• 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

Chicago Radio Ratings Released12-01-2021

Schroedingers Cat said:
Yes, and even 15 mV/m doesn't cut it in some areas, and certainly not inside steel buildings. You often need 25 mV/m outside to even hear the signal at all, and 100 mV/m outside the building to hear it well inside.
Click to expand...
Out here in DeKalb, WLS actually fades in and out like a distant nighttime blowtorch like KMOX does with skywave. That never used to happen in the 1970s. Growing up in Calumet City, WLS melted my radios, but the other 50 kw blowtorches came in just fine.

Speaking of diplexing, WBBM comes in noticeably better in DeKalb now, even with their slightly reduced power. I attribute that to a nicer ground plane…and also, a more efficient tower. I was in Dubuque, Iowa recently and noticed that I could pick it up out there at night...which I couldn't before. It was always the weakest of the 50 kilowatters besides WLS.

I wonder if WBBM will apply to get 50 kW again day and night. I'm also wondering if they settled for the reduced power so that they didn't have to wait forever to get approval for diplexing. Either way, I haven't been on I-355 in a while… Is the old WBBM antenna and tower site still there?
 
Well, I live in LA and I listen to WABC77 online now - thank goodness. KFI has gone downhill fast. It's just awful except for Handel and Dr. Wendy. I used to love Tim Conway, Jr. and now I just can't listen to him. It's too much inside baseball about the crew there and not really funny. I stuck it out because there wasn't anything else. Now - thank you - WABC77 online.
 
gsebenste said:
Out here in DeKalb, WLS actually fades in and out like a distant nighttime blowtorch like KMOX does with skywave. That never used to happen in the 1970s. Growing up in Calumet City, WLS melted my radios, but the other 50 kw blowtorches came in just fine.

Speaking of diplexing, WBBM comes in noticeably better in DeKalb now, even with their slightly reduced power. I attribute that to a nicer ground plane…and also, a more efficient tower. I was in Dubuque, Iowa recently and noticed that I could pick it up out there at night...which I couldn't before. It was always the weakest of the 50 kilowatters besides WLS.

I wonder if WBBM will apply to get 50 kW again day and night. I'm also wondering if they settled for the reduced power so that they didn't have to wait forever to get approval for diplexing. Either way, I haven't been on I-355 in a while… Is the old WBBM antenna and tower site still there?
Click to expand...
WBBM's tower has been gone since July of 2019. Here's a video of the demolition from WBBM along with a short story about it:
www.audacy.com

WBBM Newsradio's Transmitter Site Moves To Bloomingdale | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM

WBBM Newsradio’s Transmitter Site Moves To Bloomingdale… Watch the video of the Itasca tower fall to the ground. | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
www.audacy.com www.audacy.com

And here's a follow-up piece by the developer of the property after the site was demolished:
 
gsebenste said:
Speaking of diplexing, WBBM comes in noticeably better in DeKalb now, even with their slightly reduced power. I attribute that to a nicer ground plane…and also, a more efficient tower. I was in Dubuque, Iowa recently and noticed that I could pick it up out there at night...which I couldn't before. It was always the weakest of the 50 kilowatters besides WLS.

I wonder if WBBM will apply to get 50 kW again day and night. I'm also wondering if they settled for the reduced power so that they didn't have to wait forever to get approval for diplexing. Either way, I haven't been on I-355 in a while… Is the old WBBM antenna and tower site still there?
Click to expand...
The 35/42 U1 had to do with complying with all the interference restrictions. The more efficient tower requires that all overlaps under newer rules be met. That means the overlap between stations on 770 and 790 can't increase overlap, they have to maintain or decrease all the 0.5 mV/m to 0.25 mV/m overlaps. There have been proposals for going back to 0.5 to 0.5 mV/m, and that could allow slight increases. But unless all nondirectional overlaps are reduced, they can't increase. The Night facility has to consider the different vertical radiation characteristics of the electrically taller tower, as well as the increased efficiency, and the annulus of skywave to ground wave interference at a different distance. They can't increase skywave radiation toward cochannel stations like KKOH 780 and first adjacent stations (there's proposals for changing that also) like WSGW 790.

They might also want to do conductivity studies to see if that would allow decrease or elimination of overlap with higher day power.
 
Radiochick777 said:
Well, I live in LA and I listen to WABC77 online now - thank goodness. KFI has gone downhill fast. It's just awful except for Handel and Dr. Wendy. I used to love Tim Conway, Jr. and now I just can't listen to him. It's too much inside baseball about the crew there and not really funny. I stuck it out because there wasn't anything else. Now - thank you - WABC77 online.
Click to expand...
Do you listen to Cousin Brucie on Saturdays?
 
emcman said:
WBBM's tower has been gone since July of 2019. Here's a video of the demolition from WBBM along with a short story about it:
www.audacy.com

WBBM Newsradio's Transmitter Site Moves To Bloomingdale | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM

WBBM Newsradio’s Transmitter Site Moves To Bloomingdale… Watch the video of the Itasca tower fall to the ground. | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
www.audacy.com www.audacy.com

And here's a follow-up piece by the developer of the property after the site was demolished:
Click to expand...
I don't know how I missed that. Thank you for those links!
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
The 35/42 U1 had to do with complying with all the interference restrictions. The more efficient tower requires that all overlaps under newer rules be met. That means the overlap between stations on 770 and 790 can't increase overlap, they have to maintain or decrease all the 0.5 mV/m to 0.25 mV/m overlaps. There have been proposals for going back to 0.5 to 0.5 mV/m, and that could allow slight increases. But unless all nondirectional overlaps are reduced, they can't increase. The Night facility has to consider the different vertical radiation characteristics of the electrically taller tower, as well as the increased efficiency, and the annulus of skywave to ground wave interference at a different distance. They can't increase skywave radiation toward cochannel stations like KKOH 780 and first adjacent stations (there's proposals for changing that also) like WSGW 790.

They might also want to do conductivity studies to see if that would allow decrease or elimination of overlap with higher day power.
Click to expand...
Thank you, sir, for the explanation. Real-world, the signal is stronger west and northwest...I forgot to try south this weekend, but I'm guessing it will be the same or somewhat better.
 
WLS-AM should simulcast with 94-7 WLS. They might get better numbers. I know there’s always listening online or through the app but I’d rather hear any station “live” ..as long as it’s not fading in and out. I would like to hear a little music on the AM dial. It would be fun to pull it in at night when being 500-1000 + miles away. They could just do it for a while and see how it goes. Then maybe put the AM station on HD 2 or online.
 
RockTheRadio said:
WLS-AM should simulcast with 94-7 WLS. They might get better numbers. I know there’s always listening online or through the app but I’d rather hear any station “live” ..as long as it’s not fading in and out. I would like to hear a little music on the AM dial. It would be fun to pull it in at night when being 500-1000 + miles away. They could just do it for a while and see how it goes. Then maybe put the AM station on HD 2 or online.
Click to expand...
It's all about revenue. How much money do you think they would pull in from potential advertisers playing music on AM today?
This isn't the 60s or 70s anymore. Todays desireable demos don't listen music on AM radio anymore.
 
radioman148 said:
I should have stated that I don't think their ratings have been this low since before they started playing music in 1960.
Can anyone verify this?
Click to expand...
WLS-AM had never been below a 1 share in any ratings service before. There are no archives for the Hooper and Pulse ratings services that were dominant in the 50s and 60s before Arbitron started surveying the market in 1965. In Crossley surveys covering 1936 through 1946, WLS-AM never had lower than a 10 share and averaged in the low teens, and typically finished 4th (among 9 or 10 stations) behind WBBM, WMAQ and WGN.
 
Last edited:
radioman148 said:
It's all about revenue. How much money do you think they would pull in from potential advertisers playing music on AM today?
This isn't the 60s or 70s anymore. Todays desireable demos don't listen music on AM radio anymore.
Click to expand...
I don’t know….I went to WalMart today and they had a bunch of vinyl albums and portable record players for sale. What’s old is new again? J/K. I know it’d never work.
 
MeTV 87.7 is doing better than many stations, including CHR 103.5 Kiss FM. Not bad for a station that can’t even be heard on many radios. Soft Oldies is still strong in 2022!
 
nkd said:
MeTV 87.7 is doing better than many stations, including CHR 103.5 Kiss FM. Not bad for a station that can’t even be heard on many radios. Soft Oldies is still strong in 2022!
Click to expand...
But it is 25th (December book) in 25-54. It moves up to 24th i 36-64. That means almost all the listeners are over 65.

There are essentially no good radio ad buys against 65+ and whatever they have on the air must be at very cheap rates.
 
RockTheRadio said:
I don’t know….I went to WalMart today and they had a bunch of vinyl albums and portable record players for sale. What’s old is new again? J/K. I know it’d never work.
Click to expand...
There is a difference. Many people think analog vinyl sounds better than CDs or MP3s. AM can't be accused of sounding better than anything other than a garbage disposal.
 
DavidEduardo said:
There is a difference. Many people think analog vinyl sounds better than CDs or MP3s. AM can't be accused of sounding better than anything other than a garbage disposal.
Click to expand...
I know some people that collect vinyl today. I still have all my old vinyl, but I have nothing to play them on at the moment. :)
 
Mediafrog+ said:
What we need is a digital garbage disposal which will have vastly improved sound. Of course it will only work with digital table scraps.:cautious:
Click to expand...
... from bionic food.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom