DO YOU THINK CC STATION'S IN ATLANTA WILL CHANGE?????

[davideduardo]

Fidel did intensify jamming efforts during the 80's in response to America's Radio Marti. Quite a few Florda stations gor higher power at night to combat the new interference. The Soviets know how to make RF and were in complicity with the Cubans and their efforts.

There were no Russian transmitters in Cuba. All the higher power rigs were put in in the late 60's and were Czech. All that happened in the 80's is that some were moved to different frequencies, something the Cubans did with great frequency to block US broadcasts it was concerned about. In fact, the power increases granted to US stations was a delayed response to ingerference from the 60's. For example, 1040 in Tampa got an increase because Cuba left the high power rig on 1040 that it had put there to block VOA transmissions on WHO which the State Department rented to broadcast into Cuba in the 60's.

And 300 Kw does qualify as superpower

It is high power for the US, but not for most of the rest of the world, where superpower starts at 500 kw and goes up from there.

Also remember, the Cuban engineers are world renown for their use of bubble gum and duct tape to make radios play(and cars run.) A clever bunch they are....if they had the iron to play 300 kilowatts they could make it play 300 kilowatts!

Part of the problem is that the 300 kw transmitters used a Svetlana tube that is no longer made, and has no European equivalent. I was offered several of the 60's with very good terms in about 1967 by the Czech factory rep who visited me, in the company of a nasty looking guy who looked very Politburo to me. I looked at the unique tubes, only available from the Soviet block, and said "no thanks." I do not think they sold one transmitter on their sales trip from Chile to Central America.

 

[Ready for air]

When PD's change as often as they have at WGST they forgot what worked anyway. Dr laura still pulls big numbers on KFI, CC in LA. She was huge on WSB. Dropped for Clark. WGST picks her up. Buries her at night then bumped for some lame "sports call in show." At that time Laura was still pulling 40,000 nightly listeners, more than anything they've had since.

PDs are guys. Many are divorced and hate hearing woman calling in with issues.
AM radio remains mostly a male driven format while most time buys are aimed at women numbers. No wonder AM radio gets no respect.

CC has defended every move so long they not only believe their lies but don't know what to do anyway. A lot of stations are for sale just like homes on the market. The overstated value of these stations from purchases in the 90s have stunned owners and drastically reduced prices. Atlanta is too big a market for CC to dump here. They'll just continue and win the yearly prize of "company's NOT to work for."

 

[jabba17]

When PD's change as often as they have at WGST they forgot what worked anyway. Dr laura still pulls big numbers on KFI, CC in LA. She was huge on WSB. Dropped for Clark. WGST picks her up. Buries her at night then bumped for some lame "sports call in show." At that time Laura was still pulling 40,000 nightly listeners, more than anything they've had since.

PDs are guys. Many are divorced and hate hearing woman calling in with issues.
AM radio remains mostly a male driven format while most time buys are aimed at women numbers. No wonder AM radio gets no respect.

CC has defended every move so long they not only believe their lies but don't know what to do anyway. A lot of stations are for sale just like homes on the market. The overstated value of these stations from purchases in the 90s have stunned owners and drastically reduced prices. Atlanta is too big a market for CC to dump here. They'll just continue and win the yearly prize of "company's NOT to work for."

I thought WGST took Dr. Laura from WSB when Premiere (her syndicator) was bought by CC...also, IIRC, didn't WGST try to put Dr. Laura in her old PM drive slot on WGST, and get howls of protests from Kimmer fans (not to mention get killed by Hannity on WSB)? Then they moved her to evenings, which killed her show after the sundown power-down, especially once they quit the simulcast on 105.7.

One problem both WGST and WSB have had is when they have a baseball or basketball (Hawks, Tech, or UGA) deal and have to keep pre-empting an evening show. That's a surefire way to kill an audience for a show.

Lastly, both CC and predecessor Jacor have a reputation for not paying for talent that they don't have in-house (i.e., Premiere). They didn't pick up Hannity once he went national. I hope this was a matter of money or not beating WSB with a check, and not not wanting to get rid of the Kimmer. I liked Kim Peterson, but there's better options for PM drive. I'm betting it was money, because Jacor wouldn't pay enough to keep Clark or Boortz.

 

[taylorengineer]

Fidel did intensify jamming efforts during the 80's in response to America's Radio Marti. Quite a few Florda stations gor higher power at night to combat the new interference. The Soviets know how to make RF and were in complicity with the Cubans and their efforts.

There were no Russian transmitters in Cuba. All the higher power rigs were put in in the late 60's and were Czech. All that happened in the 80's is that some were moved to different frequencies, something the Cubans did with great frequency to block US broadcasts it was concerned about. In fact, the power increases granted to US stations was a delayed response to ingerference from the 60's. For example, 1040 in Tampa got an increase because Cuba left the high power rig on 1040 that it had put there to block VOA transmissions on WHO which the State Department rented to broadcast into Cuba in the 60's.

And 300 Kw does qualify as superpower

It is high power for the US, but not for most of the rest of the world, where superpower starts at 500 kw and goes up from there.

Also remember, the Cuban engineers are world renown for their use of bubble gum and duct tape to make radios play(and cars run.) A clever bunch they are....if they had the iron to play 300 kilowatts they could make it play 300 kilowatts!

Part of the problem is that the 300 kw transmitters used a Svetlana tube that is no longer made, and has no European equivalent. I was offered several of the 60's with very good terms in about 1967 by the Czech factory rep who visited me, in the company of a nasty looking guy who looked very Politburo to me. I looked at the unique tubes, only available from the Soviet block, and said "no thanks." I do not think they sold one transmitter on their sales trip from Chile to Central America.

Yes David. But any transmitter can be modified to use different tubes. And the Russians certainly have the resources, along with the Cuban engineers, to accomplish that.
I believe the Soviets still saw Cuba as a important proxy during that period and responded powerfully to the new influx of American propaganda.
I also believe that power increases were given a new urgency(in the US) because of the "RF War" between EAST and West.
So now I'm curious! What is your background David? I see your posts on many different boards - they are always a good read. Would you mind sharing a short bio?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I thought WGST took Dr. Laura from WSB when Premiere (her syndicator) was bought by CC...also, IIRC, didn't WGST try to put Dr. Laura in her old PM drive slot on WGST, and get howls of protests from Kimmer fans (not to mention get killed by Hannity on WSB)? Then they moved her to evenings, which killed her show after the sundown power-down, especially once they quit the simulcast on 105.7.

Sort of... Premiere owned Dr. Laura when WSB put her on. They started running her to fill early evenings. Then when WSB fired Mike Malloy, who had been moved to noon-3, they put tapes of back Dr. Laura shows on. Amazingly, Dr. Laura started edging out Rush on WGST. So WSB put her into the noon-3 slot as the permanent show. With Laura pulling great numbers for WSB, WGST started to notice. Of course, WGST's owners (Clear Channel) owned Premiere Radio. Yet in order to convince Premiere to pull Laura from WSB and move her to WGST, WGST had to agree to run Laura live in afternoon drive. They did that and moved Kimmer to 9AM-noon. But at WGST, Laura's show started dying, and they eventually moved it to nights and shifted the Kimmer back to afternoons.

 

[BIGSTICK]

WGST was some much better when they were on 920..............

 

[davideduardo]

Yes David. But any transmitter can be modified to use different tubes.

Not without considerable work and effort. But as you say, they have time on their hands and the necessary skills.

[/quote] And the Russians certainly have the resources, along with the Cuban engineers, to accomplish that. I believe the Soviets still saw Cuba as a important proxy during that period and responded powerfully to the new influx of American propaganda.[/quote]

The only change was the creation of Marti, which really only had the unique quality of being government sanctioned. Stations like WQBA from the 60s on and WAQI later and even 670 and 1550 and 990 and 1210 were receivable well (1140 and 710) to sometimes in Cuba, and for decades WQBA was jammed by an offf-frequency station heterodyne... Martí was just an additional pest. By the 80's, the Russians had pretty much left Cuba due to their own problems. The biggest irritant of all was Radio Americas, 1160, on Swan Island... 50 kw of pure propaganda against Castro, going back to before the Bay of Pigs.

I also believe that power increases were given a new urgency(in the US) because of the "RF War" between EAST and West.

Acuatally, the precedent was set by WALO in Puerto Rico, where the Venezuelan government had built a megawatt station on the same channel, only 600 miles away. After WALO was allowed more power than permitted on a Class IV channel, a number of other exceptions were made.

So now I'm curious! What is your background David? I see your posts on many different boards - they are always a good read. Would you mind sharing a short bio?

Click on my name and in the profile there is a link... but the bio is anythig but short. In the case of Cuban radio, I worked for Marti once, doing the congressional annual review, and have worked for, or consulted, 7 Spanish language stations in Miami at one time or another.

 

[trusty]

You may need to cut GST a little slack. After all, they do advertise on a billboard to listen to the Braves (mostly night) games on 640AM.

The billboard is in Dawsonville.

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Accordiing to a few Broadcasting Yearbooks in the '60s, there were only three stations on 640 in the USA: KFI, WHLO in Ohio and WOI in Iowa. When the clears were destroyed, a 640 in Oklahoma immediately popped up. Now there are 14 (all crammed on the Eastern half of the country to protect KFI). Add Cuba to the mix, and you have a pretty crowded frequency.

I usually get the 640 in Memphis better that GST during early morinigs in N. Georgia.

 

[davideduardo]

Accordiing to a few Broadcasting Yearbooks in the '60s, there were only three stations on 640 in the USA: KFI, WHLO in Ohio and WOI in Iowa. When the clears were destroyed, a 640 in Oklahoma immediately popped up. Now there are 14 (all crammed on the Eastern half of the country to protect KFI). Add Cuba to the mix, and you have a pretty crowded frequency.

WNAD in Norman was on the air on 640 in the 40's...

http://www.davidgleason.com/Stevensons 1946 Short Wave.pdf

It was on in the 30's on 1340, and appears to have changed to 640 between 1941 and 1942, possibly as a NARBA change.

Also on 640, at least from NARBA days in the ealy 40's was the Canadian in St Johns, Newfoundland. It was originally VONF and then changed to a C call. Power, even in the 40's, was 10 kw.