A day in the life of a lamptimer

[MarkAndrews]

I'm copying one hit after another in Mesa, east of the 3600 block on University. It's about 40% as loud as the fading 1230 KOY at 9:35pm, but I can hear it OK.

They did the same thing when they ran the transmitter for a few nights last year...The computer is obviously not programmed to play liners, jingles or a legal ID during these hours...

 

[asugeorge1]

Mark and oldiesfan, I have also yet to hear any legal ID. It's almost like having an oldies IPOD on shuffle! Just heard Ol' Blue Eyes singing "Strangers in the Night." I wonder if this is going to last all night? I'll be listening as long as I can stay awake!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

They did the same thing when they ran the transmitter for a few nights last year...The computer is obviously not programmed to play liners, jingles or a legal ID during these hours...

Mark, your comment brings up a license question. Paging Professor Fybush
or the Old Gringo...

Does a fulltime AM which normally chooses not to use its nighttime authority
have to operate at night a couple times a year--or at least once a year--in
order to keep that authority?

So when KAZG submits its "proof" of tonight's 52-watt lowtorch operation to
the FCC...(screen defocuses as host scratches his chin)...

Gumpdusky: OK Uncle Charlie, here's notification that we ran at night on April 2.

FCC: We'll need to check your program and operating logs for 7 PM-6 AM.

Gumpdusky: Uh, why? We just said we were on.

FCC: For one thing, to see that the hourly legal IDs ran.

Gumpdusky: Oops. :-[

 

[landtuna]

I'm copying one hit after another in Mesa, east of the 3600 block on University. It's about 40% as loud as the fading 1230 KOY at 9:35pm, but I can hear it OK.

I'm near McLintock & Warner in S. Tempe and listening on a quality DX receiver with a long wire antenna and can barely understand the Goldmine way down in the hash. KOY, OTOH, comes in much, much clearer although still hash in the background.

Most other local AM's not listenable with the single exception of 550.

 

[asugeorge1]

This will be my last KAZG Lumberyard report for the night. It's 2:20 A.M. MST and the oldies are continuing to be pumped out of the Goldmine. This might be an April Fool's Day joke, but I'm enjoying it! I heard good old Frank Sinatra again with, "That's Life" at 1:40 A.M. That's right, A.M., not P.M.! I still have yet to hear "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb!" ;D

We're also going on 7 hours without any commercials, any KAZG bumpers or any legal ID at the top of the hour. If all radio stations were like this, we wouldn't need satellite radios or I-PODS!

I also decided to take a little midnight run over to the transmitter site at Thomas Road and 64th Street in Scottsdale to verify that this is indeed our beloved Lumberyard pumping out the good times and great oldies at this late hour. Everything was locked up around the Lumberyard, but I was able to get a good look at the tower from Thomas Road. The red light on top of the transmitter appeared to be flashing a little brighter tonight!

Traveling from Gilbert, I noticed the 1440 night-time signal comes in pretty good all throughout north Tempe, south Scottsdale and central Phoenix. I traveled downtown and was surprised how good the signal came in riding down Central around Monroe and Fillmore. Traveling back home via I-10 and the U.S. 60, the nighttime signal faded a little by the Salt River Bridge, but picked up some power around the Broadway Curve. The signal starts to fade again around the Loop 101 and U.S. 60 and gets progressively weaker east of there.

All in all, it was a fun night-time trip around Phoenix listening to commercial-free oldies on the Lumberyard! Let's hope we get a repeat performance tomorrow night. I'm skeptical, but a night like this was two years in the making. Thanks Sandusky! ;D

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

I call shenanigans. You're late April Foolin', right?

I don't hear any oldies on 1440. I hear a mix between Coast to Coast AM and Dave Ramsey.

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Oh, never mind. This is KAZG on night-time power, which is significantly less than day-time power? You can forget about us just a half-mile north of the Loop 101...

And, KAZG is in the clear to be more than a "daytimer," but they chose to stay being a "daytimer" for what those here on the board determined to be: money-saving reasons?

I have to say, I haven't tuned to 1440 this year except when "oaktree" visited the Valley a few weeks ago, and Londen Tower was one of our destinations. Hey George-- be excited for the future of Arizona Gold.

 

[asugeorge1]

I call shenanigans. You're late April Foolin', right?

I don't hear any oldies on 1440. I hear a mix between Coast to Coast AM and Dave Ramsey.

I'm not April Foolin' you Kool Listener Lauren! Where are you located at? I'm in Gilbert / Mesa. There is in fact oldies on 1440 courtesy of the Lumberyard. I'm listening to the Byrds right now at 2:48 A.M. (Now it's the Four Tops with "The Same Old Song"). It's true!

 

[asugeorge1]

Oh, never mind. This is KAZG on night-time power, which is significantly less than day-time power? You can forget about us just a half-mile north of the Loop 101...

And, KAZG is in the clear to be more than a "daytimer," but they chose to stay being a "daytimer" for what those here on the board determined to be: money-saving reasons?

I have to say, I haven't tuned to 1440 this year except when "oaktree" visited the Valley a few weeks ago, and Londen Tower was one of our destinations. Hey George-- be excited for the future of Arizona Gold.

Ah, sorry, I see you found it! Yeah, you are pretty far north. The signal is pretty crummy if you're not in south Scottsdale, north Tempe, west Mesa or east Phoenix. Excited for the future of Arizona Gold? I like the sound of that! Thanks Kool Listener Lauren!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Still on at 5:57 AM with "52 watts."

The automation system played a jingle at 5:57:55, which makes
one wonder when, between 2:48 and 5:57, that element kicked
in, and did it also include legal IDs?

Legal ID at 6:00:39.

Power up to five gallons (thanks, lamptimer!) at 6:02:28.


BTW, the KayFuNNsters had not yet powered up at 5:57 but were
up by 5:59. Same for The Big 1480. Well within specs.

 

[DrAkbar]

Yes, I think it was April 2008 when this occurred last (there's an
earlier thread here on the board that discusses it).

Yes indeedy, Fan of Upper Demos Music......it was two years ago this month Lumberyard 14~Forty made the foray into nighttime operations with reduced power and no commercials, jingles or legal IDs. At the time Nurse Jeff and I thought Gumpdusky had a potential buyer for the All Day Goldmine and they wanted to demonstrate how well that signal gets out at 52 watts. However, fanatic followers of the Lumberyard faith have since learned from Catfish (with a lowercase c) that KAZG can't go any lower than 500 watts with their current state of the 70's xmttr. Maybe the thinking was "...with the simple addition of four more towers behind the Ponderosa you can run this thing at 500 watts at night and reach Metrocenter...". Obviously the interested party didn't buy it, or the station. So What In The Wide, Wide World of Sports is a goin' on here? Simple - when one of the Gumpdusky Goldminers reprogrammed the April power changes into the HAL 1440 computer, they forgot to enter the command to cut the carrier during any song playing at local sunset (+/- lamptimer drift). The Nurse and I are glad so many Lumberyarders were able to hear our beloved station on after sunset this time around. We can only dream of the day the All Day Goldmine schedules a third shift and satisfies our needs for worn out oldies in the middle of the damn night!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Since we touched on Mrs. Lumberyard's power rotation list,
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that My Way was played on
Friday afternoon.

And one of the late-night Goldminers must have gone down to
840 North and borrowed a copy of Bang 545 from KOOL, as I
heard Brown Eyed Girl during KAZG's all-nighter.

 

[DrAkbar]

Does a fulltime AM which normally chooses not to use its nighttime authority
have to operate at night a couple times a year--or at least once a year--in
order to keep that authority?

Lumberyard 14~Forty is a Class D Ancient Modulation station and Nurse Jeff and I believe are exempt from staying on past local sunset (they were originally a daytimer). There are a number of other Class D stations that do the same because of nighttime skywave interference: KUAZ-AM Tucson and KBRT, Avalon come to mind. In fact KASA 15~Forty will stay on after sunset only if there is a sponsor as 19 watts through three towers in a bizarre pattern doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However KFuNN and KXEG both choose to run at night with very low pow-pow-power. Because the FCC doesn't care about Ancient Modulation anymore, the Nurse and I think Lumberyard 14~Forty can remain silent at night as long as they wish. However, other Masters of Minutia may have a different take on this timely topic!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

KUAZ-AM Tucson and KBRT, Avalon come to mind.

KUAZ 1550 Tucson (the old "one fifty-five KFIF"), according to the FCC database,
is daytime only:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?stat...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

OTOH, KBRT 740 Avalon has been featured on the El Lay board where posts
generally concur that they don't use their 113 w-N for that very reason of
skywave interference (KCBS San Francisco).

And strangely enough, in the FCC AM Query for KBRT, while it shows a
nighttime authorization, it lists the power as "0.0 kw." Zero-point-zero
(cut to reaction shot of KBRT engineer with pencils in his nose).

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?stat...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

Must be a typo, as our good buddy Radio Locator has it as 113 watts. Unless
it really is a "use it or lose it" authority and since they didn't, they did.

 

[DrAkbar]

KUAZ-AM Tucson and KBRT, Avalon come to mind.

KUAZ 1550 Tucson (the old "one fifty-five KFIF"), according to the FCC database,
is daytime only:

Our hunch is they just didn't care to file for a paltry few watts at night (and add a bunch of towers) given the fact they're on FM as well in the Old Pweblow. However, Nurse Jeff and I noticed they have a pre-sunrise authorization of 39 watts, protecting XEBG in Tijuana (1kwU). Perhaps there's another 3 million watter on 15~Fifty in MehHeeCo that keeps them daytime only? Hmmmm...perhaps Catfish (with a small c) knows...or the Old Gringo

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The Lumberyard lives at night again!

Legal ID 7:01:46 PM...McCoys (Sloopy)...carrier dump 7:02:34 (no ID).

Carrier popped back on at 7:08:09, no ID, with 52 watts or some similar
really low wattage. Beach Boys' Babs JIPped, but so far they are jingling
or liner-ing between each song, unlike last night's cold segues only.

More details when they become available, bulletins at once.
Charles McCord, WNNNNNBC News.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

There has not been a legal ID since the carrier popped on again
up through 8:20 PM, so scratch the 8 PM TOH ID.

Also, the jingles/liners now seem to have disappeared; it's back
to music segues only.

 

[DrAkbar]

Nurse Jeff and I confirm Oldies Fan's DXing of the nocturnal Goldmine...so that means there's at least three wackos with nothing better to do on a Saturday night! The audio is quite distorted (not as bad at KIHP, tho) and there are no jingles, sweepers, commercials and yes, no legal IDs. This is free range Lumberyardin' at it's best my friends!

Your All Day and now All Night Goldmine with 14 in a row. And because we're in a PPM market, there's no need for any kind of on air call letter identification!

 

[asugeorge1]

There has not been a legal ID since the carrier popped on again
up through 8:20 PM, so scratch the 8 PM TOH ID.

Also, the jingles/liners now seem to have disappeared; it's back
to music segues only.

The last KAZG bumper I heard was around 7:45 P.M. It was right at the time they would normally have a commercial break, but instead the computer went straight to another song. From there on out, since 7:45 P.M., it has been nothing but one golden oldie after another. Another wonderful night with the Lumberyard pumping out the oldies all night long! Keep it up Sandusky! ;D

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Holy cow. Who knew people would be so excited about "worn out oldies," to quote Dr. Akbar.