I wonder if this thread will get as long as the Lamptimer thread did elsewhere on the board and will be talking about instrumental MOR music on WBT for another 100 pages
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1110 New Format
- Thread starter amos1001
- Start date
It looks like the first current AM band signal was on 1080 when WBT was put there in 1928. before the nationwide move. But was on
Correct! we have a winner! I'll add the first WBT-FM was on 99.3 or 99.5 I forget. WBT turned in the license for the first WBT-FM sometime in the early '50's.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
History cards to the rescue! (Another thing @Michi did as a service when the FCC shut down CDBS ... downloading and preserving them at FCCinfo.org ... thank you, Ms. Bradley!)
1080kc (moved to 1110kc March 29, 1941).
Why would that be a bad thing? It may not be your preference, but If the market can support it, and it keeps 1110 on the air for awhile longer.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I presume you mean Spanish-language format, as there are no stations in Spain whose signals reach North Carolina. 😆
But the reality is that -- as has been discussed in this thread and countless others on RD -- the number of viable formats for a standalone AM, even one with a better than average signal, are limited. Even in larger markets than Charlotte, ethnic programming has saved stations from extinction.
Realistically, music is a near-death format for AMs without translators that cover a wide area in their market. And you can only have a finite number of spoken word stations (News. Talk, Sports ... or even Religious) before there isn't room for another.
Ethnic programming still works because -- with the exception of larger markets -- the majority are not on FM. Their audiences will still listen to AM for that reason alone; even with much of the programming aimed at the Spanish-speaking audience here in L.A. being on FM, we also have stations focused on the Iranian, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese population ... all on AM. (One of the Korean stations is even up in the expanded band at 1650.)
As Kat says, just because you don't like it doesn't mean a station shouldn't do what they have to in order to stay on the air. Or are you so prejudiced against Spanish-language stations that you would rather they go silent? Because that may well be the only other option.
Spanish language formats on AM or FM don't seem to do well in the ratings here unless I'm missing something.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You, sir, have a sadistic streak.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
According to the U.S. Census information for Charlotte, the city is 17% Hispanic/Latino. (Sorry, I couldn't find a wider geographic area, probably because I am unfamiliar with the area and don't know what to search on.)
The last 6+ PPM numbers, via Lance's site, the combined AQH for all Spanish-language stations was 1.9, so I presume the vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos are English-speakers.
So yeah, that's not a likely option for 1110.
It was on 1080 up till the NARBA reallignment.
Nielsen MSA says
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill
093 Market code
37 12+ rank
PPM PPM or diary
298,500 Hispanic Population.
I think most are not subscribed. I can not see if there is an HDA in the market, so there may not be the precise quotas seen in other markets.
It's a very recently "formed" Hispanic market, so Spanish dominants are likely above 50%.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
According to the Broadcasting Yearbooks for 1951, 1952 and 1953, WBT-FM was on 99.9mc. According to Broadcasting of August 3, 1953, the WBT-FM transmitter was donated to the Consolidated University of North Carolina, where it was apparently used to upgrade WUNC.
And then later I think maybe 99.9 was moved to Asheville and became WLOS-FM, broadcasting from high atop Mount Pisgah and heard in multiple states. Today it is WKSF-Kiss Country. And I also heard originally 106.9 was supposed to be in Charlotte but Billy Graham bought it and moved to Mount Mitchell with another powerful signal. Someone please correct and clarify.
If they restored HD to 1110 they could air WBT, WFNZ and Mix on a multiple format stream. Or would that be of benefit to help fill coverage gaps? But I suppose there are technical reasons why most AM stations dropped their HD feeds, I don't recall exactly. But I remember 700-WLW in Cincinnati had a strong HD signal that could be heard all over Ohio and into Kentucky and Indiana and other states. So it can be done.
AM HD only simulcasts the analog channel. In the current technology, there are not HD-2 and beyond.
AM HD stations can't run multiple channels like FM because of the narrow bandwidth. There's a little more bandwidth if the analog were turned off, but running two channels would have very poor audio quality. AM HD uses sidebands that cause interference to adjacent channels, especially at night, which is why there are almost no stations using it.
From what I've been told, two HD channels could be run on AM if the analog signal were to be shut down. Seems like I'd heard Urban One wanted to do that on 1310 in Indianapolis, but the FCC said it wouldn't allow such an arrangement. Current HD Radio receivers might not also be equipped to decode multiple channels on AM.