Status of WFME 1560?

[Barry]

Fact is, WRCR is now up for sale. The top ad at this site:
Radio Station for Sale
is referring to WRCR. The wording has changed since it first went up about 10 days ago, and most notably, the price has dropped from $950k to $799k. But it’s WRCR.
As for secondchoice’s suggestion that perhaps a translator could be in the future, Scott could say with more certainty, but in the NYC area, just about all translator options have been exhausted. That ship has sailed.

Even if WRCR sells for the asking price (instead of a smaller amount), this would probably be a huge lost for the owner, given the funds that were needed to rebuild the station for the higher frequency, and then to relocate it several times.
The ad linked in the post above suggests that the station is suitable for a religious broadcaster, or for brokering. But most of WRCR's time is already available for lease, with few takers.

 

[luperm]

Even if WRCR sells for the asking price (instead of a smaller amount), this would probably be a huge lost for the owner, given the funds that were needed to rebuild the station for the higher frequency, and then to relocate it several times.
The ad linked in the post above suggests that the station is suitable for a religious broadcaster, or for brokering. But most of WRCR's time is already available for lease, with few takers.

It will be an even larger loss for the buyer. There's no meaningful revenue to be made.

 

[Barry]

WNYH 740 in Huntington NY is another standalone AM station in the region that is owned by an individual. It may be profitable, as they have been able to lease out all of their air time to single programmers.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

WNYH 740 in Huntington NY is another standalone AM station in the region that is owned by an individual. It may be profitable, as they have been able to lease out all of their air time to single programmers.

Brother Stair is or was on there and i can guarentee you from personal expierience, he wasnt paying much

 

[Barry]

Brother Stair is or was on there and i can guarentee you from personal expierience, he wasnt paying much

Perhaps that is the reason his Overcomer Ministry Radio is no longer on WNYH. For the past few months, they have been running Inspire, which offers Christian music to a West Indian audience.

 

[Ex-RadioTV]

Revisiting the possibility of a translator for an X-band station, for the sake of discussion:

There are no translator options, especially in Rockland.

When the FCC opened the AM "revitalization" windows, x-band AMs were excluded from applying, so WRCR inadvertently shut itself out by moving from 1300 to 1700... but there also weren't frequencies available, which is why WRKL didn't get one either.

Where is it written that an x-band station is excluded from applying for a translator? I am aware of a couple of examples where x-banders have obtained them, specifically WPTX in MD, and WEUP in AL. Both were former traditional AMs which shut off their old assignment, and moved up to X.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Where is it written that an x-band station is excluded from applying for a translator? I am aware of a couple of examples where x-banders have obtained them, specifically WPTX in MD, and WEUP in AL. Both were former traditional AMs which shut off their old assignment, and moved up to X.

X-band WTAW 1620 in Bryan/College Station, Texas has a translator on 94.5.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Revisiting the possibility of a translator for an X-band station, for the sake of discussion:

Where is it written that an x-band station is excluded from applying for a translator? I am aware of a couple of examples where x-banders have obtained them, specifically WPTX in MD, and WEUP in AL.

I believe this is because the Commission's first window originally limited FM translator applications to Class C and Class D AM broadcasters. This is per the public notice signed by chairman Ajit Pai, dated June 1, 2017. As far as I understand, all X-band licensees are Class B.

 

[Bongwater]

Is Family Radio is getting some skywave donors from their slant-wire signal? It reaches hardly anyone locally now, but there are reports on this site from DXers who are catching it at night. The programming is super old-school and targets elderly people. Maybe in this case the experiment is turning out to be a match made in...heaven.

I'm still pissed off this whole network wasn't shut down and licenses pulled after that "Judgement Day" stunt in May 2011.

 

[Rusty Muck]

By the late 90s, the AM had gone all talk. It has a great nighttime north/south signal, but no way to monetize it. Nielsen measures the local audience, and that's what they sell.

This is also the reason why WWVA brokers out their evenings and overnights to the likes of Brother Stair. IIRC it is the last iHeart-owned AM station to broker out evenings for religious fare.

It's kinda obvious now that WWVA's 50kW signal is a liability and probably should have been moved into Cleveland in 2004.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

One more nasty surprise to deter someone planning a new or upgraded AM facility. After finding a site, doing the engineering, and even building it out, the applicant gets an interference complaint from someone near the transmitter site.

Been there done that for WFME. Goddard College in Orange NJ forced them to reduce their 10,000 watts STA on the slant wire antenna down to 500 watts.

What kind of interference could a school have claimed to be caused by an AM station?

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

I'm still pissed off this whole network wasn't shut down and licenses pulled after that "Judgement Day" stunt in May 2011.

View attachment 6631

Government doesn't interfere with program content like that (thankfully).

 

[TheBigA]

What kind of interference could a school have claimed to be caused by an AM station?

There was a lengthy filing with the FCC. Here is a brief excerpt:

A NEARBY GODDARD SCHOOL REPORTED SOME INTERFERENCE TO VARIOUS ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS IN/AT THE SCHOOL, AND FSI WORKED DILIGENTLY AND COOPERATIVELY WITH THE SCHOOL TO ELIMINATE THOSE PROBLEMS AND REDUCED POWER FROM 10 KW DURING HOURS OF SCHOOL OPERATION. DUE TO THIS BLANKETING INTERFERENCE MATTER WITH THE SCHOOL, FSI REQUESTED AND THE FCC AUTHORIZED AN ENGINEERING STA TO ALLOW WFME TO OPERATE AT 2.5 KW FROM 6:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M. MON – FRI, AND 10 KW AT ALL OTHER TIMES (BESTA-20221121AAI).

The filing goes on to say they're still looking for another site:

SINCE THAT TIME, ONGOING EFFORTS HAVE CONTINUED TO INVESTIGATE OTHER PERMANENT TOWER LOCATIONS OR MEANS TO ELIMINATE THE ONGOING INTERFERENCE ISSUES WITH THE GODDARD SCHOOL PREVENTING OPERATION AT FULL LICENSED POWER. ONCE OPTIONS HAVE BEEN FINALIZED, FSI WILL PREPARE AND SUBMIT THE REQUIRED FCC APPLICATION(S). IN THE INTERIM, THE LICENSEE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS REINSTATEMENT AND AN EXTENSION OF ITS ENGINEERING STA TO OPERATE WFME AT A POWER OF 500 WATTS DURING ALL HOURS OF DAY AND NIGHTTIME OPERATIONS TO CONTINUE TO SERVE THE NEW YORK, NY COMMUNITY WITH MINIMAL IMPACT.*

 

[kevtronics]

I believe this is because the Commission's first window originally limited FM translator applications to Class C and Class D AM broadcasters. This is per the public notice signed by chairman Ajit Pai, dated June 1, 2017. As far as I understand, all X-band licensees are Class B.

1510 WRNJ in Hackettstown, NJ is a Class B station with three FM translators. But they were able to get on board earlier than most other AM stations, because two of those translators originally belonged to a co-owned FM station. Then they sold the FM license (now 107.1 WWYY) and kept the translators for the AM station. Their third FM translator was added in 2018.

Speaking of which, WRNJ just submitted an application to dismantle three of their four towers and convert from 230 watts directional at night to 5 watts non-directional, which will demote them to Class D. Their 2 kW daytime and 1.1 kW critical hours signals are both already non-directional and remain unaffected.

 

[secondchoice]

Speaking of which, WRNJ just submitted an application to dismantle three of their four towers and convert from 230 watts directional at night to 5 watts non-directional, which will demote them to Class D. Their 2 kW daytime and 1.1 kW critical hours signals are both already non-directional and remain unaffected.

I wonder is this a land is worth a hole lot more than the station deal or are they just going for a simpler operation with a smaller electric bill and no directional upkeep.

 

[kevtronics]

I wonder is this a land is worth a hole lot more than the station deal or are they just going for a simpler operation with a smaller electric bill and no directional upkeep.

The latter. In previous FCC filings they reported a nearby cell phone tower causing problems with their directional pattern.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Lemme tell ya... AM interference is a real pain in the ass.

I was involved in trying to help revive KIYU-AM 910. We did a test from the studio and at 250 Watts with an inefficient antenna, we covered the community of 400 or so, but thats it... yet RF got into everything in the studio no matter what we did.

Put a Valcom antenna in the empty lot next to us and doing some extensive work to the install might made it all work ok, but at a cost of over $30,000 for covering less than 500 people. KIYU (and KSKO) can and has built several class D FM's in the last decade for less than $10,000 each including equipment, travel and engineer costs.

Putting the tower further away from the station wouldve resulted in the problem that befell KIYU-AM.. not on city power/ They ended up turning in the AM license. Fuel was costing $60,000 plus a year for just the AM ... same reason why KSKO turned in the 870 license

 

[kc4rae]

WNSR has been using STAs for daytime use of their night site with 1125 watts for more than a decade. They may have finally got a place to diplex, but they've ran into issues.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

WNSR has been using STAs for daytime use of their night site with 1125 watts for more than a decade. They may have finally got a place to diplex, but they've ran into issues.

What happened to the day site? They had a huge signal.

 

[Ex-RadioTV]

WNSR!! Another former NYC callsign now being used elsewhere.
Lest anyone else scratch their head too much on this, today’s WNSR is an AM station, on 560 kHz, licensed to Brentwood, TN. And as kc4rae suggests, it has been operating on one STA extension after another, after another, and so on, since March 2022.
NOT New York’s Soft Rock