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1530 Night Signal

A

almaniac27

Is it just me or does WCKY's night signal seem a little anemic lately? I don't know if they need to fix their ground system or what, but the past few nights, 1510 WLAC out of Nashville sounds way better. Right now it's being overpowered by some local electrical interference and I can barely hear Brother Scare.

On a similar note, does anyone know how 1360's night signal got fixed? A few months after they switched to ESPN, I suddenly was able to pick them up. My guess is the ground system. If fixing that can make such a dramatic improvement, why don't more stations pay more attention to it?
 
I found for years that the nighttime signal for 1530 (which I still want to call WCKY - are those the call letters again, by the way?) fades before you even get 50 miles away from the Ohio River, like in Dayton. Even tho' its 50kw fulltime, the nighttime signal is weak is the outer Cincy suburbs until the skywave takes over. Then, like in Toledo, Detroit, and even New York City and Washington DC, it comes in like gangbusters at night.

Contrasted with the low end of the AM dial DX-ing at night, those few 50kw-ers with high end of the dial skywave signals from Nashville, Cincy, and New York are loud, strong, and steady, with minimal fade out most of the time in the vast areas their skip signal reaches consistently. It's a function of the different wavelength from, say WLW, WSM, or WCBS.

Would be nice for one of the congomorates who don't know how to make money with a 50kw signal to donate their license to a local NPR affiliate, so that an NPR talk format could reach wide areas at night into communities that might not otherwise have access to many of the programs carried by, say WVXU or WNYC. Anyone want to start a new thread on this note? Without public radio, there's little content of any substance or credibility on the dial anymore, in my opinion, so why not make it easier for it to get out on more than one FM signal to rural listeners and long haul nighttime drivers who'd appreciate a good talk show, documentary, or a few hours of the BBC World Service as they drive across the midwest and mid Atlantic states?
 
I always get a strong signal here in Georgia when I listen to 1530 WCKY. I find it's easier to listen to Kentucky football and basketball games on WCKY than on 840 WHAS.
 
When 1530 was running the oldies format, the signal was always rock solid here in south central Pennsylvania and the Baltimore area as well as Northeastern Pennsylvania. When they flipped back to talk/sports, they're barely listenable. What a waste of a 50kw signal.
 
DaveWilliams said:
When 1530 was running the oldies format, the signal was always rock solid here in south central Pennsylvania and the Baltimore area as well as Northeastern Pennsylvania. When they flipped back to talk/sports, they're barely listenable. What a waste of a 50kw signal.
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Agree! I'm in Atlanta and 1530 always boomed in here after dark and still does but I stopped listening when it switched to sports. They were terrific when they were WSAI and played standards. BTW whatever happened to Nick Clooney?
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
I found for years that the nighttime signal for 1530 (which I still want to call WCKY - are those the call letters again, by the way?) fades before you even get 50 miles away from the Ohio River, like in Dayton. Even tho' its 50kw fulltime, the nighttime signal is weak is the outer Cincy suburbs until the skywave takes over. Then, like in Toledo, Detroit, and even New York City and Washington DC, it comes in like gangbusters at night.

Contrasted with the low end of the AM dial DX-ing at night, those few 50kw-ers with high end of the dial skywave signals from Nashville, Cincy, and New York are loud, strong, and steady, with minimal fade out most of the time in the vast areas their skip signal reaches consistently. It's a function of the different wavelength from, say WLW, WSM, or WCBS.

Would be nice for one of the congomorates who don't know how to make money with a 50kw signal to donate their license to a local NPR affiliate, so that an NPR talk format could reach wide areas at night into communities that might not otherwise have access to many of the programs carried by, say WVXU or WNYC. Anyone want to start a new thread on this note? Without public radio, there's little content of any substance or credibility on the dial anymore, in my opinion, so why not make it easier for it to get out on more than one FM signal to rural listeners and long haul nighttime drivers who'd appreciate a good talk show, documentary, or a few hours of the BBC World Service as they drive across the midwest and mid Atlantic states?
Click to expand...

It's just physics that even with 1530's 50KW signal, the groundwave won't make it too far before it's affected by groundwave-skywave cancellation. Never having lived in Cincinnati I don't know how far you get before the signal deteriorates. I am guessing it drives the people at 1530 crazy (if anyone cares) that the signal isn't any better, but nothing can be done.
 
I grew up in Cincinnati & even in the 60's, 1530 was not a pleasant listen in Hamilton (23 miles north) even though Hamilton was in a favored area directional wise. Back then, the only other thing on 1530 at night was KFBK in California, but as stated, the skywave signal fed on the ground wave signal & nobody won. That said, unless you are WLW or WKRC, nothing else from the Queen City makes it into Hamilton at night either.
 
I'm surprised Bob, only considering that other 50K signals I've seen seem to make it farther than that before they suffer cancellation issues. WOWO usually made it 80-90 miles from Fort Wayne, and I know WOAI is heard with a little interference in Austin, about 60 miles from its tower. They're both a bit lower on the dial but still closer to WCKY than WLW.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
Would be nice for one of the congomorates who don't know how to make money with a 50kw signal to donate their license to a local NPR affiliate, so that an NPR talk format could reach wide areas at night into communities that might not otherwise have access to many of the programs carried by, say WVXU or WNYC. Anyone want to start a new thread on this note? Without public radio, there's little content of any substance or credibility on the dial anymore, in my opinion, so why not make it easier for it to get out on more than one FM signal to rural listeners and long haul nighttime drivers who'd appreciate a good talk show, documentary, or a few hours of the BBC World Service as they drive across the midwest and mid Atlantic states?
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OK. I know it is off topic, but I travel a often and by car. NPR and other liberal non-commercial network programming is all over the FM dial below 92.1. (that and religious broadcasting) When I travel, I am seldom in a location where I do not get NPR on at least a couple of frequencies.

You are welcome to your opinions regarding "substance and credibility". I won't argue with you.

As to truck drivers being interested in NPR or the BBC World service...I'm thinking not.
 
I don't travel as much anymore but I am thinking that the AM choices at night now are George Noory or more George Noory. I enjoyed Art bell but somehow George doesn't carry it off as well. I never figured out whether he was serious or having us all, and the callers, on.

I miss the old days when you could be out in the middle of nowhere and scan the AM dial and hear all kinds of fascinating stuff. WCKY used to be one of the ones with the baby chicks sales as I recall, the memory is the first to go, followed by hearing and clear vision. Some of the best music was on the overnight shows out of WLAC. I am an old Techno-Geek but somehow Satellite doesn't get it for me. Trying to hear through the fading was part of the challenge, it always dropped just as the song you liked or something really interesting was being discussed.

Satellite has that tinny edge on it and I hate digital TV and Cable as well, the picture keeps going to freeze frame and then pixellating out or straight to black. Bring back analog TV, and down with digital radio. :mad:
 
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