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AM stations going against the trends.

S

secondchoice

I stumbled into this an AM station going from D to B and building a directional plant with out a FM translator. Also their web site says they are the second oldest licensed radio station in the USA, the first west of the Mississippi and a 3 call letter plus the first licensed "W" station in America. I understand they were a "college" station but even WGST got 500 watts at night. It is owned by same guy that owns the different (nighttime / daytime) frequency station in Detroit .

Radio-Locator.com

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radio-locator.com radio-locator.com

I can only guess he can not get a good translator. Or he has figured out a way to sell AM in a rated market.
 
secondchoice said:
I stumbled into this an AM station going from D to B and building a directional plant with out a FM translator. Also their web site says they are the second oldest licensed radio station in the USA, the first west of the Mississippi and a 3 call letter plus the first licensed "W" station in America. I understand they were a "college" station but even WGST got 500 watts at night. It is owned by same guy that owns the different (nighttime / daytime) frequency station in Detroit .

Radio-Locator.com

Radio Station Search Engine
radio-locator.com radio-locator.com

I can only guess he can not get a good translator. Or he has figured out a way to sell AM in a rated market.
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WEW's increase is both good and bad. It's nice that they increased power, and will be on at night, but with today's RFI noise, they was *forced* to make this upgrade to even be listenable in parts of the suburbs, and 10kw might not even be enough. We are also seeing the continued breakdown of Clear Channel frequencies. In WEW/WABC's case, it's not such a bad deal, as 200 watts is not quite enough to manage a skywave signal that could interfere with WABC's protected contour. Although, did you notice the station runs Brother Stair 24/7 now? Surely that is better than being able to recieve WABC. 🙄
 
Boy. They're sandwiched-in between WABC to the east and KKOB to the west. Their little nighttime signal will have issues.
 
secondchoice said:
It is owned by same guy that owns the different (nighttime / daytime) frequency station in Detroit .
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Sima Birach owns a a couple dozen AM stations in the midwest and south, many of which run brokered formats. He is now well into his 80s.

Good for him investing into his properties, but I've got to wonder what's next.
 
Speaking of bucking the trends, I would say KKTY Douglas, WY, KOBM/KIBM Omaha, NE, KBSZ Mesa, AZ, KZMQ Graybull, WY, and WAKY Louisville, KY, are examples of music stations on AM that has great processing, supports themselves with local/national ads, and some of them have entertaining hosts (looking at KOBM and WAKY).

The Canadian stations are worth a shoutout in a new paragraph, as several of these AMs have been purchased by millionaires, like 740 CFZM Toronto, and they are very well ran, like 750 CKJH and 800 CHAB.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
Speaking of bucking the trends, I would say KKTY Douglas, WY, KOBM/KIBM Omaha, NE, KBSZ Mesa, AZ, KZMQ Graybull, WY, and WAKY Louisville, KY, are examples of music stations on AM that has great processing, supports themselves with local/national ads, and some of them have entertaining hosts (looking at KOBM and WAKY).
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KBSZ 1260 (actually located in Apache Junction, the next town east of Mesa) operates a translator on 97.3 on Usery Mountain, NE of Mesa. The translator frequency is used for branding. They sound OK on Ancient Modulation, but I'm willing to bet that 99% of their listeners are on FM.
 
KeithE4 said:
KBSZ 1260 (actually located in Apache Junction, the next town east of Mesa) operates a translator on 97.3 on Usery Mountain, NE of Mesa. The translator frequency is used for branding. They sound OK on Ancient Modulation, but I'm willing to bet that 99% of their listeners are on FM.
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Agreed, and 4 out of the 5 stations I mentioned have translators, however some other AM's that also have translators have gone to trash, So, while a translator helps, it's obvious to me that these stations actually are putting in the work to produce successful programming.

By the way, I do love to listen to 1260, so I have been on KiwiSDR (until I found out that they had a website) and they seem to be in-house, and curated, perhaps?
 
Kelly A said:
How about the AM stations that have gone MA3 (full digital)? That's more gutsy than having some FM translator.
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I still have my money on 820 The Gamut (WWFD), although I haven't heard a lot from or about them lately.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
I still have my money on 820 The Gamut (WWFD), although I haven't heard a lot from or about them lately.
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For as much as I applaud Hubbard for being the first to take the plunge by making one of their major market stations MA3, super-wide-variety-formatted stations or networks have a long track record of failure. Like attempts to do this before them, The Gammut is literally all over the map in genre, time, and taste. Even if you could get someone to tune in, chances are good they wouldn't stick around for very long. To me it's a shame, because there is an opportunity to showcase the audio quality advantages of full digital AM, but by being so eclectic and scattered with the music, they're completetly missing the boat
 
frankberry said:
Boy. They're sandwiched-in between WABC to the east and KKOB to the west. Their little nighttime signal will have issues.
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KKOB has a deep nighttime null towards NYC, so not an issue for WEW. All the skywave will be from WABC.

KAAM in DFW has nighttime operation on 770 but throws its signal to the south. KKOB not an issue in DFW, either.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
KKOB has a deep nighttime null towards NYC, so not an issue for WEW. All the skywave will be from WABC.

KAAM in DFW has nighttime operation on 770 but throws its signal to the south. KKOB not an issue in DFW, either.
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KKOB will be an issue for the first hour or so of nighttime operation when KKOB is still in their daytime mode.
 
I've had the reverse happen as well. Right around sunrise, a station to the west of me (such as KNZZ Grand Junction) power on a bit earlier than they were supposed to, and they would boom into my area for an hour or two.
 
Kelly A said:
For as much as I applaud Hubbard for being the first to take the plunge by making one of their major market stations MA3, super-wide-variety-formatted stations or networks have a long track record of failure. Like attempts to do this before them, The Gammut is literally all over the map in genre, time, and taste. Even if you could get someone to tune in, chances are good they wouldn't stick around for very long. To me it's a shame, because there is an opportunity to showcase the audio quality advantages of full digital AM, but by being so eclectic and scattered with the music, they're completetly missing the boat
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Sometimes variety will bode well, like the "Star" branded stations, but I personally think WWFD took it too far. There's nothing to stick to! But at least the audio tests of WWFD I've seen people do on YouTube are really good.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
Sometimes variety will bode well, like the "Star" branded stations, but I personally think WWFD took it too far. There's nothing to stick to! But at least the audio tests of WWFD I've seen people do on YouTube are really good.
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I don't believe WWFD carries any advertising, so its audience size is probably a moot point.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
Although, did you notice the station runs Brother Stair 24/7 now? Surely that is better than being able to recieve WABC. 🙄
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How much is Brother Stair making to afford all this?

And how old is he?

I imagine there has got to either be an heir apparent or a bloody power struggle when he dies.
 
I believe Bro. Stair is dead. Obviously Overcomers Ministry can afford to buy the time. Ministries as long-lived generally are very well funded. Some followers contribute all their wealth when they die. If they play it right, they never run out of money.
 
b-turner said:
I believe Bro. Stair is dead. Obviously Overcomers Ministry can afford to buy the time. Ministries as long-lived generally are very well funded. Some followers contribute all their wealth when they die. If they play it right, they never run out of money.
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The Last Day prophet indeed had his last day April 3, 2021.
 
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