J
Jul
Guest
Well it has been over 2 months since WHAT 1340 AM changed to Skin Radio. I would like to get your general thoughts on the format?
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Since Julius is asking for opinions again, here's my take on 1340:
Admittedly it's a bold move to put this kind of format on AM. I DO like some of the stuff they do, but without personality it tends to be rather dry over time. At least a local morning drive show would help.The other factor is the signal being boxed in by WMID and the now-WKAP.
They weren't the first on the block with this format, as WCHE beat 'em to it. All said, I wish them good luck!
Dave Gardiner
WVCH 740/WNWR 1540
Philadelphia
Admittedly it's a bold move to put this kind of format on AM. I DO like some of the stuff they do, but without personality it tends to be rather dry over time. At least a local morning drive show would help.The other factor is the signal being boxed in by WMID and the now-WKAP.
They weren't the first on the block with this format, as WCHE beat 'em to it. All said, I wish them good luck!
Dave Gardiner
WVCH 740/WNWR 1540
Philadelphia
R
RandyDascher
Guest
Thank you for pointing that out Mr. Gardiner.DG02816 said:
Randy Dascher
WCHE 1520 AM
I find it ironic that I started a similar thread reeking of "your thoughts" yet I did not receive the same treatment. Oh well...
Someone indulge us out of towners in the flyover.. What "IS" the format of "Skin"??? I remember "Mr.Skin" from Spirit...."Mr.Skin...We know where you've been!" 
I think the idea of alternative/progressive rock on AM was a radical one, especially a class IV station. If they can 'make it happen', more power to 'em! Personally, If such a station had to be on AM, I would have suggested that it be on a signal with better reach, especially during the daytime. 560 would have been ideal. So would 640, 860, 950 and perhaps 800, 900, 1310 and 1480. 990 would have been a gift, but that would've been virtually impossible to obtain!
I think the powers-that-be should try to do as many live remote broadcasts as possible this summer, especially at arts festivals and other similar venues. I would play more underground music that FMs won't touch-give people a reason to tune you in.
For what it's worth, I think that when it comes to small, especially marginal AM stations, many of those operations could and should be obtained by schools and should be student run as much as possible. I'm not necessarily saying that WHAT should have chosen that route, though I feel that in Philly, they would be one of the better suited AMs to do so. With fewer low-watt FM educational stations on the air now, such a move will give students needed experience in running a radio operation and may also give underground artists a better chance in getting their music heard on the airwaves. KKSM Oceanside CA is an example of a college-run AM which features underground/alternative music. So are KVCU Boulder CO and KWLC Decorah IA, just to name a few.
I think the powers-that-be should try to do as many live remote broadcasts as possible this summer, especially at arts festivals and other similar venues. I would play more underground music that FMs won't touch-give people a reason to tune you in.
For what it's worth, I think that when it comes to small, especially marginal AM stations, many of those operations could and should be obtained by schools and should be student run as much as possible. I'm not necessarily saying that WHAT should have chosen that route, though I feel that in Philly, they would be one of the better suited AMs to do so. With fewer low-watt FM educational stations on the air now, such a move will give students needed experience in running a radio operation and may also give underground artists a better chance in getting their music heard on the airwaves. KKSM Oceanside CA is an example of a college-run AM which features underground/alternative music. So are KVCU Boulder CO and KWLC Decorah IA, just to name a few.
getting off the topic of the format of skin and getting into the technical aspects of the signal, i find it amazing how there's a 1340 in atlantic city, philly, and reading, all three cities being no more than about 150 miles apart. a simple 3 hour drive to the shore from reading, pa equals three totally different stations on the same frequency whereas theres other frequencies that you can hold onto the whole trip to the shore. funny how the fcc assigns things.
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8638
Guest
Interstate 78 said:
1340 KHz is one of the original Class IV (now class D) assigned frequencies. These 'graveyard' signals (I still don't know why they call 'em that; calling Phil Galasso!) were intended to provide service to small communities, with a daytime maximum ERP of 1 Kw day, .25 Kw night. Later, the rules were amended to permit full time operation for most of these stations at their licensed daytime power. This assignment scheme, derived way before FM and the internet, provided service to places that otherwise would have had none. It seems ironic that a city like Philadelphia would be assigned an IV/D, but it was. It also has three daytimers (860, 900 and 1540) which you wouldn't expect to find in a big city, but that's another story.
As for the programming on WHAT now, I am just happy that the racist rants of Mary Mason no longer have a home there. Alt rock is good stuff, not played much on broadcast radio, so, even if it's AM, it's good!
This is the little station that could, but won't. I've heard dorm room radio that sounds better than this. Even on AM, there is enormous potential money maker being wasted on this signal along with a website that has zero content. Yet, they try to sell themselves as being a lifestyle brand, offering no artist info, no concert info, no downloads, no blog, no promotions and little else except a link to a very lame MySpace and a webstream that doesn't sound much better than the AM signal (which dies after sunset unless you live on the city line in Bala Cynwyd).
Skin Radio needs a personality or spokesperson too add a human element. They desperately need some promotions/giveaways to give more incentive to listen to the weak 1000 watt signal. Any imaging would be an improvement, there’s none at all resulting in a very unexciting presentation.
The new owner payed $5 million for WHAT and this is the best he can do with it? Must be a tax right off! Out of the box, "Skin Radio" is a far cry from the kind of Alternative radio Philly has been missing.
Skin Radio needs a personality or spokesperson too add a human element. They desperately need some promotions/giveaways to give more incentive to listen to the weak 1000 watt signal. Any imaging would be an improvement, there’s none at all resulting in a very unexciting presentation.
The new owner payed $5 million for WHAT and this is the best he can do with it? Must be a tax right off! Out of the box, "Skin Radio" is a far cry from the kind of Alternative radio Philly has been missing.
Don,
1340-formerly a Class IV frequency, is now labeled as Class C by the FCC. Class D stations are those that operate daytime only or with nighttime power levels less than 250 watts. Philly has, as you say, 860, 900, and 1540 in this category. WWDB and WNWR operate sunrise to sunset only while WURD runs 105 watts after dark. My other station, WVCH, drops from 1 kW to 6 watts at sunset to protect CHWO Toronto. 900 cuts power to protect CHML Hamilton Ontatio.
Dave Gardiner
WVCH 740/WNWR 1540
Philadelphia
1340-formerly a Class IV frequency, is now labeled as Class C by the FCC. Class D stations are those that operate daytime only or with nighttime power levels less than 250 watts. Philly has, as you say, 860, 900, and 1540 in this category. WWDB and WNWR operate sunrise to sunset only while WURD runs 105 watts after dark. My other station, WVCH, drops from 1 kW to 6 watts at sunset to protect CHWO Toronto. 900 cuts power to protect CHML Hamilton Ontatio.
Dave Gardiner
WVCH 740/WNWR 1540
Philadelphia
Its ironic that WHAT began operating in 1925, yet got stuck with such a poor allocation. According to the Broadcasting Yearbook, WPEN didn't come on the air until 1929, but was awarded a much better frequency (with potential for improvement in recent years.)
I have a JVC "HD" car radio and have been listening to WHAT when I'm close enough to copy a digital signal. On the Schuylkill Expressway, their digital coverage range is limited to the section southeast of the Blue Route, with some dropouts near the Conshohocken Curve and Belmont Ave. Even in University City, digital coverage is unreliable. I haven't listened yet in the Northeast, but doubt it's doing the job past Oxford Circle.
As for the audio quality, the signal-noise ratio and "apparent" frequency response are better in digital, but those dissonant HD codec artifacts really stand out during instrumental solos. For instance, on the intro to "Under the Bridge" by RHCP, the guitar sounds like it's playing through a ripped speaker cone. iBiquity's claim that AM HD sounds "as good as FM-quality" is an insult to Major Armstrong's genius.
If the FCC approves the use of FM translators by AM stations - AND - Mr. Kelly can find an open frequency, which would allow an ERP of 100-200 watts from a high structure, WHAT would get a nice break. This is going to be very difficult unless contour overlap restrictions are relaxed.
I have a JVC "HD" car radio and have been listening to WHAT when I'm close enough to copy a digital signal. On the Schuylkill Expressway, their digital coverage range is limited to the section southeast of the Blue Route, with some dropouts near the Conshohocken Curve and Belmont Ave. Even in University City, digital coverage is unreliable. I haven't listened yet in the Northeast, but doubt it's doing the job past Oxford Circle.
As for the audio quality, the signal-noise ratio and "apparent" frequency response are better in digital, but those dissonant HD codec artifacts really stand out during instrumental solos. For instance, on the intro to "Under the Bridge" by RHCP, the guitar sounds like it's playing through a ripped speaker cone. iBiquity's claim that AM HD sounds "as good as FM-quality" is an insult to Major Armstrong's genius.
If the FCC approves the use of FM translators by AM stations - AND - Mr. Kelly can find an open frequency, which would allow an ERP of 100-200 watts from a high structure, WHAT would get a nice break. This is going to be very difficult unless contour overlap restrictions are relaxed.
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8638
Guest
DG02816 said:
Thanks for the clarifications, Dave! I remember when WCVH was daytime only. I didn't know WURD was authorized night power now. At night here, 900 is all CHML.
If I recall correctly 1540-WPGR/WNWR was granted 500 watts night time coverage in the early 90s, but WNWR
decided to go back to daytime broadcasting only. Why did they make an odd decison of that nature???
decided to go back to daytime broadcasting only. Why did they make an odd decison of that nature???
W
WTUX
Guest
Two thoughts.
First, the 1540 500 watts did not cover any locals with their potential audience. It turned out to be a waste of money.
Second, when WHAT was purchased, I recall posts saying the new owner had a radio consulting business. If what he is doing with WHAT is an indication of his consulting work, he will see a dramatic drop in business. He is simply playing music on an AM station and a web site. If he is, as stated, aiming at a life style station, he is not even close to doing the job.
First, the 1540 500 watts did not cover any locals with their potential audience. It turned out to be a waste of money.
Second, when WHAT was purchased, I recall posts saying the new owner had a radio consulting business. If what he is doing with WHAT is an indication of his consulting work, he will see a dramatic drop in business. He is simply playing music on an AM station and a web site. If he is, as stated, aiming at a life style station, he is not even close to doing the job.
Don said:
I always thought the 'graveyard' moniker was due to the fact that the frequencies were useless for DXing...just too much mush unless one can null specific directions.
Speaking of Reading's 1340 -- it will be interesting to see if that's the long-term format for the frequency. Allentown's 1470 went to contemporary Christian in late August 2006 and flipped today to Fox Sports 24/7 (except for Phillies games). Amazing that the format lasted only seven months. Might that format wind up in Reading, too?
Richard in Allentown
That's not how it happened... It's really difficult to compare the allocations of that era to the dial as we know it today... WHAT didn't really get "stuck" with anything, at least with regards to WPEN... And it didn't come on in 1925 (there's so much misinformation about the early days of radio floating around out there)... If anything, there's reason to believe WPEN did in fact beat WHAT to the air by at least a few months...
WPEN did indeed launch in 1929, and it was on the terribly undesirable 1500 k.c. dial position (highest on the band at that time)... While 'PEN didn't share time with any other local station (somewhat unusual for stations of this era-- even majors like WIP and WFI/WLIT found themselves signing off and on for their neighbors), it's believed the early 'PEN did have to clear some hours for one or two New York/Long Island outlets. And its 250-watt daytime signal barely was able to overcome co-channel interference from dozens of other broadcasters on that frequency. Only later (1934-ish) was William Penn Broadcasting approved for a move to 920 k.c. and a doubling of power by the new Federal Communications Commission. Hardly an instant "awarding" of a nice frequency from jump in 1929!
WHAT was an entirely different situation... The 1925 date is probably a reference to the old Foulkrod low-power station WFKD. WFKD started out as a 10-watter at that time, owned by the Foulkrod Engineering Company. It (like most stations of the 1920s and '30s) moved all over the dial in the early days, and eventually settled on 1310 (the "graveyard" allocation that in 1941 migrated to today's 1340) with more power but was forced to share time with Independence Broadcasting's new WHAT. I was told years ago (though admittedly I never confirmed) that Foulkrod changed WFKD's calls to WTEL and adopted the slogan "Telephone of the Air" or something to that effect... WTEL and WHAT co-existed on 1310 for a few years, then each moved up to 1340 in 1941 as part of NARBA and the two stations shared 1340 I believe into the 1950s before WTEL finally settled on its present 860 as a daytimer.
Sorry for the rambling and unsolicited history lesson, but where else but on a radio board could I show off any of this otherwise useless knowledge?
I've said the exact same thing, almost verbatim before... Great minds...
I remember driving around 10 at night by City Hall one Friday evening (1994 or 1995?) and hearing "Geator Gold" on 1540... Not sure if it was a test or an actual attempt at programming... Either way, the signal wasn't very desirable... Either WPTR or KXEL (or both) was all over it...
George Brusstar said:
I appreciate the information, this is all very interesting.
Would you know if WHAT's callsign was assigned sequentially? Many early stations have an "A" as the third letter, which usually indicates that the calls were part of a series (if they don't stand for anything that makes logical sense.)
Some other likely examples of sequential calls (anyone please jump in and correct me if you know otherwise): WCAU; WBAX in Wilkes-Barre; WHAZ in Troy, NY; WGAL in Lancaster.
Was WHAT originally located near 39th and Chestnut, as indicated on USGS topo maps? See:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.95486&lon=-75.20082&s=25&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG
Who has more info on their original antenna -- was it a rooftopper? When was the transmitter site moved to its current location?
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