WHAT Music and DJ

[jlongstreet]

Greetings,

I noticed that 1340 has a live (better than dead I say) DJ, Bill Knight (sp?) on the afternoons. Anyone know where he is from, market wise?

Speaking of the new and improved music selection I was wondering if they have a new Program Director or Music Director. Could it be a Dean Tyler project? If he could be talked out of retirement that is.

Best regards.

 

[Super Jock]

I was listening last night, after midnight...there was a live dj on...I'll have to find out what's going on.

 

[jlongstreet]

Thanks for the response. Will be interested in what you learn. I think the station sounds GREAT.

Regards.

I was listening last night, after midnight...there was a live dj on...I'll have to find out what's going on.

 

[quadpain]

Bill Knight is from Scranton. He has been the new PD, since Jan. 12 this year.

Late nights 10-2a is Jon Duncan. "JD"

Most of it is VT, though some 'live'

-Al

 

[jlongstreet]

Hey Al,

Thank you for the information on WHAT, 1340 AM. I knew that there was someone out there who had the facts.

Appreciate it as always.

Regards.

 

[oasisrulz]

I had them on a couple of days now, all I can say is fantastic for stand alone local. They sound great, playing many titles that OGL will never touch, not afraid to take chances and the jocks say just enough. I am not a Standards listener but for what its worth they do a great job and I hope they can get out further at night. The question I have is I am about 6 miles southeast of the Xmtr as the crow flys, at night the signal is just about listenable, being omni with the same power and 6 miles is not that far for any skywave interference. I remember them in the mid 60's and they were much stronger at night.....

 

[qtpieislit]

Prior to the 90's, 1340/WHAT was 250 watts/night and enjoyed much better coverage than they do today with their current 1000 watts/night. It’s a result of multiple problems. First, their ground system is seriously faulty if there is one functional at all at this point. Second 1340 today is one of the most congested graveyard frequencies of them all. Third with all the common electrical components on telephone poles to in home devices, AM radio is one big buzz farm. Result, 1340/Philadelphia is today, arguably, the most challenged signal of all the Philadelphia area stations. I’ve consistently experienced nighttime reception troubles on the Roosevelt boulevard extension just 2+ miles away from the transmitter site.

1340/WHAT has enjoyed better signal day's, but they seem to be long ago. Hy Lit started his career at 1340/WHAT in 1954, and he recalled having major audience penetration particularly in the great northeast section of Philadelphia. Here's a 1340/WHAT collectors item from the WHAT Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues day's in the '50s.

hylitradio.com/productlogo/hylit1340what.

More Hy Lit history at http://www.hylitradio.com/index.php?page=6 Here's an edited excerpt.

After a chance meeting playing a basketball game in West Philadelphia with Charlie O'Donnell, the program director at 1340/WHAT, a rhythm and blues soul station in Philadelphia, I was hired for the 9 pm to 1 am time slot and a show called "The Rock ‘en Roll Kingdom". I was the only white DJ on the station. Practically overnight, it seemed I became the hottest show on the radio. The listeners and I communicated. They called me the Bonnie Prince of Rock ‘n Roll. It seemed everyone in the city was listening, and they locked into ‘Hy Lit’s Rock ‘en Roll Kingdom ’ for the latest and the greatest. As more requests came in I picked up on the listener’s crazy jargon, and slang, and sent it back out on the air with a rhyme. It was a magical time for radio; the DJ was king and Rock ‘n Roll was cool.

It was the early days when rock was young and ‘Rock ‘n Roll’ meant rhythm and blues. I noticed a lot of record promotion men were standing around with new records, begging for an airplay. And apparently, they were prepared to go to great lengths to facilitate that airplay exposure with a multitude of creative measures and incentives. In fact, my show became a venerable circus of record promotion men with all kinds of gifts and goodies vying for airplay favors on my coveted time slot. Rock was young, and I was breaking new records, left and right. It seemed anything and everything I played became an overnight hit. And the record stores were selling them out. Let me say this, I only chose the records that were bonafide hits. I never played any garbage, because I respected my listeners too much. So, on the air, when I said this was a hit, it was a hit. And the ratings bare that out. It was many a night, I said “If this ain’t a hit, I quit”.

My first public appearance was at a record hop sponsored by a girl’s sorority. The place was packed. Soon, all my record hops were all sold out as I became the hottest thing in town. Then came my first stage show. It was at The Arena, at 46th and Market Sts., next door to American Bandstand at WFIL-TV in West Philadelphia. The show had a caravan of early soul recording acts. When it came time to open the show, I walked on stage, and said “Hi everybody, my name is Hy Lit!” It was a black audience and they screamed, “Hey Whitey, get off the stage! Hy Lit is black, and you ain’t Hy Lit! I had a tough time convincing them and the boos the screams and the jeers were the loudest I ever heard. A fellow DJ great, Georgie Woods, from soul radio rival, WDAS, walked on stage and quieted the audience down. He convinced the audience that this was in fact Hy Lit. So I introduced the acts and the sellout show was a big success.

After that, it seemed the name of ‘Hy Lit’ was everywhere. The newspapers were quick to point me out, the kid from South Philadelphia who had captured a tremendous integrated following with this new thing called Rock ‘n Roll.

After a number of months and taking the 9 pm-1 am time slot into a ratings rocket ride, I went to Dolly Banks, (owner of WHAT with her brother William Banks, **WWDB ) and requested a salary increase commensurate with my performance. Her less than hesitant reply was “Don’t get it from me. Get it from the record companies”. So I did.

**WHAT-FM would become WWDB for William & Dolly Banks after a frequency change to 96.5; subsequently WDAS-FM would land at 105.3

 

[quadpain]

jlongstreet -

No problem. Passing on what I know from my former station.

Sam -

I hated the signal problems on WHAT. I couldn't get it at night in my car after I went around the Conshohocken curve on 76 on my way home. That's only like 7 miles away, but as soon as you make the turn, nothing but fuzz after dark. Drove me nuts as the PD/OM because I had to wait to get home in West Conshy to continue to monitor it on the web stream. I am too young to know how the signal was before.

If you've been inside the transmitter site building you'd think it was a horror movie set. Creepy place now. It was the old studios, but watch out for the dead cats and fallen in ceilings. They did replace the tower outside only a few years ago, seems like someone didn't set it up right apparently. or maybe rats are eating away stuff.

Where were the studios when Hy was on air?

- Al Clay (PD/OM WHAT Jan 07-09) (yes, both Skin Radio and Martini Lounge Radio)

 

[qtpieislit]

Alvin,

Hy Lit broadcast on 1340/WHAT from the original studios (http://hylitradio.com/productlogo/hylitwhat) that William & Dolly Banks built in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia at 3900 Conshohocken Ave, where the transmitter remains today. 1340/WHAT was an original RCA blueprint facility. Really cool. Dolly Banks practically used the exact same equipment at that same location well into the 80's when her death precipitated the sale to a group of investors headed by my step father Robert A. Klein (Former part owner of WDAS). The 1340 studios were moved to City Line Ave and remained there even beyond the resale to Inner City Broadcasting in the 90s. The move to Mannayunk came when Kelly (Marconi Broadcasting) bought it in mid 2000. (Beasly Broadcasting bought the FM 96.5 in the 80s and moved it to Levering Mill Road) All along the 1340 transmitter site remained on Conshohocken Ave. Engineering studies revealed that due to short spacing (WMID Atlantic City, WRAW Reading) any move of the transmitter site would require a power reduction. After some initial upgrades in the early 80's apparently it was left to disrepair. Inner City broadcasting was never know for their technical prowess.

Factoid: 1340/WMID upgraded their ground system in the 90's when a new highway system was installed on Absecon Boulevard in Atlantic City adjacent to the tower. When the engineering proofs were completed the FCC required WMID to adhere to a power reduction to 890 watts/Day, which is very rare for a Class C frequency.


WHAT History: Dolly Banks Shapiro and her brother William A. Banks purchased WHAT Radio from the Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper in 1944. The purchase price was $23,500.

The station came on the air in 1923 as WNAT. At that time, WNAT broadcast at 833 KHz, sharing their frequency with WGL, Philadelphia’s first radio station and WWAD. Two years later in 1925, WNAT shared time and their 1200 KHz frequency with WIAD and WWAD, all three were 100 watt Philadelphia stations. In 1928, WNAT, still at 100 watts, was sharing their 1040 KHz frequency with the more powerful WRAX, a 250-watt Philadelphia station. In 1929, it became WHAT Radio and the following year moved to 1310 (where it would stay for several years) sharing time with WFKD in Philadelphia. The next year, WFKD became WTEL. On March 29, 1941, WHAT moved to 1340, but so did WTEL. The early days of radio were quite different from today. Many stations shared frequencies, and Before 1950, WTEL and WHAT were share-timers at 1340 on the dial. Each station had about three or four hours on the air and then would sign off for the other station to broadcast. It was back and forth all day long in this manner. This continued until 1950 when WTEL (now know as WWDB) moved to 860 KHz.
WHAT-FM started frequency modulation broadcasting in the early 50’s. Shortly after that time, Broadcast Pioneers member Sid Mark started playing jazz on FM overnights. As the popularity grew, the Banks decided to broadcast jazz, 24 hours a day, the first in the nation. It would keep that format for 17 years until it went with a talk format (March 17, 1975) using the call letters, WWDB (We’re William and Dolly Banks). Again, the station made history as the first FM telephone talk station in the U.S.A.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported, “both stations (WHAT & WWDB) are known for innovation (under the Banks’ ownership).” The paper said, “in 1945, WHAT became the first U.S. radio station to hire a full-time black announcer, the first to program a regular show featuring a black woman (Mary Dee) as hostess and the first station in the city to hire black newscasters. It also was the first in the nation to feature a black host of a daily talk show.”

William Banks started as a time salesman for WELK Radio (now WDAS) in 1928. The next year, he moved over to WIP Radio Gimbel Brothers broadcasting). He started there in 1929.
Billy decided to buy his own radio station when Ben Gimbel called him into his office. Gimbel's complaint was that Billy was selling too much radio time. Ben Gimbel told Billy that Banks was making more in commission that Gimbel earned as General Manager. Billy got his commission reduced and Banks swore he would never let it happen again. The only way was to own a station.

Billy and Dolly were members of the Allied Jewish Appeal's Broadcast Committee and a member of the board of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.

Many in the industry regarded Dolly Banks as being “very tough and very cold.” She once told a reporter that it was all an act. She did it in self-preservation. She said, “I am all woman and soft.”


Both the WHAT & WDAS owners were of Jewish lineage and both pioneered Black Radio & Rhythm and Blues in Philadelphia.  


WDAS History: WDAS AM/1480 was a legendary Rhythm and Blues heritage station located in the beautiful Fairmount Park/Wynnefield section of Philadelphia. I had the unique privilege of growing up at WDAS are a kid, with my step brothers and sisters, as my stepfather Robert A. Klein was General Manager and part owner. The term legendary does not even capture what WDAS-AM was to Philadelphia or the role it played as setting the standard of black radio, both locally and nationally. WDAS’s influence was unequalled, where Philadelphia and the country heard the black hits and the sound of Philadelphia first. It was unique and magical, with an extraordinary on air presentation that began at the dawn of Rock and Roll in 1951, when Rock and Roll meant Rhythm and Blues. WDAS was an influence that was heard and woven into the fabric of our society, as well as the broadcast industry, nation wide.
The studios in Fairmont Park/Wynnefield were one of the most exciting full service, on air engineer broadcast assisted, RCA blue print facilities that I have ever seen. And I have seen them all, including as you know WIBG, where I also grew up as a kid. The Disc Jockeys were true radio wizards, and the home of legends like Jocko Henderson, Georgie Woods, Kae Williams, Jimmy Bishop, Larry Daily, Carl Helm, Louis Williams, Joe (Butterball) Tamburro, and many more.  http://hylitradio.com/productlogo/wdassoulsurfers
Even Hy was on WDAS-AM in 1969 from 1-4pm, as he launched WDAS-FM (1968-1971) into contemporary underground radio. (see http://hylitradio.com/index.php?page=6 for a history timeline). http://hylitradio.com/productlogo/hylitwdasfm

But no matter how big the musical high points, WDAS News was there. The WDAS newsmen and women were a group of brilliant journalists, where many prominent broadcast journalists, including Ed Bradley (late of CBS), Bob Perkins (now at WRTI), my stepsister Wynn Alexander, and Joe Rainy, among and many others, professed an award winning level of reporting, at a time when radio was where people turned to hear what was happening now, fast and factual.
The WDAS News department had achieved more awards year after year, for news journalism, than I can name. By 1966, WDAS News had won 17 major awards and dozens of Associated Press Awards for news and editorial in addition to 13 Valley Forge Freedom Awards, 3 Valley Forge Freedom Medals, the Armstrong Award for Journalism, and countless proclamations of recognition. WDAS News was a tireless warrior against racism and oppression, and every known social ill. The contributions to black progress and racial harmony were recognized far and wide as well as congressionally. It is worth noting in a long roster of accomplishments, that in 1962 WDAS News, was the only station to 'sweep' the Associated Press Awards and one of only two stations in the country to win a Valley Forge Freedom's Foundation Medal for editorial excellence that year. (see http://wdashistory.org for a history time-line)
There is no Philadelphia area radio station before or since that has matched what a single locally owned and operated broadcast voice has meant to a city or an industry. My stepfather sold WDAS AM/FM in 1979, for what was the highest dollar value ever paid for a Philadelphia radio station up until that time, culminating a combined three decades of unparalleled broadcast excellence.

http://wdashistory.org was assimilated by Wynne Alexander (Wynne Klein), my step sister, Bob Klein’s oldest, and, Max Leon’s granddaughter. Bob Klein, Max's son-in-law, General Manager, and part owner of WDAS, married my mother after her and Hy divorced. Even before as Hy’s best friend, (that’s another story for another time), Bob and his kids were part of a close family inner circle that dated way back before I was born. Bob was originally married to Max Leon’s daughter. Max Leon was a Jewish immigrant and at the age of 16 came to the US from Poland (Swierze) with a violin, four dimes, and a suitcase. Max ultimately became the general manager of a candy factory at which he began work as a candy breaker. He then became the owner of that same company, the Whole-Sum Products in 1934. They made different types of sweets while inventing marshmallow ice cream for the Breyers Ice Cream Company headquartered in the Grays Ferry section of Philadelphia. He kept the candy factory all during the WDAS days. In fact, the candy company was a major sponsor on WDAS radio. There was many a year in which I heard the ‘Dainty Mints’ commercials on the air, and in the production studio. Dainty Mints was one of the staple nickel sugar product lines manufactured by Whole-Sum Products. Max made a bundle, one nickel at a time, literally. He made millions and in 1943, he founded, financed and conducted "the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra" which was the the prelude to what is now the Philadelphia orchestra.

Saturday afternoons saw Max and his members of the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra practicing on the 4th floor of his candy factory and at the Lorraine Hotel on Broad Street. Max "broadcast" the rehearsal throughout the plant through a loudspeaker system in the production area. During the Second World War, the orchestra played concerts at Army and Navy hospitals, service centers, camps, and stations and raised over $6,000,000 in war bond sales. Leon organized it, led it, paid all the bills, and was their conductor. It was his baby. Throughout the years, he continued to conduct the eighty piece Philly Pops with performances at the Academy of Music.

For twenty-nine years, Max M. Leon owned the majority interest in WDAS which he purchased for a half million dollars on October 19, 1950 from William Goldman (a theater chain owner.). WDAS was originally licensed to Ocean City, NJ, Subsequent ownership was retained by retailers Dannenbaum & Steppacher, Thus the call letters "W-D-A-S. Dannenbaum & Steppacher moved the station to Philly where it has remained ever since. Bob Klein, and Leon applied for and was granted a construction permit for an FM station and in 1959, 105.3/WDAS-FM was licensed and came on the air. (105.3 was originally WHAT-FM/105.3 and was abandoned when WHAT-FM moved to 96.5 Mhz. Up until Hy launched Hyski’s underground on WDAS-FM in late 1968, WDAS-FM was Max’s personal playground for the fine arts in Philadelphia. (Coincidentally, Hy was heard on 105.3 when his 1340/WHAT-AM radio show was simulcast on WHAT-FM/105.3, from 1954-55).  http://hylitradio.com/productlogo/wdasreceptionreport

Factoid: 1972 WDAS' Bob Klein files a class action suit against the Arbitron rating service on behalf of all black radio stations and proves that black radio listenership was undercounted. Arbitron settles after four days of testimony and amends its methologies and policies.
Factoid: 1968: Bob Klein hires Hy Lit as V.P. and General Manager of WDAS-FM. Hyski’s underground is launched on WDAS-FM. Hy also does 1-4 afternoons on WDAS-AM.
Factoid: 1968 The campaign waged by WDAS News against Girard College's "white only" policy is victorious, when US Supreme Court orders that black students be allowed to attend the school.
Factoid: 1967 WDAS personality and Gospel Queen Louise Williams introduce a young gospel singer, Aretha Franklin to Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records... and the rest is music history.
Factoid: 1962 Georgie Woods breaks the Beatles', "Please, Please Me," originally on the African-American owned, Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records label.
Factoid: 1960 Louise Williams hired by Bob Klein to come to WDAS-AM to do gospel. WDAS Charities established to address the needs of the community. WDAS Charities initiates "WDAS Freedom Shows," both Rock n' Roll and gospel concerts that raise money to benefit those in need in the Philadelphia community. John "Lord Fauntleroy" Bandy appointed Assistant General Manager at WDAS, one of the first African-Americans to hold that position in radio nationwide. WDAS commissions further market research and listenership study with E. John Bucci, President Kennedy's chief statistician. WDAS initiates one of the first voter registration drives. WDAS credited with increasing African-American voter registration by mayor of Philadelphia.
Factoid: 1956 Georgie Woods joins "Jocko" Henderson at WDAS-AM.
Factoid: 1953 "Jocko" Henderson hired at WDAS-AM in Philadelphia on October 5th. Georgie Woods hired as an air personality at WHAT-AM after a brief stint at WWRL-AM in New York.

Meanwhile Joe Tamburro (butterball) who began his career spinning records for Hy Lit at record hops in the late 50's and who met my stepfather, Bob Klein through the association with Hy, started DJ’ing on WDAS-AM in the late ‘60’s and began programming WDAS FM in the 70’s. He is still there as program director to this day.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Sam: I swear that WDAS (AM) did not go on the air on 1480 from the stand-alone studio building/transmitter site it still uses until the summer of 1955. I went to college in Troy NY and that summer, I was a co-op student working at the old General Electric switchgear works at 6901 Elmwood Ave in southwest Philadelphia. I lived around the corner at 7022 Paschal Ave. WDAS had, for many years, been a Class IV station (graveyarder) on--I believe--1400. In those days, graveyarders were limited to 250W-U. The move to 1480 with 5 kW-U/1 kW-N DA-2 meant a big increase in the daytime signal where I was living, but the night signal, which had been pretty much unlistenable on 1400, totally disappeared when the station moved to 1480. If you look at the directional pattern, you will understand why. The four tower night array produces a relatively narrow teardrop pattern beaming southeast that protects stations in Fall River MA, New York City, Richmond VA. and Canton OH, among others. The night signal must be quite strong in the northern parts of Philly and probably even in Center City but not in southwest Philly.

As for when WTEL moved to E Norriton and 860, breaking up the time-share with WHAT, I think that probably took place in the early '60s--not the early '50s as you reported. I believe that WHAT and WTEL were still sharing time on 1340 during my summer in southwest Philadelphia. It was a miserably hot summer and I like to tell people that I spent the worst ten years of my life in Philadelphia during the summer of 1955;>( It sure FELT like ten years.

 

[qtpieislit]

Hi Dan,

  That is correct. WDAS began life on 1370, moved to 1400, and landed on 1480 in 1955. 1480/Philadelphia has always had a  critical DA-Night,and by contrast the nighttime pattern was radically mismatched to the day pattern. Strangely most 1480 allocations are critical 1Kw DA-N patterns and in many cases exhibit poorer night signals that the typical graveyard frequency, and even stranger is that most 1480 nighttime pattern allocations are mismatched to the daytime pattern allocations.

WTEL completed the move to 860 as a daytimer with 250 watts from 4140 Old York Rd. Philadelphia, by early Spring 1951. 860/WTEL is listed in the April/May/June 1951 edition of White’s radio log.

 

[BaltimoreJack]

Bill Knight is from Scranton. He has been the new PD, since Jan. 12 this year.

Late nights 10-2a is Jon Duncan. "JD"

Most of it is VT, though some 'live'

-Al

Bill Knight and others now at WHAT are part of the crew from Route 81 Radio..the people who did so much damage to WCOJ, WHYL, WAZL, WLNP & WNAK. Once they finished ruining those stations they somehow found their way over to WHAT who welcomed them with open arms. This ought to be a lot of fun!!

 

[DanStrassberg]

Hi Dan,

That is correct. WDAS began life on 1370, moved to 1400, and landed on 1480 in 1955. 1480/Philadelphia has always had a critical DA-Night,and by contrast the nighttime pattern was radically mismatched to the day pattern. Strangely most 1480 allocations are critical 1Kw DA-N patterns and in many cases exhibit poorer night signals that the typical graveyard frequency, and even stranger is that most 1480 nighttime pattern allocations are mismatched to the daytime pattern allocations.

Not so badly mismatched--but not a great match either. The day pattern is, IIRC, a two tower modified cardioid aimed basically south (actually, I believe, just a tad west of due south). The protection is to 1480 in NYC, which has a four or five-tower teardrop pattern also aimed basically south--but a bit east of due south. And in the mid 50s, wasn't there another 1480 (a daytimer, IIRC) in Hazelton or someplace up that way? The Philadelphia day pattern is WAY fatter than the night pattern but I believe the daytime 5 mV/m contour completely encompasses the nighttime interference-free contour. By my definition, that would make the mismatch relatively minor. Some AMs that were built within the last decade or so have virtually no population in common between their day and night patterns. I call THAT a significant mismatch. Of course, there must be SOME population that is covered by both the 5 mV/m day and the NIF and that population is supposed to constitute at least 80% of the population of the CoL. But the FCC has been known to waive the 80% of CoL population requirement for the night signal. I'd be surprised if the NIF of what used to be WDAS (AM) covers 80% of the population of Philadelphia, given that none of southwest Philly lies within the NIF. No doubt, however, the application to move to 1480 made much of the fact that WDAS would serve more population in Philadelphia at night on 1480 than it did on 1400.

 

[DanStrassberg]

That is correct. WDAS began life on 1370, moved to 1400, and landed on 1480 in 1955. 1480/Philadelphia has always had a critical DA-Night,and by contrast the nighttime pattern was radically mismatched to the day pattern.

WTEL completed the move to 860 as a daytimer with 250 watts from 4140 Old York Rd. Philadelphia, by early Spring 1951[/url]. 860/WTEL is listed in the April/May/June 1951 edition of White’s radio log.

Hi, Sam: So would my guess about early 60s for WTEL's move to E Norriton and increase to 10 kW still be correct? Clearly, 250W on 860 would not have been enough to meet CoL-coverage minimums for Philadelphia from the E Norriton site, so the power increase and the move must have occurred at the same time.

As for WDAS/WUBA, has it always run three towers by day and had six towers at its site? I remember the 1955 article about WDAS in RCA Broadcast Equipment News (or whatever they called it), and I think I recall that the original 1480 day pattern used only two towers, one of which was common with the four-tower night array. So there would have been only five towers at the site. The current facilities use three towers by day, one of which is common with the night array.

Several people have commented in this thread (I think you were one of them) about how WHAT's signal deteriorated when its tower was replaced. Given the crowded conditions at the WHAT site, the ground system might have been severely compromised and correcting the problem could be prohibitively expensive, if not impossible. If so, moving WHAT to the WUBA site certainly looks like a possibility. The two sites are only a little more than 1/4 mile apart and if WUBA's ground system needs work, it appears to be relatively accessible. A true diplex would not even be necessary: By day, WHAT could use one of the three WUBA night towers that are unused by day and by night WHAT could use one of the two WUBA day towers that are unused by night. I'm not sure that such an arrangement would have any advantages over a true diplex, but it might.

 

[qtpieislit]

I suspect that the Norristown site was desired to maximize the signal. Since it's a rather tight E-SE lobe, having a good suburban signal due west of the city was probably more desirable than serving the blueberry farmers in central jersey.

WDAS has modified their pattern through the years. As to what the chronology was beyond 1980, I don't have detailed information. Ben hill CE of WIP was CE at WDAS for a substantial period of time in the 90's and then some. He would know some of those details. if I get a chance to ask him, I will get back to you.

As far as the duplex of 1480 and 1340 I don't know what the compromise of 1340 would be. 1480 is a quarter Wave, and 1340 is either a half wave or 5/8ths.

 

[oasisrulz]

How times have changed, if I am not mistaken, I remember a long, long, time ago, perhaps in the mid 60's, the WHAT tower being a guy wired, small tower, painted red and white with 3 red strobes and the FM on the top with about 8 bays, not too tall for an FM signal but that was back in the day. Also, I kinda remember WDAS with 5 or 6 small towers in a weird array, again guy wired, red and white painted and the FM on one of the towers, many bays but on a small tower. I guess the FM signals did not get out that far with those small towers....but that was decades ago when FM was in its infancy...

 

[DanStrassberg]

As far as the duplex of 1480 and 1340 I don't know what the compromise of 1340 would be. 1480 is a quarter Wave, and 1340 is either a half wave or 5/8ths.

WHAT's tower is definitely a good deal taller than the WUBA towers but it is not even close to half wave; it's just a little shy of 1/3 wavelength--a tad over 117 degrees. Curiously, the physical height of WHAT's tower appears to be identical to that of the WURD towers. Since WURD reportedly has such a good signal for its power, it was the first station I checked. Unfortunately, WURD is five miles closer to WMID than WHAT is and WHAT's 0.5 mV/m already kisses WMID's 0.25 and vice versa. So if WHAT were to diplex from the WURD site, it would have to significantly reduce its day power. Although WUBA's shorter towers (71 degrees at 1340) would not produce the same theoretical efficiency as WHAT's 117-degree tower, the actual efficiency might be better--especially if, as you have theorized, WHAT's ground system is severely compromised and cannot easily be repaired due to congestion at the site. The best arrangement for WHAT would be to use WUBA's night tower #2 by day and day tower #2 by night. These towers are pretty close to the center of the combined ground systems for WUBA's six towers, so the result would be a very good ground system, which could level the playing field between the two sites. And the WUBA site is so close to the existing WHAT site that WMID would probably not pose any new problems.

Of course, the economics of this move are predicated on something I don't know but I do suspect--that WHAT owns its existing site and that the land is valuable. I can't imagine anyone having paid $5 million for that signal unless they were also buying the real estate and the real estate was worth a lot more than the station.