Cumulus has applied today for a remain silent authority to decide what to do with the station.
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Birmingham Cumulus shuts off 1070 WAPI
- Thread starter JJSPC
- Start date
This is kinda sad. By day, WAPI is 50,000 watts non-directional. But at night, to protect Class A KNX Los Angeles, it reduces power to 5,000 watts. WAPI is a simulcast of WZRR, a Cumulus talk station. But surely the AM is of some service to WZRR's overall ratings. If you're trying to sell it, wouldn't you keep it on the air so a potential buyer could evaluate it? How much does it cost to simulcast?
Have we really reached the point where a 50,000 watt non-directional AM station is not worth keeping? Cumulus just silenced another good AM signal in San Francisco, 560 KZAC, 5,000 watts low on the dial.
Have we really reached the point where a 50,000 watt non-directional AM station is not worth keeping? Cumulus just silenced another good AM signal in San Francisco, 560 KZAC, 5,000 watts low on the dial.
People there were suggesting why doesn't an FM station simulcast on an AM. This is an example of why not.
Having a great signal doesn't matter if there's no one around with receivers listening. That's where they're at.
1070 split off to run Dan Bongino and Levin while FM stayed local.
I wonder why WAPI is just runs those two? There are other Westwood One shows to clear, Chris Plante, now also Vince Conglianese and Guy Benson.
Or if that's not important, why not just simulcast WZRR full time and serve listeners who have a hard time getting the FM signal? There are people who are listening to AM, at least for another few years. There are 4,444 AM stations in the U.S. according to a google search. Every month, maybe five go off the air? At that rate, the AM band still has another 74 years to go. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. But it's not like EVERYONE is jumping off the Titanic yet.
For Cumulus to now shut down two good-signal AM stations in the same month is being a bit hasty. No one wants to stick around too long after the ball drops on New Year's Eve. But to leave the party at 11:15 is not sensible either.
I don't think WAPI has been running 50 kw for years.
The night signal is lower power and directional, and it misses a lot of areas of the metro growth at night. It was a good facility fifty or sixty years ago.
We've been there for a good long while. This isn't even the first 50kW station on 1070 to be shut off.
WFNI/Indianapolis is the one I'm thinking of. I think another 1070 downgraded to Class D, but I can't recall which one.
These days, AM stations are just too expensive to keep running, especially when so many of them are now dependent on a 250 watt FM translator.
I can't think of a single place where WAPI's signal is superior to WZRR's, either. 100 kW from Red Mountain is not going to have much in the way of reception issues anywhere in the metro.
I can't think of a single place where WAPI's signal is superior to WZRR's, either. 100 kW from Red Mountain is not going to have much in the way of reception issues anywhere in the metro.
Don’t forget CBA 1070 in New Brunswick was a full time nondirectional 50kw that was shut down some years ago. Despite its demise U.S. stations still have to protect it.😖
formerradio
Banned
YES! We are at that point.
Cost cutting has been going on for years.
All of the low hanging cost cutting fruit has been picked.
Costs are being cut because the revenue has dried up.
Let's not forget about the poor ground conductivity in Alabama. 50kw in Alabama doesn't go as far as you might think, and you are still stuck with a big power bill.
Keep in mind that we're talking about a station that has been simulcasting on a 100kW FM for nearly a decade (with 6 years simulcasting on a rimshot before that) that also supposedly has around $25,000 per month in tower rent and power bills with no revenue generated specifically on the signal. There is absolutely no ROI on the station.
Yep. Selling all of those towers was really a fantastic idea, wasn't it? Glad I still have mine. 👍
Honestly? Probably. God only knows what the cost would've been for upkeep of those towers, rather than a fixed, known cost of rent. Power bills would've still been around one way or the other.
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