1300 Khz. is Off the Air in Terre Haute

[Rosebud3]

Out of the four licensed AM stations in Terre Haute only one is on, WPFR-AM, 1480 Khz. I have tried 1300 Khz., WBOW, for the last two days and it has been dark. The station was rebroadcasting the sister station, WIBQ from Paris, Illinois which is owned by Midwest Communications.

The F.C.C. didn't do any favors to Terre Haute when they closed down the Michael Rice stations several years ago. All of the stations, 640 Khz., 1230 kHz. and 107.5 Mhz. have been off the air. Birach Broadcasting, the permittee, is trying to move 640 Khz. to Peotone, Illinois only 36 miles from Chicago, Bott Broadcasting, the permittee, hasn't done anything yet with 1230 Khz. and the FM station 107.5 Mhz. has three churches, the permittee's, sharing the frequency with one church trying to disqualify one of the other churches. Disagreement finally resolved by the F.C.C.

Whether Midwest is just trying to save money by turning off the power to 1300 Khz. for a while or they are doing upgrades, I don't know. It has been since the end of W.W. II that Terre Haute has had only one AM station operating. At one time the 1300 Khz. station operating as WAAC, was the number one in billing according to one older radio executive.

 

[dfwrunner]

Out of the four licensed AM stations in Terre Haute only one is on, WPFR-AM, 1480 Khz. I have tried 1300 Khz., WBOW, for the last two days and it has been dark. The station was rebroadcasting the sister station, WIBQ from Paris, Illinois which is owned by Midwest Communications.

The F.C.C. didn't do any favors to Terre Haute when they closed down the Michael Rice stations several years ago. All of the stations, 640 Khz., 1230 kHz. and 107.5 Mhz. have been off the air. Birach Broadcasting, the permittee, is trying to move 640 Khz. to Peotone, Illinois only 36 miles from Chicago, Bott Broadcasting, the permittee, hasn't done anything yet with 1230 Khz. and the FM station 107.5 Mhz. has three churches, the permittee's, sharing the frequency with one church trying to disqualify one of the other churches. Disagreement finally resolved by the F.C.C.

Whether Midwest is just trying to save money by turning off the power to 1300 Khz. for a while or they are doing upgrades, I don't know. It has been since the end of W.W. II that Terre Haute has had only one AM station operating. At one time the 1300 Khz. station operating as WAAC, was the number one in billing according to one older radio executive.

I remember WAAC...really hard to believe it was #1 in billing, though.

 

[radio_radio]

Doesn't the herd need thinning anyway? Look at it this way... It reduces the carbon footprint. Additionally, who really cares if 640 am moves to another state/market. At least Birach will find some sort of under-served ethnic group to sell time to in the Chicago area and make money with it. If it returns to the air in Terre Haute, what economic good is having a daytimer at 640khz? Do you really need more religion?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Doesn't the herd need thinning anyway? Look at it this way... It reduces the carbon footprint.

This is an easy argument to make in many markets, but Terre Haute isn't exactly FM radio heaven. Three class Bs and the River, with some rimshots thrown in.

As far as 640, Terre Haute should get used to not having it because I doubt anyone will ever put it back on, even if Birach's move doesn't materialize.

 

[Rosebud3]

Doesn't the herd need thinning anyway? Look at it this way... It reduces the carbon footprint. Additionally, who really cares if 640 am moves to another state/market. At least Birach will find some sort of under-served ethnic group to sell time to in the Chicago area and make money with it. If it returns to the air in Terre Haute, what economic good is having a daytimer at 640khz? Do you really need more religion?

The broadcasters need to think out of the box and are going down a road of failure. My Emmis stock has suffered. I listen to 1070 WFNI in HD in Terre Haute and it sounds as if it is an FM station. All the car manufacturers are putting HD radio as standard equipment in their cars. I remember the 1960's when FM stations rebroadcast their AM stations until the FCC made simulcast rules and made the car companies include FM on their radios. Only then did FM radio take off. My point is that if AM HD sounds like FM then AM stations could be a lot more valuable in the future. Let's don't go into the positive and negatives of HD radio. AM radio can't afford that arguement, anymore.

Terre Haute has a huge older population and there are no stations which cater to this market. Older people are used to listening to AM radio, anyway. This is just as much an underserved market as the Serbians or Polish in Chicago. (Birach already has a station there.) A big mistake by both Emmis and Midwest. Look at the population age statistics.

Birach Broadcasting paid $52,000 for a Terre Haute station, not a Chicago suburban station. If Birach wants to go to a suburb of Chicago lets redo the auction for that market. Let's don't let the tax payers get taken and let Birach go away laughing.

Finally, 640 Khz. is the lowest AM frequency in the state of Indiana excluding WIND at 560 Khz. which is really licensed to Chicago..
I have heard WBOW 640 Khz. over 130 miles away. A second tower had to be built for WBOW 640 to protect KFI in Los Angeles when the 640 Khz. station was built.

I have heard the thinning arguement before but I have lived long enough to see that everything changes over time.

 

[radio_radio]

These days there is no real economic benefit to the owner of low powered AM station like 640 to be heard 130 miles away. Do you really think someone from Rockford, Illinois, who happens to stumble across 640 AM in Terre Haute is going to run out and buy some tires from Bernie Carney? Bernie might advertise on 640 as they are carrying adult standards, however the advertisers are few and far between that care about the 55 to dead demographic group. I can make fun of this group as I am in my last year of being in the 25-54 year old demo. Go up the road to Danville, Il and ask lower frequency 980 AM WITY how business is? They are serving folks like my dad who is Bernie's friend...they are both in their mid 80's.

Radio is a business, the public service thing went away with Ronald Reagan deregulation, and subsequent deregulation in the 90's even furthered that premise.

Radio and TV survived well in the 1920's-1990's due to scarcity. I was a relatively popular DJ in my hometown in the 1980's...because I was one of four! Scarcity allowed for mediocre content to be successful.

Why didn't you bid higher than Birach for the AM 640 frequency? Don't blame the FCC, or drag taxpayers into the argument. I would be interested in your thoughts on the clip below from Ayn Rand on the property status of airwaves:

"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property - by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort.

This is particularly true of broadcasting frequencies or waves, because they are produced by human action and do not exist without it. What exists in nature is only the potential and the medium through which those waves must travel. (That medium is not air; in legal discussions it is often referred to by the mythical term of "ether" - to indicate some element in space, at present unidentified.) Without the broadcasting station which generates the waves, that "ether" - on our present level of knowledge -- is of no practical use or value to anyone.

Just as two trains cannot travel on the same section of track at the same time, so two broadcasts cannot use the same frequency at the same time in the same area without "jamming" each other. There is no difference in principle between the ownership of land and the ownership of airways. The only issue is the task of defining the application of property rights to this particular sphere. It is on this task that the American government has failed dismally, with incalculably disastrous consequences.

There is no essential difference between a broadcast and a concert: the former merely transmits sounds over a longer distance and requires more complex technical equipment. No one would venture to claim that a pianist may own his fingers and his piano, but the space inside the concert hall -- through which the sound waves he produces travel -- is "public property" and, therefore, he has no right to give a concert without a license from the government. Yet this is the absurdity foisted on our broadcasting industry."

 

[Tom Wells]

If Ayn Rand were to be believed, then it would follow that use of the ether is for those who can build and maintain
their own signal on the air.

That might either mean that engineeering would still be properly accounted for economically.

But no, that ended in the 80s, too.


So we're just going to treat it like other profit businesses.

I'll still argue that there is scarcity, and don't consider the newer phone-based technologies as reliable enough
to replace radio.

I hope there is no move to Peotone.

It will no doubt interfere with spanish language 640 in either Michigan or Wisconsin, which is a useful daytime signal in Chcago.
Birach turned one of my favorite stations into a something I don't ever bother checking anymore.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

My Emmis stock has suffered. I listen to 1070 WFNI in HD in Terre Haute and it sounds as if it is an FM station.

My stock suffered too until I sold it for a buck something a share...seems it peaked around $62 at the end of 1999. AM HD at it's best sounds like a slightly better than average Internet stream...if you hear an AM HD signal that has zero swishiness (like FM stereo does), please send me a clean aircheck of it, for I do not believe such a station exists.

 

[RO77]

Out of the four licensed AM stations in Terre Haute only one is on, WPFR-AM, 1480 Khz. I have tried 1300 Khz., WBOW, for the last two days and it has been dark. The station was rebroadcasting the sister station, WIBQ from Paris, Illinois which is owned by Midwest Communications.


Whether Midwest is just trying to save money by turning off the power to 1300 Khz. for a while or they are doing upgrades, I don't know. It has been since the end of W.W. II that Terre Haute has had only one AM station operating. At one time the 1300 Khz. station operating as WAAC, was the number one in billing according to one older radio executive.

Midwest Terre Haute is quickly becoming the new Crossroads. A engineering friend of mine told me in December that they didn't even have a engineer in Terre Haute after canning their last one (this was shortly after the holidays). So if something broke and couldn't be fixed by someone on-air, they have to wait from someone to drive down from Green Bay to fix. This even led to their new acquisition, 102.7 to be on air at a very, very low power for nearly a week! No clue if they hired anyone as a part time engineer since, but with this 1300 news, it sounds unlikely.

Same friend also told me at the time of the sale that they didn't get the 1300 tower site, and a temporary rig job was done to put the signal on the WMGI-FM tower while they search for a new site. Overall it sounds like a mess, one that likely won't end well.

 

[Rosebud3]

No wonder my Emmis stock is only worth $1.74 when at once it was worth over $19.00. Somebody better come up with a better business model than quote somebody like Ayn Rand who asked for Medicare help on her death bed.

I don't expect anybody 130 miles away to listen or buy anything from a radio station. My point is that 640 Khz. is something Terre Haute does not want to just give up. As far as bidding on 640 Khz., I am no longer in the broadcast business but something has to be done to the business model.

You turned me off when you mention Ayn Rand just as if you mentioned Karl Marx.

 

[busterluck]

640 KHz in Terre Haute was a 24 hour a day license. Non directional daytime, two tower directional at night. You could hear the station during the day further than the Class B FM signals. There was a CP for 500 watts during the day hours and 350 watts nighttime. It was the lowest AM frequency in Indiana.

 

[KeithE4]

640 KHz in Terre Haute was a 24 hour a day license. Non directional daytime, two tower directional at night. You could hear the station during the day further than the Class B FM signals. There was a CP for 500 watts during the day hours and 350 watts nighttime. It was the lowest AM frequency in Indiana.

There was a CP for WICI 600 kHz in Bloomington (licensed to Ellettsville, but co-owned and co-located with WBWB on the east side of Bloomington) in the '80s, but it was never built, AFAIK. IIRC, it was going to be a 500 watt ND daytimer. That would have been the lowest-frequency station with both a studio and transmitter in Indiana (which eliminates WIND, at least since the '40s), had it actually gone on the air.

 

[Lamont Lester]

And if a tree falls in a forest...

 

[KeithE4]

And if a tree falls in a forest...

That pretty much describes any attempt to build an AM station today - anywhere, not just in Terre Haute.

Besides, can Terre Haute even support more than one AM station in a city that's been dropping in population? Terre Haute is the 12th-largest city in Indiana, smaller than Bloomington now. Similar mid-sized cities in Indiana - Bloomington, Muncie, Anderson, Lafayette - have one, or at most two AMs in their areas (I'm not counting non-comm WBAA under Lafayette). I'm surprised they still support 3 commercial TV stations.

 

[fybush]

The TV stations survive, I think, because they cover an area that extends out beyond Terre Haute into a pretty wide swath of western Indiana/eastern Illinois. 142,000 TV households isn't huge, but there's apparently enough business in Vigo and surrounding counties to sustain what's really two competing TV operations (WTWO/WAWV and WTHI CBS-Fox). One could make the case that if the TV stations' ratecards are low enough, they probably siphon out a fair amount of business that would otherwise go to radio, which may help explain why the AM dial is so barren.

 

[Rosebud3]

The TV stations survive, I think, because they cover an area that extends out beyond Terre Haute into a pretty wide swath of western Indiana/eastern Illinois. 142,000 TV households isn't huge, but there's apparently enough business in Vigo and surrounding counties to sustain what's really two competing TV operations (WTWO/WAWV and WTHI CBS-Fox). One could make the case that if the TV stations' ratecards are low enough, they probably siphon out a fair amount of business that would otherwise go to radio, which may help explain why the AM dial is so barren.

I was a salesman for five years when Emmis owned WTHI Television but we managed to maintain our rates except for long term Image Plus Contracts. At that time the WTWO combination was rock bottom in pricing but were aggressive in new business. The Emmis Image Plus long term contracts made my paycheck and made me station salesperson of the year. When Lin bought the station from Emmis, Lin Television hated Image Plus and cut the commissions. My paycheck was cut in half and I left. WTHI Television had more than 60% of the television advertising revenue when Emmis owned the station. During the political season it was hard to get your spot on the air so most local execs hated the elections.

As far as the AM's in Terre Haute, the only station left is a religious station donated to Word Power, Inc. by Emmis. That's it.

 

[radio_radio]

No wonder my Emmis stock is only worth $1.74 when at once it was worth over $19.00. Somebody better come up with a better business model than quote somebody like Ayn Rand who asked for Medicare help on her death bed.

I don't expect anybody 130 miles away to listen or buy anything from a radio station. My point is that 640 Khz. is something Terre Haute does not want to just give up. As far as bidding on 640 Khz., I am no longer in the broadcast business but something has to be done to the business model.

You turned me off when you mention Ayn Rand just as if you mentioned Karl Marx.

I wasn't quoting Ayn Rand. I was asking for your opinion of what she wrote. I agree with some of her stuff, not all. Seems to me her views on Laissez-faire Capitalism would be up your alley being a former commissioned salesperson for WTHI-TV. But then again, how tough is it selling the #1 rated station in the area? Not much sales talent needed...you just need to decide whether to pick up the phone with the left hand or the right hand to field the order from Meijer, etc.

You're the one who brought up the 130 mile reach of 640. Again....who cares.

As for Terre Haute doesn't want to just give up....seems like it has. No different than some of the strip malls that used to be successful on Margaret Street.....sooner or later...they go out of business.

On Margaret Street the occupants of a space in a stripmall are: Successful shoe store, then discount shoe store, then all you can eat chinese buffet, then some soft of Judo/Tai Kwando school, then some sort of tobacco/head shop, then empty and boarded up.

On AM radio the timeline is: Successful MOR-Full Service Station, Successful Top 40 station, Moderately successful Chicken Rock AC station, Satellite/tape fed Adult Standards, satellite-All Sports, national paid religion, local paid religion, radio-auction, Silent....towers torn down and recycled into razor blades.

As Fybush says earlier, Terre Haute has a supply and demand problem with media.....too much supply. It always has, one of the hazards of being an oasis (loose term) in the land of tall corn. Why do you think you have all the move in's. You can't make a living with a station licensed to and serving places like Paris, Clinton, Marshall, Brazil, etc. Now with a declining population base it just happens faster.

 

[Rosebud3]

No wonder my Emmis stock is only worth $1.74 when at once it was worth over $19.00. Somebody better come up with a better business model than quote somebody like Ayn Rand who asked for Medicare help on her death bed.

I don't expect anybody 130 miles away to listen or buy anything from a radio station. My point is that 640 Khz. is something Terre Haute does not want to just give up. As far as bidding on 640 Khz., I am no longer in the broadcast business but something has to be done to the business model.

You turned me off when you mention Ayn Rand just as if you mentioned Karl Marx.

You are the first executive of Emmis Communications who is absolutely rude. You are rude to me, to Terre Haute and have a negative attitude.
I wasn't quoting Ayn Rand. I was asking for your opinion of what she wrote. I agree with some of her stuff, not all. Seems to me her views on Laissez-faire Capitalism would be up your alley being a former commissioned salesperson for WTHI-TV. But then again, how tough is it selling the #1 rated station in the area? Not much sales talent needed...you just need to decide whether to pick up the phone with the left hand or the right hand to field the order from Meijer, etc.

You're the one who brought up the 130 mile reach of 640. Again....who cares.

As for Terre Haute doesn't want to just give up....seems like it has. No different than some of the strip malls that used to be successful on Margaret Street.....sooner or later...they go out of business.

On Margaret Street the occupants of a space in a stripmall are: Successful shoe store, then discount shoe store, then all you can eat chinese buffet, then some soft of Judo/Tai Kwando school, then some sort of tobacco/head shop, then empty and boarded up.

On AM radio the timeline is: Successful MOR-Full Service Station, Successful Top 40 station, Moderately successful Chicken Rock AC station, Satellite/tape fed Adult Standards, satellite-All Sports, national paid religion, local paid religion, radio-auction, Silent....towers torn down and recycled into razor blades.

As Fybush says earlier, Terre Haute has a supply and demand problem with media.....too much supply. It always has, one of the hazards of being an oasis (loose term) in the land of tall corn. Why do you think you have all the move in's. You can't make a living with a station licensed to and serving places like Paris, Clinton, Marshall, Brazil, etc. Now with a declining population base it just happens faster.

 

[radio_radio]

Rosebud, you threw the first punch with: "No wonder my Emmis stock is only worth $1.74 when at once it was worth over $19.00. Somebody better come up with a better business model than quote somebody like Ayn Rand who asked for Medicare help on her death bed....You turned me off when you mention Ayn Rand just as if you mentioned Karl Marx"

 

[BobOnTheJob]

640 KHz in Terre Haute was a 24 hour a day license. Non directional daytime, two tower directional at night. You could hear the station during the day further than the Class B FM signals. There was a CP for 500 watts during the day hours and 350 watts nighttime. It was the lowest AM frequency in Indiana.

There was a CP for WICI 600 kHz in Bloomington (licensed to Ellettsville, but co-owned and co-located with WBWB on the east side of Bloomington) in the '80s, but it was never built, AFAIK.

I'm glad the 600 never was built...that's my bragging rights frequency where I hear 5000 watt WMT Cedars Rapids,IA all day at 352 air miles. A very clear frequency now that WTVN shut off their HD radio interference generator. Now if WFNI would kindly shut theirs off, I'd have my 1060 and 1080 back.