93.1 in Columbus

[jmmt59]

Is Radio Now having difficulties recently?? I live in Columbus and still get 93.1 in stereo but all I receive is dead air. Is this also happening in Indy? Seems like it's been the last two weekends. Anyone know anything?

 

[Timewarp]

There are many devices in your home or office that put out rf (a signal). Other FM radios even
your computer. These things though don't often light the stereo indicator. So, this could point
to the source of the problem being WNOU. If not, I have friends who love a pirate hunt.

 

[jmmt59]

This problem has been occuring all weekend as well. It seems as if there is a pirate frequency or something that is blocking 93.1 in the southern counties. Last night I was driving from Columbus to Greenwood and could not pick up 93.1 until I reached the Franklin exit at which point the reception was cutting in and out. All other stations from Indy can be easily picked up all the way to Columbus. So what is going on with 93.1?

 

[jimbo700]

It must be your radio.
I have no problem picking up 93.1 on any of my radios any time here in Columbus.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

There isn't another radio nearby tuned to WFIU 103.7 is there? Subtracting the 10.7 IF frequency from 103.7 would put a mono carrier on 93.0...plently close enough to wipe out 93.1 that far out.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

I have to agree with Jimbo and Bob. I have no problem receiving WNOU loud and clear in Columbus.,
Some electronic device in your car appears to be generating this signal on 93.1.
You can determine this by taking a portable radio and walking away from the car.
Good luck in finding and fixing the problem.

 

[jmmt59]

Thanks for all of your help!
I still haven't found the problem and still can't receive 93.1 in my car but I did use a different radio and it worked. For whatever reason that is the only frequency in my car that is not working correctly......But once I get past Franklin I can pick up Radio Now. I've never had a problem quite like this before, hopefully I willl figure it out.

 

[Timewarp]

Darn! I wnated to go to Columbus on a pirate hunt. But the pirate would have needed 50 KW and
a 500 foot tower to do what was described.
Case closed. A guy with a bad car radio.

 

[jimbo700]

> Timewarp wrote: Darn! I wanted to go to Columbus on a pirate hunt....

Well, If you're that starved for entertainment, I have an exciter and the old WYGB 3KW transmitter, I could throw up a carrier on 101.5....

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

Once upon a time, there was a pirate radio station in Columbus Indiana. It made national news.
It was so powerful it could be heard in Indianapolis. It was on the AM band. Happened back in
the 1900"s. It's a true story.

 

[jimbo700]

> Once upon a time, there was a pirate radio station in Columbus Indiana. It made national news.
> It was so powerful it could be heard in Indianapolis. It was on the AM band. Happened back in
> the 1900"s. It's a true story.

I remember it well. It was in late fall (probably late October and early November) of 1970. They broadcast from a house on Tellman Camp Rd. just north of downtown Columbus. They were on the air for a few weeks before pulling the plug. I'm not sure of the ciurcumstances behind the pulling of the plug. I don't know if the FCC showed up or exactly what led to their demise.
They had a 1,000 watt transmitter although I don't they ever cranked it up higher than 500-750 watts. They broadcast on 1550KHz and used the call letters WKYK. They gave out request line phone numbers, which would ring in to one of several phone booths scattered around town.
I recorded an aircheck of them playing the current batch of Top 40 hits including "Yellow River" by Christie, "Green Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf, "Lola" by the Kinks, and even David Cassidy's "I Think I Love You".
I used to know some of the names involved, one was an engineer at WFBM-TV Channel 6 (at the time).
I think Marty Hensley might be able to provide more details (not that he was involved) because we've talked about it.
There was another pirate station on the air in Columbus at some point in the future but I was working out of state by then and have no memory.

 

[Ur-A-Dawg]

The Dutchman and Jimbo seem to know way to much about this. Where were they in late 1970?
In Columbus, hooking up a pirate station?

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

I didn't do this one. I was in 8th grade, living in Springfield Ohio at the time. I first learned of WKYK
in Columbus from the FCC.
The FCC knew who was operating pirate station WKYK. But the rules in effect back then said
they had to catch the pirate red handed-on the air. The pirates had packed up the station and
taken it out of town.
Fifteen years later, the FCC came looking up the Columbus pirates. A Video pirate calling himself
Captain Midnight had jammed the microwave uplink for HBO and taken over HBO nationwide. The
FCC determined that Channel 6 was one of the few places in America with equipment to do this.
So, they dropped by and said, "OK guys, we know you did Columbus. Are you Captain Midnight?"
Captain Midnight was later busted in Florida.

 

[Drucifer]

Just stumbled across this thread. I was part of a pirate in Columbus late 1970's. WGRU. Heres the stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGRU

We made "Eyewitness NewsCenter 13" with Paul Udell (Lew Choate came down and did a story about us) and the AP did a story that ran in both the COURIER JOURNAL and INDIANAPOLIS STAR...soon after, the FCC came knocking and we had to shut it down.

 

[KyDXIn]

Once upon a time, there was a pirate radio station in Columbus Indiana. It made national news.
It was so powerful it could be heard in Indianapolis. It was on the AM band. Happened back in
the 1900"s. It's a true story.

Fun times! I remember when Lucy picked up a radio transmission on her dental work!

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.asp

 

[Drucifer]

Just a side note, the WGRU studio's are intact and still operational, vinyl still there along with turntables, cart machines and the board ALL operational in my friends basement. I hope to have pictures soon...

 

[ChiefEngineer]

I remember WGRU as using WGRQ's jingles with the cut off to sound like Q. They were at 1580 when Lew Choate did the piece on 13. We were sent to scope out his car while he was inside. Quite paranoid. I didn't know of it being on FM.

This was J Walter Johns answer to expensive ad time on the local radio stations. He was Sheriff so why not start his own station...in his basement. Way cool for a kid of 13. A stereo 80 board and newer model cart machines. WHAT A BLAST!

We were a mutual affiliate. WTRE FM (Now WRZQ) had very loose mutual feeds (and sloppy) so our Mutual feed was WTRE FM. Be quick to kill their ID. Had a great sound and I could listen in Hope.

 

[dfwrunner]

I remember WGRU as using WGRQ's jingles with the cut off to sound like Q. They were at 1580 when Lew Choate did the piece on 13. We were sent to scope out his car while he was inside. Quite paranoid. I didn't know of it being on FM.

This was J Walter Johns answer to expensive ad time on the local radio stations. He was Sheriff so why not start his own station...in his basement. Way cool for a kid of 13. A stereo 80 board and newer model cart machines. WHAT A BLAST!

We were a mutual affiliate. WTRE FM (Now WRZQ) had very loose mutual feeds (and sloppy) so our Mutual feed was WTRE FM. Be quick to kill their ID. Had a great sound and I could listen in Hope.

OMG, everyone on this board are wanton law breakers

 

[Drucifer]

I remember WGRU as using WGRQ's jingles with the cut off to sound like Q. They were at 1580 when Lew Choate did the piece on 13. We were sent to scope out his car while he was inside. Quite paranoid. I didn't know of it being on FM.

This was J Walter Johns answer to expensive ad time on the local radio stations. He was Sheriff so why not start his own station...in his basement. Way cool for a kid of 13. A stereo 80 board and newer model cart machines. WHAT A BLAST!

We were a mutual affiliate. WTRE FM (Now WRZQ) had very loose mutual feeds (and sloppy) so our Mutual feed was WTRE FM. Be quick to kill their ID. Had a great sound and I could listen in Hope.

Actually, WGRU-AM was on 1580 we never had an FM transmitter although we wanted one The board was a mono board bought from WCSI for $200.00 but yes...it was a BLAST!

OMG, everyone on this board are wanton law breakers

Actually, WGRU-AM was on 1580 we never had an FM transmitter although we wanted one The board was a mono board bought from WCSI for $200.00 but yes...it was a BLAST!

Ron Jewell (WGRU)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGRU

 

[ChiefEngineer]

I remember WGRU as using WGRQ's jingles with the cut off to sound like Q. They were at 1580 when Lew Choate did the piece on 13. We were sent to scope out his car while he was inside. Quite paranoid. I didn't know of it being on FM.

This was J Walter Johns answer to expensive ad time on the local radio stations. He was Sheriff so why not start his own station...in his basement. Way cool for a kid of 13. A stereo 80 board and newer model cart machines. WHAT A BLAST!

We were a mutual affiliate. WTRE FM (Now WRZQ) had very loose mutual feeds (and sloppy) so our Mutual feed was WTRE FM. Be quick to kill their ID. Had a great sound and I could listen in Hope.

OMG, everyone on this board are wanton law breakers

We all sin and fall short of the glory of God....

I'm not sure we were breaking the law in some sense as Johns was Sheriff. Since he WAS the law we felt secure that he had some reasoning behind this. I was 13 and wasn't smoking pot. I thought maybe someone would take away my junior electricians card if I got in real toruble. At the time the concept of the FCC was foreign. Breaking a law because we sent invisible signals across the city?

I would guess the station had more listeners than station 3 in town, commercial WWWY, because it was on the beautiful music band...FM. Happy to have experienced a time when AM was still the big place to be. WWWY was in the second floor of a lawyer's office with floors that would seem to give way every step. It only had 2 studios and only 1 was usable most fo the time.

There was an old mono board (GATES) in the prod room, just outside Johns washer and dryer room. The on air I recall being either a stereo 80 or a mono version of same. The mono board was a twin to Sam Simmermaker's newsroom board at WCSI. It was the right date to have been on Carr Hill Road in the Quonset hut.

And on the subject of God, a local apostolic pastor screamed hellfire in the washer and dryer area next to the indoor close line through the mono board into an old revox barely working reel to reel every Saturday while we played rock and roll in the next room. This paints a picture. During this era you could still go to Carr Hill Road and have Pastor Plaster read you Bible stories on his bed.

The transmitter sat at the base of the tower. Seemed bigger than 70 feet. It wasn't rohn type tower so it probably is rusted to death by now. Last I saw the capacitance hat reflector at the top had lost wires. The base by the way used broomsticks to separate the base from the tower. Rust might be the least of the problems. Termites could end the neighbor picnic. Transmitter was cool. The higher you turned the power knob the lower the power went. And vice versa.

This whole surreal experience in the Sheriff's basement is kind of what we do, legally, at WJCF. The station was in our front room until we had triplets. Now it's next door in a home still. My 13 year old son gets to experience the same fun. He can't imagine what it would be like without computers. The concept of AM is another planet.