Challenge To Renewal of License for WDMC Melbourne Rejected

The FCC rejected a challenge from Jerry M. Evans on the renewal of the license for WDMC-AM (fromely WMEL-AM) in Melbourne according to All Access.

Receiver David Ryder filed the renewal application for the station in 2005 and in February 2006 Ryder filed to assign the license to Twin Towers Broadcasting.

"Evans filed a petition for reconsideration as an informal objection to the assignment in April 2006. He did not reference the renewal application in the caption, but was mentioned in the text of the petition. He filed the petition for reconsideration after the renewal for the station was granted without referencing the objection.

The Commission did rule that the petition should have been considered, but his arguments rejected on the merits because he did not have standing and misrepresentations of stock ownership of former owner Twin Towers was not enough to rise to the severity level necessary to show an intent to deceive the Commission.

The station is now owned by Divine Mercy Communications, which operates the station as a Religion outlet.

Changes at WTMG Gainesville

Pamal Broadcasting's WTMG Magic 101.3 in Gainesville has undergone some changes according to All Access.

Mix Show Director and night jock Klarc Sheppard has exited the building. For now DJ Terrah will be handling the mix show duties and be handling nights on Magic on an interim basis.

WSUA Miami Adds The Julio Sanchez Cristo Show

GLR's Spanish Talk WSUA Radio Caracol 1260 AM in Miami has picked up the Julio Sanchez Cristo show from Colombia's W Radio according to All Access.

The show will run weekday mornings from 6a to 10a starting on Monday, August 24. This show replaces the "Hoy X Hoy Con Ecuraio Bermudez" show.

Also Radio Caracol is adding on a half-hour of the "Radio Caracol Ayuda" which will now air from 10a to 11a in the mornings.

WGNE Jacksonville Announces Its Fall Concert Series Lineup

Renda Broadcasting's Country WGNE 99.9 Gator Country, in Jacksonville has announced their lineup to its Fall Concert Series according to All Access.

All the concerts are free and take place at the Jacksonville Landing in Downtown Jacksonville. The month long series kicks off Friday, September 11th and going through October 2nd. Start times for each of the concerts is 8pm.

Here is the lineup:

Friday, September 11th: Steve Holy and Kate and Kacey
Friday, September 18th: Steve Azar, Chris Young and Easton Corbin
Friday, September 25th: Jason Michael Carroll and Josh Thompson
Friday, October 2nd: Joe Nichols and Trent Tomlinson

For more information visit 99.9 Gator Country's website by clicking here.

WPCV Lakeland Raises Over $54K For School Supplies

Hall Communications Country WPCV, 97 Country, in Lakeland, teamed up with the local Kiwanis Clubs to raise over $54k for school supplies, according to All Access.

The station raised $54,150 in school supplies for the annual "Stuff The Bus" Campaign. Operations Manager for Hall's Lakeland cluster, Mike James, said that it was their "best year yet."

Tanner Is Back On In Jacksonville...Just Different Media!

Greg Tanner, former morning host at Cox Radio's WMXQ 80's Hits 102.9 The Point, Jacksonville (now Alternative WXXJ as X102-9), has landed himself a new gig in Jacksonville...just in a different media, according to All Access.

Tanner is now the on-camera/in-studio traffic reporter for Newport Television's WTEV-TV CBS 47, which is co-branded with sister station WAWS-TV Fox 30 as Action News.

WBGG, Miami, Gas Promotion...Well It Was BIG!

According to our friends at All Access, Clear Channel's Classic Rock WBGG BIG 105.9 in Miami went BIG with its free gas promotion held last week.

Morning duo Paul and Young Ron offered 10,000 gallons of free gas last week to listeners. Anyone who showed up in a working vehicle received $25 of the free gas. According to the report people came from far as Miami-Dade County and Pompano Beach getting the free gas in Pembroke Pines. To make it worse it made the nearby Texaco and 7-Eleven look like deserted stores as the line stretched up to three-quarters of a mile along Pines Blvd.

Now in the end someone actually had to pay for all this gas and the promotion was probably worth the $30,000 Clear Channel spent and probably at the same time gained some new listeners.

It should also be reported that another "Free Gas Friday" with a different station is planned in the Miami area in about 2 weeks at a secret location.

WiLD Changes In Tampa

CBS Radio's Top 40 Rhythmic WLLD and Smooth Jazz WSJT in Tampa have made their plan frequency change as of 5pm on 8/19 according to All Access.

WSJT made the move up to 98.7 FM which is licensed to Holmes Beach, while WLLD moved down to 94.1 FM, which is licensed to Lakeland.

94.1 FM becomes WiLD 94.1 and 98.7 FM becomes Smooth Jazz 98.7

With the switch came a new logo design for WLLD as seen below.

Former Co-Hosts of Neil Rogers Resurface

Jorge Rodriguez and Joe Castello, former co-host with Neil Rogers at Beasley Broadcasting's WQAM Sports Radio 560 in Miami have resurfaced online at SoFloRadio.com according to Radio-Info.

Castello's host his show from 10am to Noon each weekday and Rodriguez is said to be hosting his own show from Noon to 3pm, each weekday as well. You can check out SoFloRadio by clicking here.

Sid Rosenberg Heads To WQAM, Miami

Sid Rosenberg who was formerly the morning host at Lincoln Financial Sports WAXY 790 The Ticket in Miami, has landed over at crosstown rival Sports WQAM Sports Radio 560, which is owned by Beasley Broadcasting, according to reports on All Access and Radio-Info.com.

Rosenberg fills the midday 10a-2p slot that was left open when Neil Rogers departed the station earlier this year. Rosenberg will also be hosting the Miami Dolphins post-game show that is heard on the station. Rosenberg starts his duties at WQAM on September 8th.

WQYK, Tampa, Guess The Clunker Contest

CBS Radio's Country WQYK 99.5 FM in Tampa has partnered with Brandon Hyundai offering listeners the chance to win a $500 Visa gift card to name the crushed up clunker sitting on the lot of the dealership, according to All Access Music Group.

All the listener has to do is stop by Brandon Hyundai and fill out the form guessing the model, make and year of the crushed up clunker. Once they do that they will be entered to win the cash. For more information on the contest visit WQYK's website.

WWKA K92 Orlando To Hold 2nd Annual Teacher Supply Drive

Cox Radio's Country WWKA K92 in Orlando will be holding its second Annual Teacher Supply Drive this Saturday, August 22 according to All Access Music Group. Morning show hosts Doc and Grace will be hosting the event again this year as they did last year, gathering supplies that local teachers in the Orlando area can use with their students. The station will be hosting a live remote in Fern Park at the Lakeshore Learning Center. For more information visit K92's website.

Morning Host at WKII, Port Charlotte, Out

Radio-Info.com is reporting that Scott Dayton is out of his morning show duties in Port Charlotte at Oldies WKII 1070 AM. More information will be added as it becomes available.

Arbitron Radio Markets in Florida

First before I actually give you the list of markets that Arbitron rates in the state of Florida, I feel a brief but understanding explanation of what Arbitron is (for those who know this just feel free to skip down).

Arbitron is the primary radio research company in the United States that provides ratings services to radio stations across the United States. Arbitron provides ratings to 300 markets in the United States with New York City as its largest market and Casper, Wyoming as its smallest market according to its website at Arbitron.com

Currently their is two different ways that Arbitron collects data to issues the ratings. The first is the diary method which requires people who are filling out the diary for Arbitron to write down what radio station they have listened to and at what time during the day. The second method which is currently being deployed to 50 markets, is the Portable People Meter also known as the PPM. The PPM is an electronic device like a pager and encodes data as to what radio station and time the survery is listening to the radio station. This has been said to give better accuracy to providing ratings, but currently has meet some legal challenges in certain states where the PPM is use including Florida. You can read more about the Florida lawsuit here on Attorney General Bill McCollum's website

Right now Arbitron has deployed the PPM in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood market which is the largest radio market in Florida according to its website. Eventually Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (July/August 2009), Orlando (July/August 2010), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton (October/November 2010) and Jacksonville (October/November 2010) will join on using the PPM instead of the diary based methods. All other Florida markets are projected to remain on the diary based research for now.

Here is the list of Arbitron markets by largest to smallest (number is the rank out of all Arbitron markets):

12. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
18. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
34. Orlando
46. Jacksonville
47. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton
61. Ft. Myers-Naples-Marco Island
73. Sarasota-Bradenton
81. Gainesville-Ocala
86. Daytona Beach
93. Lakeland-Winter Haven
95. Ft. Pierce-Stuart-Vero Beach
97. Melbourne-Titusville-Cocoa
124. Pensacola
162. Tallahassee
227. Ft. Walton Beach
239. Panama City
287. Sebring

Other radio markets in Florida, but not ranked by Arbitron: The Florida Keys and Lake City

Hopefully this explains more of what Arbitron is and what they do for radio ratings. For more information check out Arbitron's website here.

Welcome To Florida's Radio News Center

Welcome to the launch of Florida's Radio News Center.

The main goal behind this blog: To give you the information you should know on what is going on with any of your favorite radio stations in the state of Florida.

The reason: A lot of listeners these days don't understand what may have happened to their favorite DJ or even their favorite station here in Florida. This will give you all the stuff you need to know.

So you have a news tip, news to share or even a rumor to share? Just email me at floridaradionewscenter@gmail.com. There are a few rules though.

Email Rules:

Subject Line: Put Market and News or Rumor Subject
Body: Give me the information you have and let me know who you are so I can give you credit.

Also you can follow the latest updates on Twitter. Our username is: FLRadioNews. You can click follow from the Twitter Updates on the left side of the page.

Comments on post are highly encouraged as well.

Eventually we will purchase a domain name that will give you a direct link to this blog.

Editor's Note: I will try to update as often as possible and soon as I can when and where it is possibly safe to do so.

Yours Truly,
Joshua Wilson
Florida's Radio News Center