Access to heavy-duty power and telecommunications lines makes it ideal to put a data center exactly where a 50 kW radio station used to be.
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WGN to move transmitter
- Thread starter CADXER
- Start date
A 1939 feature story in the Chicago Sunday Tribune affords a detailed look at the WGN transmitter site.
chicagology.com
WGN Transmitter
Elk Grove Village is a huge industrial area, even on the west side, close to a residential area where WGN is. There is no shortage of power, internet, or telecom lines anywhere in that area.
A radio transmitter site, especially an older one, wouldn't automatically have the kind of connectivity a modern data center needs.
In the old days, the audio came in on an equalized copper phone line. Later, it might have been a microwave shot from downtown, and now it's likely to be some sort of IP audio. None of that requires the kind of massive bandwidth a data center needs. That's done with fiber, and lots of it.
In the old days, the audio came in on an equalized copper phone line. Later, it might have been a microwave shot from downtown, and now it's likely to be some sort of IP audio. None of that requires the kind of massive bandwidth a data center needs. That's done with fiber, and lots of it.
Especially when WGN has historically been blocked from having an FM station, like WBBM does on WCFS 105.9, I would hate to see the WGN 720 facility compromised in any way, with a shorter tower or truncated ground system. WBBM 780 has some observable reduction to the East, but they have a Class B CBD facility. With all the ever increasing electrical noise, who needs even a 1 dB reduction? Don't tell us a 99 or 250 watt translator, or a Class A in the boonies, would suffice for WGN.
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And many data centers, such as the one I use, connect to more than one supplier of backbone access. So being convenient to multiple connectivity sources is a positive.
I use HyVelocity, at their Dallas center.
True, but there really are a large number of major Internet service providers with presence in Elk Grove Village, and going hand in hand with that excellent connectivity, about a dozen pre-existing data centers in Elk Grove Village. Apparently, plenty of demand for even more. As you can see from this Elk Grove Village data center's list of network peers, it is a hotspot in terms of connectivity to multiple network providers: Cyxtera Data Center Elk Grove Village, IL
Running fiber to the WGN site from one of these nearby providers is going to be a relatively short run; put that together with all that "empty" space at the WGN site, and I'm sure it was a financial no-brainer for the folks at Nexstar and the developers.
I will be sad if/when WGN's signal is diminished. I do wonder how the ground system will work when they relocate to the northern part of the transmitter site. From satellite view, it looks fairly swampy.
But, I can't say I'm surprised or have a better solution, either. Listenership of AM radio continues to shrink, and with it the revenue. Many of these Chicago AMs are sitting on real estate that's now worth more than the radio stations themselves.
At least WGN will remain at the site. I'm more worried about WMVP, as Disney did not include the transmitter site in the station sale to Good Karma, and I haven't seen or heard any details on how long WMVP will be able to remain at their current site or where they'll move to.
I think watching how things play out for Good Karma with their new "crown jewel", WTMJ, MAY provide glimpse of what's in store for WMVP and their transmitter site WTMJ just lost the Green Bay Packers after a 92-year run. Unclear as to what effect that may or may not have on finances and management decision-making.
Is WTMJ losing the Packers some kind of "Instant Karma"? Is there a story behind it?
I don't know a lot about it. But iHeart....they of another round of layoffs this past week....apparently swooped in with wallet open and got the rights when their previous deal expired at the end of last season. I had heard somewhere that the Packers were keen to have an FM station as their flagship. So they'll be on Milwaukee's 97.3, I forget the current call letters, but it's the old WISN-FM, which broadcasts from the TV tower farm on the North side of Milwaukee. iHeart already has WTSO (1070) in Madison and I believe one or two other stations on the Packers network.
Yes, this decision to move to WRNW-FM in Milwaukee was mostly about the money. My old friends in Milwaukee are not happy that the Packers will no longer be on the massive WTMJ signal. In Madison, the Packers are on both WIBA-AM and FM.
Bob
That's right. my bad. I forgot that the Packers moved to WIBA a few years back. Both WIBA and WTSO are iHeart stations, IIRC,
Before the Docket 80-90 station in Essexville, MI came on, you could get WLPX 97.3 on a very selective tuner with an FM-10 in Genesee County, MI on a fairly regular basis, AND WTMJ 620 with 5000 watts during the Day, always. WOKY 920 Days in WFDF 910 nulls from 4 miles away on the Delco car radio. No WYLO 540, as at the time, it could only be 5 uV/m at the border, and a few years later, CBEF signed on 540.
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WGN has applied for a construction permit to move their antenna tower at their current site in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
If granted the new tower will move 0.119 km East/Northeast from the current tower. Current tower will be dismantled.
You can see the application here:
If granted the new tower will move 0.119 km East/Northeast from the current tower. Current tower will be dismantled.
You can see the application here:
Mexico changed the second adjacent separation rules. Like most of the rest of the Western Hemisphere, they allow local stations every other channel. Today's radios have no trouble.
This expand the FM band talk has been going on for a while and it's not going to happen anytime soon, much less in our lifetime. Give it up folks, it's not going to happen, Channel 6 television is not going away at all. I don't know why it keeps being brought up but it's not going to happen!
FM does not affect data centers like AM does. A 50 kW AM signal with low radiation angle off the tower looks right into the building. With FM, the bays can be spaced to minimize downward radiation and thus keep the signal out looking at the horizon where it should be
The Franken FMs use 75 kHz deviation
The maps show virtually no difference in pattern, as might be expected with a move of 390 feet, 5 inches. How much the building impinges on 720 kHz, we'll find out in a few years. I note they plan to tie the portion of the original ground system that remains into the new one. That could help.
Actually, they intend to use the new ground system along with the one for the auxiliary antenna. Please, scan down to "Antenna System and Ground System". I'm sorry but it wouldn't let me copy just that part.
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