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KYW 1060/WEPN-AM 1050 question

J

Jul

Guest
Should 1050 AM in NYC should move to another AM spot or even FM so that KYW-AM can change its coverage area to the north and east to cover bucks county better?
 
Julius May said:
Should 1050 AM in NYC should move to another AM spot or even FM so that KYW-AM can change its coverage area to the north and east to cover bucks county better?

1050 AM in NYC can now be heard at 98.7 FM :D

Otherwise don't ever expect NYC to change anything for the benefits of Philadelphia ;D
 
I have always wondered about 1050/1060 myself here in FL, but recently thought---not only that, but 560/570 as well. AND, at one time, 570 had a CP for 50 kW days!! I heard WMCA in Bermuda fairly easily at the 5....Imagine with 50. How sharp a lobe would that have to be, considering daytime coverage on that low a spot ont he dial.

cd
 
1050 AM in NYC can now be heard at 98.7 FM :D

Soon 1050 AM will switch to a Spanish version of ESPN. Just what we need in NY. More alien crap.
 
WEPN 1050 will switch to ESPN Deportes in Sept. English-language ESPN fare remains on 98.7 FM. 1050 NYC protects Toronto, Mexico,and KYW.The null KYW has in Bucks Co. protects 1050, and both stations are reduced to sideband gibberish in much of NJ. I had heard of WMCA's CP for 50 kW. The pattern would have to be very tight to protect Philly and WFRB in MD. 50 kW at 570 would be a monster over water to the Bahamas or Bermuda.
 
Should 1050 AM in NYC should move to another AM spot or even FM so that KYW-AM can change its coverage area to the north and east to cover bucks county better?

WHN, now WEPN, 1050 was there first. It went on the air in the 1920s, KYW didn't go on the air in Philly until 1934.

If anybody was going to change anything about the two stations it would have happened long ago, now its just a matter of which AM will die on the vine first, and that may take decades.

I have always wondered about 1050/1060 myself here in FL, but recently thought---not only that, but 560/570 as well. AND, at one time, 570 had a CP for 50 kW days!!

Both WFIL 560 and WMCA 570 are owned by Salem, and that probably makes it easier to upgrade WMCA, but with AM fading in importance the upgrade probably can't be economically justified. And WMCA's transmitter site is in a water covered very polluted swamp, that you wouldn't want to dig up for new grounding and towers. WMCA and WFIL, both once top rock and roll stations, now have far smaller audiences than many suburban FMs. At last report, a few months ago, WFIL had a weekly cume of about 40,000.
 
Julius May said:
Should 1050 AM in NYC should move to another AM spot or even FM so that KYW-AM can change its coverage area to the north and east to cover bucks county better?

It would be easier, quicker, and cheaper for CBS to buy and/or simulcast KYW on 1570 in Doylestown if they wanted better Bucks County coverage.
 
Now that 1050 is not ESPN's New York flagship, one wonders if ESPN might entertain a cash offer for a voluntary reduction in signal strength that would permit an expansion of the KYW signal. Probably not likely because of who the two parties are.
 
Another thing perhaps under consideration is the 1970's sign-on of a huge, directional 1060 station just outside Boston.

Full-timer, too.

Of the eight 50,000-watt New York City AM stations, WEPN was ahead of only two in every ratings race held since the turn of the new century.

Or, if you want, they finished sixth in that race.

If New York City's 1050 lowers their power (yeah right) or changes frequency (never), then it becomes a battle of the engineers between 1060 Philadelphia and 1060 Boston.
 
TimeIsTight said:
Both WFIL 560 and WMCA 570 are owned by Salem, and that probably makes it easier to upgrade WMCA, but with AM fading in importance the upgrade probably can't be economically justified

Economics was indeed a major factor in the WMCA 50kw CP never being built. But, if it had been built the contours would not have increased WMCA's signal toward Philly. Most of the signal would have been pushed toward Long Island.

A bit of history about the 560/570 allocation. The two stations have had somewhat overlapping 0.5 mV/m signals in central Jersey throughout their 5kw operations on those frequencies. Although such things among first adjacents are normally taboo under FCC rules, back in the day WMCA and WFIL agreed to accept mutual interference so that both could operate at 5kw with patterns similar to the current configurations. The thinking of the owners at the time was that the area of overlap was not an area that they were interested in, nor would be pursuing sales. It was believed at the time that since both stations served different markets (NYC and Philly), the overlap was not a concern. At the time WMCA was owned by R. Peter Straus, and I believe WFIL was owned by the Inquirer (although I could be wrong on the latter).

Today, to minimize interference between the two stations in central Jersey , we both voluntarily limit our bandwidth to 6khz. This helps a lot when compared to standard 10khz bandwidth. This helps both stations to maximize their coverage in that area.
 
rtetro said:
Today, to minimize interference between the two stations in central Jersey , we both voluntarily limit our bandwidth to 6khz. This helps a lot when compared to standard 10khz bandwidth. This helps both stations to maximize their coverage in that area.
Didn't you used to use Kahn Power-Side too?
 
DG02816 said:
WEPN 1050 will switch to ESPN Deportes in Sept. English-language ESPN fare remains on 98.7 FM. 1050 NYC protects Toronto, Mexico,and KYW.The null KYW has in Bucks Co. protects 1050, and both stations are reduced to sideband gibberish in much of NJ. I had heard of WMCA's CP for 50 kW. The pattern would have to be very tight to protect Philly and WFRB in MD. 50 kW at 570 would be a monster over water to the Bahamas or Bermuda.

WMCA had a CP for 30 kW-D not 50, I believe (or maybe, it was 50 kW-D/30 kW-N). Six-tower teardrop. Three of the six towers would have been the existing three. The additional three would have been in a parallel line. The six-tower setup, which WNYC 820 also uses, would probably have allowed WNYC to increase its night power, which is currently only 1 kW and doesn't fully cover the five boroughs at night.

As for WEPN protecting CHUM--I don't think so. Each one sends plenty of signal toward the other at night. Both protect the Mexican border, however--by international treaty. WEPN's protection of KYW is a consequence of WEPN's protection of the Mexican border. By treaty, WEPN and WHK 1220 in Cleveland (both 50 kW-U on Mexican ex-IA channels) are DA-1. The treaty requires the stations to use their night patterns, which have deep nulls toward Mexico, at all times. If there were no treaty requirement, WEPN could not have been DA-2 because any null fill-in to the southwest would have interfered worse with KYW, a higher class of station (ex-IB) than WEPN (ex-II). As far as KYW relaxing its pattern to the northeast, it's out now. There is now a full-time station on 1060 outside of Boston (50 kW-D/2.5 kW-N DA-2). The night pattern uses five towers and is deeply nulled over a 210-degree arc centered at 270 degrees true. The towers are very tall (205 degrees) to minimize high-angle radiation, thereby further reducing the interference to KYW.
 
satech said:
rtetro said:
Today, to minimize interference between the two stations in central Jersey , we both voluntarily limit our bandwidth to 6khz. This helps a lot when compared to standard 10khz bandwidth. This helps both stations to maximize their coverage in that area.
Didn't you used to use Kahn Power-Side too?

If both had HD, the IBUZ would destroy each other's coverage
 
Ejxit said:
Soon 1050 AM will switch to a Spanish version of ESPN. Just what we need in NY. More alien crap.

The largest group of Hispanics in the New York City market is Puerto Rican. None are "aliens" and the use of Spanish in Puerto Rico, USA, goes back 5 centuries.
 
satech said:
The best thing for KYW to do is to simply turn off their IBOC hash generator. Otherwise people with HD Radio receivers in their cars are going to crash into a wall just so they don't have to listen to the signal dropping back to analog every 5 seconds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtPIK3JM4C8
I believe if people are listening to KYW in HD, they're listening on WIP-FM HD-2.
 
Agreed. The 1060 HD signal actually sounded a bit better than the FM HD simulcast when I checked about a year ago, but since I introduced a web radio into my equipment rack next to the Sony XDR-F1HD tuner, I haven't been able to pull in AM HD due to interference, despite using an external powered ferrite antenna and being within 5 miles of KYW and around 20 miles from WPHT's South Jersey tower site.

Does anyone have experience with HD AM reception on a car unit? How reliable is it? How does it sound vs an FM station? How about on a compromised signal like WDAS(AM)?
 
If you have a web radio, that seems like the best way to listen to KYW anyway. WPHT, too, except for the Phillies games which are blacked out online (but which you can listen to via analog FM).
 
musichead1029 said:
Does anyone have experience with HD AM reception on a car unit? How reliable is it? How does it sound vs an FM station? How about on a compromised signal like WDAS(AM)?

I had once instance with a rental to check out HD AM. I am up in Allentown where KYW comes in like a local, and I was heading SW towards Harrisburg. By comparison, WIP-FM HD2 is inaudible in Allentown.

This was nighttime reception so the HD cut in & out somewhat. It was interesting to hear KYW in such good fidelity but it got annoying with the cut-ins and cut-outs.

To me it seems HD AM is like a stupid pet trick. If you are interested in HD benefits in your local market, you'd be better off with an FM HD2/HD3 signal because many younger listeners are likely to ignore anything on AM even HD.

If my next car radio has HD-AM, that's nice, but I don't think I'll care to pay a dime extra for it.

Richard in Allentown
 
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