It's also interesting to listen to two site operations where they have both sites on. In the NWC/ORD area, WNTD or its predecessors on 950 had both sites on for several minutes sometimes, and they were close to the same field strength in that area and had a very deep fade in and fade out. WSBC is also amazingly strong out that way. WNTD is one of the 50 oldest stations still on the air in the US. When stations on 920/950 were 500 watts to 5000 watts nondirectional, WAAF...WNTD had to eventually build a DA for Night use to go full time, because 500 watts nondirectional would cause way too much interference to WWJ and other 920/950 stations.
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AM Stations that alternated frequencies and days
- Thread starter Battenkill50
- Start date
A few times, when 1060 Denver had 2 different sites... the night site got stuck on and was that way for awhile and made a mess in Denver
Actually, it looks like it still has two sites, both omnidirectional, while being classified as a class D station. Seems odd. The daytime site is closer to Greeley than the nighttime site.
I'll see if I can pick it up tonight at its mighty 111 watts from Longmont.
Not odd, anything with less then 250 at night is unprotected and considered a Class D
Yes, but then, why have two sites? The station's FM translator (K221GI) is in Greeley and clearly targets Greeley yet that nighttime site is farther away from Greeley than the daytime site.
Yes, I know the COL is Longmont (for the AM station) but the desired target area is pretty obvious.
the translator can be anywhere within a certain distance in miles or mv/m of signal from the transmitter site.
Im not sure why theres two sites
The nighttime site on the northwest side of Longmont appears to be the original KLMO site from 1949, when the station was a daytimer on 1050. It went to 1060 with 10 kW daytime in 1964.
The current daytime site between Longmont and Greeley is newer, and it appears to me that it was put there simply because that's where a 50 kW ND day signal on 1060 fits. It can't run that much power ND from the Longmont site because of the third-adjacent protection to KMXA on 1090.
The setup would appear to give them about as much as they can get in terms of night coverage. If you're in Longmont you can hear them on AM. If you're in Greeley you can hear them on FM. Better than nothing (slightly!)
The current daytime site between Longmont and Greeley is newer, and it appears to me that it was put there simply because that's where a 50 kW ND day signal on 1060 fits. It can't run that much power ND from the Longmont site because of the third-adjacent protection to KMXA on 1090.
The setup would appear to give them about as much as they can get in terms of night coverage. If you're in Longmont you can hear them on AM. If you're in Greeley you can hear them on FM. Better than nothing (slightly!)
Due to land values and high maintenance costs, most two site operations have consolidated wherever possible. It usually does involve some sacrifice of the Day and/or Night signal. It's like fybush said the Day or Night signals are precluded at each site. WNTD could probably consolidate at the Night site, except there is the station in Sheboygan, WI on 950, WCLB, and the M-3 and real conductivity is good in between. Take the 250 watt stations like WLIP as an example. When I visit near there, I'm always amazed at how stations even in the 1500s even with low power get out.
Just a faint trace in east Denver a few miles south of I-70.
Interestingly enough, I'm getting my best reception tonight on my Radiwow R-108, not on the Digitech AR-1780.
I'm looking at the 1060 daytime tower on Google Maps - Street View, and it appears solid with transmission lines running up the sides of the structure. And no guy wires. Is this true?
The 1966 Broadcasting Yearbook has KABE (500w-D) on 1540, starting April 17, 1964.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I did an article at the UHF History site (gratuitous plug ... it is hosted by World Radio History) on share-time television stations, including those.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Actually, the people who bought 1230 (and also 1220 out in Pomona), Universal Broadcasting, did also buy 1240 in 1994 and did simulcast all three briefly (with KPPC becoming KXPA) before deciding that the Pasadena station actually caused interference with 1230 when both were on the air with identical programming.
And the strangest part of that was that KPPC got the FCC to approve in 1985 a change in their operating hours which still boggles the mind: Originally, they only were on the air to carry the Pasadena Presbyterian Church (hence the calls) Sunday services and Wednesday evening prayer meetings; they gradually expanded to 18 hours on Sunday and five additional daytime hours on Wednesdays. But in 1985 they were allowed to keep their Sunday schedule and operate in the evening the remaining six days of the week ... almost a "reverse daytimer" operation.
An interesting footnote to all that was that when Universal decided to take KXPA silent (April 19, 1996) the church discovered that there was still six months left on their long-standing contract to have their Sunday services air on 1240, and the license remained in effect until September 1, 1996 operating for one hour every Sunday to fulfill the legal obligation ... as KPCC!
I talked to KPPC after the FCC gave them the nighttime allowance. They were on sunset to Midnight and I think that was at 100 watts. I may be fuzzy on this but I think they ran 6am to Midnight Sunday. As I recall they were brokered time and were about $50 an hour. They didn't have many avails.
That is a cool article. I'd love to read an article on shared time cable stations on cable providers and when that practice ended.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
That would be a difficult -- no, make that impossible -- article to write. There were a handful of shared cable networks on satellite transponders (Nickelodeon/ARTS, ACSN/Home Theater Network, USA/BET all come to mind) in the 80s but I believe what you are referring to is a situation where a cable system chose to split a channel themselves back when few had more than 36 channels of capacity.
There exist little to no records of that, and given the sheer number of independent cable system operators back then, one would literally have to find every community where that happened and then try to track down the shared channels and dates.
One could spend the rest of one's life trying to research that and still not have a complete article.
Here are some old threads related to the subject, though, if you haven't already stumbled onto them (one of which I started myself, almost 20 years ago):
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Here's a history of the WIBW-KSKU (formerly KSAC) broadcast timeshare.
History of KKSU
The relationship, which had K-State taking over broadcasting 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays (when I heard them in the 1990s) worked great until the lure of $$ made KSU officials can WIBW's sports coverage contract for another broadcaster.
WIBW sued and threatened to withdraw the timeshare.
The new KSU sports broadcaster, a regional farm broadcast network, was fine and well respected, as was WIBW's broadcasts, which included farm and sports programming. I have no issues with either.
KSU was the bad guy here. Look how $$ ruined a great relationship and ended the university's long running station.
BTW... KSU returned to WIBW for its sports broadcasts. So what did KSU gain?
History of KKSU
The relationship, which had K-State taking over broadcasting 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays (when I heard them in the 1990s) worked great until the lure of $$ made KSU officials can WIBW's sports coverage contract for another broadcaster.
WIBW sued and threatened to withdraw the timeshare.
I use to work with someone who worked at WIBW/ Kansas Ag Network. He told me the station was flabbergasted KSU reneged on its deal and went for the bigger $$.
The new KSU sports broadcaster, a regional farm broadcast network, was fine and well respected, as was WIBW's broadcasts, which included farm and sports programming. I have no issues with either.
KSU was the bad guy here. Look how $$ ruined a great relationship and ended the university's long running station.
BTW... KSU returned to WIBW for its sports broadcasts. So what did KSU gain?
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Sorry for the delay in posting a response on this, but here's the history card for 1240 in Pasadena:
Origianlly written by @Mark Roberts and now part of my website.
The winning bidder in 2002 was the Mid-America Ag Network/Larry Steckline. Steckline and WIBW were competitors, and Steckline would not have wanted to allow WIBW to continue to be an affiliate. Had it been anyone else, WIBW would have likely remained a K-State affiliate, especially since....
By the time WIBW regained the K-State affiliation, Learfield and/or IMG had taken over. WIBW was the Topeka affiliate for University of Kansas football and men's basketball for a brief period. Going a little OT, that period included the KLZR to KKSW switch and one of the few KU Mens' Basketball games *NOT* to be carried on 105.9 between 1984 and 2024.
Were any KU sports ever carried on KLWN?