1360 The Source going Buh-Bye?

[BobOnTheJob]

Something has changed over the years and not for the best.

I see the same thing on WNDE 1260 Indianapolis. In 1978, they were the #1 station in Columbus, IN at night. That's in their main lobe. Now, they are totally unlistenable there at night...just a pile of stations battling it out. They insist that nothing has changed (except that a tower blew over in 1992 or so. The issue existed before then). Assuming that everything is normal...and knowing their CE, it is...my theory is that FCC enforcement has become lax. Who of us doesn't know of an AM directional that's out of whack & the owner won't spend the money to get it back in shape? In many cases, having the antenna not producing the nulls benefits the station. Between that & the Post Sunset & night powers (how many stations are forgetting to crank that 1KW back to 22 watts at night??) that didn't exist back in the 60's/70's, my theory is that there is simply more interference now than then as the daytime coverage seems the same. It would take a complete FCC inspection of every AM (long overdue) to fix that...and i ain't holdin' my breath.

 

[gr8oldies]

Lots of AMs are very lax in holding to night patterns and power (scan the AM dial on Friday night during football season). WHIO in Dayton had several stations interfering at night and in morning drive that shouldn't have been. When I lived in troy, there were time that their morning news was obliterated by a country station n Benton, KY that should have been on something like 22 watts.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Another good night to scan the dial is election night in November...FCC could have a field day that night.

 

[gabigley1]

So what happens to WMOH 1450 - Hamilton/Cincinnati (billed as "Cincinnati's ESPN Radio")?
Actually, a much better signal than 1360 - especially at night in the ever-growing northern suburbs of the metro.

According to this article, WMOH-AM will have to look for another format.

Click here for the entire article:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070630/SPT/706300346/1062

ESPN switching stations
Sports radio shows will debut Monday on WSAI-AM
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER

"Hamilton's tiny WMOH-AM (1450), which has been ESPN's local affiliate for four years, was told this week that Clear Channel was picking up ESPN. WMOH-AM's weak signal doesn't reach all of Hamilton County and seldom has enough listeners to be listed in quarterly Arbitron ratings".

 

[Limp73]

Lots of AMs are very lax in holding to night patterns and power (scan the AM dial on Friday night during football season). WHIO in Dayton had several stations interfering at night and in morning drive that shouldn't have been. When I lived in troy, there were time that their morning news was obliterated by a country station n Benton, KY that should have been on something like 22 watts.

That may be true but during WSAI's Top 40 heyday wasn't it's nighttime signal reaching Dayton,Xenia and Springfield very well? Gut feelings and CC's ways tells me that WSAI's xmtr needs some repairs or maintenence if it doesn't reach those areas anymore during those hours.
Granted the early morning (and evening)airwaves can do real funky things. WING fading in and out right before sunrise and again at sundown. A spanish language station from Georgia breifly breaking in on WULM's 1600 frequency shortly before sunset for all but a few seconds. Several stations from Detroit,NYC,Shreveport and Milwaukee coming in and out on WEDI's 1130 frequency at local sign-off time(Stanley Coning used to agknowledge those stations at sign-off when he still operated WCTM as he played Lawrence Welk's "Good Night" theme.) WRFD signing off promptly at the top of the 9pm hour at the precise moment you hear the CBS Radio Network News sounder coming from WCBS-AM in NYC. WCAU's signal from Philly overwhelming WDAO's Dayton signal at sunrise/sunset times.
Really crazy stuff out there.

All in all if CC cannot make WSAI saleable after frequency swaps and dumping formats in two years or less..then perhaps they should sell it off to K-LOVE or Radio Maria.

 

[DrHook]

All I know is you really CAN'T hear 1360 at night past the 275 loop. I think ESPN is making a huge mistake
here. Your influential (read it: people who actually spend money) listeners are in West Chester/Mason, and their
night signal sucks there. I would have understood if ESPN would have gone on 96.5. This is a pretty stupid move
on ESPN's part. Cheap Channel puts them on a throwaway frequency which has a history of bungled local breaks.

That's why I'll listen to ESPN Radio on XM.

WMOH would probably do better going back to local talk, but not with the same guy who did the morning show
before.

 

[Inventor989]

In the late 60s, I used to listen to Stagg overnights on WSAI in Beavercreek on a regular basis. The ground system was in need of work in the late 70s.

 

[master_of_muppets]

All I know is you really CAN'T hear 1360 at night past the 275 loop. I think ESPN is making a huge mistake
here. Your influential (read it: people who actually spend money) listeners are in West Chester/Mason, and their
night signal sucks there. I would have understood if ESPN would have gone on 96.5. This is a pretty stupid move
on ESPN's part. Cheap Channel puts them on a throwaway frequency which has a history of bungled local breaks.

just my $.02 here, but who gives a poo if WMOH is strong at night – ESPN's programming is weak, and that's not when people tune in to listen to radio - at least not in the numbers to justify keeping it on such a weak signal in the big picture. especially in summertime when WLW owns the local sports listeners with Reds games and Reds-complain time....er, uh,....i mean "sports talk." then since the bengals are now the buzz of this city, replacing baseball as the area's sport-to-love, they'll tune into the local duds before listening to yet another ESPN shilling of some northeastern team of any sport. for what it's worth... i live in the "northern hemisphere" of hamilton co., and work in fairfield. WMOH is my drive station most of the time b/c i can't stand the local "talent."

 

[microbob]

All I know is you really CAN'T hear 1360 at night past the 275 loop. I think ESPN is making a huge mistake
here. Your influential (read it: people who actually spend money) listeners are in West Chester/Mason, and their
night signal sucks there. I would have understood if ESPN would have gone on 96.5. This is a pretty stupid move
on ESPN's part. Cheap Channel puts them on a throwaway frequency which has a history of bungled local breaks.

ESPN 1360 won't do much better than the various formats that have been tried on that signal over the years. The signal is horrible at night in Northern KY and wasn't ESPN on WSAI about ten years ago? CC would make more money off 1360 if if aired brokered programming.

 

[MikeStandardsFromIndiana]

If i Recall in the 15 year history of ESPN Radio in cincinnati its only been on 55 WKRC pre jacor days and breifly after jacor took over 550 before it moved to WLW. Then When WUBE-1230 went sports i think they took over the espn affilliation. Which then went over to 1160 BOB before Salem killed bob for its form of News/talk. Which then forced espn over to 1450

 

[gr8oldies]

What sports choices are left for WMOH? Or is it back to second or third-tier news-talk? As for the Spanish station on 1600, its often audible in Springfield when WULM is at 34 watts. Last winter it sounded like our Thursday night sports show was originating from a Mexican restaurant when listening from the studio!