• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

1280 AM WBIG STA

It hasn't been the same, since it became the sister station of 1530. That was over the last 1-2 years. Do you see a pattern with his stations? Something similar happened, during COVID (2021 or '22). I'm surprised both stations are still around. Will 1280 get the extension? We'll have to stay tuned and find out.
 
It hasn't been the same, since it became the sister station of 1530. That was over the last 1-2 years. Do you see a pattern with his stations? Something similar happened, during COVID (2021 or '22). I'm surprised both stations are still around. Will 1280 get the extension? We'll have to stay tuned and find out.
The FCC will grant the STA request just like they have done in multiple cases with WRDZ 1300. I'm not defending this owner, but it's important to remember that when they purchased the station it was understood there was no tower site that was included with it. The $50,000 sale price was mainly for the FM translator since the AM license is essentially worthless but necessary for the operation of the translator.
 
The FCC will grant the STA request just like they have done in multiple cases with WRDZ 1300. I'm not defending this owner, but it's important to remember that when they purchased the station it was understood there was no tower site that was included with it. The $50,000 sale price was mainly for the FM translator since the AM license is essentially worthless but necessary for the operation of the translator.
Hopefully in the future the FCC will see the foolishness of these maneuvers and just allow the FM translator to exist as a originating station.
 
WBIG is back on the air (probably today, I don’t check every day) with their STA of 250 watts daytime. Good signal on Honda infotainment. An okay signal on my Sangean HDR-16. Will see how well it’s received in the Bartlett, IL area at night with 125 watts. Likely will be clobbered by Evansville, Montreal and Neenah-Menasha.
 
Weak signal here at Wood Dale, IL at 9:30 AM.
 
It's the FCC's and NAB's fault for not expanding or not objecting to expand the FM band or changing 2nd and 3rd adjacent rules, etc. years ago, to accommodate more full power FMs like Canada and Mexico did, and probably worldwide.

The best use for the translators is for small towns. In a market like Chicago, there's no way a translator can compete with even the predicted AM service areas. According the the late Glen Clark, Chicago is the closest to M-3 of any area he had experience with.
 
It's the FCC's and NAB's fault for not expanding or not objecting to expand the FM band or changing 2nd and 3rd adjacent rules, etc. years ago, to accommodate more full power FMs like Canada and Mexico did, and probably worldwide.

The best use for the translators is for small towns. In a market like Chicago, there's no way a translator can compete with even the predicted AM service areas. According the the late Glen Clark, Chicago is the closest to M-3 of any area he had experience with.
Not enough people were going to buy a new radio to make it worthwhile for companies to produce, even if the FCC had expanded the band. How many people bought expanded band FM/AM radios when the FCC expanded AM?
 
Not enough people were going to buy a new radio to make it worthwhile for companies to produce, even if the FCC had expanded the band. How many people bought expanded band FM/AM radios when the FCC expanded AM?
However, Mexico and Canada have done so by changing Domestic Rules for 2nd and 3rd Adjacents. It's too late given all the translator drop ins, many whose antennas are on TV broadcast towers, and cause de facto interference to stations in nearby markets. Many translators are also owned by big station owners now, who would squawk to stay on.
 
It hasn't been the same, since it became the sister station of 1530. That was over the last 1-2 years. Do you see a pattern with his stations? Something similar happened, during COVID (2021 or '22). I'm surprised both stations are still around. Will 1280 get the extension? We'll have to stay tuned and find out.
Make fun of him if you want, but I give him credit for being an entrepreneur, in a challenging business, that he obviously enjoys.
 


Back
Top Bottom