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the "graveyard frequencies"

I just thought I would chime in on this topic to tell you that WSBC currently broadcasts from the tower that was used
by WEDC on N. Milwaukee Ave. They used to be on the same tower as the old WSCR AM 820, which is now WCPT. The
WCPT tower now serves as the backup tower for them. I am on the south side of Chicago close to Oak Lawn and their
signal comes in decent, with WJOB being just slightly stronger.

Does anyone remember the name of the man who sometime in the late eighties or early nineties, brokered the
Midnight to 5 AM time slot on the former WEDC? He would play his own records, Tapes and CD's(no computers).
He played no commercials and would take your requests. At the same time WJOB had a live person on all night
as well doing local news every half hour and playing music, doing trivia and other things. I miss those kind of radio
stations.
 
I believe they did it so they would have the signal strength penetrate further north. When WSBC, WEDC and WCRW were
all combined into one station, and purchased by Newsweb, they also purchased WCFJ in Chicago Heights. However WCFJ
has better coverage on paper than they do in reality. I get better reception of WSBC here on the south side than I do from
WCFJ. There are some nights that WCFJ is almost completely stomped out by WMBD in Peoria.

I should also add that WCPT has their backup on the WSBC tower at 3.2kw. I think the signal was better at the Belmont
location. It had much less interference in the downtown area. I did notice however that when WCPT used the backup at
WSBC, you could hear WSBC underneath. It was not insulated very well. I don't see the aux. license on the FCC website
anymore, so they might have done away with that.
 
Processing can also help make up some coverage problems. I have tended to believe in cutting back the bandwidth on these GY stations a bit and process to the maximum. It seems to help. Another tool is Kahn's Powerside, which helps cutback on co-channel interference.

David mentioned the Franklin antenna, at a full wave they are something, but are typically expensive to build. I would imagine they would probably be quite effective on GY frequencies, being that they wouldn't have too be as tall as say, someone at 600 khz.
 
TR1992 said:
I believe they did it so they would have the signal strength penetrate further north. When WSBC, WEDC and WCRW were
all combined into one station, and purchased by Newsweb, they also purchased WCFJ in Chicago Heights. However WCFJ
has better coverage on paper than they do in reality. I get better reception of WSBC here on the south side than I do from
WCFJ. There are some nights that WCFJ is almost completely stomped out by WMBD in Peoria.

I should also add that WCPT has their backup on the WSBC tower at 3.2kw. I think the signal was better at the Belmont
location. It had much less interference in the downtown area. I did notice however that when WCPT used the backup at
WSBC, you could hear WSBC underneath. It was not insulated very well. I don't see the aux. license on the FCC website
anymore, so they might have done away with that.

When WSCR transmitted from Belmont on 820 you could sometimes hear WSBC underneath.
 
Does anyone remember the name of the man who sometime in the late eighties or early nineties, brokered the
Midnight to 5 AM time slot on the former WEDC? He would play his own records, Tapes and CD's(no computers).
He played no commercials and would take your requests. At the same time WJOB had a live person on all night
as well doing local news every half hour and playing music, doing trivia and other things. I miss those kind of radio
stations.
That would be interesting radio.
 
Another tool is Kahn's Powerside, which helps cutback on co-channel interference.
And it also drives listeners away, so that nobody complains about the signal or the station.
David mentioned the Franklin antenna, at a full wave they are something, but are typically expensive to build. I would imagine they would probably be quite effective on GY frequencies, being that they wouldn't have too be as tall as say, someone at 600 khz.
Remember, graveyarders are at 1 kw based on a certain antenna efficiency... essentially the traditional quarter wave. A more efficient antenna today would require dropping power and that has happened with some of those stations moving to taller shared towers.
 
WEDC was at 5475 N. Milwaukee, and WSBC the remaining station on the air is at 4949 W. Belmont.
Per RadioLocator, WSBC is now using the old WEDC tower. I have no idea what's at 4949 W. Belmont these days.

 
Per RadioLocator, WSBC is now using the old WEDC tower. I have no idea what's at 4949 W. Belmont these days.

These days the tower at 4949 W. Belmont is used as AUX for WBBM FM, WCFS, WUSN, WXRT, WBMX and as FM Booster for WAWE.
 
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