Now It's New Castle AM1550 That's Dark

[whoops]

Anybody know what is going on? They identified as WMDH AM1550, but their real call letters are WLTI.

 

[radio programmer]

Anybody know what is going on? They identified as WMDH AM1550, but their real call letters are WLTI.

Cumulus?

 

[just browsing]

transmitter went down.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

On the 400' longwire antenna with a Drake R8 receiver 30 miles south of Indy, WCVL Crawfordsville showed up in place of New Castle on 1550.

 

[Hoosierky]

Wrong thread ;D

 

[whoops]

transmitter went down.

Forever?

We are now into 6 weeks dark.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

They've filed an STA to remain silent as of a week or two ago, pending repair of the transmitter.

 

[secondchoice]

How did a only 2 daytime tower pattern get OKed by the Canadians being that close to Windsor? 1550 might be a "jinxed" Frequency. Both WAZX Smyrna Ga (Atlanta) & WKTF Vienna GA are dark too.

 

[fybush]

You only need two towers if you need to null just one station. That's all WMDH - er, WLTI - needs to do by day.

 

[whoops]

I was alive when that AM came into being. For those interested in Indiana radio history, the station was originally put on the air as an FM-only by New Castle high school graduate and FM evangelist Martin Williams, as his very first station-building project after returning from military service in 1946. Owned by the local newspaper, The Courier-Times, the station’s calls were WCTW--“CT” meaning the paper. And having worked in--and seen--quite a number of stations, contrary to the reputation Martin had in building stations for himself, the original was the best engineered combo set-up I have ever sat in, and included a wire recorder and disc-cutter in early days. My cousin, the late Jack Guyer, designed their current building, which included a skylight directly over the board in the main combo area (during simulcast days)--which I see from Google satellite view is now gone.

Meanwhile, in the late ‘50’s, Muncie broadcasting folk-hero Don Burton, who was busy protecting his stations from possible in-town competition, walked in the door at WCTW one day with a CP for 1550, which he presented to the shocked folks at WCTW, in order to keep the allocation from landing in Muncie.

The technical end turned out to be a nightmare right from the get-go. It took months of field measurements to determine that the desired pattern could not be obtained. My recollection is that RCA did the design work and built the original transmitter and phaser. After months and months of proof of performance work, the FCC approved activation of the station, but the pattern still lacked complete conformity, which seemed impossible to obtain. Periodic work on the pattern continued for months, but finally was abandoned.

My first-hand knowledge ends there, as I was on-air as a teenager, but my family moved to Indy before I had a driver’s license, so I lost my chance at further air work there. After that, something or somebody apparently came calling and insisted more work had to be done to the phaser over the years. The nighttime pattern is absolutely uncanny: cross over the county line in just about any direction, and the signal suddenly becomes unreceivable.

However, something has to be going on there that is about more than transmitter repair. There are guys as close as Spiceland--the next-door neighboring town--who could rebuild any transmitter--AM or FM--from scratch in 2 weeks.

Somebody surely has more information than what has been posted here.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I was alive when that AM came into being. For those interested in Indiana radio history, the station was originally put on the air as an FM-only by New Castle high school graduate and FM evangelist Martin Williams, as his very first station-building project after returning from military service in 1946. Owned by the local newspaper, The Courier-Times, the station’s calls were WCTW--“CT” meaning the paper. And having worked in--and seen--quite a number of stations, contrary to the reputation Martin had in building stations for himself, the original was the best engineered combo set-up I have ever sat in, and included a wire recorder and disc-cutter in early days. My cousin, the late Jack Guyer, designed their current building, which included a skylight directly over the board in the main combo area (during simulcast days)--which I see from Google satellite view is now gone.

Meanwhile, in the late ‘50’s, Muncie broadcasting folk-hero Don Burton, who was busy protecting his stations from possible in-town competition, walked in the door at WCTW one day with a CP for 1550, which he presented to the shocked folks at WCTW, in order to keep the allocation from landing in Muncie.

The technical end turned out to be a nightmare right from the get-go. It took months of field measurements to determine that the desired pattern could not be obtained. My recollection is that RCA did the design work and built the original transmitter and phaser. After months and months of proof of performance work, the FCC approved activation of the station, but the pattern still lacked complete conformity, which seemed impossible to obtain. Periodic work on the pattern continued for months, but finally was abandoned.

My first-hand knowledge ends there, as I was on-air as a teenager, but my family moved to Indy before I had a driver’s license, so I lost my chance at further air work there. After that, something or somebody apparently came calling and insisted more work had to be done to the phaser over the years. The nighttime pattern is absolutely uncanny: cross over the county line in just about any direction, and the signal suddenly becomes unreceivable.

However, something has to be going on there that is about more than transmitter repair. There are guys as close as Spiceland--the next-door neighboring town--who could rebuild any transmitter--AM or FM--from scratch in 2 weeks.

Somebody surely has more information than what has been posted here.

I'm always suspicious of claims of long term off air time for transmitter repairs. I've replaced AM transmitters in a few days (from the time I called Quincy and said send me a transmitter until the time it was on the air). Repairs are quicker. Unless the facility burned to the ground, there's more to this story.

 

[whoops]

And, as a long-time engineering friend said recently, cost is not a factor: "A 250 watt transmitter is nickels, comparatively."

 

[just browsing]

And, as a long-time engineering friend said recently, cost is not a factor: "A 250 watt transmitter is nickels, comparatively."

Obviously your friend has only worked with the best who walk around with open check books and no need to filter things through multiple chains of command.
I once worked at an AM/FM combo where the Market Manager refused to replace the studio mic because they didn't want to spend a couple of hundred dollars until next quarter (about 2 months away at the time) and simply suggested the morning show share a mic or just switch the mic in and out of the prod studio.

 

[RDO]

And, as a long-time engineering friend said recently, cost is not a factor: "A 250 watt transmitter is nickels, comparatively."

Obviously your friend has only worked with the best who walk around with open check books and no need to filter things through multiple chains of command.
I once worked at an AM/FM combo where the Market Manager refused to replace the studio mic because they didn't want to spend a couple of hundred dollars until next quarter (about 2 months away at the time) and simply suggested the morning show share a mic or just switch the mic in and out of the prod studio.

Great story. Been there. Done that.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

And, as a long-time engineering friend said recently, cost is not a factor: "A 250 watt transmitter is nickels, comparatively."

Obviously your friend has only worked with the best who walk around with open check books and no need to filter things through multiple chains of command.
I once worked at an AM/FM combo where the Market Manager refused to replace the studio mic because they didn't want to spend a couple of hundred dollars until next quarter (about 2 months away at the time) and simply suggested the morning show share a mic or just switch the mic in and out of the prod studio.

Great story. Been there. Done that.

Lot of truth on both sides of this...I've seen it all from "get a new transmitter overnighted in here" to "anything more than $25 requires owner approval", with the latter being more typical. And size of the company that owns the station is not always a good indicator of which side of the paradigm a given station will fall on.

That said, if a station is making money, heaven and earth will generally be moved to get it back on the air promptly. It's a safe bet that if a station lets a several thousand dollar transmitter keep it off the air for weeks, that station isn't contributing much--if any--to the bottom line.

 

[japman]

From the courier-times: WMDH sportscaster Steve Auten announced Friday that repairs have been made to enable station 1550 AM to get back into operation. It had been out of service since October, and last week's two New Castle boys basketball games were not broadcast.

 

[Roberta X]

Wonder if this station is back on? Common-point impedance (plotted over frequency) of their DA array was nightmarish in the early 1980s, one of those only-looks-good-at-carrier messes. Can't imagine any modern transmitter would be happy feeding it.

 

[whoops]

Never has sounded good since it signed on, either,--no audio has ever passed those towers above about 4khz,--but it is back on, and has been for months. New Armstrong transmitter, I'm told.

Btw, station is owned by Cumulus, so money was never a real factor as some mentioned. Cumulus could/can afford anything it darn well wants to--and Armstrong certainly is not as pricey as Continental was or Nautel is. The town, however, is a ghost town, and the AM signal barely covers it during the day, and does not get out to the whole county at night--essential in farm communities. Not sure if anybody listens to it except for high school sports which the county cannot hear, but you can get the FM almost to the Ft. Wayne city limits and west as far as half-way from Indy to Terre Haute. I would not have had a problem with letting the AM go dark, except for refusing to carry sports from the COL on the FM. If you want no responsibility for the COL, then get the COL changed. Which probably should have been done a decade ago, when local businesses could no longer afford the rate card.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Never has sounded good since it signed on, either,--no audio has ever passed those towers above about 4khz,--but it is back on, and has been for months. New Armstrong transmitter, I'm told.

Oh dear. That means it will be back off again in a couple of months. Since it's Cumulus, you think they could afford a decent transmitter, too.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

New Armstrong transmitter, I'm told.

No expense was spared I see