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WENE-FM

S

scappy

I am seeking information about WENE-FM (101.7 MHz) that existed in the late 1940's - early 1950's. Specifically, I am looking for any press clippings, recordings, or photos related to WENE-FM. Also - does anyone know where the original WENE tower was located when it was 1450? Was WENE-FM located on the same tower? The blueprints that I have are dated April 1947 and show a 4 bay GE antenna on a 150' self-supporting tower made by American Bridge Company. However, there are also prints for a 278' tower dated May 1947.<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>
 
> I am seeking information about WENE-FM (101.7 MHz) that
> existed in the late 1940's - early 1950's. Specifically, I
> am looking for any press clippings, recordings, or photos
> related to WENE-FM. Also - does anyone know where the
> original WENE tower was located when it was 1450? Was
> WENE-FM located on the same tower? The blueprints that I
> have are dated April 1947 and show a 4 bay GE antenna on a
> 150' self-supporting tower made by American Bridge Company.
> However, there are also prints for a 278' tower dated May
> 1947.
>
Jon,

Hmmm, I never knew they were on 101.7......WENE-FM did return to air sometime during the 1960's on 105.5, using the center tower of the current WENE array as the main site (they were a 3kw class A). Merv (as in Griffin of course) upgraded them to a Class B in the early 70's and slid them over to 105.7. By the way...the WAAL was also on a different frequency...the were on 95.3 during the 50's using the center tower of the old 1360 array as their site...the FCC required them to switch, Charlie Hallinan, bless his soul, picked there frequency (99.1) randomly (he had a 99.1 crystal for the exciter in his desk). The FCC said it would fit and they got their current frequency that way. At that time in the late 50's - early 60's the FCC was moving stations around so that no stations above 3 kw would be on the proposed new Class A channels...there was no table of allotments until 1964....95.3, 105.5, and 101.7 were all Class A only channels from 1964 until 1984. Back them Class B FM's were limited to 20 KW at 150 meters HAAT; that's why so many Class B's in the east are short-spaced (thus the term, pre-1964 Class B's). I've made a bit of a career fixing some of these (not easy!!!). WMRV is very lucky....they are one of the least short-spaced B's in the east; unlike, say WHWK which is now directional. Hmmm, I wonder if the 101.7 WENE-FM stayed on and flipped to 105.5 or went dark and came back....a good question. Have a good one.

Kevin Fitz
 
> Jon,
>
> Hmmm, I never knew they were on 101.7......WENE-FM did
> return to air sometime during the 1960's on 105.5, using the
> center tower of the current WENE array as the main site
> (they were a 3kw class A). Merv (as in Griffin of course)
> upgraded them to a Class B in the early 70's and slid them
> over to 105.7. By the way...the WAAL was also on a
> different frequency...the were on 95.3 during the 50's using
> the center tower of the old 1360 array as their site...the
> FCC required them to switch, Charlie Hallinan, bless his
> soul, picked there frequency (99.1) randomly (he had a 99.1
> crystal for the exciter in his desk). The FCC said it would
> fit and they got their current frequency that way. At that
> time in the late 50's - early 60's the FCC was moving
> stations around so that no stations above 3 kw would be on
> the proposed new Class A channels...there was no table of
> allotments until 1964....95.3, 105.5, and 101.7 were all
> Class A only channels from 1964 until 1984. Back them Class
> B FM's were limited to 20 KW at 150 meters HAAT; that's why
> so many Class B's in the east are short-spaced (thus the
> term, pre-1964 Class B's). I've made a bit of a career
> fixing some of these (not easy!!!). WMRV is very
> lucky....they are one of the least short-spaced B's in the
> east; unlike, say WHWK which is now directional. Hmmm, I
> wonder if the 101.7 WENE-FM stayed on and flipped to 105.5
> or went dark and came back....a good question. Have a good
> one.
>
> Kevin Fitz
>

Jerry Reed (http://jerryreed.com/otherrecordings.htm)has an MP3 recording of a transcription disk from WENE-FM dated 11/4/48, which is supposedly the first day that WENE-FM was on the air. In the program, WENE Engineer J. Harold Merchant mentions WENE-FM operates at 101.7 megacycles. I haven't dug deep enough into the files here to find teh original CP for WENE-FM, but have found the original CP for 1450, and the move to 1430 and 5 towers directional day and night for WENE. Additionally, the CP for WMRV (with no assigned calls on it) is dated May 22, 1968 and specifies a Gates 3 bay gates antenna side mounted on the center tower of WENE's array, as you stated. By the way - the original Gates FM-3H transmitter from WMRV is in storage, minus the high voltage caps, which were removed in winter 1999-2000. The Gates had been in backup service for WMRV when it was removed in 1999 to make room for WMRV's new main transmitter. I believe it was still operational when it was removed from service. Perhaps BW can confirm?
<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>
 
That Gates operated up until the second it was pulled out to make way for the new box. Quite some history there, and also with the WMRV site considering the original plan to colocate WSKG there.
 
> That Gates operated up until the second it was pulled out to
> make way for the new box. Quite some history there, and
> also with the WMRV site considering the original plan to
> colocate WSKG there.
>

With the twin RCA transmitters up there, I can understand why they needed the two air conditioning units. Was the satellite dish with the super hefty concrete mount used for WSKG or did WMRV use it?
<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>
 
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