1280 in NYC ,WADO and 1280 in Newark,NJ WHBI

[alok]

These two stations shared 1280 up until the very early 60's as I recall. Does anybody know if WHBI had a separate transmitter site ? If so ,where was it. I'm guessing it was at their Newark studio on the roof , a single tower. WHBI operated with 2.5kw day and 1kw night ( NDA is seems ) ,while WADO operated with 5kw DA-1 ,day and night.
I believe the 1280 WADO site, at this time is where it has alway been to this day ,in Carlstadt,NJ. ( meadowlands ). Again where was the WHBI transmitter site ?
WHBI ended up leaving the shared frequency arrangement and moved to FM ( 105.9 ) , sometime, in the early 60's.

Al

 

[fybush]

WHBI was a longwire antenna atop the Hoyt Brothers, Inc. warehouse on Sherman Street in Newark. That's also where the callsign came from.

The WADO site was indeed on Paterson Plank Rd. in Carlstadt, and has been the 1250/1280 site since 1934. It was WNEW on 1250/1280 from 1934 until 1942, when Arde Bulova swapped callsigns between WNEW on 1280 and WOV on 1130.

 

[alok]

Thanks , I now remember the HOYT BROTHERS INC. warehouse. If I recall correctly they did not own the station but the fact that the station owners were able to put the antenna on their roof ,that is why the call letters were HBI.
I recall as a kid in the late 50's WADO ( WOV before that ) on 1280 had half the day Italian ,then it went to Spanish and half the day R&B music. When they played music at night they sounded good.
The music was from like 8PM - 5AM the next day.

 

[dsearls]

Jim Hawkins also has some good stuff on his WADO page.

 

[davideduardo]

The WADO site was indeed on Paterson Plank Rd. in Carlstadt, and has been the 1250/1280 site since 1934. It was WNEW on 1250/1280 from 1934 until 1942, when Arde Bulova swapped callsigns between WNEW on 1280 and WOV on 1130.

Does anyone remember the "Wov Bug" promotion for WOV, apparently right after they abandoned the ethnic and most of the Italian programming?

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Old 5 kW DA-1 WOV/WADO 1280 2 tower Pattern. Nulls were 1 kW nondirectional IDF equivalent from previous facility.

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[Steve Green NEPA]

I needed heavy excavating equipment to get a few of these 'memories' and sub-recalls to surface.

But in the 60's, didn't WADO have one tall tower and a real short one ?

I hardly ever knew many people in NJ so didn't tour much there, but a real dim bulb also suggests that the WADO setup had one of those diamond-shaped towers ,,,,,,,

Thanks in advance fir the corrections !

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

The taller tower was a Blaw Knox, 424 feet high. It was demolished in 1999, when they put up a four tower array for 50000/7200 DA-2.

As far as memories, try a cup of blueberries every day. They have found that they actually cross the blood brain barrier and have nearly immediate beneficial effects. I have a vivid memory from 1971 where after studying for a test, I went upstairs, turned on my 1938 Westinghouse, and heard WADO with a late night Top 40 daypart with Spanish language DJs, playing "Maggie May", off the substantial back lobe. Bartell owned it as I recall, along with a few "Q" FM stations and WOKY.

 

[Time Traveler]

I recall that when I lived in central Massachusetts back in the '60s and '70s....WADO would come in fairly clearly mixing with the former CJMS Montreal when our local Top 40 station WEIM Fitchburg, Ma would sign off overnight...

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I needed heavy excavating equipment to get a few of these 'memories' and sub-recalls to surface.

But in the 60's, didn't WADO have one tall tower and a real short one ?

I hardly ever knew many people in NJ so didn't tour much there, but a real dim bulb also suggests that the WADO setup had one of those diamond-shaped towers ,,,,,,,

Thanks in advance fir the corrections !

As a young radio fanatic, I used to look for AM transmitter sites, going only by how they were coming in on my car radio, including the splatter on adjacent frequencies. And I usually was successful. Then the Broadcasting Yearbook starting printing coordinates, and that made it much easier. Of course, now we have data bases on the Internet.

In some cases, however, I found sites by accident. When I started working in New York in 1979, I took the bus into the city, and every morning it traveled down Patterson Plank Road past WADO and WBNX (at 1380). And yes, WADO had one of those rare Blaw Knox diamond towers. Incidentally, I also found WABC's tower by accident. I had known it was in Lodi, but we were driving on route 17 back to Baltimore from a family trip to Montreal. I saw a Lodi sign and then a tower with a sign in front of it that read, "WABC, the sound of young America."

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I found and almost found some trsamitter sites that way. When I was very young, I detuned the 1960 vintage transistor radio from the frequency, and drove or rode until the signal was strong with it way detuned. Then I looked for the tower. I found WGRD 1410 (now WNWZ) Grand Rapids that way. Later, I had a Sony Portable with a signal strength meter. I found WLTH 1370 and WIND 560 that way along the expressway, and almost WJCO/WDJD 1510 Jackson, MI and almost WJML 1110 Petoskey, MI that way, but they signed off before I got to the transmitter site! Got stuck in the mud a few times, and stopped by the police once at a tower that was a pigeon drop near a prison. Managed to convince them I was just a radio geek. I stopped after that one. The DJ at WKHM 970 and WJOX/WJXQ 106.1 came out and yelled at me for being out in the Parking Lot. I was looking for the microwave STL dish orientation to figure out where the new tower was. He did tell me it was in Springport, MI though. Looked for the new AM site for WAAM 1600 in 1975, and the East West road dead ended at US 23, and I didn't realize it was unlighted, and it was dark by then.