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Kvin Am 920

I think they have increased their day time power. Now receiving them fairly clear in Elk Grove.They are in Modesto. Its a good mix of adult standards with news breaks and dj's. Probably satellite fed.
 
jhimbo said:
I think they have increased their day time power. Now receiving them fairly clear in Elk Grove.They are in Modesto. Its a good mix of adult standards with news breaks and dj's. Probably satellite fed.

They're probably on their night-time pattern.
 
Wow. That is one crazy facility. 3 towers by day with 500 watts aimed East from a site West of Modesto, 3 towers by night with 2.5 KW aimed West from a site East of Modesto. With a standards format. Now that's dedication to radio if I've ever seen it.

Dave B.
 
jhimbo said:
I think they have increased their day time power. Now receiving them fairly clear in Elk Grove.They are in Modesto. Its a good mix of adult standards with news breaks and dj's. Probably satellite fed.

IIRC, they used to carry "Music of Your Life", up until Jones discontinued the service in 2008. The station is now a Dial Global affiliate.

All this talk of Nostalgia stations lately, makes me feel...Nostalgic!
 
DaveBayArea said:
Wow. That is one crazy facility. 3 towers by day with 500 watts aimed East from a site West of Modesto, 3 towers by night with 2.5 KW aimed West from a site East of Modesto. With a standards format. Now that's dedication to radio if I've ever seen it.

Dave B.

That pattern was set up by the original owner, the late Chester Smith. He loved broadcasting.
 
Michael Rivers Kramer said:
DaveBayArea said:
Wow. That is one crazy facility. 3 towers by day with 500 watts aimed East from a site West of Modesto, 3 towers by night with 2.5 KW aimed West from a site East of Modesto. With a standards format. Now that's dedication to radio if I've ever seen it.

Dave B.

That pattern was set up by the original owner, the late Chester Smith. He loved broadcasting.
I remember when 920 (as KLOC) was a daytimer only. I thought Chester Smith sold that station back in 1981? Didn't 920 go fulltime (24/7) after Smith sold the station? I think it was in 1984?
 
Madmansam said:
Michael Rivers Kramer said:
DaveBayArea said:
Wow. That is one crazy facility. 3 towers by day with 500 watts aimed East from a site West of Modesto, 3 towers by night with 2.5 KW aimed West from a site East of Modesto. With a standards format. Now that's dedication to radio if I've ever seen it.

Dave B.

That pattern was set up by the original owner, the late Chester Smith. He loved broadcasting.
I remember when 920 (as KLOC) was a daytimer only. I thought Chester Smith sold that station back in 1981? Didn't 920 go fulltime (24/7) after Smith sold the station? I think it was in 1984?

When I have some time to look at some old Broadcasting Yearbooks, I'll check that out.

Meanwhile,

They filed an STA to operate from their night site full-time for the time being:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101373064&formid=911&fac_num=12062
 
920 AM is licensed to Ceres and was first established by the late Chester Smith. The Consultant Engineer that made it possible
was Cecil Lynch who lives in West Modesto not too far from the daytime site for 920 AM. The station did begin as a daytimer
back in the early 1960's. It was located in West Modesto so that it could protect 910 AM in Oakland and cover Modesto. Chester
Smith sold the station sometime in the early 1980's. The next owner Mike S. (can't remember the spelling of his last name) wanted
to go 24 hours. The station then was full time Spanish programming. The same Engineer, Cecil Lynch, worked out a way to do that,
by creating a nighttime transmitter site EAST of Modesto, near Waterford because 920 AM must protect a station to the East at night.
Cecil was able to get 2,500 watts for the nighttime going in the Westward direction to cover the Modesto area. This is much more
that the 500 watts alloted to the original daytime operation, which is still the licensed parameters.

Cecil Lynch did the Consultant Engineering for many stations in California over the years. He will be 99 years of age on his
birthday this year and is still alive and kicking. One of his more recent "thinking out of the box" projects was the relocation of
860 KTRB (formerly Modesto) to the San Francisco market and the birth of KMPH 840 (Modesto) at the old KTRB tranmsitter site.
This was done for Pappas Broadcasting.

920 AM is one of the few AM stations that has a much better nighttime signal than daytime. That's because of some creative
thoughts on part of the Consulting Engineering. Too bad that 920's daytime coverage is negatively impacted by the AM
IBOC interference from 910 AM in Oakland in places like Tracy, Stockton, and Discovery Bay. 910 in Oakland increased its
power in more recent years and with its IBOC activity, it's too bad that 920 doesn't get permission to increase its daytime
power level to compensate. :-\
 
It seems like they are now back to their 500 watt day time power again as they are now barely audible again in Elk Grove again above the 910 hd buzz. It kinda sounds like a World Cup match. Unfortunate as I was enjoying this format and so was my wife .
 
If anyone is interested to learn more about the early Pioneers of the Early years of radio in the Modesto and surrounding areas
there is the Modesto Radio Museum, which is on line. >> modestoradiomuseum.org.

Many of the "Pioneers" are listed. This includes pictures and videos and interviews of the actual participants.

I too enjoy the format now on KVIN 920. It's definitely one of my car radio pre-sets!
I believe it is Dial Global's "America's Best Music", a newer Standards format during the weekdays, and they
program (sounds like a locally done thing) more of a mix of early Rock N' Roll and the Standards on the weekend.
Fred Hall even comes by on Saturday night with a Big Band Era sounding show that interviews many from the
past 70 years of music.

The nighttime pattern of 920 KVIN is still available in the Elk Grove area @ nighttime. It's a fairly
good solid signal on the car radio in the nighttime. Don't know about AM radios in the home. :)
 
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