It ended May 1, 1970. WBAP paid WFAA $3.5 million and WBAP's share of the 570 timeshare to get 820 for itself.
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The Remaining Class A AMs In The 48 Contiguous United States
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
Did she listen to KICY during critical hours?
It was changed decades ago (I think 1970), but on November 22, 1963 they were still switching back and forth.
I was listening on my 1938 Westinghouse table radio in the basement in late 1969, fixing the dial cord, and heard the WFAA/WBAP switch, for the last time I heard them do that. It stopped on May 1, 1970. I remember when it was, because the local R & B station had just started playing "I Want You Back" by The Jackson Five, way ahead of the Top 40 stations, and way ahead of other markets.
The YouTube video's from when JFK was assassinated. You can hear the switch in the historical video.
Scott, how many other US based medium wave broadcasters use directional array antenna systems for gain, other than perhaps also the Radio Marti site in Marathon, FL? Yes, I recognize that Marathon does protect other US broadcasters on the frequency, but even if there were no other operating stations in the US on 1180 kHz, the directional array would still be the choice of antenna system.
Most stations would not use a DA if they didn't have to. Class IV/Class C are usually nondirectional, except for a handful who used it for mutual cochannel protection and for Class III/Class B adjacent channels when they went to 1000 watts Daytime in the early 1960s. No Class IV/C is licensed as directional at Night. They locate nondirectional close to the center of the City of License generally, originally with 100 to 250 watts.
If a station is required to be directional, they usually in the past located it somewhere just outside the city, and in a direction so that the major lobe concentrated the signal over the COL and adjacent areas. In the 1950s and 1960s, the population moved further out, often in back lobe and null directions, creating signal problems there. Class Is/As and other very powerful stations are/were required to put their towers in thinly populated areas. The 1% rule was supposed to address this. The population in the 1 Volt/meter contour is not supposed to have more than 1% of the population in the 25 mV/m contour, at least when it was set up.
In some cases, using 5 kW or more directional was necessary to put the recommended 25-50 mV/m or more over high noise factory areas and inside steel buildings.
If a station is required to be directional, they usually in the past located it somewhere just outside the city, and in a direction so that the major lobe concentrated the signal over the COL and adjacent areas. In the 1950s and 1960s, the population moved further out, often in back lobe and null directions, creating signal problems there. Class Is/As and other very powerful stations are/were required to put their towers in thinly populated areas. The 1% rule was supposed to address this. The population in the 1 Volt/meter contour is not supposed to have more than 1% of the population in the 25 mV/m contour, at least when it was set up.
In some cases, using 5 kW or more directional was necessary to put the recommended 25-50 mV/m or more over high noise factory areas and inside steel buildings.
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Ahh nope...KHCB 1400 League City, formerly KILE, Galveston is 2 tower DA 24/7. Before KHCB moved it from Galveston, it was 1 tower omni...it was to protect sister 1410 KHCH, Huntsville, TX which was originally on 1400 when KILE was also on 1400. IIRC KHCH moved first to allow KHCB to move north but it needed the DA for 1st adj. protection
Many stations use directional systems that they are forced to use as a competitive advantage: they have to protect other stations in order to exist, but if they put the transmitter site so that all the directional signal goes over the market, they have a huge advantage as, for example, a directional 50 kw station may put the equivalent of 250 kw over the market, even if in the other directions there is nearly no power.
I worked with Emmis' 100 kw AM in Buenos Aires. It was located well to the NW of Bs. As., and the areas to the SE were where about 21 million lived. So they directionalized on purpose to push almost 150 kw towards the city, and somewhat less in other directions. It was the only station that did not have noise in the dense central areas of the city.
Years before, I got a license for 660 in Ecuador for the port city of Guayaquil. I figured that directionalizing it, I could cover the market's population up the coast, and then I could also use 660 in Quito in the Andes where a two-tower DA put the signal up and down the highly populated mountain zones.
There are many more cases, but directionality can be used to enhance coverage over the market.
The best comes last: WWL in New Orleans and WBZ in Boston are both directional away from the ocean to better serve people, not fish. They did not have to do that but, instead, did it on purpose.
This is where the old World Radio And Television would come in handy. A 1 U3 in a sea of 1 U1s and a handful of 1 U5s would stick out like a sore thumb. Michigan has the most Class IVs/Cs using DAs at TWO U5 operations. WEXL (now WCHB) 1340 uses its DA to concentrate its Day signal toward Detroit, and to protect cochannels and first adjacents. Both operate nondirectionally at Night.
I suspect that the KHCB DA was either requested as a waiver of the rules, or was issued in error. If someone can find a copy of the rules, let me know if there was a rule change allowing it. Otherwise, they should be allowing other uses and more power, like 5 kW DAs on Class IVs into nearly unoccupied Canada and the Oceans and Gulfs at Night in the Lower 48. A little late to the game though. Might have helped more years ago.
If someone could refer to the rule change or waiver, let me know.
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KFI should have done that! Can you imagine?
Didn't WNBC originally run a directional antenna from Port Washington Long Island before diplexing with WCBS?
I think they abandoned the site around 1962. Maybe SC or David have more info on this.
I think they abandoned the site around 1962. Maybe SC or David have more info on this.
Quite true. The Sands Point site WEAF/WRCA/WNBC used from ~1940 until 1963 was a two-tower DA using the "Salt Water Way" and a null to the east in an attempt to boost field strength over the city and New Jersey, at the expense of eastern Long Island. If the land under it hadn't become valuable and desirable, it might have stayed in use longer.
WTAM/KYW 1100 in Cleveland used a two-tower DA in Parma (a tall Franklin tower that was also the support for a TV and FM antenna, plus a drop-wire element from one of the guy wires) to reduce radiation to the north over Lake Erie, from the 1950s into the 1970s. It later moved back to its old (and current) site in Brecksville.
KNX also experimented with a DA to focus its signal inland and reduce radiation over the Pacific, but eventually went back to ND operation.
In the past, I have seen a drop-wire used in Latin America to send more signal towards the center of a market. It's fairly simple to do, and rather effective in optimizing the power towards the money.
WMEX 1510 has been thru three transmitter sites since its glory days in the 60's, plus a C.O.L. move when Ed Perry bought it for next to nothing a few years back.
When WMEX was in its last location you were lucky to hear them a mile away at night.
Back in the day, they had a direct path to salt water, they were like WBZ-A,with towers pretty much right on the Atlantic Ocean, and that location gave them a reach far wider than the theoretical ones used in drawing the maps
When WMEX was in its last location you were lucky to hear them a mile away at night.
Back in the day, they had a direct path to salt water, they were like WBZ-A,with towers pretty much right on the Atlantic Ocean, and that location gave them a reach far wider than the theoretical ones used in drawing the maps
The problem was always that WMEX had to protect the dominant stations on 1510 and was not able to radiate much towards the west. Being close to salt water did not help inland... in fact, they would have been better off with a site just east of Worcester so the power would flow over the metro.
Also, what was a tolerable coverage in the 60's became unsustainable as the market expanded outwards. The market outgrew the signal half a century ago.
Ah, and that certainly make sense, but those stations are having to protect other stations.
And it appears neither of these stations are having to protect other stations, and are using directional arrays for that advantage in their coverage areas.
Thanks for the information.
I heard a funny story once about an FCC examiner who was sent to check on WBZ and wanted to be taken out to the monitor points for the DA.
"There aren't any."
It took some explaining to persuade him that there were no protections that needed to be met, and that the DA was entirely voluntary, with no monitor points on file with the FCC.
They are grandfathered with their existing facilities, which have been in place since probably circa 1940, when DAs started to become more widespread. They really can't increase interference to other stations without fancy footwork. Even KFI couldn't when they replaced their tower with a shorter one after it was collapsed by a plane. WMVP (WCFL) had to design a pattern which closely matched or slightly reduced in each critical direction. They were able to replace two symmetrical nulls with an asymmetrical set which allowed one null to be let out a little toward KOMO.
But with a properly selected transmitter site, it can be an advantage. Look at how many coastal stations locate farther inland and dump huge intensity over the intended market. It may be making lemonade out of a lemon, but when done right it can be very productive.
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