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WAMS Live Local show at midday taking requests

M

MikefromDelaware

WAMS is taking requests during their live local show that airs middays. The phone number is (302) 455-WAMS. I called and spoke with John, who I believe must be the PD. He was in Dover doing the broadcast. He explained to me that WAMS' owner has sold off the 1600 AM Dover station. The new owners of that station will keep it Gospel.

WAMS is getting new studios in the Peddler's Shopping Center near Christiana, it's being built now. When completed, all of WAMS' operations will be there. He seemed very willing to talk and answer questions about the station, the music, etc. So, for those who have questions about what WAMS is doing, etc, here's your chance to get some answers from someone direct at WAMS or you can put a request in for that song you never get to hear on WOGL or WVLT as you can listen on line at www.1260wams.com if you can't pick up 1260 WAMS on the radio.
 
Mike, what is strange about this is the studio at Peddler's Shopping Center was supposedly built two years ago, according to info they released and was posted here by the owner. It was located in someone's store. Sure is taking a long time to build that studio!

> WAMS is taking requests during their live local show that
> airs middays. The phone number is (302) 455-WAMS. I called
> and spoke with John, who I believe must be the PD. He was
> in Dover doing the broadcast. He explained to me that WAMS'
> owner has sold off the 1600 AM Dover station. The new
> owners of that station will keep it Gospel.
>
> WAMS is getting new studios in the Peddler's Shopping Center
> near Christiana, it's being built now. When completed, all
> of WAMS' operations will be there. He seemed very willing
> to talk and answer questions about the station, the music,
> etc. So, for those who have questions about what WAMS is
> doing, etc, here's your chance to get some answers from
> someone direct at WAMS or you can put a request in for that
> song you never get to hear on WOGL or WVLT as you can listen
> on line at www.1260wams.com if you can't pick up 1260 WAMS
> on the radio.
>
 
WAMS was located in the Peddler's Shopping Center with Positive Promotions. When they changed from Gospel to Oldies they moved to a large office on the second floor. The new studio is almost finished.
 
Is there a way they can get back on 1380, get a repeater, or find someway to get the signal into the Philly area. It was funny when WAMS was on 1380, with five towers and 5kw (highly directional), they could not make it north of the tri-state mall. All of a sudden, they come back with lower power, piggy-backing on WILM's lone tower and are much stronger to the north. I guess where there's a will, there's a way. Look at 1360, still operating at 1kw omni, when they were suppossed to be 5kw, using the two tall and two short towers, highly directional away from Philly, this was granted over 10 years ago. They are still using the one tall tower with the strobe, I cannot understand how this is still possible.
 
That answers my question. Thanks.

> WAMS was located in the Peddler's Shopping Center with
> Positive Promotions. When they changed from Gospel to
> Oldies they moved to a large office on the second floor.
> The new studio is almost finished.
>
 
The 1260 WAMS tower is in an antenna farm on Old Baltimore Pike. Their tower is with two cell phone towers. WAMS tower is the tallest of the three from what I was told yesterday. They are operating at 250w daytime and 40w night and as many of us have noted the signal gets out far better than when it was 1260 WNRK.

DELDOT 1380 is piggy backing on WILM's tower, which as you said really helped their signal. It would be great if the state finally accepted their mistake and would sell that frequency to someone as now it has a much better signal then when it was with the original WAMS and could possibly be a viable station again rather than being the giant waste of tax payer money it now is.

> Is there a way they can get back on 1380, get a repeater, or
> find someway to get the signal into the Philly area. It was
> funny when WAMS was on 1380, with five towers and 5kw
> (highly directional), they could not make it north of the
> tri-state mall. All of a sudden, they come back with lower
> power, piggy-backing on WILM's lone tower and are much
> stronger to the north. I guess where there's a will,
> there's a way. Look at 1360, still operating at 1kw omni,
> when they were suppossed to be 5kw, using the two tall and
> two short towers, highly directional away from Philly, this
> was granted over 10 years ago. They are still using the one
> tall tower with the strobe, I cannot understand how this is
> still possible.
>
 
If they are in the same area of the building with Positive Promotions, is that guy Tim Qualls (the guy who does those awful infomercials on Channel 28) involved with the operations of 1260? Also, I believe Mr. Qualls was one of the owners of the old 1380 WAMS before they went off the air. I know Mr. Farley owned the station as well. Perhaps Mr. Qualls had some percentage of ownership in the station.
 
Isn't it kinda odd that with 520w day, 14w night @ 148 feet, they can get out that far with info not appropriate with 50% of their coverage area. The original WAMS set up, with 5 towers that reminded me of the WIBG array, plus 5000w day, 1000w night, could not penetrate the PA state line, going NE. All those years Farley tried to provide the station better coverage with no luck, the State comes in and bang, why wasn't this agreement made during the WAMS-1380 years. They are stronger in Philly, south of CC, then they ever were, good tunes today during the live show. North of CC, going NE, WBUD beats them up big time.
 
> All those years Farley tried to provide the station
> better coverage with no luck, the State comes in and bang,
> why wasn't this agreement made during the WAMS-1380 years.
> They are stronger in Philly, south of CC, then they ever
> were, good tunes today during the live show. North of CC,
> going NE, WBUD beats them up big time.

First, be careful not to confuse two different issues. 1260 WAMS has nothing to do with licensed operations of the old 1380 WAMS. The only things they have in common are the call letters and the oldies formats. If 1260 is getting out better now than it was when it was WNRK, I have no explanation.
But if you're wondering why the current omni-directional 1380 traffic station gets out better than it did with the old five-stick WAMS system, I can attest that Farley soon after he bought the station in '87 was getting conflicting info from the consulting engineers about how to improve the coverage. His first priority was to move the station to cheaper land -- a move that wasn't practical with the highly directional array (there was no cheap land in any place where the signal would be aimed at Wilmington). With no easy alternatives, nothing was done until the mid-90's -- long after the format and staff had been decimated. Also, I'm not sure if the reduced-power omni-directional option had been possible under the FCC regs all along, or if that only became possible later on. It's sad, though, that the 1380 signal gets out so much better (especially in the county's growth areas) now in places where it sucked so bad for so many years.
 
The WNRK coverage problem was the ground system. During the 80's, many of the older AM stations, including WDEL I believe, totally redid the ground systems with a great improvement in signal. WNRK, of course, did not have the money to do so. Particularly when it rained heavily or snowed, most of our signal went directly down - and stayed there with little to reflect it out.

As to operating power, Al and I talked frequently about the option of going 250 watts non-directional. Yes, we had a greater reach at 1kw, carrying as far as Reading. But non-directional would have given us complete coverage of the Glasgow/Bear area which was then exploding. But you do lose the penitration of buildings which is a major AM problem anyway.

As for 1380 WAMS, since most of the 5kw signal was going down the Delaware River, the 500 watt option would have made much more sense. Of course, if they had not lost their FM license, that would have helped too!


> > All those years Farley tried to provide the station
> > better coverage with no luck, the State comes in and bang,
>
> > why wasn't this agreement made during the WAMS-1380 years.
>
> > They are stronger in Philly, south of CC, then they ever
> > were, good tunes today during the live show. North of CC,
>
> > going NE, WBUD beats them up big time.
>
> First, be careful not to confuse two different issues. 1260
> WAMS has nothing to do with licensed operations of the old
> 1380 WAMS. The only things they have in common are the call
> letters and the oldies formats. If 1260 is getting out
> better now than it was when it was WNRK, I have no
> explanation.
> But if you're wondering why the current omni-directional
> 1380 traffic station gets out better than it did with the
> old five-stick WAMS system, I can attest that Farley soon
> after he bought the station in '87 was getting conflicting
> info from the consulting engineers about how to improve the
> coverage. His first priority was to move the station to
> cheaper land -- a move that wasn't practical with the highly
> directional array (there was no cheap land in any place
> where the signal would be aimed at Wilmington). With no easy
> alternatives, nothing was done until the mid-90's -- long
> after the format and staff had been decimated. Also, I'm not
> sure if the reduced-power omni-directional option had been
> possible under the FCC regs all along, or if that only
> became possible later on. It's sad, though, that the 1380
> signal gets out so much better (especially in the county's
> growth areas) now in places where it sucked so bad for so
> many years.
>
 
WAMS has a application ready to file with the FCC. It will be a two tower directional with 2,500 watts day and 250 night.
 
I worked for Farley, and the only thing he was interested in was the land under the Mt Cuba site for WAMS and the same for WKEN in Dover. He made a lot of $$$$$
 
> I worked for Farley, and the only thing he was interested in
> was the land under the Mt Cuba site for WAMS and the same
> for WKEN in Dover. He made a lot of $$$$$
>
I'm quite sure he made out GREAT in the end, but I'd point out he and his original partner also LOST a lot of money early on. I was at WAMS in the late 80s when sales were usually well short of monthly operating expenses BEFORE debt service. I'm guessing he and his partner had to swallow several hundred thousand dollars out of pocket for a while to keep it afloat. My point was that it was his original intent when he bought WAMS to make a killing on the land AND make the station more viable, but he didn't get the right advice early on --by the time he did, it wasn't worth rescuing the station (he also got a sweetheart deal from his friends in state government for the license, but that's another story).
 
What type of pattern are we looking at, will they be nulled to the NE to protect BUD, if so, will the power increase bring them into lower Philly. BUD is not a factor, nor listenable south of CC, so maybe WAMS can put a good signal in this area.
 
> WAMS has a application ready to file with the FCC. It will
> be a two tower directional with 2,500 watts day and 250
> night.
>
Sorry WBUD will not allow any interference to their signal and I hear Clear Channel feels the same for Washington. Nothing has been filed with the Commission and we will be waiting if it does get filed. They must stay in their current licensed arrangement. No changes can be made. They are Short Spaced and can not improve.
 
> > WAMS has a application ready to file with the FCC. It
> will
> > be a two tower directional with 2,500 watts day and 250
> > night.
> >
> Sorry WBUD will not allow any interference to their signal
> and I hear Clear Channel feels the same for Washington.
> Nothing has been filed with the Commission and we will be
> waiting if it does get filed. They must stay in their
> current licensed arrangement. No changes can be made. They
> are Short Spaced and can not improve.
>

Yeah Funtastic, where did you get that info?

ixnay
 
Wrong, The tower site is much more south of the old WNRK site. I know because I purchased the land.
 
> Wrong, The tower site is much more south of the old WNRK
> site. I know because I purchased the land.
>
Hope you got engineerinig done properly and filed properly or you are stuck with land that you might want to open a lemonade stand!
 
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