Audacy has flipped ESPN 1520 WWKB to THE BET 1520, carrying their BetQL network. Looks like they still air The Jim Rome show from noon to 3.
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Another Buffalo Flip
- Thread starter RadioGuy1864
- Start date
It's profitable if BetQL is paying for the air time. The station is one sad geriatric AM. What's happened to it almost constitutes RF elderly abuse. Lot of that going around these days on the AM band.
If a station flips in the AM forest and nobody's listening, does it make a sound?
Remember, this is 50 kw at 1520. That is about the same as 1 kw at 550. It's a dreadful frequency at any power level.
Here's a case where literally NO ONE noticed this change. Audacy had already introduced this BET format in other markets. They probably just forgot they even owned 1520.
Total waste of electricity...
Previously discussed here:
It's a corporate deal. Audacy has a partnership:
audacyinc.com
Audacy Announces Addition of New “BetQL Network” Programming in Partnership With BetMGM
PHILADELPHIA, PA – June 14, 2021 – Audacy announced today the addition of new weekday programming on the “BetQL Network” as part of its multiplatform
audacyinc.com
David, I defer to your knowledge on many issues given your years of experience in our industry. But I’m at a loss at where your coming from by this statement. 1520 a “dreadful frequency“ at any power level? I don’t think so! Back in its days as a Top 40 powerhouse, the legendary KB was heard up and down Eastern America and Canada at night. Its nighttime show with Joey Reynolds in the early to mid 60s actually ranked in the top 10 in New York City. No other Buffalo station came close to having that much coverage! Even with KB’s comeback as an oldies station in 2003-06, Tom Donahue said he constantly received calls from listeners from far away for his Saturday night all request show. While visiting friends in Providence, I can attest to the power of KB as it came in loud and clear one night when I tuned in. Of course, there was nothing but static the next morning. That coverage did not extend to daytime hours. Maybe you’re referring to that.
I think a heard a couple of years back that 1520 is no longer broadcasting at 50kw to save on electricity costs for a station with no audience. Perhaps someone more in the know on this board can confirm or deny.
This change is not at all surprising. In fact, I was wondering why Audacy had not included 1520 when this betting format was launched a couple of months back. Indeed, maybe corporate HQ had forgotten it owned a now totally irrelevant frequency in our market.
Stations at the high end of the AM dial don't have good daytime ground wave coverage. Nighttime sky wave is a different story.
In the Reynolds era (early-mid 60s), "KB" showed up in Pulse and Hooper in markets like Rochester, Syracuse and Richmond. The nighttime sky wave was killer. It also helped that KB was (is) highly directional with a pattern that favors the east and northeast.
The fact that the AM band was not as jammed back in the day also helped signal propogation and reception. AM radio also sounded pretty darn good on the GE, Zenith, Philco or Delco, offering good selectivity and bandwidth. That was before the transmitter audio frequency range was squashed and AM radio manufacturers simultaneously threw in the towel on making good AM receiving components (because after all, the transmission bandwidth had been altered, so why manufacture AM radios that were wideband compatible if the radio stations weren't fully transmitting in wideband.)
But yeah... "KB" was a force... even through the 70s and early 80s.
That noted, it takes a lot of juice to push RF and audio at 1520, which is why so many of the new stations were high power when the FCC extended the AM band. WTOP 1500 in DC; KOMA 1520 Oklahoma City; WCKY 1530 in Cincy, WPTR 1540 in Albany and KEXL Waterloo, IA; WQXR 1560 in NYC... all 50 kWers, mostly directional.
When I was CE at 'KB 7 years ago we installed MDCL power-saving on the Harris DX-50, and it ran at the full 50KW. I don't know the current setup, if there's issues with the DX50 the backup (back then) was the 1963-vintage RCA BTA-10U that Cap Cities bought.
Daytime coverage is good. trust people who have lived there. The kids in Rochester listened to KB night and day.
To Rusty Bridges: Many stations still sound good on my amateur radio communications transceivers, Their bandwidth is a little wider than most and they have more than a 99 cent RF section.
There was a time when stations that went anywhere near engaging in sports betting were frowned upon by the FCC. In the early days of TV I have read about stations that got turned down for TV licenses for even a hint of betting activity. I guess the FCC doesn’t care anymore.
To Rusty Bridges: Many stations still sound good on my amateur radio communications transceivers, Their bandwidth is a little wider than most and they have more than a 99 cent RF section.
There was a time when stations that went anywhere near engaging in sports betting were frowned upon by the FCC. In the early days of TV I have read about stations that got turned down for TV licenses for even a hint of betting activity. I guess the FCC doesn’t care anymore.
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The key word is LAWFUL gambling. The FCC is opposed to illegal gambling. But one the activity has been made legal, its OK.
So once sports betting was legalized by the state, and regulated by the state, it can be promoted on the airwaves.
Same thing for marijuana.
Yes, back in the 60's before everything from dimmers to computers was creating a cacophony of noise on the AM band.
Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting lost an AM license in Washington, DC, because a numbers game was being played via a preacher's Bible verse citations!
I love the glow in the left-hand cabinet.
As Frank says, that is nighttime coverage. Today, almost all radio revenue is generated in daytime hours.
And stations like 'KBW got listening in many areas in the Northeast because, back in the earliest years of Top 40, they were the only signal in smaller towns and rural areas with that format. But as FM came along, and more stations were built, the need to listen to distant stations disappeared.
And 1520 with 50 kw in the daytime covers about as well as a station at the very bottom of the dial with 1 kw. It's just not a good signal for today's world.
I have no proof that WKBW rated in NYC... in that era of early to mid-60's you had WABC, WMCA, the last years of WMGM and WINS and even WADO all doing really good Top 40 in New York City.
David said: I have no proof that WKBW rated in NYC... in that era of early to mid-60's you had WABC, WMCA, the last years of WMGM and WINS and even WADO all doing really good Top 40 in New York City.
I have no proof as well but I have run into more NYC area KB listeners than I have listeners that ever got a rating book!
I have no proof as well but I have run into more NYC area KB listeners than I have listeners that ever got a rating book!
There were no rating books (diaries) in the early 60's. It was Pulse or Hooper, and they did telephone or in-home coincidentals with 24 hour recall at most. No weekly data.
And because the principal survey methodology was the telephone, the survey area was whatever part of a market was a toll-free call from the central zone or "business district" of a market. So if calling a suburb was a toll call, the area was not part of the survey area.
Ratings historian Chris Huff has NYC data going way, way back. I don't see WKBW every listed.
Okay you win, nobody listened.... (but somehow I have sure run into quite a few people who did).
Maybe the BetQL network is happy to have 'KB's big nighttime skywave coverage area. Is this an advertiser-supported format where ratings matter or more of a direct-response business model where they make money from the listeners betting?
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