"Flagship Station"?

[OldJacketFan]

Being in Atlanta and a commuter I tend to keep my radio on our local sports talk. Over the last week or so 92.9 has been hyping the dwag spring game. Conversely 680 the "Fan" has yet to have a single mention of Tech's spring game! And this is our "Flagship"? Does MBob get ANYTHING right?

 

[kg01]

Being in Atlanta and a commuter I tend to keep my radio on our local sports talk. Over the last week or so 92.9 has been hyping the dwag spring game. Conversely 680 the "Fan" has yet to have a single mention of Tech's spring game! And this is our "Flagship"? Does MBob get ANYTHING right?

He cashes them pay checks on time i bet.

 

[OldJacketFan]

He cashes them pay checks on time i bet.

Oh no doubt. But it absolutely infuriates me to tune to what is supposed to be the Tech station here in Atlanta and hear the schlocks on there trash Tech! Surely there is a better option here! Aside from the fact you can't listen to it OTP.

 

[MWBATL]

The problem is...we don't have the numbers that the Dawgs do. Numbers rule in a capitalistic democratic society.

 

[RonJohn]

680 as the flagship is a joke. They pre-empted football games a couple of times this past year. In one of the games, they switched mid-game to an alternate station because a Braves pre-game broadcast was starting.

 

[OldJacketFan]

The problem is...we don't have the numbers that the Dawgs do. Numbers rule in a capitalistic democratic society.

Demographics I understand but why do we have put up with on air personalities that crap on Tech? Hell Mike Bell and Carl Dukes on 92.9 talk more about and better of Tech than any of the on air folks at 680.

 

[Buzz776g]

This has been a pet peeve of mine ever since we left 106.7, for reasons I don't know and don't understand.

106.7 is a powerful FM station that can be picked up clearly all over most of north Georgia day or night. As best I recall none of our games were cut into or bumped.

Now we have 680, which has been dwag since the dawn of time; bumps us and cuts us regularly, and can't be picked up 15 miles away from the school after dark. The FM repeater (93-something) is so weak my car (good quality factory system) stereo can't even pick it up. It really, REALLY ****es me off.

My only guess is that MBob thinks that with today's multiple cable channels, online streaming etc. that radio simply doesn't matter any more and he doesn't care about it. If that's so, he's making a big mistake in a world with very busy folks who may have multiple jobs, family obligations etc. who can't park it in front of a TV or computer as often as they'd like but still want to keep up with our teams.

 

[RonJohn]

Demographics I understand but why do we have put up with on air personalities that crap on Tech? Hell Mike Bell and Carl Dukes on 92.9 talk more about and better of Tech than any of the on air folks at 680.

I don't worry about the daytime personalities. Most of their shows are just schtick, nothing else. The guys will almost always have exactly opposite views on any issue. They are only trying to get a rise out of the audience. The afternoon rush hour show is totally obnoxious. The ONLY thing on that show are: Grunting, laughing for minutes at a time after someone apparently told a joke, and ENDLESS sampling. I got tired of sampling keyboards when I was a kid in the 80s. It appears that the guys on that show never got tired of playing the same note over and over with a dog barking.

I only turn to that station if a game is on, or if I am expecting some news.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I don't think it's fair to blame MBob for this, although ultimately he is responsible for all things concerning Tech athletics. This particular responsibility, however, is delegated to the sports information department, and it has historically sucked, regardless of the sitting AD. It's like they don't have a clue....or just don't care.

 

[UgaBlows]

I wish we could work out a deal with 92.9

 

[OldJacketFan]

I wish we could work out a deal with 92.9

That would be so much better than 680. Admittedly being better than 680 wouldn't take much

 

[Josh H]

The "sports talk radio" is little more than reality television. I remember a few seasons ago it was the first day of College Football and South Carolina was playing Vanderbilt. I tuned in for about 30 minutes hoping to hear something about the game. I was rewarded by listening to a riveting story about how Aaron Rodgers got hit in the face with a pie. There was actual football being played that night for the first time in 8 months and they couldn't be bothered to mention it.

Insightful analysis doesn't pay the bills, and you can look at the state of television for the lesson. Channels like "The Learning Channel" and "The History Channel" have almost zero to do with learning and history respectively.

Since the goal is to entertain the masses, which school has the far larger fanbase? They get more listeners dissing Tech than providing fair coverage.

Throw out the sports radio component and find us a station with a powerful signal to broadcast the games. We can live stream the Georgia Tech coaches show.

 

[DaddyBill]

Oh for the days of yesteryear with Al Ciraldo on WGST.

 

[DvilleJacket]

It's a joke that we can't have a FM station carry our games. Saturday's are often days the family sets out to go somewhere and you can't even listen to the game is just sad.

 

[OldJacketFan]

It's a joke that we can't have a FM station carry our games. Saturday's are often days the family sets out to go somewhere and you can't even listen to the game is just sad.

If you're north of the city I've found 95.7 out of Rome available. But I do know what you mean 93.7 in Atlanta is a joke, power wise, I live in Marietta and have major issues getting reception. It's another one of my gripes about the 680 family

 

[ATL1]

I remember when I was shouting 92.9 and everyone was saying how they didn't want too.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

People listen to local sports radio??

 

[Essobee]

Oh for the days of yesteryear with Al Ciraldo on WGST.

Ah, back in the day. I still recall that station jingle: "WGST, top of the deck. WGST from Georgia Tech." As you probably already know, WGST was started and owned by Georgia Tech and GST stood for Georgia School of Technology, which was what Tech was before it became an "institute". It's broadcast studios moved to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum during the 50s when AMC was built. If memory serves, it was sold for around $5 million sometime during the 1960s and later its broadcast frequency changed to 680.

 

[UgaBlows]

Thanks, i never have heard that

 

[Essobee]

Thanks, i never have heard that

I checked Wikipedia after my quick post. My sketchy knowledge plus my memory is a little faulty, but the basic message is correct.

From Wikipedia:

The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year.[1][3] The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF,[1][3] later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.[4]

In the 1940s, it was located in the Forsyth Building in downtown Atlanta. In 1944, funds from the station financed Georgia Tech's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion.[8] WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate in 1949 and later became an ABC affiliate in 1950.[7][9] Before joining Mutual, WGST was a CBS affiliate.[10] The antenna was an unusual multi-strand horizontal between two supporting towers on the Forsyth Building, across from Georgia Tech's campus, for many years.

In 1973, it was declared surplus property and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators, and even the governor.[11] However, interest from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK (91.1 FM), which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975.