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THE OLD 590 WPLO
- Thread starter BIGSTICK
- Start date
The old 590 was a blowtorch! With a daytime signal equal to 50,000 watt WSB it was the "other" decent Atlanta radio signal back in the day.
The night pattern was a screwball....but in areas where it put signal it "peeled paint." There were areas that saw 25,000 watts(effectively) on night pattern - at 590 kHz.... that can really cut through the ether. But there were also major nulls - areas with minimal signal - WPLO was NOT a metro wide station at night.
You must also remember....back in those days, the FCC had not butchered the AM band. The interference was not nearly as bad as today. Even a relatively weak AM signal was usable on the regional channels back then - at least on the lower part of the dial.
Summit effectively destroyed 590 in Atlanta when it moved to Powder Springs. The station's signal was designed for a African-American format and the directional lobes, day and night, were steered south of Atlanta. The 610 allocation in Grayson(Gwinnette County)eliminated any possibility of a move back into town for 590.
The night pattern was a screwball....but in areas where it put signal it "peeled paint." There were areas that saw 25,000 watts(effectively) on night pattern - at 590 kHz.... that can really cut through the ether. But there were also major nulls - areas with minimal signal - WPLO was NOT a metro wide station at night.
You must also remember....back in those days, the FCC had not butchered the AM band. The interference was not nearly as bad as today. Even a relatively weak AM signal was usable on the regional channels back then - at least on the lower part of the dial.
Summit effectively destroyed 590 in Atlanta when it moved to Powder Springs. The station's signal was designed for a African-American format and the directional lobes, day and night, were steered south of Atlanta. The 610 allocation in Grayson(Gwinnette County)eliminated any possibility of a move back into town for 590.
As one who can attest to WPLO's nighttime reach, I remember getting clear reception of WPLO on a family trip to Myrtle Beach back in the early 80's when searching the AM radio late at night. I remember them coming in almost as loud and clear as WSB was during that time. Their former site at Toco Hills really helped their nighttime reach.
Living in the Metro Atlanta Area proper as a child, I remember recieving WPLO, WQXI so well at night. I would do my homework for school jammin to the hits of the 70s on the mighty 790. As a teenager I remember wanting to work for 590 because they had a kick ass signal and they played some great music. 59 did have a wonderful signal... Oh for the days of AM radio that wasnt destroyed by interference and such.. Living in the Northwest side of Atlanta did have its advantages..
K
kyscott
Guest
Does anyone have a copy of the day/night pattern for PLO? I'd be interested in seeing it. I remember living in NE Atlanta and taking Clairmont road to work and passing the old site when they were demolishing it. Sure wish now I had taken time to go in the building.
kyscott said:
"The Widow's Son" posted that a few months ago. Maybe you can find it by looking a past posts. I think the site was actually on N. Druid Hills; an apartment complex is there now.
Even now, old 590 does have a good nighttime signal, as I can hear it almost every night in the Charleston area.
It is too bad that ABC owns it, because if somebody else did, they could run a great news/talk or sports format, or a music format like oldies.
It is too bad that ABC owns it, because if somebody else did, they could run a great news/talk or sports format, or a music format like oldies.
T.G. said:
Confirmed, N Druid Hills Rd was the site. WPLO was on one of the towers churning out 100kw from a few hundred feet---pre 80-90---interestingly, the reports of WPLO/WVEE on the old (lower site) vs the new (higher site) seem to indicate that the older site gets out as well as the new site...again thats before the FM band became AM-ized.
The main reason the new site was built was the new FCC rule that FM's had to be at 1,000 or more feet to remain a full C (and retain their value). That was sometime around 1990. I believe Summit (former 103.3 owner) built the site. Additionally, WSTR moved there from the Peachtree Plaza, WSB-FM relocated there from the WSB-TV tower, and WABE moved there from (I'm guessing) Bismarck Road. WZGC remained under 1,000 feet at the Peachtree Plaza.
Years ago, I was told by someone at WABE that ownership would revert from CBS to the Atlanta Board of Education at some point; don't know if that's true or ever happened.
Re: WABE and New Street Tower
WABE was at Stone Mountain with WGTV for a very brief time. I remember reading it was a disaster.
If WABE gets ownership of the New Street site, then all commercial broadcasters (WSTR/WSB-FM/WVEE) will have to move per FCC rules (from what I understand, owners of NCE stations that own NCE sites can only lease space to NCE stations).
RoddyFreeman said:
WABE was at Stone Mountain with WGTV for a very brief time. I remember reading it was a disaster.
If WABE gets ownership of the New Street site, then all commercial broadcasters (WSTR/WSB-FM/WVEE) will have to move per FCC rules (from what I understand, owners of NCE stations that own NCE sites can only lease space to NCE stations).
I don't believe I remember that rule, and it flies in the face of the one which says if you have the only tower in town you can't refuse to rent to your competitors. Could ya give me a number for the Rule? Thanks.
The school board now owns New Street - the agreement transfered ownership to city after 20 years - that happened just recently. WVEE, WSTR, and WSB-FM still operate from the site. Channel 30 analog is on the top but WABE has an app to move to the top when analog TV goes away next year. WABE and Channel 30 digital operate from a 800 foot tower adjacent to the big 1000 foot tower.
There is no problem with a non comm being on a commercial station's tower or visa versa.
WABE was on top of Stone Mountain for many years - over 10 - and only came off the mountain a couple of years back. They had a aux site at New Street but it was not full power.
The signal was terrible from the mountain - over a million dollars was spent on consultants trying to figure out the problem. I don't think there was ever a definative answer -Channel 8, also located on St Mountain, has a terrible signal too. Ham operators have noted strange ether around the mountain for years - I'm not sure what the physics are.
There is no problem with a non comm being on a commercial station's tower or visa versa.
WABE was on top of Stone Mountain for many years - over 10 - and only came off the mountain a couple of years back. They had a aux site at New Street but it was not full power.
The signal was terrible from the mountain - over a million dollars was spent on consultants trying to figure out the problem. I don't think there was ever a definative answer -Channel 8, also located on St Mountain, has a terrible signal too. Ham operators have noted strange ether around the mountain for years - I'm not sure what the physics are.
When WABE moved to Stone Mountain, it was from the New Street (WVEE, WSTR, WSB-FM, WPBA) site so they probably moved to New Street originally from Bismarck Road.
As Taylor said, WABE then moved from Stone Mountain to the lower tower next door built for WPBA-DT and has filed an application to move to the current WPBA analog position on top of the original tower.
Re: WABE and New Street Tower
Absolutely not true. I work for an NCE (WXXI-TV/FM Rochester NY) that leases space on its tower to a commercial TV station (WUHF). Down the road from us in Buffalo, NCE WNED-TV leases space on its tower to commercial WNLO-TV.
jal41 said:
Absolutely not true. I work for an NCE (WXXI-TV/FM Rochester NY) that leases space on its tower to a commercial TV station (WUHF). Down the road from us in Buffalo, NCE WNED-TV leases space on its tower to commercial WNLO-TV.
Wanna see the current am 590 towers? Just click the links below. I'll leave them on my server for a while.
http://pages.prodigy.net/ahardee/am590.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/ahardee/wdwdtowers4.jpg
5 towers total in line
al
http://pages.prodigy.net/ahardee/am590.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/ahardee/wdwdtowers4.jpg
5 towers total in line
al
K
kyscott
Guest
amlover said:
You wouldn't have a picture of the transmitter and/or phasor cabinet?
A
Art Sutton
Guest
amlover said:
WDWD, formerly WPLO, before that WAGA, before that WTFI (Toccoa Falls Institute) now operates with a total of 4 towers. Before moving to its present site, it had a total of 3 towers. It was 5KW non directional days and directional nights with basically a figure 8 pattern with the lobes running east and west and the nulls north and south.
The old WPLO had a great signal but still considerably less than WSB. 590 covered 20,812.9 sq km in its 0.5 mV/m contour while WSB covers 47,158.8 sq km. In fact, it would take 25,000 watts on 590 to match the 50,000 watts on WSB's 750 kHz.
Recently I saw an ad for WAGA from 1948 which showed a brick building, classic looking architecture, with black shutters, couple columns out front. I assume this was the transmitter building in Druid Hills. If anyone has a photo of that building, I sure would like to have a copy of it.
Another big signal AM which disappeared from Atlanta was WCON on 550 with 5KW day and night. It had four in line towers at night, I understand, northwest of Atlanta beyond the present Atlantic Station development. It was owned by the Atlanta Constitution which also owned 103.3 FM and Channel 2 TV. When Cox bought out the Constitution, it took Channel 2 for WSB-TV and turned in the 550 license. I am not sure if they sold off the 103.3 FM or turned the license in too. Then WGGA in Gainesville, operating on 1240, applied for 550 and got the frequency. There was at least one other applicant for the channel. When WGGA moved to 550, 5KW days and 500 watts night, 3 tower directional nights, WDUN moved from 1400 to 1240.
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