OH! OH! OH! WHERE DID WILD-AM GO?

[fybush]

If the AM station is off, then the translator must be off.

No longer true. Once the FCC began allowing AM stations to have translators, it immediately allowed 24-hour translator operation even for strictly daytime-only stations. WCJW 1140 in Warsaw, N.Y., near me, signs off completely at sunset but operates four (soon to be five) translators around the clock.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Yup. Have a client station that does just that with two translators.

The translator can also be fed via any means possible too. They feed them with 950 links, with the internet as a backup to the closer site. The one without internet can switch to an off air input of translator #1.

 

[DanStrassberg]

If the AM station is off, then the translator must be off. WILD would have to broadcast with the 1 watt it was given in the FCC's 1986 authorization, in order to have a translator on at night.

Well, as the owner of two AM daytimers that operate full-time and now also a translator that will rebroadcast one of those daytimers at night, you should be an unimpeachable source. But I am still skeptical. I believe that I have read about several daytimers that have full-time FM translators. I think one is a station on 1000 in southeastern PA--between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. They gave up a CP to move to 1010, where they could have gotten nighttime authority, when the FCC announced the AM translator rules. I suppose they could be misinterpreting the FCC rule, but if they are, they are not making a secret of what they are doing. Also, I am skeptical that the FCC would grant WILD authority to remain on the air (regardless of how low the power) after Baltimore sunset (which is 1/2 hour after Boston sunset in most months). Perhaps the FCC has a 1-watt rule for daytimers that are located within the 0.5 mV/m 50% skywave contour of a co-channel Class A AM (such as WBAL). For sure, if WILD has unused 1W nighttime authority, it is not the only daytimer in the US with 1W nighttime authority. There is at least one other (in Nashville, I believe--maybe on 1200 or 1180).

 

[raccoonradio]

Using radio-locator.com search I found this station in PA
http://wioo.com/

The site says (in small print) 1000 AM 1400 AM and then in larger print 97.9 and 93.9 FM.
The site's description for WIOO 1000 is a daytimer ND, 1000 watts lic to Carlisle PA. The 1480
lic. to Shippensburg PA is 460 w day, 9 w night
The 97.9, W250AP, is a "Licensed Class D FM Translator " at 150 w lic. to Carlisle

The entry for WIOO on Wikipedia mentions the calls refer to the nickname of W-100 (aka
1000 kHz) and: "The station operates at full power from local sunrise to local sunset, and at reduced power (approximately 30 watts) from local sunset until 45 minutes later, when it must sign off to protect the clear channel of WMVP in Chicago from skywave interference. The FM 97.9 for Carlisle simulcasts all the AM programming, and continues it in nighttime hours providing 24 hour a day service. WIOO also currently simulcasts the majority of its programming onto WEEO (AM), a 460 watt AM station on 1480 kHz licensed to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania"

 

[JIBGUY]

Well, as the owner of two AM daytimers that operate full-time and now also a translator that will rebroadcast one of those daytimers at night, you should be an unimpeachable source.

I stand corrected. Scott knows his stuff. If Scott says it, its true. I guess what I was thinking was that there is an FCC rule that says "if the source station is off, then the translator must be off, too." Such refers to a suspension of operation of the source station, I assume. That's to prevent people from just permanently turning off their AM's and broadcasting the translator. - And on the overnight "1 watt" for WILD, that's something I hear a long timre ago; also may not be true.

 

[VoiceofWayne]

And on a somewhat similar, but unrelated topic, W275BH Lawrence, MA is using HD Radio technology to relay TWO AM stations on one FM translator, presumably for "both" HD listeners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCCM_(AM)

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=30617

 

[fybush]

I stand corrected. Scott knows his stuff. If Scott says it, its true. I guess what I was thinking was that there is an FCC rule that says "if the source station is off, then the translator must be off, too." Such refers to a suspension of operation of the source station, I assume. That's to prevent people from just permanently turning off their AM's and broadcasting the translator. - And on the overnight "1 watt" for WILD, that's something I hear a long timre ago; also may not be true.

The FCC considered that very question about stations turning off their AMs and just running the translator, and there's actually a clause in the rules addressing it. I believe the way it was codified is that the FM translator may operate fulltime so long as the AM has been on the air within the preceding 24 hours. If the AM is off longer than that, an STA is required for continued operation of the translator.

There's nothing I can find anywhere in the FCC paperwork about 1 watt at night for WILD. Because WILD is within the protected skywave contour of WBAL, even 1 watt shouldn't be permissible...and unless you were waiting for the Orange Line on the platform at Wellington, you'd never hear it anyway.

 

[N1WVQ]

Right now I'm listening to an A.M. stereo tape of WILD from May 2, 2000 when it was "The People's Station." What a sad state of affairs 13 years later. What a great station it once was!

 

[LA_Guy]

If the AM station is off, then the translator must be off. WILD would have to broadcast with the 1 watt it was given in the FCC's 1986 authorization, in order to have a translator on at night. They could purchase a low-power transmitter to switch to that at power-down times. Of cuordse, no one would be listening to that 1 watt signal, but such would allow the FM translator to operate. But no single translator would cover all areas inside Rt 128, nor get anywhere near it. - Those monthly powers shown in the "Correspondence Folders" on the FCC website.... Those were issued about 5 years ago, then the FCC realized many of them were faulty. Whether a station can use those shown powers is iffy. So why are they shown on all AM daytimers' FCC authorizations? Good question.

That isn't true, Bob. The Commission says that daytimers that have FM translators can run 24 hours on the translator. What you can't do is run the translator if the AM is down. The rules say that if the AM is off the air for more then 24 consecutive hours that the translator must (also) shut down.