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TRANSLATORS CONSIDERED FOR WDAS AM SHOULD BE ON AM 1690, NOT 1680 AND AM 1700
- Thread starter towernews
- Start date
R
RadioPhillyFan
Guest
towernews said:
Isn't 1690 available for a Class A?
No expanded band frequencies are available for "class A" stations. An AM "class A" station is the biggest of the big, 50 kW signals such as WPHT that have protected nighttime skywave service. The highest frequency allocated for class A operation in the US is 1560, and there hasn't been a new facility of "class A" quality created since the 1930s. (Back then, they were "class I" signals under an earlier set of designations.)
All expanded-band facilities are "class B," designed for regional service with a power of 10 kW by day and generally 1 kW at night.
Even if 1690 were a workable channel for a new class B signal in Philadelphia (and it's not, being far too close to 1680 in Lindenwold and a 1690 in Maryland), you still can't put a new station there. The FCC has never opened a window for brand-new station applications on the expanded band. The only stations operating there are those that applied in the mid-90s to move from existing AM facilities (generally class B) that were determined to cause considerable interference to other co-channel stations. WTTM 1680 is the outgrowth of 1350 in Princeton, WHWH, though subsequent tweaks of FCC rules have allowed WHWH to stay on the air even after spawning 1680.
Ironically, had WDAS applied for an X-band channel in that original window in the 90s, it might well have gotten one. There are few parts of the AM dial as tightly packed as 1460-1470-1480-1490 in the mid-Atlantic region, and Clear Channel (Chancellor at that point, if memory serves) could probably have demonstrated that removing WDAS from that mix would have cleaned up a lot of interference to WIFI, WSAN, WZRC, WISL, WBCB and others.
All expanded-band facilities are "class B," designed for regional service with a power of 10 kW by day and generally 1 kW at night.
Even if 1690 were a workable channel for a new class B signal in Philadelphia (and it's not, being far too close to 1680 in Lindenwold and a 1690 in Maryland), you still can't put a new station there. The FCC has never opened a window for brand-new station applications on the expanded band. The only stations operating there are those that applied in the mid-90s to move from existing AM facilities (generally class B) that were determined to cause considerable interference to other co-channel stations. WTTM 1680 is the outgrowth of 1350 in Princeton, WHWH, though subsequent tweaks of FCC rules have allowed WHWH to stay on the air even after spawning 1680.
Ironically, had WDAS applied for an X-band channel in that original window in the 90s, it might well have gotten one. There are few parts of the AM dial as tightly packed as 1460-1470-1480-1490 in the mid-Atlantic region, and Clear Channel (Chancellor at that point, if memory serves) could probably have demonstrated that removing WDAS from that mix would have cleaned up a lot of interference to WIFI, WSAN, WZRC, WISL, WBCB and others.
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