• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Avenue 950 moving to 1550?

S

stereolane

I keep hearing this announcement on WNTD "Avenue 950 is moving a few blocks up to AM 1550. Make the switch now"

Does this mean that 1550 will soon be broadcasting from Northbrook? FCC filings indicate it's still in the works. ???
 
Probably they will, it's about the last clear AM in the book around here.

We sometimes hear St Joseph, Mo (oldies) or Madison Wi, (also oldies) on 1550, but I have at times used 1550 for my part 15
as it's clear in the daytime, but it sure won't be now.

At night the skywave on 1550 is enough to make 1620 better, but since 1620 now has ESPN Omaha, it's really a toss-up..
until the prospect of having a local on 1550 now. Guess I'll be staying on 1620.
 
I hadn't heard anything about this application for awhile. It turns out that there were some minor deficiencies with their original filing. They were able to secure an extension until August 27th. It appears that they have picked a new transmitter site just north of Half Day Road on the west side of Skokie Highway in Highland Park. Here is the link to the amended application: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101393249&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1

The new site is just north of M&I Imports; not far from the McDonald's restaurant. It will still put a very strong signal into Northbrook, and will obviously eliminate 1550 as a usable frequency for Part 15 over most of the Chicago area. Probably the most famous Part 15 station in its time was the Old Navy billboard transmitter near Armitage on the Kennedy. I also used to use 1550, but I abandoned it due to the high interference levels at night.

Whether the new station will be a blessing or a curse to me will depend what they use it for. If it ends up being yet another outlet for Polish and Russian time-brokered programming, it just be another source of irritation.
 
I could see promoting the move from 950 to 1550 if the Northbrook facility was built.

I cannot see the point in telling Avenue 950 listeners to strain to hear 1550 from Lake Geneva. Doesn't make sense.
 
I had a feeling this was going to happen when the station changed hands. I've seen the coverage map of 1550 and it barely, if at all gets into Chicago, so what's the use? Hopefully the network can pick up a station that better penetrates the Chicago area. Are any such stations in trouble?
 
There's no usable signal from Lake Geneva even in the northern suburbs (e.g. Northbrook). The new WZRK Northbrook facility is supposed to be daytime only, so if they are going to program Relevant Radio during the daytime, I would imagine that The Avenue will no longer be heard once that facility signs on.
 
audioguy said:
There's no usable signal from Lake Geneva even in the northern suburbs (e.g. Northbrook). The new WZRK Northbrook facility is supposed to be daytime only, so if they are going to program Relevant Radio during the daytime, I would imagine that The Avenue will no longer be heard once that facility signs on.
Click to expand...
From what I understand, 1550 will be the new home for the Avenue on the IL/WI border. What I was wondering is does a station exist which blankets the Chicago who seems to be in trouble and would be willing to do this format?
 
"Avenue 950 is moving to 1550 AM" is plastered all over the Avenue 950 website http://www.avenue950.com/en-us/default.aspx
How dumb. I agree, WHY are they telling people to tune to 1550 when they don't even have Program Test Authority from the FCC? Hmm...
The Marketing Dept.? WZRK from Lake Geneva puts an okay signal into McHenry, but by the time you're south of Wauconda, not too listenable... And Timeless Cool is giving up night service on 950??? Who would be listening to Relevant Radio at night? I don't think so. Most Catholics are watching TV like the rest of the population at night. Some daytime-only AM stations are still a good idea, even now...
 
Why? Because that's the way they operate. FCC rules or proper procedure is judged an inconvenience...
1550 is still a Canadian clear, even though CBE (Windsor) is supposed to sign off. There are several single-digit wattage stations on that frequency. That kind of power must work for someone...
 
Don't assume that Canada will relinquish 1550 when CBE goes off the air. They will probably offer the frequency to another group. Even though many Canadian AM stations have been moving to FM there are still some groups, particularly in the larger cities, that are interested in getting on the air-- even if that means AM.

Has there been any construction at the new site yet? I haven't heard any testing on 1550.
 
I too doubt that Canada will give up on 1550, although there is a possibility of lower power or maybe a different DA pattern.
 
The current pattern for CBE is northeast, into Canada. The station operates with 10 kilowatts day and night. Here is the link for the pattern: http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/314277-23115.pdf

CBE appears to be the only Canadian station on 1550. If they didn't want to use the frequency in Windsor, there is a possibility that it could move to another city, such as Toronto or Montreal, where there would be more demand for a radio signal.
 
Re: re: Avenue 950 moving to 1550?

stormy01 said:
Most Catholics are watching TV like the rest of the population at night.
Click to expand...

Most Catholics would likely prefer "The Avenue" to "Relevant Radio".
 
Avenue 1550 has given me a reason to listen to AM again. It's right in my back yard. I'd miss it if it moved to IL. It would be a shame.
 
audioguy said:
CBE appears to be the only Canadian station on 1550. If they didn't want to use the frequency in Windsor, there is a possibility that it could move to another city, such as Toronto or Montreal, where there would be more demand for a radio signal.
Click to expand...

I suppose Montreal is a possibility if the 1570 in Laval (used to be CFAV, but I believe it has just changed calls) wants to move to 1550 to take advantage of the 1550 channel's Class A status in Canada. And I suppose Toronto is also a possibility if CHIN wants to move from 1540 for the same reason.

However, even if neither station wants to move, Canada will not give up the international notification. It has done so only a couple of times. In one case it gave up an unbuilt 820 in western ON because the engineers who designed WCPT's night upgrade showed Industrie Canada that they could substitute 770, which Canada then reserved. That change allowed WCPT to use higher night power than it otherwise could have used. I think there has been only one other case. That time, the new Canadian station was not built on the vacated frequency but on an adjacent channel, making the vacated channel unavailable for Canadian use in the dark station's former location.
 
DanStrassberg said:
audioguy said:
CBE appears to be the only Canadian station on 1550. If they didn't want to use the frequency in Windsor, there is a possibility that it could move to another city, such as Toronto or Montreal, where there would be more demand for a radio signal.
Click to expand...

I suppose Montreal is a possibility if the 1570 in Laval (used to be CFAV, but I believe it has just changed calls) wants to move to 1550 to take advantage of the 1550 channel's Class A status in Canada. And I suppose Toronto is also a possibility if CHIN wants to move from 1540 for the same reason.

However, even if neither station wants to move, Canada will not give up the international notification. It has done so only a couple of times. In one case it gave up an unbuilt 820 in western ON because the engineers who designed WCPT's night upgrade showed Industrie Canada that they could substitute 770, which Canada then reserved. That change allowed WCPT to use higher night power than it otherwise could have used. I think there has been only one other case. That time, the new Canadian station was not built on the vacated frequency but on an adjacent channel, making the vacated channel unavailable for Canadian use in the dark station's former location.
Click to expand...
Regarding any abandoned clear channels: if one country decides that they don't want to use a given clear channel frequency, I feel that they should lose the right to broadcast on that frequency. It's not fair to other broadcasters to have to limit their signals for a non-operating facility. I say impose a use-or-lose policy. This includes 690 and 940 as well as 1550!
 
klutch00 said:
Regarding any abandoned clear channels: if one country decides that they don't want to use a given clear channel frequency, I feel that they should lose the right to broadcast on that frequency. It's not fair to other broadcasters to have to limit their signals for a non-operating facility. I say impose a use-or-lose policy. This includes 690 and 940 as well as 1550!
Click to expand...

That's nice to say but just how do you propose to make it happen? Treaties are negotiated among countries. A country that wants to impose such a regulation has to give up something. So first you have to establish that anyone involved in such treaty negotiations even cares about Class A AM assignments. If you can establish that (I doubt it), you've then got to establish what the US would be willing to give up to get it. (My guess is nothing.)
 
b344077 said:
What about some kind of STA status?
Click to expand...

I have to think that if the idea had any legs it would have been tried already. AFAIK. it hasn't been tried for getting US control of a foreign Class A AM allocation. I have trouble believing that that is the result of nobody ever having thought of it. A generic problem that is created whenever the FCC attempts to solve a problem by granting an STA is that when the "time is up" for the operation described in the STA, the station that holds the STA finds all sorts of creative ways to use the courts to extend the STA indefinitely. (And I don't mean just when the STA expires; the STA's time could be over when conditions described in the STA have been met. In this case, the conditions could be met when the CRTC/Industrie Canada grants a CP for the Canadian facilities described in an STA.) The result is a mess in which the only winners appear to be the lawyers who file all of the petitions to keep the STA on the air.

The famous KOB case did not involve the use of a FOREIGN clear channel; it was all domestic, but old Stanley Hubbard managed to keep the case alive in the courts for 38 years before, IIRC, the US Supreme Court finally (in effect) told him to shut up and sit down. As one FCC Commissioner commented at one point, "Over the course of this case, elephants have had baby elephants, and the baby elephants have grown up and had baby elephants of their own." (Not a verbatim quote, but it captures the spirit of the problem.)
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom