1560 WQXR was 10kw directional with three towers prior to 1955, so 10kw ND is probably a non-starter for the station today.
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If 1560 still needs to protect the station in Bakersfield, California, a location West of the Metro would make sense. The Clifton location would deserve some type of consideration since 930 and 1560 is spaced far enough in frequency to diplex and still make the Eastern directional radiation for The City.
I still see one of the swamp locations, in the end.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
I still see one of the swamp locations, in the end.
Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
The needed channel separation is much less today than in the past, due to better component design and computer modeling for the tuning. 20 years ago Clear Channel put 1150 on the same towers as KTNQ on 1020.... just 130 kHz apart. I'm told that stations as close as 70 to 80 kHz could be made to work, but the very high Q tuning might make the bandwidth a bit tight and the high frequency roll-off could be considerable.
Cuba is today, with Chinese assistance, putting four and five AMs on a single tower in the bigger cities. It's doable, particularly if you have a "big brother" to pay for it.
Sad end to 1560 in New York. In my childhood, that frequency was occupied by WQXR, the classical music station owned by The New York Times. It was audible, barely, in suburban Boston at night, with lots of flutter and interference,
@ PT94 : Coupla questions ....
When did Doylestown 1570 first come on the air originally ? Your post indicates that 'WQXR' was 3-tower directional at 10,000 watts during the day in 1955. If WBUX was already broadcasting, then WQXR's decades-old null is somewhat understandable. And when they'd gone to 50,000 watts, that daytime null is five times more understandable. But I can't find any history on 1570 (now WISP)
Perhaps some here knows.....
@ The Big A, or whomever :
What goes next on 1560 ? Can there be a 'next' or is this the end of anything at all on 1560 ? I'd heard sometime ago, maybe even as far back as the George W Bush years, that the FCC essentially shredded applications for new startup AM stations.
If an applicant is approved, for whatever reason, as a hobby or as a Number One market image 'claim', 5000 watts omni ought to suffice. Perhaps 2500 omni. They'd only need one tower to duplex off (or whatever the project is called)
But the folks at Family Radio can't be done counting all of the $51 million they found in their poor box. What was their hurry to shut down ? Maybe another Rapture is coming ?
Feb 12th-to-whenever should be interesting DX. I was able to the log six new stations on 1560 and one on 1570 in the vacuum from WQEW's farewell and WFME's first offertory -- in what would be exactly 5 years ago.
When did Doylestown 1570 first come on the air originally ? Your post indicates that 'WQXR' was 3-tower directional at 10,000 watts during the day in 1955. If WBUX was already broadcasting, then WQXR's decades-old null is somewhat understandable. And when they'd gone to 50,000 watts, that daytime null is five times more understandable. But I can't find any history on 1570 (now WISP)
Perhaps some here knows.....
@ The Big A, or whomever :
What goes next on 1560 ? Can there be a 'next' or is this the end of anything at all on 1560 ? I'd heard sometime ago, maybe even as far back as the George W Bush years, that the FCC essentially shredded applications for new startup AM stations.
If an applicant is approved, for whatever reason, as a hobby or as a Number One market image 'claim', 5000 watts omni ought to suffice. Perhaps 2500 omni. They'd only need one tower to duplex off (or whatever the project is called)
But the folks at Family Radio can't be done counting all of the $51 million they found in their poor box. What was their hurry to shut down ? Maybe another Rapture is coming ?
Feb 12th-to-whenever should be interesting DX. I was able to the log six new stations on 1560 and one on 1570 in the vacuum from WQEW's farewell and WFME's first offertory -- in what would be exactly 5 years ago.
There is still an opportunity for them to relocate the station to one of the AM sites in NJ where the signal could be improved; it has to protect to the west, so moving westward is a good thing.
As long as they sign a deal and take verifiable steps to rebuild, the station can remain silent.
Rebuilding elsewhere is a better solution than buying another station. Of course, the real issue is whether they want any station anymore.
It depends on the action Family Radio takes. I haven't seen any filing yet with the FCC. Are they going silent? Are they turning in the license, or are they selling the license to someone else? We don't know yet.
If they sell the station, it won't include the tower site, because it was sold last month. So whoever gets the license will need to find a new tower site.
Why? WLIB has a good signal day and night. WNBM could return Family Radio to FM. If Family does a LMA on either, they could continue broadcasting uninterrupted past the date in February when they plan to shut down WFME AM.
The religious broadcaster could also receive some money for selling the WFME license.
Buying a licensed station is going to be much more expensive than building a new installation at a diplexed site.
My point is that they have a license for 1560. Most of the value of a station is the license, not the physical facility other than the land. If they diplex, they simply will rent usage.
There is no FM available that would have anywhere near a comparable signal to that of 1560 and might be within the price covered by the sale.
1570's sign-on is given as 1948.
I actually went and re-read the history cards for WQXR/WFME. It looks like they had a construction permit for 10kW directional issued prior to WW2, but it was initially delayed by the war and never built. So it looks like my prior statement that the 10kW operation was directional in the early 1950s was wrong. They were 10kW days / 1kW nights non-D up to about 1956 or 57, when they completed a 3 tower directional array that permitted 50kW.
Remember that up until the time of the NARBA reassignment there were only a couple of US stations above 1500. Bakersfield and NYC were not yet on 1560...
See https://worldradiohistory.com/Archi...e-Whites/Whites Vol 17 No 5 1940 November.pdf for the listing above 1500.
See the post-NARBA assignments at https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/Archive-Whites/Whites Vol 18 No 5 1941 May.pdf
WQXR was now assigned to 1560 from the old frequency, and the 1510 to 1600 part of the band began being populated.
See more listings at RADIO LOG BOOKS - Radio station logbooks and listings from 1923 to 2010.
See https://worldradiohistory.com/Archi...e-Whites/Whites Vol 17 No 5 1940 November.pdf for the listing above 1500.
See the post-NARBA assignments at https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/Archive-Whites/Whites Vol 18 No 5 1941 May.pdf
WQXR was now assigned to 1560 from the old frequency, and the 1510 to 1600 part of the band began being populated.
See more listings at RADIO LOG BOOKS - Radio station logbooks and listings from 1923 to 2010.
I thought WFME had an agreement allowing them to keep using their current transmitter site until they find a new one. That sure changed fast.
Perhaps they opted out. Several things could have happened, such as getting an extra quick release payment, or having decided that they no longer want to be on an AM radio station or... (fill in the blank yourself).
Perhaps Family has in mind using the strategy like that Long Island station on 740 did, or that guy from upstate Catskill NY on 560.
Turn 1560 off at sunrise on February 12th .... wait for someone to buy it ...... file an STA with the FCC .... look for a new omni tower and file that, too. And if no benefactor comes along before February 11th 2022, turn the station back on, before the year of, uh, grace is up -- before the license turns into a pumpkin.
File, rinse and repeat.
I've been away from FCC filing about 10 years now, so I'm unaware if shenanigans like those moves still 'go'. Someone -- anyone here -- will have a better grasp on those actions than I do now. And paraphrasing The Big A suggestion, 'It ain't begun until it's begun'.
Turn 1560 off at sunrise on February 12th .... wait for someone to buy it ...... file an STA with the FCC .... look for a new omni tower and file that, too. And if no benefactor comes along before February 11th 2022, turn the station back on, before the year of, uh, grace is up -- before the license turns into a pumpkin.
File, rinse and repeat.
I've been away from FCC filing about 10 years now, so I'm unaware if shenanigans like those moves still 'go'. Someone -- anyone here -- will have a better grasp on those actions than I do now. And paraphrasing The Big A suggestion, 'It ain't begun until it's begun'.
Or, they can file over and over as long as they are building a new location. The FCC has allowed stations to be silent for years when issues regarding engineering, construction, zoning and permits have made it slow going. As long as documented progress is being made, they will hold the license.
J
Joylovepulse967
Guest
What time on February 12 ?
The one thing they tend not have a great deal of patience for is stations continually citing "financial reasons" in STAs over and over.
However, this will not be an issue for Family Radio, who have both the $51 million from the AM tower site sale and whatever is left of the $40 million from the 94.7 sale. If someone said to me "here's $51 million, you can either go find a new tower site and continue to run an AM radio station, or you can take your $51 million and live on a beach in Tahiti being served pina coladas by hunky waiters for the rest of your days" I'd get on the plane. But I'm not a religious proselytizing radio station owner!
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