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KTRH OFF AIR

O

OldChicago

KTRH was off the air this morning around 1:45. I noticed a Spanish station coming in.
This is sort of unusual. I wonder if this was scheduled or some kind of technical failure. I do know that stations will do maint. work, but usually not during the week
during a popular overnight show.


This bring to mind something I have wondered. Since KTRH, KPRC and KBME are
now owned by the same company, why don't they put in back up xmtrs at each others xmtr site. KTRH could have an emergency xmtr at the KPRC and/or KBME site, and KPRC could have one at the KBME site etc... Perhaps they could operate them at lower powers, but it would something on the air instead of no carrier at all.


Old Chicago
 
OldChicago said:
This bring to mind something I have wondered. Since KTRH, KPRC and KBME are
now owned by the same company, why don't they put in back up xmtrs at each others xmtr site. KTRH could have an emergency xmtr at the KPRC and/or KBME site, and KPRC could have one at the KBME site etc... Perhaps they could operate them at lower powers, but it would something on the air instead of no carrier at all.
Click to expand...

It's a lot harder to do for AM than it is for FM.

For FM, you can simply hang other stations' backup antennas on your tower.

For AM, the antenna *is* the tower. To put a KTRH backup transmitter at the KBME site, it would be necessary to arrange a means for both transmitters to feed the same tower without interfering with each other's operation. (i.e., without the 740 RF getting back into the 790 transmitter and vice-versa) Or, it would be necessary to put up another tower at the site exclusively for the 740 backup transmitter -- and then tune it in such a way that it doesn't affect 790's directional pattern. You'd probably still need the filters.

That *could* be done, * but it wouldn't be easy or cheap. Certainly not by comparison to what it would take to hang a small backup FM antenna.

* though it might be especially difficult in the 740/790 case due to the proximity of the frequencies. Especially if one or both stations uses IBOC.
 
My guesses as to why KTRH was off the air would include, but not be limited to, any of the three options below: A) to get prepped for HD, B) to replace any number of "bulbs" that are burned-out on the four towers, C) some other reason that I'm unaware of and/or not privy to.

About two or three years ago...I had heard that the old (KNUZ) 1230 sync site up off of West Little York and the Beltway was going to be a back-up site for KTRH.
 
Old Chicago might appreciate this:

A couple of years back before the Citidel take-over, the engineering team at ABC Radio Chicago was asked to move the frequency of WMVP to the WLS AM transmitter for a few months while WMVP's rusting and rotting towers were repaired. They pulled it off, and for a while both the legendary "Super CFL" signal and the "Big 89" signal were originating from the same towers!

Imagine that happening in the 1970's when they were in a bitter 50,000 watts Top 40 battle!
 
KTRH's main transmitter was off the air for several days following Hurricane Rita in 2005. The KBME site was retuned to 740 and used for KTRH programming during that time. Of course, that was an emergency weather situation and its aftermath.
 
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