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Hypothetical Question about directional AM // 1110

amos1001

amos1001

Just a hypothetical question, i know this isn't actually relevant. But if the AM band had kept the popularity it once had, even after FM grew in popularity could a station like WBT have done anything? I'm not sure of the date, but I'm thinking it was sometime in the mid to late 70s that Gastonia became part of the Charlotte Arbitron. When that happened, WBT wasn't listenable in a part of the market. What I'm about to ask would certainly not be considered now, but IF the AM listeners were still there just like back then, could WBT have re-engineered 1110 to move it's directional antenna to somewhere in the western area? For instance, somewhere like Kings Mountain? That way there would still be a null toward KFAB, but with a day and night city grade signal over all of the Charlotte market, including Gastonia, Rock Hill and Monroe.
Again, I'm not talking about now. As so many others have said, AM is dead or dying. But could that have worked? Or would it either have been impossible from an FCC/engineering point of view? Or maybe just too expensive?
Like so many other markets, WBT would have certainly gone to FM sooner or later. But how different would it be if sometime in the 70s they had moved the towers to western Gaston County?
 
This many years after the fact, I don't think there's any way to construct a reasonable answer. We'd need a reasonably accurate engineering study based on what facilities existed at the time on 1110 and adjacent frequencies, and any such data has long since disappeared.

Your description sounds technically feasible on its face, but the timeline might have already excluded such a move in terms of cost vs. results. (As in, would ad revenue increase enough?)
 
I think when you look at what they FCC was trying to do in the 70s, they were more interested in licensing new, lower power AM stations rather than expand the signals of existing ones. In fact it was around that time that the FCC changed some of the rules about clear channel AMs, mainly to accommodate the licensing of new stations. Nobody was taking into account the growth of the suburbs. This was a huge problem for AMs in LA. But just about every city experienced a population shift in the 70s from downtown to the suburbs.
 
There's a limit on how far west WBT could have moved in the 1970s, when the rules still required a 25 mV/m signal over the central business district of the city of license. The ground conductivity around Charlotte is at best mediocre, and taking the site as far west as Kings Mountain might have provided 5 mV/m (the current required level) over all of Charlotte, but probably not 25 over the middle of town.

Even in the 70s, moving a high-power AM DA was an expensive proposition, with the prospect of zoning issues and delays.

Would it have bought 1110 a few more years? Maybe, but only a few more years. Even the AMs with the very best signals in the country are still on borrowed time in 2026.
 
Let's not forget that WBT had WBTA in Shelby, a synchronized repeater also on 1110. It counted as a "station" in the FCC 7 station cap, so at some point they made the decision to turn in the license.
 
davideduardo said:
Let's not forget that WBT had WBTA in Shelby, a synchronized repeater also on 1110. It counted as a "station" in the FCC 7 station cap, so at some point they made the decision to turn in the license.
Click to expand...

I think you're mixing up the WBT booster and WBZ/WBZA. Westinghouse did indeed kill off WBZA in 1962 so it could acquire WINS under the cap.

The WBT booster never had the formal "WBTA" calls that I can find (those calls have been near me in Batavia NY since 1940), and I don't believe Jeff-Pilot ever came close to the 7-station radio limit in the days when it had the booster on the air.
 
fybush said:
There's a limit on how far west WBT could have moved in the 1970s, when the rules still required a 25 mV/m signal over the central business district of the city of license. The ground conductivity around Charlotte is at best mediocre, and taking the site as far west as Kings Mountain might have provided 5 mV/m (the current required level) over all of Charlotte, but probably not 25 over the middle of town.

Even in the 70s, moving a high-power AM DA was an expensive proposition, with the prospect of zoning issues and delays.

Would it have bought 1110 a few more years? Maybe, but only a few more years. Even the AMs with the very best signals in the country are still on borrowed time in 2026.
Click to expand...
Plus you have the Charlotte airport on that side of town. I checked the county tax office real estate site. The transmitter site’s 19 acres is still owned by Lincoln Financial Media( formerly known as Jefferson Pilot). The tax value is $3.5 million.
 
davideduardo said:
Let's not forget that WBT had WBTA in Shelby, a synchronized repeater also on 1110. It counted as a "station" in the FCC 7 station cap, so at some point they made the decision to turn in the license.
Click to expand...
The stations in South Florida did this moving further West. WBT is only directional at night and I'm not sure how much listening takes place at night.

From the WBT engineers I know, they said the Shelby repeater wasn't very effective. When it went off the air and the station didn't receive a single call about it the decision was made to end the repeater's operation...the end.
 
The phone number heard up and down the eastern seaboard at night for over 45 years has been disconnected 704-570-1110.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
The phone number heard up and down the eastern seaboard at night for over 45 years has been disconnected 704-570-1110.
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WBT and WFNZ are now the only radio stations left with 704-570 numbers or “choke lines”. The choke exchange uses separate ports so that the phone system doesn’t get jammed from all the calls at once. I wonder why stations are moving away from that?
 
CLTRadio said:
WBT and WFNZ are now the only radio stations left with 704-570 numbers or “choke lines”. The choke exchange uses separate ports so that the phone system doesn’t get jammed from all the calls at once. I wonder why stations are moving away from that?
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A lot of people text/email/tweet/post on Facebook to comment during shows, rather than calling in. If they run contests, most have "text to enter" numbers.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
The phone number heard up and down the eastern seaboard at night for over 45 years has been disconnected 704-570-1110.
Click to expand...
WHAT? I talked with a phone screener via that number, just a few weeks ago. I remember hearing/calling that number, since I was a kid in NC. Maybe it's just me (don't think so though), but that's plumb sad.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
davideduardo said:
Let's not forget that WBT had WBTA in Shelby, a synchronized repeater also on 1110. It counted as a "station" in the FCC 7 station cap, so at some point they made the decision to turn in the license.
Click to expand...
When WBT-FM originally signed on at 107.9, I wonder if it was ever considered as a western simulcast of 1110-AM? I believe it originated as a beautiful music format, before changing to WBCY and later WLNK under various rock, hit music, and AC formats.

Nevertheless, major Charlotte radio and TV broadcasters moved to taller towers in western Gaston County, including WBTV, WCNC, and WJZY on the TV side, and 107.9, 95.1, and 96.1 on the radio side. And as the strongest leading news station, I never understood why WSOC-TV declined to locate to a taller tower in Gaston County, as it would give them a stronger signal and wider coverage area more similar to WBTV.
 
fybush said:
There's a limit on how far west WBT could have moved in the 1970s, when the rules still required a 25 mV/m signal over the central business district of the city of license. The ground conductivity around Charlotte is at best mediocre, and taking the site as far west as Kings Mountain might have provided 5 mV/m (the current required level) over all of Charlotte, but probably not 25 over the middle of town.

Even in the 70s, moving a high-power AM DA was an expensive proposition, with the prospect of zoning issues and delays.

Would it have bought 1110 a few more years? Maybe, but only a few more years. Even the AMs with the very best signals in the country are still on borrowed time in 2026.
Click to expand...
I have trouble with WBT even 40 miles east. I would get KMOX St. Louis at 1120 better, and there was also a station in Cleveland at 1100.
 
tylerSC said:
Nevertheless, major Charlotte radio and TV broadcasters moved to taller towers in western Gaston County, including WBTV, WCNC, and WJZY on the TV side, and 107.9, 95.1, and 96.1 on the radio side. And as the strongest leading news station, I never understood why WSOC-TV declined to locate to a taller tower in Gaston County, as it would give them a stronger signal and wider coverage area more similar to WBTV.
Click to expand...
Ironically, I can't pick up WSOC-TV without cable. WCCB usually does fine. WXLV gives me a good signal.
 
A lot of the choke lines were/are old copper lines or ISDN's, telco's started charging outrageous amounts for them, mainly to push broadcasters and anybody else off of those lines, and refusing to allow porting of the number. so sadly they are going away.
 


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