Flood Prep?

[AKLes]

I don't know of any FM's in/around Boston that will have any problem when Global Warming floods the coast. But how about AM stations? Propagation is best from low, marshy (salt marsh, of course, is best) sites and many are located on them. So, are any Boston area stations thinking ahead? If so, what sort of things are they doing in preparation?

Who seems most at risk and who seems least at risk?

 

[raccoonradio]

By 2936, most of us will be long dead...

 

[JIBGUY]

And AM radio should be dead by then too.

Most vulnerable? 1430/1090 (below sea level); 950 and 1360 barely above sea level. And the old unused 1570 towers will finally fall. 1230 seems to be contender too.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

And AM radio should be dead by then too.

Most vulnerable? 1430/1090 (below sea level); 950 and 1360 barely above sea level. And the old unused 1570 towers will finally fall. 1230 seems to be contender too.

What about 1030 WBZ on the penninsula out in Hull?

 

[webcastboy]

Well RaccoonRadio, it looks a lot more like 2050 than 2936. You might be dead by then, but I sure as I hell hope not to be. Close to it, probably, given my current age...but not quite.

Anyways, there are literally dozens, perhaps hundreds, of stations at high risk in these scenarios. 1230 WXNI down in Westerly also immediately comes to mind. Most of the AM's on the Cape, unless they're closer to the MMR/Upper Cape, are probably suspect as well. But the real threat isn't rising average sea levels so much as it is the increase wind power/storm surge from hurricanes and Nor'easters simply ripping down a tower. That's a threat for both AM & FM.

Speaking of rising sea levels, one would think the overall ground conductivity of a noticeable portion of the United States would start to dramatically shift...which in turn would radically shift the patterns for hundreds of stations (Florida, especially). That, to me, would be an even more worrisome issue...albeit an issue nobody can predict or prepare for until at least another 30-70 years have come and gone.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Have you noticed that NOBODY does any AM tower work except for routine maintenance? Some FM stations (whether commercial or non-comm) are on their fourth or fifth location or rebuild...just go up the dial: WBUR, from 160 Commonwealth to the BU Law Bldg to Rt 128 with change in DA; WBOS from Sawmill Pkwy to the Rt 128 tower to the Pru; WMKK (nee WGHJ) from a tiny stick to an impressive tower in Andover to Peabody; 94.5 operations have stayed on the Rt 128 tower; WHRB from 107.1 with low wattage, to 95.3 with 3KW to the current operation in the Financial District in Boston; 96.9 from Zion Mountain in Woburn, to the Rt 128 tower to the Pru; 98.5 from atop one of WNAC/WRKO-AM's Towers to Rt 128 with modifications; WSSH/WKLB/WCRB have sequentially broadcast from Wood Hill in Andover, but the original 1940's tower was replaced by a fancy new one during Greater Media ownership; WCOP-FM/WHUE/WZLX made modifications to the tower in Lexington before moving to the Pru; WCRB-FM previously operated from almost no HAAT on South St, Waltham before moving to the channel 4 tower with modifications later (a nice 360-degree horizontal/vertical antenna that seemed to provide the best coverage of a commercial FM in Boston; too bad the programming sucked) and finally residing on 102.5 at the Rt 128 Tower; WEEI-FM/WODS starting out on Murray St in Medford and moving to the Rt 128 Tower; WROR starting out as WKOX-FM from a 400-ft tower in Framingham then moving to the Pru as actually a Boston station; 106.7 started out as WBZ-FM with not much power on the channel 4 tower, built out to a full-power facility as if WBZ was going to make something of it, then sold to Greater Media which turned it into WMJX and moved it to the Pru; 107.9 which like the original WCRB-FM had very little HAAT with an antenna on its AM stick in a valley, then made the move to the Pru. Oh and I left out WERS that started out at its Beacon St HDQTRS, then to the Pru, and now a neighbor of WHRB. Meanwhile, AM 590 is right where the old WEEI used to be (with new guyed towers); WNAC/WRKO still behind the Burlington Mall; WTAO/WCAS/WJIB near Fresh Pond in Cambridge; WHDH-AM/WEEI next to the dump in Needham; WROL near the Fox Hill(hill? I don't see any hill) bridge in Saugus; WBZ in Hull beaming a blowtorch to the rest of the U.S.; AM 1150 too many call letters to remember, still in Lexington; WVDA/WEZE/WMKI in North Quincy; WJDA still at Sea and Palmer Streets, Houghs Neck,; WCRB-AM/WHET/WRCA still at 750 South St with TWO instead of three towers, soon to-be-vacated; WHIL/WXKS-AM still at 99 Reveah Beach Pahkway; WVOM/WBOS-AM/WUNR still at Sawmill Brook, maybe on its third set of towers. One of the few AM's in Boston to make a major move? WMEX-AM/WITS/WWZN 1510, and look what good it's done for them! (One north-of-Boston station, WCAP-AM Lowell went from a single-stick daytimer to a DA-2 5,000-watt fulltimer.)

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I'd imagine that there's much more involved with moving an AM antenna than FM with regard to considering both daytime and nighttime propagation and directional patterns. I think that the main footprints of most AM stations, day and night, were established many decades ago, and in many cases, the transmitter sites that were determined back then are still the best available for the stations nowadays.

Also, there are many more NIMBY issues with constructing new AM sites than FM sites due to the antennas that must be utilized. Due to their nature, AM antenna towers and arrays are far less likely to be granted construction approvals by municipalities and to encounter opposition from residents than FM antennas.

AM requires that antenna towers be sunken into the ground, and multi-tower arrays must be utilized for directional AM's, which the majority are. The entire tower is the radiating antenna for AM stations.

For FM stations, only a relatively small element is the radiating antenna. Towers are simply used to gain height for antenna placement. FM antennas can be put onto the top of an existing tall building, on top of a big hill or mountain away from residential areas, or installed onto an already existing TV or radio tower. AM antennas can't be installed any of those ways.

FM stations can often change antenna sites with very little visual or other impact on the nearby community. That's not the case with the kind of sites necessary for AM. Look at how long it took Clear Channel to be finally granted the municipal permits for constructing the new proposed five-tower array in the Oak Hill Park area of Newton for WKOX, WUNR and WRCA, and that had already been a two-tower site for (WBOS-AM)/WUNR for over 50 years. It also just took WCRN Worcester over a year to be granted community approval for an additional tower at their existing site. It's much easier and more feasible for FM's to make transmitter moves.

Have you noticed that NOBODY does any AM tower work except for routine maintenance? Some FM stations (whether commercial or non-comm) are on their fourth or fifth location or rebuild...just go up the dial: WBUR, from 160 Commonwealth to the BU Law Bldg to Rt 128 with change in DA; WBOS from Sawmill Pkwy to the Rt 128 tower to the Pru; WMKK (nee WGHJ) from a tiny stick to an impressive tower in Andover to Peabody; 94.5 operations have stayed on the Rt 128 tower; WHRB from 107.1 with low wattage, to 95.3 with 3KW to the current operation in the Financial District in Boston; 96.9 from Zion Mountain in Woburn, to the Rt 128 tower to the Pru; 98.5 from atop one of WNAC/WRKO-AM's Towers to Rt 128 with modifications; WSSH/WKLB/WCRB have sequentially broadcast from Wood Hill in Andover, but the original 1940's tower was replaced by a fancy new one during Greater Media ownership; WCOP-FM/WHUE/WZLX made modifications to the tower in Lexington before moving to the Pru; WCRB-FM previously operated from almost no HAAT on South St, Waltham before moving to the channel 4 tower with modifications later (a nice 360-degree horizontal/vertical antenna that seemed to provide the best coverage of a commercial FM in Boston; too bad the programming sucked) and finally residing on 102.5 at the Rt 128 Tower; WEEI-FM/WODS starting out on Murray St in Medford and moving to the Rt 128 Tower; WROR starting out as WKOX-FM from a 400-ft tower in Framingham then moving to the Pru as actually a Boston station; 106.7 started out as WBZ-FM with not much power on the channel 4 tower, built out to a full-power facility as if WBZ was going to make something of it, then sold to Greater Media which turned it into WMJX and moved it to the Pru; 107.9 which like the original WCRB-FM had very little HAAT with an antenna on its AM stick in a valley, then made the move to the Pru. Oh and I left out WERS that started out at its Beacon St HDQTRS, then to the Pru, and now a neighbor of WHRB. Meanwhile, AM 590 is right where the old WEEI used to be (with new guyed towers); WNAC/WRKO still behind the Burlington Mall; WTAO/WCAS/WJIB near Fresh Pond in Cambridge; WHDH-AM/WEEI next to the dump in Needham; WROL near the Fox Hill(hill? I don't see any hill) bridge in Saugus; WBZ in Hull beaming a blowtorch to the rest of the U.S.; AM 1150 too many call letters to remember, still in Lexington; WVDA/WEZE/WMKI in North Quincy; WJDA still at Sea and Palmer Streets, Houghs Neck,; WCRB-AM/WHET/WRCA still at 750 South St with TWO instead of three towers, soon to-be-vacated; WHIL/WXKS-AM still at 99 Reveah Beach Pahkway; WVOM/WBOS-AM/WUNR still at Sawmill Brook, maybe on its third set of towers. One of the few AM's in Boston to make a major move? WMEX-AM/WITS/WWZN 1510, and look what good it's done for them! (One north-of-Boston station, WCAP-AM Lowell went from a single-stick daytimer to a DA-2 5,000-watt fulltimer.)

 

[Smoke]

If one of WRKO's towers were to fall, would it hit anything? Having been down there, there is an awful sucking sound, but it's not the station, it's part of the town's water supply (I guess).

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Have you noticed that NOBODY does any AM tower work except for routine maintenance?

1) "NOBODY" is dead wrong. Plenty of AMs have moved their sites, at least as long as I've been around this area.

2) There are plenty of good reasons NOT to move an AM site:

--Series-fed AM towers require a buried ground system, radiating from the tower base and as long as the tower is high. The usual ground system is 120 evenly-spaced wires. With a tower of any substantial height, that requires a lot of land. Finding a lot of land in a built-up urban/suburban area like Boston is pretty much impossible, and what large pieces of land do exist are far more valuable for any use other than radio towers.
--Need a directional antenna? The "pretty much impossible" just became "fuggedaboudit."
--Even if you could find the land, NIMBY says "ain't no way, José." Even shunt-fed AM towers, which require no ground system, are still considered a nuisance.
--Nearly all the AM sites around here are grandfathered with their current facilities. Move them, and the FCC's ratcheting rule takes hold...meaning, the station must find a way to reduce interference to other stations on the same or adjacent channels. That nearly always means a reduction in coverage, which no station owner will do unless he has no choice.
--Move an AM site to a new location, and the owner must remediate all RFI complaints within the blanketing contour for one year after the station is turned on. If the station has any substantial number of buildings nearby, that gets expensive really fast.

 

[Oldbones]

2) There are plenty of good reasons NOT to move an AM site:

And probably the biggest reason...even if the technical/political problems could be solved, it's still gonna cost $$$$$$$$, and there aren't more than a handful of AMs that are doing better than just scraping by financially. Pretty hard to justify that kind of expense with little or no likelihood of ever making it back.

 

[AKLes]

I can't help thinking that few AMs are doing anything toward moving transmitter sites in consideration of sea-rising global warming because the operators figure they won't be alive (if)(when) the time comes. Or, perhaps, because they feel that AM won't survive that long.