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1010 WINS New York

A

alok

I'm hooked on 1010 WINS , even today as All-News ,they were NYC's first RnR station bringing Alan Freed from Cleveland to NYC ,Sept,1954.
To this day,when I am in the NYC area I try to make a stop at the WINS transmitter site in Lyndhurst,NJ, There is usually an engineer out at the site during the day. I was around there too in the 90's when WINS was putting up new towers.
They had 4 short in-line towers at 50kw ,but did not have a decent signal west of the site,where I grew up in northern NJ WINS was OK ,but if you were in a car driving around . . . well not too good.
They had to protect Toronto ,Little Rock and if I recall correctly at the time Cuba,as well as some daytimers west of NYC.
WINS had a GREAT signal over NYC and to the east.
In the mid 90's or so the 4 in-towers came down and 4 taller towers in a parallerogram configuration went up,they would use the backup tower at WABC in Lodi while the work was progressing on the WINS site ,during the day , with the WABC backup tower they ran 10kw non-directional.
To make this change happen WINS and the Toronto station 1010 CFRB purchased the Little Rock station on 1010 and took it off the air,plus if I recall correctly afew daytimers west of NYC and south/southwest of Toronto.
In the end WINS put out more signal west of NYC both day & night and CFRB put out more signal south/southwest. Naturally WINS continued to put a LOUD signal over NYC and east.
The WINS transmitter supervisor at the time ,Ken ( last name I forget ) told me that there was talk ( by Westinghouse,WINS owner at the time ) to do what KDKA ( also owned by Westinghouse ) did ,seems when KDKA put up a new tower in I think the late 80's / early 90's, they cut the old tower into pieces and sold them as souvenirs . . . since KDKA had so much history. WINS was going to do the same since it was NYC's first RnR station and Alan Freed was on it. But they never did it.
I listened to WINS in the 50's and early 60's they did good in the ratings after they went RnR . . . but when WABC 770 came along at the end of 1960 switching to RnR ,the first to give up on RnR was 1050 WMGM in 1962 ,then in April,1965 - 1010 WINS went ALL-NEWS ALL THE TIME !

Al
 
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Looking at the FCC's on line AM Query I do not see much in the way of nighttime coverage to the west for WINS.
 
I am guessing that Bermuda gets from WINS the equivalent of a 100,000 watt nondirectional station. The signal is enhanced a little in the favored direction (lobe) of a directional station and also carries further over water. WINS has had approximately this NNE to E to SSE night pattern as far back as the 1960's and perhaps further back when they went 50,000 watts.

I remember Murray "the K" Kaufman's Swinging Soire'e on WINS back in the 1960's. Being from Boston I had plenty of local RnR stations e.g. WMEX, WBZ, later WRKO, so did not listen to WINS that much. A few years later an album was issued in Murray's honor but this was a re-issue of selected hits from Murray's heyday, not a portion of a show (an aircheck).
 
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Your right, ajaynejr,

WINS still does not put much signal west, but with the 4 tower in-line array they had it was worst then it is now. The 4 tower in- line array had a big lobe east over NYC . . . equivilent to about 250kw. On the back they had 4 small narrow lobes that maxed out to 1kw each and there were 5 very deep nulls. If you were located west of array in a house or stationary and in the right spot listening to 1010 things was OK,up to say about Livingston,NJ ( and that general area ) to the west . . . if you were driving in a car west of the array , and in the right areas you'd end up going thru at least one of the 5 nulls. The west signal now at night goes from about 200 watts to about 1 kw on the back of pattern with only one really deep null at CFRB 1010 Toronto. There are 3 others nulls , most not deep.
They now operate DA-2 ,during the day they put out from 1500 watts to 10kw to the west /SE & NW. East over NYC they are around 200kw now . When they had the 4 tower in-line array they were DA-1 ( same pattern day & night ) . . . the signal on the back ( west ) is much better now day & nights ,then it use to be.

Al
 
The westward expansion of WINS's daytime signal was made possible by WRNJ in Hackettstown, NJ moving from 1000 to 1510 kHz. (But WRNJ still has "1000" in their phone number and P.O. Box, a legacy of their former frequency.)
 
ajaynejr said:
Looking at the FCC's on line AM Query I do not see much in the way of nighttime coverage to the west for WINS.
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They're not much to the northeast either. WCBS and WFAN blast into central Connecticut 24/7, WINS is inferior to both in the daytime, downright weak (though not as weak as WEPN) at night.
 
I am not sure of what makes or breaks the station's coverage. Looking at the night pattern, I would have judged that WINS, at least on paper, puts a decent (not spectacular) signal to the northeast.
 
I am in Nashua NH which looks like a straight line from NYC through Hartford CT. I get WINS quite well at night, sometimes "loud" enough that I accidentally tune to it when I want "local" WBZ 1030.

Hmmmm. When groundwave and skywave cancel, does that happen always in the same places (over the same towns)?
 
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I hear them on occasion here in Western NC, but not often. I did get a QSL from them about 25 years ago. Not sure if that was after the tower changes.
 
ajaynejr said:
I am not sure of what makes or breaks the station's coverage. Looking at the night pattern, I would have judged that WINS, at least on paper, puts a decent (not spectacular) signal to the northeast.
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You are right. I'm not sure why I recalled WINS as such a poor performer here in central Connecticut, but I gave it a try on the car radio yesterday and it had, as you say, a decent signal, more like WABC's than anything close to WEPN's. At my location, I'd rank the NYC 50kw stations this way:
1. 880
2. 660
3. 1130
4. 1010
5. 770
6. 710
7. 1050

I didn't check 1560 because I'm unsure of its status. Is it on the air and if so, is it still 50kw?
 
1560 is currently dark. They have an STA that appears to be for 25% of licensed power, so 12.5kW days 2.5kW nights, non-directional from a tower site in northern New Jersey.
 
Coming a little further north to the Massachusetts/New Hampshire boarder, I'd say the top three in night time reception are 1.) WFAN, 2.) WCBS, 3.) WABC. We do get WINS, and I do listen if I can while driving, but its less clear around here.
 
I'm in northwest NJ near the PA border and WINS is basically inaudible here, night or day. WCBS 880 comes in halfway decent. The blowtorch for NW Jersey is 710 WOR, always very strong. 770 WABC generally OK too, but all this week barely audible, wonder if weather related or are they doing work on the transmitter ?
 
More veterans exit:

Juliet Papa notes long time editors Ronnie Stern and Jack Conceicao have exited 1010 WINS after 40+ years.

Juliet Papa on Twitter: "My congratulations to two @1010WINS names you know: "Ronnie Stern , and Jack Conceicao at the editor's desk." They have signed off for the final time, after giving New Yorkers the news for 40 plus years - each! We 've shared so much together. My heartfelt love and thanks xxx https://t.co/pGYQzrvn0P" / Twitter

Jack notes on his twitter that he'll be back after a pause. Sounds like he has to sit out for a bit before he can return on a freelance basis.

Glenn Schuck notes that AM Drive writer Tom Offer has also retired:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1418730540430241795
 
My understanding is that WINS's parent company at the time, Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting) bought a station at 1010 in Little Rock, KLRA. It had been 10,000 watts days and 5,000 watts nights. Upon purchase, Group W took it silent so there would be no 1010 in that part of the U.S., giving WINS a bigger signal.

I don't think CFRB was involved, since a Canadian company would not be able to buy a U.S. radio station. But I'm sure CFRB was happy KLRA was off the air.

When I've been in Upstate New York or in New England at night, it's always a gamble about which station you will hear on 1010, WINS or CFRB. Sometime WINS is stronger. Then you wait 15 minutes and you'd hear CFRB. Or WINS would be clear, then another time CFRB would be fighting with it. I wonder how the FCC and its Canadian counterpart allowed two 50,000 watt stations to be on the same frequency with only about 350 miles between them?

I am frequently in New Hampshire and, at night, the best NYC signals are, in order, 660 WFAN, 880 WCBS, 1130 WBBR, 770 WABC, 710 WOR, 1010 WINS, 1560 WFME and 570 WMCA. WBBR at times can be heard even before sunset. When I was in Nova Scotia, WBBR was the first NYC station I'd hear at night and the last to go in the morning, sometimes audible as late as 8 a.m. There are no AM stations in Nova Scotia, so WBBR and WBZ Boston would sometimes be the only stations on the entire dial.
 
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Gregg. said:
My understanding is that WINS's parent company at the time, Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting) bought a station at 1010 in Little Rock, KLRA. It had been 10,000 watts days and 5,000 watts nights. Upon purchase, Group W took it silent so there would be no 1010 in that part of the U.S., giving WINS a bigger signal.

I don't think CFRB was involved, since a Canadian company would not be able to buy a U.S. radio station. But I'm sure CFRB was happy KLRA was off the air.

When I've been in Upstate New York or in New England at night, it's always a gamble about which station you will hear on 1010, WINS or CFRB. Sometime WINS is stronger. Then you wait 15 minutes and you'd hear CFRB. Or WINS would be clear, then another time CFRB would be fighting with it. I wonder how the FCC and its Canadian counterpart allowed two 50,000 watt stations to be on the same frequency with only about 350 miles between them?

I am frequently in New Hampshire and, at night, the best NYC signals are, in order, 660 WFAN, 880 WCBS, 1130 WBBR, 770 WABC, 710 WOR, 1010 WINS, 1560 WFME and 570 WMCA. WBBR at times can be heard even before sunset. When I was in Nova Scotia, WBBR was the first NYC station I'd hear at night and the last to go in the morning, sometimes audible as late as 8 a.m. There are no AM stations in Nova Scotia, so WBBR and WBZ Boston would sometimes be the only stations on the entire dial.
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Same situation with 1050 CHUM and WHN (now WEPN I think). I'd hear CHUM's top 40 and WHN's country beating each other up, with neither dominating
 
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