I was in the Fybush column today that John Tesiero, owner of WCSS 1490 AM, Amsterdam has purchased pending FCC approval the as yet unbuilt station on 1120 AM COL Little Falls. The station, which has been assigned callsign WKAJ, the old 900 AM call when that station was in Saratoga Springs, is planned to operate 1500 watts daytime and 250 watts at night, non-directional. I for one can not see Tesiero operating 1120 AM as it is now planned. I suspect his goal is to better cover Montgomery county. I would suspect the COL will be changed to perhaps St. Johnsville, which does not have a license, and the transmitter site will be shifted about 12 miles or so to the east between Fort Plain and St. Johnsville. This would give a good signal even with the nightime power level in those 2 communities as well as Ames, Canajoharie, Palatine Bridge and Nelliston. With both stations simulcasting as it is planned, It would cover 90+% of Montgomery county's population at night, and all of it during the day.
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Tesiero owner of WCSS 1490 buys unbuilt Little Falls station
- Thread starter THE_KNICKMAN
- Start date
Putting an AM signal on the air at this point is like opening up a typewriter repair shop. Where is the revenue going to come from to pay National Grid?
The FCC has approved with conditions the sale of unbuilt WKAJ-1120 to be licensed to Little Falls with conditions. The conditions relate to the fact that the CP expires in about a year and sets a certain timetable that must be met by the assignor and assignee. The new owners, the Cranesville Block company, owned by the Tesiero family currently owns WCSS-1490, in Amsterdam. As I mentioned previously, I believe that the new owners will apply to move 1120AM into western Montgomery county. A 2 station simulcast (1490-1120) would give very good coverage in all of Montgomery county.
Ames, Nelliston, Sharon Springs, Sprakers, Cook Corners, Come on... Those towns are deader than AM radio.
WENT is the only AM game around, and they are holding on for dear life.
WENT is the only AM game around, and they are holding on for dear life.
As I predicted a year ago, The Cranesville Block Co. owned by the Tesiero family and the owners of WCSS 1490 amsterdam have now applied to change the city of license for the CP they have for 1120AM (WKAJ) to St. Johnsville, Montgomery county. Originally 1.5KW day/ 250W night. The application is now for 10KW day/ 400 watts nights.
This is a question for you Tec guys. If moving, in this case WKAJ approximately 20 miles west, with a significant power increase is considered, as their application indicates, a ‘minor change’, what is a major change? I remember a few years ago a Burlington VT. Area station wanted to move to the Albany NY area. While their contours didn’t overlap this too was a ‘minor change‘. While a combination of WCSS and WKAJ as proposed will cover most of Montgomery County, I have to agree to what end? AM is dying especially in small markets.
"Minor" and "major" have different meanings in FCC-land.
A "minor change" is pretty much anything that would be mutually exclusive with the existing facility. You can't have an 1120 in Little Falls and another one in St. Johnsville, so that move is a minor. (Same deal with the 670 move that never happened - you couldn't have had a 670 in Burlington and one in Albany, at least not with the facilities proposed.)
Any channel change of more than +/- 30 kHz on AM or +/- three channels on FM would not be a minor, since the facilities wouldn't be mutually exclusive. (One exception: FM moves to an "IF" channel, 10.6 or 10.8 MHz up or down, are minor. That's how a translator on 106.3 became 95.5 in Utica.)
Most minor changes can be filed at any time. Major changes require an application window, and those are few and far between.
A "minor change" is pretty much anything that would be mutually exclusive with the existing facility. You can't have an 1120 in Little Falls and another one in St. Johnsville, so that move is a minor. (Same deal with the 670 move that never happened - you couldn't have had a 670 in Burlington and one in Albany, at least not with the facilities proposed.)
Any channel change of more than +/- 30 kHz on AM or +/- three channels on FM would not be a minor, since the facilities wouldn't be mutually exclusive. (One exception: FM moves to an "IF" channel, 10.6 or 10.8 MHz up or down, are minor. That's how a translator on 106.3 became 95.5 in Utica.)
Most minor changes can be filed at any time. Major changes require an application window, and those are few and far between.
Thanks Scott for that explanation, I think a lot of us who are not totally up on FCC procedures have wondered how it could be minor.
Now that I have looked at a map to see where the tx site is going, I have to wonder what they are thinking. First of all, a site west of St. Johnsville. I would have wanted it SE of St. J. south of the Mohawk river This would have given better overall coverage at night to Canajoharie, Fort Plain, Nelliston and Palatine Bridge as well as St. J with 400 watts. It would seem to me that 10KW days is unnecessary. 5KW would have been plenty.
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