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Eary Radio Stations That Never Upgraded (WEW, WOL, KXA, etc.)

G

Gregg

When I look at radio stations that still have three-letter call signs and yet have low power, or sign off at sunset, I wonder why their owners never got an upgrade from the FCC during all those years.

WEW comes to mind first. It was early enough to get assigned only 3 call letters, and even though it's licensed to St. Louis, it got a W call sign, instead of a K, again evidence that it signed on when the K/W dividing line was hundreds of miles west of the Mississippi. WEW has low power and signs off at sunset.

WIL-AM, also licensed to St. Louis, was also not very high powered, although it was a 24 hour operation. At least KSD-AM, St. Louis' other 3-letter call station, has good coverage with 5000 watts at a low frequency. Of course, KMOX was an early St. Louis station and that was able to get on a clear channel frequency.

How about WOL Washington, which is on 1400, a Class IV frequency where stations only have a maximum of 1000 watts. Why no upgrade over all those years, when newer station signed on at lower frequencies in the nation's capital and got 5000 watts or more?

KXA in Seattle was on 770, a clear channel frequency, but I suppose had to protect WABC NYC and KOB Albuquerque. It had to sign off at sunset till a decade or two ago, when it got 24 authorization from the FCC. (It's now KTTH.)

If these stations have been around so long, how did they get shortchanged? Did the FCC never grant them improvements? Did their owners never apply to the FCC for more power and coverage?




Gregg
[email protected]
 
If these stations have been around so long, how did they get shortchanged?
Click to expand...

It's not a matter of being "shortchanged," unless you want to count the licensee's inaction as "shortchanging."

Once the FCC grants a license, they consider the licensee(s) happy with it until the licensee(s) apply for whatever changes they want to make. They probably don't even give it a second look unless either someone complains about them or it comes time for license renewal, when the licensee has to prove that they're operating in the public interest. Otherwise, the license is left alone.

Another example of this would be that of KWG in Stockton. Here it is, the oldest commercial station in the West, yet it sits at a measly 1,000 watts on a local frequency (1230). At least they don't have to kick down to 250 at night, but the signal has only about a 20-mile radius of Stockton at night. I think the McClatchy family put it on the air, along with KVQ in Sacramento, and KMJ in Fresno. Both of these stations are now blowtorches, KMJ at 50kw and kept their call letters, KVQ now at 50kw as KFBK, but little KWG only got up to 1kw, but at least still have their historic call letters. It's been speculated that KWG's owners down thru the years have had other properties that got the priority in terms of upgrading that KWG never did. Also, it should be noted that Stockton is not far from Sacramento, and being as close as it is, may have been kept from getting any upgrades in power. I think that's why none of Stockton's FMs are very powerful, unlike Modesto, which DOES have blowtorches on both AM and FM. It is kinda sad that an historic station like KWG never got to the blowtorch status that it deserved, and that some of its younger peers did, even if by attrition. That would've been better than nothing.
 
How about 3-letter-call stations that were downgraded thanks to their owner? Prime example: KOY Phoenix, which was on 550 from 1941 (moved from 1390 just prior to the NARBA shift) to 1999. Clear Channel moved it and its senior-skewing Adult Standards format to 1230 in April of that year. It was downgraded from 5 kW days/ 1 kW nights on 550 to 1 kW fulltime on 1230. Sports-talk KGME (ex-1360) took its place for about a year before it and KFYI 910 swapped frequencies.
 
KeithE4 said:
How about 3-letter-call stations that were downgraded thanks to their owner? Prime example: KOY Phoenix, which was on 550 from 1941 (moved from 1390 just prior to the NARBA shift) to 1999. Clear Channel moved it and its senior-skewing Adult Standards format to 1230 in April of that year. It was downgraded from 5 kW days/ 1 kW nights on 550 to 1 kW fulltime on 1230. Sports-talk KGME (ex-1360) took its place for about a year before it and KFYI 910 swapped frequencies.
Click to expand...

I don't see that as a downgrade, per se. CC still had the same roster of facilities - huge ND signal on 550, decent regional on 910, adequate graveyarder on 1230 - it just shuffled its intellectual property among them. The facility with the KOY history behind it, 550, was and still is a powerhouse, even if its intellectual property got moved up to the old KISO.
 
WGL in Ft. Wayne may be a candidate. WGL on 1250 was a duopoly with WOWO (maybe then on 1160?). WOWO ended up with 50000 watts while WGL stayed at 1000 (I think eventually 2500).
 
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