to the site over the weekend showed what we’d been told by OMW readers in the area – the wooded site that will house the new WRQK tower is a lot less wooded than even our previous picture indicated just a week earlier. (We’d have taken a picture this time, but the lighting was not in our favor.) There’s a much larger clearing, and it looks like they’re moving at a swift pace. Racing the upcoming winter season, no doubt.
* We don’t know if is happening 100% now, but while we were at the future site of 101.7’s antenna, we noted that the current WJER operation was simulcasting on both 101.7 and AM 1450, and using the phrase “The Voice of the Valley” more often, along with simply calling itself “WJER Radio” at all times. The station started simulcasting back when program director Steve Kelly left for Columbus, and the AM’s midday request show started airing on both frequencies.
It would appear that they’re preparing for a solo operation on the AM side, once the 101.7 construction is complete – and the FM station moves into the Clear Channel World Domination HQ/Southern Command on Freedom Avenue.
All indications we’ve heard out of Dover are that former WJER owner Gary Petricola will keep operating AM 1450…at very least solo, if he’s not able to get an FM companion like WNPQ/95.9 to add to the AM broadcast. (And we still hear that WNPQ owner Jim Natoli is not at all interested in such a scenario.)
We went back and visited the FCC filing for WJER-FM’s new North Canton-COL operation, and noticed the FCC-prescribed service area for the new 6KW station based at 22nd Street off Whipple Avenue.
It would appear to be a very good Canton market station, with enough coverage into much of Akron and Summit County to be able to sell many of the same advertisers. (Note that the “service area” is just the station’s main contour, and it’d certainly be audible a few miles outside of that area.)
It’s not quite the same service area as sister Canton-licensed WKDD/98.1, but we’re talking a class A signal vs. WKDD’s class B signal out of Hartville…
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