Newsplus 1590AM (Jackson)

[rfburns]

So how many Jackson area AMs have pulled the plug? Let's see ... 1450, 780, 720, now 1590?

Actually 780 WIIN is back on. They are simulcasting 96.3, but it is on the air and sounding reasonably good.

1450 - we can all thank Bishop Willis for running that one into the ground. He could have sold it and probably would still be on the air.

720 - WWDF was doomed from the start. A 5kw daytimer built on a shoestring when AM was already starting to lose market share.

1550 - the original "big" station. David Price wouldn't put any money back into WOKJ and let it completely fall apart in the early 90's.

1590 - already commented on WZRX earlier. I hate to see any station go, but you would have to put a lot of time and money back into it.

810 - Last couple of times I checked, WSJC has been off again. Another 50kw that will probably bite the dust, unless the 7th Day Adventist folks find a buyer.

I could name several more in N. and S. Mississippi that are off the air due to lack of income and / or major equipment problems. I hate to see it... I love engineering AM sites and still have all my test gear, but it is harder and harder each day to make enough $$$ to keep the bills paid at any stand alone AM or even some combo sites.

RFB

 

[J Alex Bowab]

720 and 780 were both bad ideas from the start... both frequencies are occupied by 50 kw Chicago stations that were what we used to call 1-A clear channel stations ... daytimers on those frequences are within a protected range (750 miles?) of the primary stations, and cannot get pre-sunrise or post-sunset power at all, not even 1 watt. Moreover, I would expect either station to lose some of its daytime coverage 1-2 hours before sunset when the Chicago station starts riding the ionospheric skip.

 

[Doctor_Technical]

If I understand the chain of WZRX's STAs, the original issue was one of the nighttime towers falling down, such that they could still operate with the full 5K day ND as normal and with reduced ND power at night via STA.

If they did not want the "expense" of rebuilding the tower and nighttime DA, one could ask why they did not just apply for low power ND night and at least keep the channel available for a (future) translator feed.

Or, if they wanted to dump the 1590 site, why not apply to diplex 1950 into one of the 620 towers (again with reduced power at night)? They already own the major cost items -- 1590 transmitter and tuning components from the 1590 DA and ATUs, and the existing 620 tower, land and ground system.

It's CC's station to do with what they want. In my own opinion I just regret this being written off as an insurmountable technical / engineering problem, versus just wanting another AM to go away.

 

[Casual_Observer]

Guess I'll go to my iPhone for my Jim Rome fix, unless a certain somebody here wants to change his station to sports. Casual?

Hmm... we're booked up right now, but I would suspect that Jim Rome is too hot of a property to be off the air in Jackson for long.

--- Casual Observer

 

[jboyd]

Doctor: appears to be a corporate decison...But....I believe as an independent, I would not abort....JBI

 

[beachguy3b]

The original c/r was about 15 feet from the 5KW tower...overdrove conventional receivers ( and just about everything else), so a simple diode worked fine. We discovered a short wire was all the antenna
needed when we moved the control room later. JBI

J Boyd- do I remember correctly that the studios were originally in the front room facing the parking lot, at the end closest to the towers?

I remember that building very well. I wonder how much different it is now.

 

[jboyd]

Correct. The C/R was moved into the news room in a futile effort to reduce RF. JBI

 

[HAS99]

Wow,
The memories come flooding back.
The Jim Walter home with the creaky
floors, especially in the "production"
room, to what may have been standing
outside the old control room window waiting
for you when you were to get off.
Millions of stories, from what you doing
on my radio, from the first days of the
switch from WOKJ.

 

[jboyd]

No one has mentioned Tim Leblanc, the General Manager from Louisana,,,
(the home office). In my opinion, the best GM I ever worked for ...He assigned the duties, and if you did them, he was alright with you. If not, gonesville! He died at a young age in 1974...the stress for excellence got him...RIP, Tim!

 

[X-Broadcaster]

...any one remember that for years (before old King Edward was renovated) U could
see the WJQS, call letters on the window at corner of Mill & Capital, street level?

 

[beachguy3b]

Tim died in late may/early June 1975. I can remember that because I was still in the hotel in St. Louis and had not yet gotten on the air. I really had fun there. For whatever reason, I sort of had an attachment to the station.

J Boyd- if they turn in the license, you should get a CP and bring it back.