A general question

[radiosaur]

OK, let me take both questions:

1. AM radio built out in the 1920-40's. It started on the west coast and northeast, where the population density was and is greatest. Hence, there were a lot of stations on in the northeast by the time the southern stations got around to applying for a license. WWII also interrupted things. There was also a lot of frequency swapping and reallocations going on as well back then. Therefore, most southern stations had to protect pre-existing NE stations. That's also why you find most of the big old AM's transmitters out around North Memphis...back then they were located well outside the city limits, and covered all of the city at night.

Example: 680 AM was originally on 1240. They applied for and got 680 10Kw day and 5KW night in 1939...but it didn't get built until after WWII because Rosie the riveter was building war stuff instead of new phasers and transmitters. I happen to know this because I found all that paperwork one day while we were cleaning up out at the 680 transmitter site around 1982. By 1944 stations in Boston (WRKO) and Charleston SC (WPTF) were already on the air...so WMPS had to protect them. The 680 pattern also protects what was once KFRC in San Francisco, I think.

2. We don't have non-DA 50 KW stations because most of the bigger cities got them first, or had backers with more political clout. Also, WLAC is not the powerhouse you think it is. 50KW, yes, but highly directional. 680 still puts a good signal down to the gulf coast on a good night.

 

[Kent]

OK, let me take both questions:

1. AM radio built out in the 1920-40's. It started on the west coast and northeast, where the population density was and is greatest. Hence, there were a lot of stations on in the northeast by the time the southern stations got around to applying for a license. WWII also interrupted things. There was also a lot of frequency swapping and reallocations going on as well back then. Therefore, most southern stations had to protect pre-existing NE stations. That's also why you find most of the big old AM's transmitters out around North Memphis...back then they were located well outside the city limits, and covered all of the city at night.

Not to mention that, at that time, the land outside the city limits was far cheaper. Those directional arrays that require multiple towers can take up a lot of land!

 

[K4WRF]

Memphis kind of wound up on the short end of that stick. There are stories that the FCC at one time wanted a class 1B in Memphis, but from what I have been told by various old timers, WREC and WMC were happy with what they had at the time and declined because they would have had to move to the top end of the band, I’m not sure about the validity of that. The other stations WHBQ and WMPS were up on class IV channels until they relocated to where they are now some time after WWII (late 40’s early 50’s). They had to protect existing co-channel operations with the only opening towards the Gulf of Mexico and required deep nulls east, north and west. This was fine until Memphis (like most other cities) started to grow out in the nulls. Most have pretty high night-time interference limits from moving to the frequency later in life. 680 Memphis gets a high limit placed on it from 680 Class 1B in San Francisco and other stations have been able to come on further raising their interference limit. 560 suffers from this same problem with a lot of stations also on 560. 600 has a Cuban problem and has for a long time. Most of all, I guess it was a matter of timing. I think WMC got screwed in the March 29, 1941 shift when they moved from 780 to 790, the same time that WLAC moved from 1470 to 1510. Due to poor soil conductivity and a deep minima to the north-west, WLAC has trouble covering all of the Nashville metro at night. It is true, politics had a lot to do with it but that is another story.

Did you know that at one time KTHS now KAAY had a CP to move to West Memphis from Hot Springs but was rescinded by the FCC after political pressure was applied? That was the last Class 1-B upgrade when it moved in 1954 and it has deep minima towards WBAL in Baltimore and on the other side to Mexico.

w/

 

[robgrayson]

I love this stuff. There's so much history which went into how things got to be how they are. Why channel 3 went to Hoyt Wooten and not Abe Plough. Why all local AM signals drop to way-below-power-line level one half mile from my house. Why WHBQ's tower plat looks like someone randomly threw 5 towers in a field and hoped for the best. And the leftover question from my Jackson, Mississippi days, why would someone swap 620 KC for 1300 KC (and later sell off their 99.7 FM, but keep the AM)?

 

[radiosaur]

I love this stuff. There's so much history which went into how things got to be how they are. Why channel 3 went to Hoyt Wooten and not Abe Plough. Why all local AM signals drop to way-below-power-line level one half mile from my house. Why WHBQ's tower plat looks like someone randomly threw 5 towers in a field and hoped for the best. And the leftover question from my Jackson, Mississippi days, why would someone swap 620 KC for 1300 KC (and later sell off their 99.7 FM, but keep the AM)?

That's an easy answer, Rob. Back in the 30's, the engineering staff in Washington knew you would be living out in NE Shelby county about now, so they planned ahead to deny you any AM service. ;D

As for WHBQ, radio was so profitable back then they would squeeze stations in anywhere they could. Ther's a station in Dallas that has 12 towers in the array. The transmitter site is about a mile long.

WHBQ is really two directional arrays at the same site, with the simple 2 tower daytime and the 5-tower night....but you probably know that, being a master of all things 'Q

 

[robgrayson]

'Saur, your well know this, but for our younger readers... When I worked at WHBQ, the jocks didn't take meter readings. There was always a separate First Class Licensed engineer on duty, 24/7. During the day, he usually doubled as the production engineer. At night, Norman Dye was traditionally my engineer, sometimes Jesse Freeman or others. Overnights, Alex Yates took over duty at the transmitter site. Now, these weren't to be confused with the engineers in the bigger markets who ran the board while the announcers yakked. These guys took meter readings and did repair work and the like.

 

[K4WRF]

I love this stuff. There's so much history which went into how things got to be how they are. Why channel 3 went to Hoyt Wooten and not Abe Plough. Why all local AM signals drop to way-below-power-line level one half mile from my house. Why WHBQ's tower plat looks like someone randomly threw 5 towers in a field and hoped for the best. And the leftover question from my Jackson, Mississippi days, why would someone swap 620 KC for 1300 KC (and later sell off their 99.7 FM, but keep the AM)?

I’ll say this then you will know what I know about it. About four decades ago, I asked Mr. Percy Root at WJDX this same question. So based on the elapsed time and IIRC, WRBC came on in the late 1940’s on 620 KHz from a site that was what is now the airport out there east of town. WJDX operated at 1300 KHz. The impression I got was Rebel Broadcasting was in financial straights and was about to go under. Now the sequence of events gets a little unclear here but either Mr. Root had gone to work at WRBC or they (WJDX) had already made the swap with the rich Lamar Life Insurance company when a tornado demolished the old site. I think Mr. Root and his family lived out there. WJDX operated from a wire antenna until the new site was built in north Jackson. Root lived there at the transmitter site. He was an avid Ham and had a full rombic antenna out there I remember. I think this tornado and subsequent move happened in 1953. I specifically remember him saying “that wire antenna covered Jackson like dew on the grass”. I also remember he had worked at WMC before moving to Jackson in 1929.

On the 99.7 sale to E.O. Rhoden, it was the same deal as many other owners at the time (1972), it didn’t make any money but lost money. The owner was in the grocery business as I remember and it was sold for $75,000.00 FM was still yet to turn the corner.

I am sure others that post here can fill in the blanks.

w/

 

[radiosaur]

'Saur, your well know this, but for our younger readers... When I worked at WHBQ, the jocks didn't take meter readings. There was always a separate First Class Licensed engineer on duty, 24/7. During the day, he usually doubled as the production engineer. At night, Norman Dye was traditionally my engineer, sometimes Jesse Freeman or others. Overnights, Alex Yates took over duty at the transmitter site. Now, these weren't to be confused with the engineers in the bigger markets who ran the board while the announcers yakked. These guys took meter readings and did repair work and the like.

Cut my engineerin' teeth taking tower base readings and repairing transmitters. WDIA had a tractor you could ride from tower to tower on...

And Mr. Watt, sir... I'm sure at least a million folks have asked about your name and profession...deliberate, coincidence, or did it motivate you in your early years? And are you still keeping WSM loud and proud?

 

[JustARadioFan]

We need to get some grant money to get you guys together for a few days to regale in the stories of Memphis radio from the beginning - the good, the bad, the ugly - with tape running nonstop.... this would make a killer book or better yet, documentary!!

 

[robgrayson]

I agree, JustA, especially while we still have access to folks like Jack Parnell, Fred Cook, the "original" FM100 guys (pre-hot AC) (incidentally, for a "progresssive rock" station, the old FM100 played a heavy dose of R&B), Mr. Chuck (once the GM at WDIA), the leftover "walrus era" 103'ers, Ron Jordan (if anyone could find him), Bob McDowell (former manager at Quad-104), Leon Griffin (everything from rock FM100 to K-97 to Rock103)... as soon as I push "post' I'm going to think of 19 other people I should have mentioned...
Somebody call Willie Bearden, and get him to do a thing for WKNO-TV like he did for the garage bands.
In the meanwhile, if you've never gone to oidar.com and read the story of John Long's radio life, now would be a great time. He chronicles a great moment in Memphis radio history, the story of WHBQ and AM top 40's last stand.