WALE 990

[Skynet74]

They should use the station as a place for college interns to learn the business. As a matter of fact, put the interns on the air! That way the station can avoid a payroll too.

Funny you should mention interns......

This morning, at about 8:50am, Steve Bianchi was making an on-air appeal for interns who could perform all sorts of functions to help out at WALE, including......get this......"Account Executive"...LOL.

I can just see it now...local businesses being relentlessly hounded by an army of high school kids, college kids, and just about anyone else who's ever harbored a dream about being in radio.

True to form, it looks like these guys are trying to do it like they always do it...on the cheap.

Somehow, this 990 revival is starting to lose some of its appeal.

Yeah... It looks like they are going to take my idea and run with it. But I'm not being held responsible if it doesn't work out. I just throw the crazy ideas out there. Don't blame me if they end up not working.

 

[NHRadio]

You'll need more than one person.
Main studios must be staffed with "meaningful presence". The rules are here:

http://radiomagonline.com/fcc/radio_refined_studio_staffing/

The way I figure it you only need one person on payroll and that's an engineer to make sure all the equipment remains functional and perhaps to fix the technical issues with the station.

 

[Skynet74]

Meaningful presence? So how does that explain all the stations that go automated after midnight? I have to be honest with you. I read the page and it mine as well have been written in Chinese. My brain was not able to grasp onto a damn thing that was said. I read it, but all I saw was saojfiojpoijhinfuih. ioushuifh. kjnsfb hbj!k nmk xnfgnjng!

 

[Moonstruck]

If they're asking for interns on the air then they're asking people who are not listening to WALE and will never hear their appeal. There are measures a station should take to get interns for school credit. It doesn't sound like they're asking for legitimate interns but for volunteers. I will say though that even volunteers can get some meaningful experience and try to parlay it into a radio job.....that is if there were radio jobs out there.

 

[NHRadio]

To boil it down it means the main studio must be staffed by 2 "full-time equivalents" a week with one person being a manager.
The FCC doesn't care if 2 people work full time or 8 people work 10 hours each.
These people can "staff" multiple stations at the same time, so a cluster of 5 stations has the same staffing requirement as a standalone.
Does that help?

Meaningful presence? So how does that explain all the stations that go automated after midnight? I have to be honest with you. I read the page and it mine as well have been written in Chinese. My brain was not able to grasp onto a damn thing that was said. I read it, but all I saw was saojfiojpoijhinfuih. ioushuifh. kjnsfb hbj!k nmk xnfgnjng!

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

You'll need more than one person.
Main studios must be staffed with "meaningful presence". The rules are here:

http://radiomagonline.com/fcc/radio_refined_studio_staffing/

The way I figure it you only need one person on payroll and that's an engineer to make sure all the equipment remains functional and perhaps to fix the technical issues with the station.

Where does that rule stand for LP-fm's?I thought this was something they just going to consider for mandatory staffing.I did not know anything avout this.
In a nut shell. A station needs to be manned a minimum of 40 hours a week by someone other than a manager.

 

[NHRadio]

I see nothing in the Rules that exempts LPFM's or any other stations except translators/boosters.
Again, as I read it, the stations "main studio" (not necessarily where the stations audio is coming from) must be manned by at least 2 full-time equivalent people (one of whom is managerial).
2 people can work 40 hours each or 80 people can work 1 hour each...doesn't matter. Follow the link I gave in an earlier post for a more complete description.

Where does that rule stand for LP-fm's?I thought this was something they just going to consider for mandatory staffing.I did not know anything avout this.
In a nut shell. A station needs to be manned a minimum of 40 hours a week by someone other than a manager.

 

[robotique]

i heard those ghosthunter guys with their horrible boston accents doing a show on WALE too.

 

[VelvetR]

Not having an engineering background, this question might sound silly to some of you...but...here goes: Would it be less expensive for 990 to do a non-directional diplex instead of the directional ones that have gotten kicked around here from time to time?

Before anything else, downtown Providence is no longer an FCC factor since the (WALE) city of license was changed to Greenville.

As it stands now, WALE runs 50kW days using all 6 towers and 5kW nights, again using all six towers. The trick would be to have a city grade signal over Greenville to stay legal. I haven't done a study of the 1320 or 1290 sites to see whether either would have a prayer (tower orientation) of achieving that legal coverage but the tower heights are way too short for 990 so even if the orientations were correct there'd have to be a very expensive diplexer/tuning network to make it work. The 1320 site is even weirder than the 1290 site in that the towers were put up at different times and are of different heights (I believe different cross-section - aka "face" - too).

Since nighttime audience is really pathetic WALE might get away (legally) with a second transmitter site right in Greenville and a very low non-directional power output. Problem is that Rhode Island winter sunsets are such that the afternoon drive audience is LOST by either an early sign-off or early power reduction. That was the plague of the original WLKW on 990 - a grand opening for the "Beautiful Music" format on both WPRO-FM and WXTR (550) at that time. When the owners of 'LKW bought the former WXCN it was already too late and the format was on the way out in any case. I still regret that the station I was working for at the time would not consider outbidding on 'XCN and rocking it (automated)....it would have been the first in the market and would have destroyed the ratings for the other rockers. Operating cost would have been zilch and FM car radios and portables had just become practical and affordable.

The idea of diplexing off the 1110 tower or the 1220 tower might make sense IF the city of license were still Providence. But it isn't. Unless the 1110 site has changed radically since I last saw it there would be some wild requirements for diplexing as the AM was running as a folded unipole tacked onto the side of the tall FM tower. The 1220 tower would take some serious work to diplex but even though it's on the short side for 990 it would still be a lot cheaper than messing with the folded unipole up the street.

Almost 50-years experience in radio, programming, news and engineering, tells me that the highest and best use of 990 in this case is to be found in "The Greater Fool Theory". It would be a great station for somebody with some sales and engineering skills (an odd and rare combination) to buy cheap and minimally fix up. Such a person would be a Great Fool but could make money off The Greater Fool who he/she can sucker into buying it next.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Before anything else, downtown Providence is no longer an FCC factor since the (WALE) city of license was changed to Greenville.

As it stands now, WALE runs 50kW days using all 6 towers and 5kW nights, again using all six towers. The trick would be to have a city grade signal over Greenville to stay legal.

The directional diplexing ideas kicked around here in the past using the 1290 and 1320 sites have usually involved slightly modifying the signal by first dropping the number of towers to 4, with a drop in daytime power level to something in the 10000 to 25000 watt range (whatever would work legally)....along with an appropriately legal night power.

The lack of "electrical height" of the 1290 and 1320 towers has already been mentioned....in the context of it being a compromise, and 990 simply having to "make do" with what's available in the area.

The directional diplexing ideas usually involve ditching Greenville as City of License altogether.

For example, a 1290 sited WALE being licensed to North Providence or Providence......or a 1320 sited WALE being licensed to Pawtucket or Seekonk.

 

[DG02816]

Seems a 1290 diplex would be best; you'd have to go SW from the 1320 siteand the pattern would almost point toward the 990 here in Philly. 1290 would for protection of Philly and the Class D near Hartford, as well as adjacent to 980 Groton..........

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Seems a 1290 diplex would be best

Dave:

Assuming such an arrangement "ever" happens......What would...or could become of those twenty acres in Burrillville?

Would that land even be safe enough to build on or live on? I certainly would NOT want to live there...LOL.

My hunch is that the land would probably end up as a tax write-off after being donated to The Sierra Club, or The Nature Conservancy.

 

[tony r]

Is this the Dighton person who calls WSAR?/

 

[VelvetR]

The directional diplexing ideas kicked around here in the past using the 1290 and 1320 sites have usually involved slightly modifying the signal by first dropping the number of towers to 4, with a drop in daytime power level to something in the 10000 to 25000 watt range (whatever would work legally)....along with an appropriately legal night power.

The lack of "electrical height" of the 1290 and 1320 towers has already been mentioned....in the context of it being a compromise, and 990 simply having to "make do" with what's available in the area.

The directional diplexing ideas usually involve ditching Greenville as City of License altogether.

For example, a 1290 sited WALE being licensed to North Providence or Providence......or a 1320 sited WALE being licensed to Pawtucket or Seekonk.

Long time since I've been to the 1320 or 1290 sites. I'd guess that putting up two more towers on either site would be problematic in terms of land availability or NIMBY factors when trying to get permits. In either case, would also have implications for the original signals in that the additional two towers would require rework of the present phasing due to the parasitic effects. The length issue might be creatively addressed through top-loading specific to 990.

In a market with such an excess number of (competing for the same advertising bucks) stations and AM seemingly fading away it would be tough to justify the expense for any of this.

As to the Log Road site....the only area subject to possible contamination issues would logically be in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter building. The rest would be easily cleared for house lots or whatever once the towers were felled and the ground system (if there is any left) were torn out and sold for the copper scrap value. Who knows....the copper alone might be worth more in today's market than it cost to buy the site and build the towers back in 1959!

 

[fybush]

Interesting discussion...but I think any possibility of 990 moving into Providence went away when the city of license was changed to Greenville. That made WALE the sole local service for Greenville - which means that unless another station (probably one of the big Providence B FMs) could be persuaded to change COL to Greenville, 990's stuck where it is.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Is this the Dighton person who calls WSAR?/

Like a lot of other folks here, I use a pen-name. The answer to your question is......No.

 

[DG02816]

With 990 stuck where it is, someone should buy it and do what was suggested earlier....True Oldies, Timeless Classics, or a trainng ground for up and comers.....And didn't the move to Greenville allow 5 kW at night, rather than the 500 watts run when I was there?

 

[Numo]

WALE is doomed from the get go. i like the idea of what they are doing but the fundimental issue is that it is a 50KW station that transmits directional to the water! In comparison to say, 630 which I can get all the way into New London CT and up through Boston 990 doesnt go anywhere unless you are a boat in the atlantic!

See their transmitter pattern http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WALE&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

I scratch my head at the stupidity of the FCC sometimes.

 

[Skynet74]

WALE is doomed from the get go. i like the idea of what they are doing but the fundimental issue is that it is a 50KW station that transmits directional to the water! In comparison to say, 630 which I can get all the way into New London CT and up through Boston 990 doesnt go anywhere unless you are a boat in the atlantic!

True. WALE pretty much has a useless signal which isn't much more poweful than yelling through a megaphone. However WPRO has an even better signal than you describe. I've been able to tune in the station on the waters edge from York Beach Maine all the way down to Rye New York (right outside New York City). The signal Rocks! Combine that with the good FM signal as well which reaches past New London, CT. WPRO is in a pretty damn good position signal wise. I've heard people calling from Eastern Long Island before too. Not to bad at all.

 

[DG02816]

Reason the juice gets dumped into the Atlantic is protecting the 990 here in Philly, plus 1st ajacent to WSUB 980 in Groton......