Upper midwest broadcasting website http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html is saying that the 1550's in Wisconsin and Il. are joing together with the idea of creating a new 1550 in the Chicago area. Can two dogs get together and create something worth $$$? I don't think so in 2009.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
1550 twins
- Thread starter Link
- Start date
Oh no! Are they trying to do what Kovas was trying to do with 1590? They take WCSJ silent and then apply for something that hits the Chicago area and since WSQR moved from 1560 to 1180, they probably could do it. And CBE in Windsor has applied to the CRTC to shut down its AM, so they could try to apply for night service also.
stormy01 said:
...that would only happen if certain international broadcasting agreements between Canada and the United States were renegotiated, and Canada just won't allow for that, especially that close to a multi-million-listener market like Detroit. Here in Tucson, the local NPR station, KUAZ, simulcasts on 1550 AM and 89.1 FM, and even this far south 1550 AM has to sign off the air at sunset because of CBE...
1550 would be a nice quiet frequency. Nelson should have to put it back into Geneva since he's taking 1470 out. Either way 1530 and 1570 are going to stand in the way of this station moving too close into chicago. It is never going to be a major signal. If its $1 million to build, its not worth it. Why can't they concentrate on programming instead of these upgrade games? Everyday the audio on 1180 drops out repeatedly and the ad seeking a "sales professional" runs constantly.
Ultimajock said:
Actually, if I understand correctly, the CRTC will hold the frequency and make it available to other interests, just as they did when CBL (740) signed off... which was eventually picked up by CHWO; now CFZM. One could envision a time when the US-Canadian agreements might be renegotiated though, since Canadian AM's are signing off every week in a dramatic and unprecedented shift to FM.
Not in any of the areas I listen. It's a jumble of mumble in the Chicago area at night, and the same is true over in SW Michigan. I tried to run my Part 15 AM on that frequency and eventually had to give up... just couldn't overcome the interference.
Yes, 1180 - sometimes 890 and 560 also - their satellite receiving antenna is not large enough, so when there is a heavy downpour their satellite feeds drop out - "rain fade" - very annoying - one would think major stations like WLS and WIND would have some redundancy, like an internet feed of whatever is coming off the network when there's a downpour or heavy snowfall? I could understand why WSQR may not be able to justify the cost of a backup.
Those "sales professional" commercials annoy me - proves the station is not doing too well if they feel they have to advertise that on the air constantly, whatever happened to trade publications, cheapskates??
Stormy asked, "whatever happened to trade publications, cheapskates??"
Been there - done that.
Stormy, the answer is, not necessarily.
Some managers would rather TRAIN hungry car salespeople, newspaper ad salespeople, or a woman who is sexy, trained their OWN way - rather than have some lazy radio sales moron come to work. Personally the sexy woman would always beat out the others, becausae she could talk Lithuanian to the customer - and get better results most of the time.
Hence, a radio ad seeking salespeople; At least the person responding is familiar with the station.
Been there - done that.
Stormy, the answer is, not necessarily.
Some managers would rather TRAIN hungry car salespeople, newspaper ad salespeople, or a woman who is sexy, trained their OWN way - rather than have some lazy radio sales moron come to work. Personally the sexy woman would always beat out the others, becausae she could talk Lithuanian to the customer - and get better results most of the time.
Hence, a radio ad seeking salespeople; At least the person responding is familiar with the station.
stormy01 said:
I have heard that satellite drop out on WIND. Didn't know it was happening on WLS as well.
You would think a station that big would have a backup plan.
Ultimajock said:
That may not be the case...Not long ago, WYLL-1160 AM was able to get it's 50KW night time signal only after working with Canada to convince them to abandon an empty 1160 allocation that Canada was holding onto.
So the 1550 thing may not be too difficult.
[email protected] said:
Was the 1160 allocation ever used? Probably easier to let go of a frequency that was never used as opposed to a proven frequency.
I can see that they will need to be far north/northwest suburbs, Lake or McHenry County- I know there's a couple of 1550's in Missouri they would have to protect at night - it's still going to involve several towers if they want to have any decent power and coverage - not gonna be cheap.
To put up a 2 or 3 tower on a new parcel of land is a Million Dollar proposition
In todays economy, unless you are a powerhouse signal, that smothers the Chicago Metro area, with a format that people "need" you're not going to bring in big money. So building that antenna system could be a waste of cash.
It's going to be interesting to see just what happens on 1550. ???
In todays economy, unless you are a powerhouse signal, that smothers the Chicago Metro area, with a format that people "need" you're not going to bring in big money. So building that antenna system could be a waste of cash.
It's going to be interesting to see just what happens on 1550. ???
You're right. They'll never spend the money in todays economy.
I can't see them serving a large enough area for the money they'd have to spend.
Are you certain that the CBC wants to turn off CBE on AM 1550 in Windsor-Detroit? I read a couple of months ago that they were planning to put in a relatively low power FM to help cover some of the deficiencies of the AM's directional array along the Detroit River. The FM signal I saw was only a booster, not a replacement for the 10kw AM signal. And it probably wouldn't even reach most of the near suburbs of Detroit.
I believe they learned what a mistake it was to abandon the AM signals in Toronto and Montreal when they got a full power FM allocation in each of those cities. It took away the CBC from rural areas, nighttime skywave, and for listeners across the border. In Vancouver, they recently squeezed in an FM simulcast of CBU AM690 - but it will never replicate the coverage of the AM signal, despite its own deficiencies (flat audio from an old tramsitter, jammed signal for 50 miles out of Seattle by second adjacent channel KIRO-AM, and power line noise on bus routes with overhead wires in Vancouver). So, unless you have word that it is a swap in Windsor, not a simulcast, don't assume they'll be turning off all of the CBC AMs if they don't explicitly say so.
Frankly, I think it would make so much more sense to swap CBE to AM 800 and leave the local stuff about Windsor on CKLW to the smaller signal on AM 1550. No one across Lake Erie can get a solid signal of CBC (apart from Radio 2 on FM), and there would be an audience for it that's at least as large as the number of people who now listen to CKLW outside of Essex County, Ontario.
I believe they learned what a mistake it was to abandon the AM signals in Toronto and Montreal when they got a full power FM allocation in each of those cities. It took away the CBC from rural areas, nighttime skywave, and for listeners across the border. In Vancouver, they recently squeezed in an FM simulcast of CBU AM690 - but it will never replicate the coverage of the AM signal, despite its own deficiencies (flat audio from an old tramsitter, jammed signal for 50 miles out of Seattle by second adjacent channel KIRO-AM, and power line noise on bus routes with overhead wires in Vancouver). So, unless you have word that it is a swap in Windsor, not a simulcast, don't assume they'll be turning off all of the CBC AMs if they don't explicitly say so.
Frankly, I think it would make so much more sense to swap CBE to AM 800 and leave the local stuff about Windsor on CKLW to the smaller signal on AM 1550. No one across Lake Erie can get a solid signal of CBC (apart from Radio 2 on FM), and there would be an audience for it that's at least as large as the number of people who now listen to CKLW outside of Essex County, Ontario.
Goldilocks94941 said:
They changed their mind - they've abandoned the plans for the 3.3kw 102.3 relayer and obtained a permit for 19kw on 97.5 instead.
If I had to guess (and this is only a guess) they filed 102.3 when they didn't think the FCC would approve an FM with enough power to replicate the 1550 coverage - once they managed to get U.S. approval for the 19kw facility, they no longer needed 1550.
102.3 would have been - and 97.5 will be - directional. Indeed, I wouldn't expect 97.5 to cover in the U.S. anywhere near as well as you'd expect given the power.
For what it's worth, the 97.5 facility has now been assigned call letters, CBEW-FM. Consider this confirmation of the fact the AM is going off: if it were a relay of the AM it would have received CBE-n-FM. (where n is a number) And in fact, the call letters on the 102.3 permit were CBE-1-FM.
See
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-349.htm.
(see also the 102.3 application on:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2008/db2008-102.htm
and note the earlier date on this one.)
Vancouver AM 690 covers a LOT of territory that isn't covered by any other CBC transmitter. (and a lot of it is in deep valleys) The number of FM transmitters that would have to be built to replicate that coverage is probably impractical. Actually, the CBC tried to shut down the Vancouver AM transmitter anyway, but the CRTC denied that part of the application.
(see http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2008/db2008-252.htm)
Windsor and Leamington are the only communities in the region that don't already have CBC FM transmitters. Chatham already has 88.1; Sarnia 90.3; London 93.5. The two FM transmitters planned in this application won't have any trouble replicating the AM 1550 coverage.
As much as I'd love to have reliable CBC coverage via AM here in Tennessee, one has to see the CBC's position with regard to coverage in the U.S.. The CBC is paid for by Canadian taxpayers - who are really entitled to receive the best possible service. Since CBC Radio doesn't sell advertising or run pledge drives, coverage in the U.S. doesn't really do them any good. I'm sure they don't *object* to us south-of-the-border types listening, but they gain nothing from their U.S. audience.
CBE has always been a weak signal in the US. When I was over in the Detroit area a few weeks ago, it wasn't all that strong in the Detroit suburbs and it went away pretty quickly as I drove west. OTOH, the FM signal of CBC Radio TWO goes a LONG way into Michigan. Unfortunately, since they tinkered with the format last year, I found nothing at all of interest to listen to. They can keep it on their side of the border as far as I am concerned.
I used to be a dedicated listener to Radio One over 740 and later, after that signed off, to 990. But the CBC removed all of the Radio One programs I cared about as well, so now I don't bother tuning in. You can get their news on the Internet if you want; that's all that's left that I would listen to.
Indeed, they are not particularly interested in serving the U.S. listeners that might happen to tune in, and I'd guess that very few do anymore unless they are Canadians working in the States.
I used to be a dedicated listener to Radio One over 740 and later, after that signed off, to 990. But the CBC removed all of the Radio One programs I cared about as well, so now I don't bother tuning in. You can get their news on the Internet if you want; that's all that's left that I would listen to.
Indeed, they are not particularly interested in serving the U.S. listeners that might happen to tune in, and I'd guess that very few do anymore unless they are Canadians working in the States.
- Status