WBCQ To Buy WHRI

[SomeRadioGuy]

Yep, that's a lot of power! What is the highest powered shortwave station?

I have recieved all of those frequencies, and 7570 can be a beast at night in terms of signal strength. I like 5850 the best though, because it's got Voice of the Report of the Week (reviewbrah) and takes song requests through g-mail. So, technically WRMI could say "I'm broadcasting to Western Canada and Russia" and get away with it?

Yup, they could

 

[Wimmmex]

The WHRI sale fell through as it had not received FCC approval within one year of the sale agreement date. Apparently the FCC was advised that WBCQ owner Allan Weiner was supposedly acting as a front for the "World's Last Chance" religious group that was the $$$ behind the construction and programming on the 500kw 9330 kHz transmitter, and that group was allegedly behind the proposed purchase of WHRI. As some of the accusations came from Weiner's sister (from questionably obtained emails) plus other suspicions about the financing of the deal, rather than making a decision that could result in a legal fight, the FCC just sat on it long enough for the sale to die.

Did any news/media cover this story (and the "questionably obtained emails")? I haven't seen anything about it from news sources....

 

[Wimmmex]

Did any news/media cover this story (and the "questionably obtained emails")? I haven't seen anything about it from news sources....

World's Most Powerful Radio WBCQ Fails In Purchase​

Broadcaster's Sister Nixed Huge Broadcast Radio Sale? ​

I'm sure there's no love lost between the sister and brother!

 

[Miss Tuned]

It seems that the issue is that as a US citizen, Weiner is acting as a front for a foreign national (the World's Last Chance guy being an Egyptian citizen). He didn't have the funds to either upgrade WBCQ or buy WHRI himself - the money came from abroad. It's nothing to do with the (unpleasant) content on WBCQ and WLC, it's a standard FCC regulation.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Yep, that's a lot of power! What is the highest powered shortwave station?

VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the old Radio Netherlands had 500kw transmitters in the past. Iran and Turkey operate 500kw units as well.

Higher power output has been achieved by running two transmitters in parallel. For instance, the Radio Netherlands relay station in Madagascar originally had two 300kw units that could be combined to 600kw. I think this power level was only used on a few transmissions over the years RN operated the station.

Spain's overseas service installed a number of 350kw transmitters around 1973. On some transmissions two of these were combined for 700kw. I recall that arrangement putting a blockbuster signal into Texas at the time.

 

[Mediafrog+]

World's Most Powerful Radio WBCQ Fails In Purchase​

Broadcaster's Sister Nixed Huge Broadcast Radio Sale?​

I'm sure there's no love lost between the sister and brother!

That blog post pretty much sums up the situation as it has been reported on various SWDX forums. I think the FCC is very wary of shadow financing of shortwave purchases and operations.

 

[boombox4]

That blog post pretty much sums up the situation as it has been reported on various SWDX forums. I think the FCC is very wary of shadow financing of shortwave purchases and operations.

At the same time, considering the low SW listenership, one wonders why the FCC would care. With WBCQ the investor is a wacky religious organization, not the Chinese or Russian government.

 

[davideduardo]

That blog post pretty much sums up the situation as it has been reported on various SWDX forums. I think the FCC is very wary of shadow financing of shortwave purchases and operations.

Remember, the main work of the FCC today is regulating things like cellphones and communications networks.

So the staff and the commissioners likely have a very limited knowledge of shortwave. In fact, they may think that outside the US shortwave is very popular and highly used and don't realize that the SW bands are next to dead.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the old Radio Netherlands had 500kw transmitters in the past. Iran and Turkey operate 500kw units as well.

Higher power output has been achieved by running two transmitters in parallel. For instance, the Radio Netherlands relay station in Madagascar originally had two 300kw units that could be combined to 600kw. I think this power level was only used on a few transmissions over the years RN operated the station.

Spain's overseas service installed a number of 350kw transmitters around 1973. On some transmissions two of these were combined for 700kw. I recall that arrangement putting a blockbuster signal into Texas at the time.

Saudi has a megawatt on AM, Hungary has 2 megawatts on AM.. saudi and iran have several 400KW+ AM's....