I know not many people will notice or perhaps care much , since 560 WCKL ,Catskill, has not really been on the air since being sold by Clear Channel to The Black United Fund 4 years ago , but they are about to miss the June 30 deadline of remaining silent for 12 consecutive months . I am just noting it since they were a part of Hudson Valley radio history since the mid 1960's. Over the past few years they have had a May - June “keep the license alive” simulcast with a Clear Channel oldies station like WCZR, but this year they have remained silent .Perhaps this is because of the pending sale of the Clear Channel Cluster To Goodradio .I noticed last year they sounded worse then previously so perhaps there is problems with the transmitter that are not worth fixing. With the glut of stations on the market with the Clear Channel sale, and especially low power micro market AM stations not fetching much at sale perhaps the current owners figure it isn't worth the hassle. They should have sold it while they had the chance.
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Time Has About Run out for 560 WCKL
- Thread starter MHVRadiofan
- Start date
Good point, my question is what happens with the license after June 30th? Does the current owner forfeit it?
Tom said:
Basically, yes .Their license is deleted by the FCC.
W
warm590
Guest
Too bad...somebody could make a go of it...
warm590 ;D
warm590 ;D
They just might do that...but one never knows. It is no surprise that the station is still off the air though...for a leased transmitter site and no studio so to speak from what I've understood, the asking price and the bids for the station have been much much more than what the station would be worth.The Dude said:
The current owners paid to much for the license and they are trying to get their cost/expenses back out of the "investment". Sometimes it pays to cut your losses and get something in return rather than get nothing in return....which would happen if WCKL is deleted and disappears forever.
Everyone nearby Catskill....keep a radio tuned to 560khz and see what happens between now and Saturday.
MHVRadiofan said:
I remember when WCKL usually simulcast WBPM's former oldies station "Cool 92.9", but on the AM side, it says "560 Rock" in one of the top-of-the-hour ID's when it was in the middle of a song or near the TOH. It has three different handles such as:
1. "We're burning up the AM dial, this is WCKL, Catskill, 560 Rock"
2. "This is 560 Rock, WCKL Catskill. Crank it up, and rip the knob off!"
3. "Rock & roll and a whole lot of static. This is 560 Rock, WCKL Catskill. Crank it up!"
I've never heard of putting a legal TOH ID's on that simulcast for the former "Cool 92.9". The station "560 Rock" was usually a simulcast of the former WRKW's "92.9 Rock" for just about a week before it was "Cool 92.9" until 560 went off the air and then simulcast another oldies station WZCR's "Cruisin' 93.5" until 2005.
A
AMonFM
Guest
disney fanatic said:
At least they had a little fun with it. Nothing wrong with a little humor in the legal ID.
Bill could go in the next room and fire it up one last time if he wanted to though. I was under the impression that Black United Fund sold the license and what little studio gear they had last summer. But after looking on the FCC site, I see the ownership was never officially transferred. Too bad, but even if the Mighty 560 gets relegated to memory, wouldn't that open up the channel for new applicants? (if an AM window ever comes up again, that is)
According to WCKL's application to go silent, filed last July, that deal fell through, and they lacked the funds to keep the station on the air. Also yes I believe someone else can apply for the 560 license when the FCC is accepting applications.
B
bill5461
Guest
Apparently the transmitter crapped out, it's back on now at low power
WCKL is BS. I hope they should bring back standards on 560 AM if this needs a new ownership called Goodradio, BUFNY is getting out of its hands forever. If not, why not put Radio Disney on at 560 AM, that would be better or another oldies station like Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel. That would be a great idea.
MarcB said:
I couldn't agree more .What WCKL is doing, coming on once a year simulcasting another station for a week is not "serving the public interest ". The FCC should allow somebody else take the frequency if they want it.
I didn't realize they were on low power when I heard them back on the air Monday. They sound just like last year .Ok North & west , ,but literally just 3 or 4 miles to the east WCKL sounds scratchy , like they are off frequency ,although the signal still washes over the adjacent channels . They do have a Deep South & east null, but 3 or 4 miles can't be right. Of course when you are on the air for just one week a year maintenance is proably nil.
[/quote]
I couldn't agree more .What WCKL is doing, coming on once a year simulcasting another station for a week is not "serving the public interest ". The FCC should allow somebody else take the frequency if they want it.
I didn't realize they were on low power when I heard them back on the air Monday. They sound just like last year .Ok North & west , ,but literally just 3 or 4 miles to the east WCKL sounds scratchy , like they are off frequency ,although the signal still washes over the adjacent channels . They do have a Deep South & east null, but 3 or 4 miles can't be right. Of course when you are on the air for just one week a year maintenance is proably nil.[/quote]
What is or was the normal daytime coverage area for WCKL? Is the station still on the air now? If so, I may try to see if I can manage to hear some resemblance of a weak signal back towards the Utica area on Thursday.
I engineered for a station in eastern NC for just a tad over 12 years on 560khz. It was/is 1kw day, 500 watts night, two tower directional fulltime and even though the station was near lots of water, the signal would easily carry 150 miles north, northwest and west during the day....away from areas of water.
There shouldn't be any reason for WCKL to have somewhat simular coverage during the day...70 to 100 miles max during the day in the Catskill region. I'd love to see someone do something 24/7/365 with the station. One week out of the year just wont cut it. The non profit group that owns it now needs to cut their losses and hand the station over to someone who would actually try and perform a public service.
If someone does buy WCKL and start looking to fixing up the stations RF plant and needs a hand, drop me a line ...midatlanticengin AT aol dot com.
I couldn't agree more .What WCKL is doing, coming on once a year simulcasting another station for a week is not "serving the public interest ". The FCC should allow somebody else take the frequency if they want it.
I didn't realize they were on low power when I heard them back on the air Monday. They sound just like last year .Ok North & west , ,but literally just 3 or 4 miles to the east WCKL sounds scratchy , like they are off frequency ,although the signal still washes over the adjacent channels . They do have a Deep South & east null, but 3 or 4 miles can't be right. Of course when you are on the air for just one week a year maintenance is proably nil.[/quote]
What is or was the normal daytime coverage area for WCKL? Is the station still on the air now? If so, I may try to see if I can manage to hear some resemblance of a weak signal back towards the Utica area on Thursday.
I engineered for a station in eastern NC for just a tad over 12 years on 560khz. It was/is 1kw day, 500 watts night, two tower directional fulltime and even though the station was near lots of water, the signal would easily carry 150 miles north, northwest and west during the day....away from areas of water.
There shouldn't be any reason for WCKL to have somewhat simular coverage during the day...70 to 100 miles max during the day in the Catskill region. I'd love to see someone do something 24/7/365 with the station. One week out of the year just wont cut it. The non profit group that owns it now needs to cut their losses and hand the station over to someone who would actually try and perform a public service.
If someone does buy WCKL and start looking to fixing up the stations RF plant and needs a hand, drop me a line ...midatlanticengin AT aol dot com.
They are 1000 watts day 43 nights, directional with different constraints day and night. Here isthe related page http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?stat...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9[url They were still on the air as of Wednesday.
This brings up a related question, since you are an engineer perhaps you could answer it .While researching the data on WCKL, I noticed they had received (as did other AM stations) a letter from the FCC last February regarding their PRSA and PSSA. I always thought previous daytime only stations that are now allowed to stay on all night ,had to make a hard cut to the reduced power and night time pattern at sunset .This letter seems to show a gradual reduction in power , that varies depending on the time of year . Am I reading this right? Is this new or as I first thought an update due to the change in daylight savings time?
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/corrp_list.pl?Facility_id=63526
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