Strong Tower, Phase One, Take Two, Now On-the-Air!

Written by James S. Hoge
Z’s President

Z88.3 Increases Power From 2,300 to 13,000 Watts!

After ten long years of frustration, delay, technical and regulatory hurtles, I am so pleased to announce that your Z88.3 has completed Phase one, Take Two of the power increase project.  In His perfect timing, Thursday night, November 6th, the Z main transmitter was switched into a new antenna system installed over 130 stories in the air and powered up to 13,000 watts.  At the same time, an application for license was filed electronically with the FCC.  Almost immediately, listener reports poured in from places where we had never been heard well before, like Auburndale in Polk County and Fort Pierce way down the coast below Vero Beach!  Officially, nearly half a million people have been added to Z88.3’s city grade coverage and, for the first time, can clearly hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Strong Tower and the Coming Phase Three

In Strong Tower Phase One, Take Two, we took a granted construction permit for 15,000 watts requiring a highly directional antenna, bought up stations on the same or adjoining frequency as ours which were in turned "sacrificed" in order to greatly enhance the coverage and population served by our increase.  This also simplified construction by utilizing a lighter more efficient non-directional antenna.

Finally, the antenna was mounted higher on the tower hoping to push the fringe signal out further, but, with the increase height, FCC rules required that the power to be reduced slightly to 13,000 watts.  This facility was granted by the FCC on November 5th and was licensed in what has to be a record 24 hours.  For some of the gritty details, skip down to "A Special P.S. -- The Saga of Phase Two, Take Two"  For those living in Ormond Beach and points north, in the saga I explain what happened to 88.1 WEAZ and how our God has provided a replacement that should be on the air very soon on 91.1 FM.  (By the way, if you live in the Haines City and Davenport area and are wondering what happen to the translator on 102.7, our tower landlord had to move the tower and we are waiting on the FCC to approve the change.)

What's next is the most exciting of all, Strong Tower Phase Three, the increase to 100,000 watts.  This massive increase in coverage would put both Daytona Beach and Melbourne/Palm Bay in city grade coverage and everything in between.  To our astonishment, the FCC actually granted a construction permit in July.  However, we are going to really need your partnership as we will have to build a completely new and expensive high power transmitting plant from scratch at a new tower to accomplish this project.  Already, the campaign is behind a million dollars as of this writing. Therefore, you gifts at this time would be a huge blessing.

What is Strong Tower?

From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.  I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.   Selah

Psalm 61:2-4

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Proverbs 18:10

From the passages from Psalms and Proverbs above, it is obvious that God is our Strong Tower.   It is, of course, an illustration.  A strong tower is something that the ancients built in order to defend themselves from their enemies.  I don't know if you have seen some of these large towers in different parts of Europe, such as in the Highlands of Scotland, but evidently in the days as far back as the Old Testament, when life was simple and primitive, they used to build stone structures.  They were solid, thick, almost impregnable - and when some raiding enemy came by land or sea, our ancestors would leave their fields and their flocks and they would all gather together - men, women, and children - and there they were safe.  The enemy could not get in.  It was a strong tower.

That is what this is all about - safety from the thief who comes to rob, kill and destroy.  Where do you go to get safety?  Read again the words of the passage in Proverbs 18:10, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." The Bible tells us that there is no safety except in God.  God is the safety of those who trust in Him.  If you would like to know more, please click here.

In modern times, towers are used not for defense but for communications and broadcasting.  We want to point Central Floridians to safety - especially when the storms of life come.  To do this effectively, our tower needs to be a strong tower.  Just as the ancients built strong solid structures, impregnable to their enemies, we too want to build a strong tower broadcasting far and wide the Good News of redemption found only in Christ's work on the cross.

Therefore, we adopted the name Strong Tower for a special 3.7 million dollar Z capital fund to finance any signal improvement project up to the eventual construction of the 100,000 watt facility, Lord willing.  Before we came up with Strong Tower as a name, I had unofficially called it "Expanding our Territories" in many past budget discussions.  You may remember the chart of "Expanding our Territories" that showcased the status of our FCC filings for new stations, translators, the power increase, etc.

Each one of these campaigns, Strong Tower, Phase One (last year,) Strong Tower - Phase Two, Take Two (this year) funds just part of the total picture as we work towards the goal of expanding the Kingdom of God.  It is simply amazing how God has guided and directed our steps, how He has protected us and given us wisdom far beyond ourselves for His glory alone.  Everyday we rejoice and marvel in His gift of Z88.3 to all of us, the Body of Christ in Central Florida and around the world and just want to see it get even "louder"!

If you would like to join us, click here to log in to our secure server.  Once in, select Strong Tower as the campaign.  If you mail in a check, please note "Strong Tower" in the memo so we can credit your gift to this fund.  If you need our mailing address, click here.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to give me a call during office hours, (407) 869-8000 or me anytime.

Your partnership is vital to the success of this ministry!

God bless you!

    Jim

James S. Hoge,
Z’s President

A Special P.S. -- The Saga of Phase Two, Take Two

In May of last year and after a nine year wait, the FCC granted a power increase from 2,300 watts to 15,000 watts.  This increase would have added 259,000 people to Z-Land.  Within days after the grant, we raised over $440,000 towards the construction of this facility.  Unfortunately, the facility granted required a directional antenna.

Normally, this isn't a problem, but a trip to the antenna manufacturer last winter yielded a design that wasn't practical as it couldn't provide adequate coverage over downtown Orlando.  An antenna that could provide enough coverage weighed in at over 2,000 pounds and even then, there was no guarantee of better coverage over that of the existing non-directional antenna.  Further, this antenna could not be supported by the tower without serious structural modifications.

Rather than spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an "iffy" antenna and structural modifications on a tower we don't even own, our board decided the best course of action was to continue to improve the "allocation" to where we can purchase a much cheaper and lighter non-directional antenna that the tower can easily support.  "Allocation" is a technical term for area of permitted coverage.  The bigger the allocation, the more power one is allowed in order to fill the area.  If one's allocation is irregular in shape, then a directional antenna is often required to properly fill the allocation.  However, if one acquires facilities in distant towns that are either on or near the assigned frequency, one can make the allocation larger and/or more circular in shape. Fixing the allocation simplifies the antenna design, but most importantly it puts 460,000 persons in excellent city grade coverage!

Let's Expand the Church!

The best way to look at this is the same way one would look at a church expansion project where the church body is praying for bigger facilities to serve a growing neighborhood.  However, the property it occupies is too small for any expansion but the current location is central to the neighborhood.  Therefore, not wishing to relocate, their only option is to simply buy up the lot or lots around them in order to build.  The trick is getting the property owners around them to sell.

Herein lies the miracle we have witnessed of our God working supernaturally in motivating the owners of these facilities ("lots") to sell to us and at a price we can afford!  For years we have been calling these stations just to have our offers rejected.  As a staff, we have been praying that God would move in their hearts if it was His will.  Always at the right time, we received a call where one of these owners has had a sudden change of heart and was willing to sell.  This is what happened last summer when we purchased a station in Sebring and again just weeks ago with the purchase of a station on the west coast of Florida.

The facilities in Sebring and the west coast, along with the licenses of 88.1 FM WEAZ in Holly Hill and 88.5 FM WHYZ in Palm Bay, were turned back in to the FCC for the massive increase for 88.3 WPOZ --and best of all, unlike last year, this increase is with a non-directional antenna which means everyone benefits.

For Palm Bay/ Melbourne, God provided a translator station W250BH (97.9 FM) Melbourne/Palm Bay.  Providentially, we were able to locate the translator on an adjacent tower to WHYZ and to our surprise, the coverage is essentially the same as WHYZ, the 88.5 facility that was turned off.  If you live in the Palm Bay or Melbourne communities, please re-tune your clock radios to 97.9 FM.

Up the coast, in Holly Hill, Daytona and Ormond Beach, our God has provided a new facility on 91.1 FM.  From our research, most of the listening to WEAZ 88.1 FM is where the current coverage of the 88.3 "runs out of gas" north of LPGA Boulevard (11th Street).  We have many listeners and supporters particularly in Ormond Beach, Ormond-by-the-Sea and Wilbur-by-the-Sea communities who depend exclusively on the 88.1 WEAZ signal.  First, the improvement to 88.3 FM should push coverage up past Ormond Beach.

Second, in 1999, we filed an application for 91.1 FM to serve the city of Palm Coast.  Last summer, it was hoped that the FCC would grant this facility to be constructed as it would provide coverage down the coast into these communities as well as providing much improved EAS coverage over fast growing Palm Coast, Bunnell and all of Flagler County, one of the eight Central Florida counties we are responsible for alerting.

The 91.1 FM Palm Coast facility was granted, but to a competing applicant!  Our attorneys asked the FCC for reconsideration, and in February last year, the FCC reversed it's decision and granted this new facility to us. This can be nothing but GOD!  To read the FCC decision in our case click here.  To see the granted construction permit for Palm Coast, click here.

It was hoped to have the 91.1 on the air before we had to shut off 88.1 WEAZ for the power increase, but it just didn't work out as planned.  There more technical and legal hurtles than we had staff, money or hours in the day to get it all done, but now that phase Two, Take Two, is accomplished, we are working hard to get this new facility up and running just as soon as we can.   By the way, the call letters for the new station are WHYZ which was rescued from the 88.5 in Palm Bay before it was deleted.  These are my favorite calls as they spell, at least phonetically, "His".  And, that it is!

The Scriptures quoted are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan.  All rights reserved.