WBIX-AM 1060 Off The Air

[Deleted member 64531]

I think this Application filed 09/30/10 should fully explain what's going on at WQOM.

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101401829&formid=910&fac_num=21109

 

[DanStrassberg]

I think this Application filed 09/30/10 should fully explain what's going on at WQOM.

Their goal of getting the station back on the air by November 1 but with its new three-tower daytime pattern sounds very ambitious to me--even if they don't expect to get it running at 50 kW by that date. As of today, AFAIK, the FCC has not yet approved Holy Family's application for a modification of CP that would change from a five-tower day array to a three-tower day array. I've never heard of a station putting a new phasor on order before the FCC has granted a CP for the facilities that would use the new phasor. They have given themselves 30 days to have the phasor constructed, delivered, installed, and tuned up. Moreover, they will be working with an array that already has one station on the air--WAMG, with 25 kW during the daytime and 6 kW at night.

Tuning up an AM array during winter months when snow can be on the ground, which increases the soil conductivity or in the spring when the earth can be saturated with water, which also increases the soil conductivity, can be very difficult if not impossible.

IOW, there is IMO a good chance that WQOM will not be on the air with its new daytime array until next summer--and even then, my guess is that the station will operate for several weeks, if not months, at a daytime power of 12.5 kW rather than the CP 50 kW. Maybe Holy Family, with its connections to a higher power can find a way around these obstacles (the FCC's new Method of Moments proofing procedure might solve their problems; I don't know enough about MoM to say for sure), but I will be surprised if they can manage it.

 

[ixnay]

'QOM... wasn't that the birthplace of Ayatollah Khomeini? ???

ixnay

 

[LA_Guy]

My understanding was that WBIX had two 50-kW transmitters, an old Continental 317C, which had previously belonged to WRKO, and a brand new B-E all-solid-state wonder, which contract CE and nationally recognized AM-loudness guru Grady Moates really loved. Speculation has it that, despite Grady's admiration for the B-E unit, Alex Langer never outright purchased it. It was at 100 Mt Wayte Ave on a pay for it or return it arrangement. Perhaps the station's new owners decided that they could live with the venerable Continental rig and decided to move it to the night site in Ashland in preparation for building out the CP for 50 kW D. That would leave WQOM with whatever backup existed at 100 Mt Wayte--or maybe there was no backup at that location and they either moved a lower-power Tx from Sewell St or got one elsewhere. Still, if WQOM is operating for an extended period at reduced daytime power, which seems to be the case, there ought to be an STA to cover the operation, but as I already stated, I could not find a record of such at the FCC's CDBS site. If anybody else finds the STA (not the one for nights--which I did find and did report on finding), please post a link in this thread. Thanks.

Actually 1060 got the WRKO MW-50. The Continental remained at WRKO. Alex was supposed to get 850's MW-50 as well, but the 850 Continental burned up, so they kept the MW-50 as a standby there. When I was CE at the old WHDH-850 I used to run the Continental all the time. Yes, it burned up more AC then the MW-50 but BOY did it sound better!