Technical Profile: WTID

FM Technical Profile: WTID

Station Name:: The Joy FM
Frequency:: 101.7
Format:: Christian Contemporary
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] Just inside the Graceville city limits, southwest of the intersection of FL-2 and Ezell Rd.
Power (ERP):: 6 kW
14 kW (CP)
Antenna:: Omni
Antenna HAAT:: 328 feet
321 feet (CP)
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Facebook]
[Article] From the Jackson County Floridian on the storm damage to the radio station, with pictures.
[Studio] Street View imagery for the station's studio on US-90 in Marianna.
Owner:: Radio Training Network
History:: GFR, Inc. was granted a construction permit for a new FM radio station in the Marianna, Florida area in December 1990. The Class A facility was granted for 102.1 MHz, licensed to Graceville. GFR, Inc. could not get the station built out in time, and despite several extensions of time to complete the project, the permit expired. In 1994, they re-applied and got another permit, and then modified it for 6 kW on 101.7 MHz. The station finally signed on as WYDA in December 1996, six years after the first construction permit was issued. The format was Adult Contemporary.

By the year 2000, the station was trying its hand as a CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) format. That only lasted a few years; in 2002 the station flipped to a simulcast of sister station WTOT and its Citadel satellite-fed "Timeless Standards" Big Band/Standards music format. With the format change, the call sign changed to WTOT-FM. This marks the second station to have those calls. The original WTOT-FM is now WJAQ and owned by a different company. The station may have tried a (short-lived) stint as News/Talk around 2007, but was back to Standards again within a year or so.

When Citadel announced the end of their satellite-fed programming choices, the AM and FM stations had to find something new. The owners opted for Religious programming, which debuted in early February 2010. Also gone was the long-running six day a week R&B show hosted by local musician Melvin "Smokehouse" Moore. The religious programming didn't last; after a few years they tried Oldies music as "Oldies 101.7". It later morphed to more a Classic Hits format by February 2015. It's possible that during this period, the station simulcast WTOT AM.

The license was transferred from MFR, Inc. to Jackson Radio Group in April 2015, but it appears it either was never consummated or there was another issue that scuttled the sale. The Oldies format as of January 2017 is reported to be Westwood One's "Good Time Oldies" feed. In early February 2017, the AM and FM along with WJAQ were all knocked off the air due to storm damage to the AM transmitter tower, from a line of severe thunderstorms. The tower was replaced in May 2017, and the station was back on before that month was up.

In the summer of 2019, a lawn maintenance crewman ran into the tower and knocked it down, taking the station off the air.

The station was reported back on the air in May 2020 with Oldies music. In August 2020, the call sign changed to WTID. This call sign had previously been camped out on a station in Thomaston, Alabama, before it was moved over to WTOT's AM sister station, where it lived for a short time before moving here.

In September 2021, GFR, Inc., sold the station to Radio Training Network for $250,000. They began airing the Joy FM Religious music network in early January 2022. That same month they applied to take the station noncommercial and applied to raise transmitter power and correct the station's tower coordinates. The upgrade permit was granted in March 2022, and when built out will provide a 60 dBu signal to Dothan.