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1560 KNZR Clear Channel Status
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
I get the funny...
Not sure when 1560 went on in Bakersfield, but it was a Class 1-B (with 10 kw as KPMC) back in the early Sixties, protecting stations on 1550 in San Francisco and on 1570 in King City, Lodi and Riverside. The biggest station on 1560 back then was WQXR (50 kw in New York City; now WQEW/Radio Disney).
K
kenrayc
Guest
BossRadioDJ said:
Also 1550 KXEX in Fresno.
I'm using my handy copy of the 1961-62 Broadcasting Yearbook as a reference here ... 1550 was filled with CPs, but the only station on the air then in California on that frequency was KOBY in S.F.
1560 was listed as a Cuban Clear Channel frequency back then.
e-dawg said:
This is the one exception to the rule for 1 B clears (current desgnations were not used then) as KPMC was 10 kw on 1560. It was 1 kw in 1945, but by 1955 had upgraded to a 1 B clear. It only had to worry about San Francisco and Lodi (daytime only) for nearby protection.
BossRadioDJ said:
It went on in mid-1942 with 1 kw, and became a 1-B Clear in the mid-50's. SF was on the air when KPMC upgraded, but not when it was originally licensed. When KPMC upgraded, the only operating 1570 was Lodi.
WQXR was not 50 kw when KPMC was licensed, it was 10 kw. And since the stations above 1500 in the US were originally licensed experimentally as Hi Fi stations, there was a slightly different treatment of the dominant stations in that part of the band.
DavidEduardo said:
I have to laugh that they gave up heritage calls...KPMC....Not that they probably mean much to many people these days. The current call letters make me want to sneeze...! When I was a kid in San Mateo County in the 70's, I lived about a mile from the KKHI 1550 transmitter. KKHI used to sign off for maintenance on Sunday nights at midnight. That's when I got to due the best DXing. KPMC would come ringing in loud and clear.
Too bad DXing isn't much fun anymore. Who want's to wade though all of the noise on the dial these days and besides, it seems like the only things on at night are...George Noory, ESPN Sports, Fox Sports, religion and foreign language. I guess the latter would have some interest.
Michael Rivers Kramer said:
I agree on all counts, Michael...WHY would they give up heritage calls like KPMC, especially when it sounds
almost like KMPC, the legendary 710 of many years (which is now broadcasting Korean at 1540)?
And KPMC had a great signal back in the '70s/'80s when it was a more "listenable" station,
compared to what it is now: another station with lotsa syndie-talk...the station had a
very good signal in Lodi and Vallejo back in the day...
--jay
§73.182(1) sets maximum power for Class A at 50kw and minimum of 10kw. The antenna has to develop at least 362 mv/m @ 1kw. The old 1-A and 1-B, all now Class “A” receives the same protection. Though it is an odd ball at lower power, minimum definition of Class 1-B and now granfathered Class "A".e-dawg said:
djj said:
But how many people in the salable under-55 ages would have any knowledge of, or more important, a fondness towards the KMPC calls from an LA station?
Remember that this market is approaching 50% Hispanic, and KMPC was about as un-Hispanic as you could get.
The KMPC calls are meaningless... the station had very little success under those calls... in the 80's they averaged a bit under a 2 share and the 90's was closer to a 1 share, averaged over the decade. By comparison, we had KUZZ FM averaging over a 12 in both of those decades...
Further to Mr. Eduardo's comments, it sounds like branding a radio station by its call letters these days is about the same as marketing a product (whether it's toilet paper or a pair of scissors) by its bar code.
It seems like it's becoming a fairly antiquated way of identifying radio stations, and legacy calls don't carry the same weight they once did. Aside from being an easy way of cataloging stations, it doesn't seem to have the same purpose today as it did a hundred years ago; even the FCC relies more on facility numbers rather than call letters.
Whether it's KPMC, KMPC, KFRC or KHJ, call letters don't seem to hold as much meaning any more except to those of us of a certain age.
It seems like it's becoming a fairly antiquated way of identifying radio stations, and legacy calls don't carry the same weight they once did. Aside from being an easy way of cataloging stations, it doesn't seem to have the same purpose today as it did a hundred years ago; even the FCC relies more on facility numbers rather than call letters.
Whether it's KPMC, KMPC, KFRC or KHJ, call letters don't seem to hold as much meaning any more except to those of us of a certain age.
A
ajaynejr
Guest
KNZR doesn't protect anyone other than WQEW, does it?
KNZR's night pattern has one null towards New York and has lobes over Fresno/San Francisco and over Riverside/LA.
KNZR's night pattern has one null towards New York and has lobes over Fresno/San Francisco and over Riverside/LA.
K
kenrayc
Guest
ajaynejr said:
I really don't think they are protecting WQEW being that they are more that 2500 miles away and that there are several stations between that on 1560.
kenrayc said:
I don't have my historical data handy but I think you can reasonably presume KNZR is protecting WQEW.
AM stations are more than capable of causing interference at distances of 2,500 miles. You don't usually notice it today because there's more interference from stations that are less than 2,500 miles away!
The stations on 1560 between WQEW and KNZR weren't there when KNZR landed on 1560. Largely, they're able to exist because KNZR is protecting WQEW -- and thus, there's no KNZR service in these areas to receive interference.
See http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/213397-23124.pdf which shows the KNZR nighttime directional pattern.
w9wi said:
They mutually protect each other. KPMC was, if I recall, the only 10 kw full 1-B clear channel and was thus afforded the same protection as any other 1-B.
Similarly, the old WQXR was nulled to the west.
For years, 1560 out of Paducah, KY filled that gap in a big chunk of the upper Midwest. Here in the Chicago area, you'd have never known all they were running at night was just one kilowatt. They pretty much blew out whatever was left of WQXR.
Radio Locator still shows them with a main nighttime lobe aimed north-northwest, but they definitely don't own the channel here like they used to. In fact, more often than not, they're inaudible.
I think there may be more to it that just the channel getting crowded. I actually was in Paducah last month and thought the signal sounded like crap. And it was pretty weak. I was heading up I-24/57 into Illinois, where most of their daytime juice goes. Good radio in my rental car, and I still couldn't believe that 10kw was aimed right at me.
So my personal conclusion is that this facility seems to have deteriorated and become a non-factor in the scheme of things on the channel. A little hard to believe, because IIRC, not long ago they were involved in blocking a request from WQXR/WQEW to change their nighttime pattern.
Radio Locator still shows them with a main nighttime lobe aimed north-northwest, but they definitely don't own the channel here like they used to. In fact, more often than not, they're inaudible.
I think there may be more to it that just the channel getting crowded. I actually was in Paducah last month and thought the signal sounded like crap. And it was pretty weak. I was heading up I-24/57 into Illinois, where most of their daytime juice goes. Good radio in my rental car, and I still couldn't believe that 10kw was aimed right at me.
So my personal conclusion is that this facility seems to have deteriorated and become a non-factor in the scheme of things on the channel. A little hard to believe, because IIRC, not long ago they were involved in blocking a request from WQXR/WQEW to change their nighttime pattern.
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