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WCGO UPDATE

R

radiotower40

I tuned in to AM1600 WCGO this morning and the station was coming in stronger than I have ever heard it in my area.
I live on the far southwest side of the city about 1/2 mile from Oak Lawn.

I was never able to get a clear signal on the station in my house until today. The station has done some work at the transmitter
site. They made some improvement's to the ground system that had been in place since the 1960's and it has VASTLY improved
the signal.

I was so curious as to why they were coming in so clearly so I got in touch with Jon DeFiore, he is WCGO's Production Manager.
He was the one who confirmed that the station had done the work over the weekend. He said that the station should come in
clearly from now on. I also spoke to him about the CP to move to Michigan and he said that the plans have changed and that
the station would be staying put for some time to come. I believe him because they must have put a decent chunk of change
into the transmitter update. I would not see Kovas dumping money into a station to improve the signal and coverage, if they
were planning on taking it dark in the near future.

WCGO 1600AM broadcasts from a two tower directional array from a site just north of Ford Heights on Joe Orr Road just west
of The Bishop Ford. They run the ABC Timeless Favorites format, which consists of lite oldies and lite hits such as Kenny Rogers
The Beach Boys, Anne Murray, Elvis, The Eagles, The Carpenters, Frank Sinatra etc. I would say it is somewhat similar to what
WLIT played about ten years back. The format used to be adult standards but has evolved into it's current format in the last couple
of years.

I just thought I would throw this out there for people who are a little older and don't like the sound of a lot of the stations they
used to listen too. Now that they have a better signal you should give them a try. I should also add that the station has a power
of 1,000 watts during the day and only 23 watts at night, so try listening during the day. I think there are a lot of people out there
that may enjoy the station.

The stations website is www.wcgoradio.com if you wish to look them up.

TR1992
 
I haven't tune in to WCGO lately because is it bearly audible with it's snowy faint Dog-Bone shape signal.
I live over by Midway Airport and WCGO that I wish I can tune in is a very very very poor reception. it is like listening to a radio station from way far away, just like coming from the ocean sea waters, and the singal fades in and out just like a short-wave radio station from a different country.

So, how much did they impoove the transmitting signal? or its range of reception?
 
I would be very concerned that they will dump the music format and try to broker the station. If they show in the ratings in chicago they are probably getting a big bill for music licensing. If they are not selling commercials trouble looms. I am not sure its a good thing they improved the ground system.
 
I lo0k at it like this, Improving the ground system makes the signal much more listenable to more people, which (if they're playing music people want to hear) will atract a larger audience which makes the station sellable. Aren't we always PMS'ing on this board about how AM signals are terrible and they don't have anything worth listening to. A station improves it's signal, has a format that might attract an audience. This is go0d. I wish them success. So many stations have let their signals go to pot without doing any upgrading of the ground system. They had to improve it, and the improvements were obviously noted. It will make them more viable in the long run.
 
I find it interesting that WCGO has spent money improving their transmitter site. From reading their application to move to Jennison, MI I get the impression that it is a prerequisite to the upgrade of the co-owned WONX (1590 Evanston) that they must vacate 1600 in Chicago Heights among other things. They were granted the move to Jennison so I wonder why the money is being spent on the present WCGO instead of the Jennison facility.
This old engineer is always nosey . . . that's why I ask.
 
Charlie Gee said:
I find it interesting that WCGO has spent money improving their transmitter site. From reading their application to move to Jennison, MI I get the impression that it is a prerequisite to the upgrade of the co-owned WONX (1590 Evanston) that they must vacate 1600 in Chicago Heights among other things. They were granted the move to Jennison so I wonder why the money is being spent on the present WCGO instead of the Jennison facility.
This old engineer is always nosey . . . that's why I ask.
Click to expand...
Charlie, I think what is happening now is that they got the CP's for WCGO and WKKD, I think they are having problems getting
the FCC's approval for WONX.

They originally wanted to build six towers out by Aurora with a COL of Carol Stream. I believe that was shot down, so now
they are trying to get approval for 7,000 watts ND-D, 2,500 DA-N. Their current power is 3,000 watts DA-D, 2,500 DA-N.(4 tower array)
So this is just my guess, they are probably wondering if they will ever get the OK for the WONX upgrade.

Bob, you may be having problems because of WVON AM1690 which broadcasts with 10,000 watts from one of the four towers
at 87TH and Kedzie. I am about two and a half miles southwest of the site and they bleed all over the top of the dial on some
cheaper radio's I have, but, I am now able to pick them up well on my more sensitive radio's as well as in my car. I brought
that up because you said you were by Midway, and WVON's signal is very strong in that area.
 
TR1992 said:
Charlie Gee said:
Bob, you may be having problems because of WVON AM1690 which broadcasts with 10,000 watts from one of the four towers at 87TH and Kedzie. I am about two and a half miles southwest of the site and they bleed all over the top of the dial on some cheaper radio's I have, but, I am now able to pick them up well on my more sensitive radio's as well as in my car. I brought that up because you said you were by Midway, and WVON's signal is very strong in that area.
Click to expand...

I have not listen in to WCGO AM1600 lately, because I did not had a chance to listen to it yet.
1. No I do not get any bleedovers from WVON AM1690
2. I do not deal with cheap or poorly made radios I buy all my radios from Radio Shack.
3. I live in the vacinty of 63rd and Austin.
Click to expand...
 
WCGO is noticeably "cleaner" during my drive between Beecher and University Park/Monee. I never used to be able to hear their 23-watt nighttime signal in Beecher either, and now I can. There is still too much skywave mish-mash on 1600 at night, but I never used to hear WCGO through it.
 
Philip J. Smith said:
WCGO is noticeably "cleaner" during my drive between Beecher and University Park/Monee. I never used to be able to hear their 23-watt nighttime signal in Beecher either, and now I can. There is still too much skywave mish-mash on 1600 at night, but I never used to hear WCGO through it.
Click to expand...

I think the station doesn't power down at night like it should. At night in Gary, WCGO comes in the same it does during the day. I've even got WCGO on the south side by the old Jays Potato plant. I really should be getting splatter in Gary at night, and basically not hearing it at the old Jays plant.
 
Oh! by they way TR1992,
This weekend I had tuned into WCGO AM-1600 and they came in pretty good over by 63rd & Austin.
I was uing my short-wave radio Grundig 350 with using my AM Terk-1 Advantage AM loop Antenna.
Their signal was coming in petty good, allot better than before; back then it was like pulling a needle
out of a haystack where the signal was fading in and out.

Much more better!!!...
 
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