How did Pittsburgh end up with few FM stations in the market. Compare to other cities like New York, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, and Cleveland, they have more radio stations than here. Pittsburgh FM dial is similar to Boston, Atlanta, and Minneapolis metro FM dial. A few radio stations.
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Pittsburgh FM Dial
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
When the switch was made to the new FM band, the FCC set up frequency charts for most markets. I assume they were made with population in mind. After the war (WWII) A lot of AM's
applied for FM permits. After several years, many FM's shut down. The owners believed there was no future for FM. Then, when FM started to catch on, the AM's had to scramble for channels.
Its the same short-sighted outlook that kept this market with only one 50KW AM for so many years, when we could have had 6 of them.
applied for FM permits. After several years, many FM's shut down. The owners believed there was no future for FM. Then, when FM started to catch on, the AM's had to scramble for channels.
Its the same short-sighted outlook that kept this market with only one 50KW AM for so many years, when we could have had 6 of them.
The other difference is that, compared to most other areas, very few signals have been moved in from surrounding markets. Even NYC's Z100 is actually licensed to Newark.
Small owners like those at WJPA and the group in Butler have continued to serve their unique markets. Only 98.3 (from Charleroi), 106.7 (Beaver Falls) and 100.7 (still licensed to New Kensington) have really moved in (I guess you could also count 104.7, which was licensed to Pittsburgh even when the station was in New Ken, via the license swap with 100.7)
Part of it also is that Clear Channel has as many stations as they can have, and also own stations in the surrounding markets like Youngstown and Wheeling. In a lot of other cities, money would have been spent to move stations into Pittsburgh, but no one saw enough financial upside from doing it. If Cumulus or someone like that could buy out Renda, Steel City or Keymarket, I would think they would consider move-ins to add to their market presence.
And last but not least, the city is hemmed in by its proximity to Cleveland/Akron/Canton, and even Buffalo and Toronto.
Small owners like those at WJPA and the group in Butler have continued to serve their unique markets. Only 98.3 (from Charleroi), 106.7 (Beaver Falls) and 100.7 (still licensed to New Kensington) have really moved in (I guess you could also count 104.7, which was licensed to Pittsburgh even when the station was in New Ken, via the license swap with 100.7)
Part of it also is that Clear Channel has as many stations as they can have, and also own stations in the surrounding markets like Youngstown and Wheeling. In a lot of other cities, money would have been spent to move stations into Pittsburgh, but no one saw enough financial upside from doing it. If Cumulus or someone like that could buy out Renda, Steel City or Keymarket, I would think they would consider move-ins to add to their market presence.
And last but not least, the city is hemmed in by its proximity to Cleveland/Akron/Canton, and even Buffalo and Toronto.
I think I have 2 of the possibilities:
#1 IIRC at one time there were rumors of 1220 going to Pittsburgh instead or Cleveland.
#2 Another rumor was 1250 was going to go 50KW, Had the employees of 1250 WBRM Marion NC worried right after they "deregulated" the max power on the old regional channels.
The other 3 rumored 50KW AM's will take someone with local technical knowledge. I can only guess the other stations would have been at least 3 tower deals.
Of course any station with a serious power to challenge KDKA would had to overcome the Westinghouse lobby in DC.
#1 IIRC at one time there were rumors of 1220 going to Pittsburgh instead or Cleveland.
#2 Another rumor was 1250 was going to go 50KW, Had the employees of 1250 WBRM Marion NC worried right after they "deregulated" the max power on the old regional channels.
The other 3 rumored 50KW AM's will take someone with local technical knowledge. I can only guess the other stations would have been at least 3 tower deals.
Of course any station with a serious power to challenge KDKA would had to overcome the Westinghouse lobby in DC.
PHIL Z said:
WCAE was going to move to 1220 when Mexico agreed to allow a full time station in the Northeast USA.
The GM said that TV would kill radio and besides 5 KW was enough.
There was an app for 1510 in Pittsburgh with 50KW. 680 in Butler could have had full power before the one in WV. WJAS was going to buy a small station in Ohio and shut it down so the freq. could be moved to Pgh. You'll have to ask Walt McCoy about that one. However, since he's in cadaver city that may present a problem.
Of course we have KD and WWNL.
If I had ten bucks for every 5 kW regional station out there where there's a story that "they could have had 50, but (insert former clueless owner) didn't think it was worth it," I'd be able to own a 50 kW station of my own by now. 
But having said that: 1250 did indeed have several documented shots at higher power, both in the WCAE days before 1220 went to Cleveland and WGAR, and again later on when there was some talk of moving by-then-WEAE to 1200, which would have forced WKST to do some shifting, too. (But they were co-owned under Jacor, so the logistics wouldn't have been all that complex.)
I suppose enough time has gone by that this can be told now, too: remember when WWVA almost moved to "Stow, Ohio" to serve Cleveland a few years back? It could just as easily have gone into the Pittsburgh market, and almost did, or so I'm told by people who would know such things.
But having said that: 1250 did indeed have several documented shots at higher power, both in the WCAE days before 1220 went to Cleveland and WGAR, and again later on when there was some talk of moving by-then-WEAE to 1200, which would have forced WKST to do some shifting, too. (But they were co-owned under Jacor, so the logistics wouldn't have been all that complex.)
I suppose enough time has gone by that this can be told now, too: remember when WWVA almost moved to "Stow, Ohio" to serve Cleveland a few years back? It could just as easily have gone into the Pittsburgh market, and almost did, or so I'm told by people who would know such things.
Forgive me, I lied. There could have been 7. When the FCC started to break down the clears, WEDO could have moved to 820 with 50 day and 5 at night. I found a nice used xmtr which they could have had by paying the moving charges. The GM wasn't interested....he wanted to just run "health?" programs. They could have bid on the Pirates back then.
I guess there was some risk involved with these deals, but we do have a history of short-sighted GMs.
Even now, we're trying to give, and I do mean GIVE, away a nice xmtr. site complete with land, building and tower. No takers.
I guess there was some risk involved with these deals, but we do have a history of short-sighted GMs.
Even now, we're trying to give, and I do mean GIVE, away a nice xmtr. site complete with land, building and tower. No takers.
hypwr said:
Living in walking range of the WEDO tower reminds me of a lot of things AM 810 could have done over the years, most recently try for an FM translator. I think FM 94.1 now licensed to Clairton and broadcasting from Glassport would make more sense as a WEDO-FM than it does as a WKHB-FM (though I've heard the rumors about it possibly becoming a translator for 'KHB sibling WKVE-103.1).
Good luck in finding someone for that broadcast site. If I had a few bucks, I'd give it a shot.
M
MsMusicRadio
Guest
What about 1360 passing up a chance for 104.9? Coulda had WIXZ FM
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