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| RelaysWSRV-HD4,Gainesville | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Broadcast area | Atlanta metro area (northeast) |
| Frequency | 96.5MHz |
| Branding | La Mega 96.5 y 105.1 |
| Programming | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Format | Latin pop |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Davis Broadcasting of Atlanta, L.L.C. |
| WCHK,WWWE,WLKQ-FM,WNSY | |
| History | |
Call sign meaning | (serially assigned) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 146804 |
| Class | D |
| ERP | 250watts |
| HAAT | 392.2 m (1,287 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°7′32″N83°51′32″W / 34.12556°N 83.85889°W /34.12556; -83.85889 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | lamega965atl.com |
W243CE (96.5FM "La Mega 96.5 y 105.1"), is aSpanish-language musicradio station havingWinder, Georgia as itscity of license, and previously transmitting from west-northwest of Winder, about halfway toAuburn, Georgia.
In late February 2016, it was granted aconstruction permit to move all the way southwest toColumbus, Georgia, in the far west-central part of the state, to become the FM side ofWOKS AM 1340, with 250 watts ERP on 97.5, at about 53 m (174 ft) inheight. Ordinarily prohibited, the long-distance move is allowed under the FCC's "AM revitalization" program, which allows AM stations (but not other low-power community stations likeLPFM) to take existing FM translators and the service they provide away from their current areas and use them to duplicate their own service in the same area they already serve.
Originallylicensed for just five (now 250) watts ofeffective radiated power, it is owned byDavis Broadcasting of Atlanta. It was originally permitted in 2004 and started in 2007 byRadio Assist Ministry, a company that speculativelyfiled for thousands of translator stations and thenrented orresold them for profit. RAM sold the station to Davis in May 2010.
Before the FCC even approved the sale the following month, it applied for and later received aconstruction permit to move to the WSRV/WSBB (Cox Radio)tower between Gainesville and Atlanta, increase to the maximum translator power of 250 watts, and exponentially increase itsheight from 4 meters (13 ft) to 392 meters (1,286 ft). This now gives it thebroadcast range of a class-A station, while circumventingFederal Communications Commission (FCC) broadcast licensing, which would otherwise not allow for another station in an already-crowdedmetropolitan area. The "translator" was and is still entirely within the main station's range, making it redundant if it were serving a translator station's purpose of retransmitting the main analog audio of its parent station.
Although W243CE islicensed as a "broadcast translator" (a service intended to retransmit analog FM stations to distant orterrain-obstructed areas), it is operating independently under an FCClegal fiction that allows such stations to transmit original programming if it is alsosimulcast on another station's HD Radiodigital subchannel — in this case,WSRV's HD3 subchannel on 97.1 FM. Since legitimately licensednoncommercialLPFM stations cannot do any of these things (have multiple stations, operatecommercially, use higherpowers and unlimitedheights, or afford to rent an "HD" channel or AM station) despite being in the same FCCclass D, nocommunity radio stations have gone on-air in or immediately around the city since the 1980s, and two have been forced off-air in the 2000s. Other local "translators" originating their own programming includeW222AF,W233BF,W250BC, andW255CJ.
Davis also owns a different station in the area:WLKQ-FM 102.3, which ironically has a translator station (W266BW FM 101.1) owned by a different company. That station transmitted from near W243CE's previous location, and was also upgrading and moving.
