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Will Crawford fire up WDCD before Monday?

Is it worth paying the electric bill? Are they even running at full tilt? If not, i believe that they have to notify the FCC.
 
Didn't they sign off the air a year ago because they wanted to move audience over to WDCD-FM? Isn't this pointless?
 
According to a knowledgeable source, the station is being aggressively shopped. A potential buyer surfaced about three months ago, but the deal crashed. It takes a lot of cash to fire up 50 kw and make 1540 work as a stand-alone, although somebody might buy it for the copper, steel and real estate.
 
They have been shopping it hard. I asked my engineer what power level would it drop to (day and night) if you just wanted it to go non directional.

The answer wasn't very good.
 
jry said:
They have been shopping it hard. I asked my engineer what power level would it drop to (day and night) if you just wanted it to go non directional.

The answer wasn't very good.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm missing something...but if you've got a high end (crappy) frequency, why wouldn't you want 50kw? Sure you're at the wrong end of the dial, but you've got the juice. In the case of 15~Forty, is it because of the pattern or cost of running a 50kw xmttr? Crawford is using MDCL technology on some of their Ancient Modulation stations and saving some serious bucks.
 
Put oldies on 1540 in Stereo (C-QUAM) and none of that IBOC garbage. Process it right! If at all possible, grab the WPTR call-letters once again. And please, don't wimp out and go back to WDCD with religion once again. It's a killer signal that really deserves to be given a second chance.
 
jry said:
I asked my engineer what power level would it drop to (day and night) if you just wanted it to go non directional. The answer wasn't very good.
Click to expand...

Your engineer is quite right. A non-directional antenna, in most cases, would mean a signal that does not surpass the minimum signal strength of the station's directional array. In the case of WDCD that is about 75 mV/m at 1 kilometer on the 185 degree radial. Doing the math - IDF/RMS squared times the power out - that works out to 37 watts that they could license non-directionally! That is based on the station's RMS efficiency, which is about 2743 mV/m, divided by that minimum field strength of 75 mV/m, squared, times 50,000 watts.

Of course all of that is theoretical, and would probably be more accuate for the night power given protection requirements for ZNS-1 and KXEL. With changes on the AM dial since the pattern was licensed in 1947, they may be able to get more non-directional power than that during the day. For instance, there is no longer WBAZ, 1550, in Kingston to protect. The closest daytime co-channels to protect are WSIV in East Syracuse and WNWR in Philadelphia. CHIN in Toronto would probably not be a daytime issue because WSIV is between it and WDCD. First adjacents to protect would include WUSP in Utica and WSDK in Bloomfield, CT on 1550, and WDJZ in Bridgeport on 1530. Second adjacents to protect would be WIZZ in Greenfield, MA and WWKB in Buffalo on 1520, and WQEW in New York on 1560. The only third adjacent to be considered would be WVTL in Amersterdam on 1570. All in all, they could very well get between 10KW and 25KW daytime non-directional.

However, if I were going to buy the station, I would do a serious daytime allocation study to see just how much the 50KW pattern could be let out to make it more viably cover the metro, and then keep the current night pattern.

Ah, speculation is fun.....
 
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
Put oldies on 1540 in Stereo (C-QUAM) and none of that IBOC garbage. Process it right! If at all possible, grab the WPTR call-letters once again. And please, don't wimp out and go back to WDCD with religion once again. It's a killer signal that really deserves to be given a second chance.
Click to expand...


Agreed....However....right now....It is IBOC and Jesus....
 
I wonder if they shopped it to Catholic organizations? Lately Catholic dioceses and other Catholic groups have been buying AM stations to run EWTN's network and some local programming, as a counter to all the Protestant radio, such as Air 1 and Sound of Life, which Albany has in abundance.

On one hand, the buyers would get 50,000 watts full time to broadcast their message. But as said before, it's a very directional signal at night. I've driven up the NY State Thruway and still heard KXEL Waterloo within 30 or so miles of Albany. No real signal from WDCD till you're in Ravena. On the other hand, it really covers places like Glens Falls and Southern Vermont very well.

With the real estate in Colonie and the maintenence of the old transmitter and the towers, it would be an expensive purchase.
 
Gregg said:
On one hand, the buyers would get 50,000 watts full time to broadcast their message. But as said before, it's a very directional signal at night. I've driven up the NY State Thruway and still heard KXEL Waterloo within 30 or so miles of Albany. No real signal from WDCD till you're in Ravena. On the other hand, it really covers places like Glens Falls and Southern Vermont very well.

With the real estate in Colonie and the maintenence of the old transmitter and the towers, it would be an expensive purchase.
Click to expand...

Same pattern day and night. Someone mentioned going non-D during days to improve coverage. That's an added cost to the acquisition, but there's no guarantee you'll be covering more turf for the time and investment. It's a high end 50kw that's been off the air for almost a year, so the value lies more in the real estate and equipment as there's no revenue. Anyone hear an asking price?
 
Posters here, which includes me, sometimes look at stations in a hazy blue "everything-would-be-cool-if-only-they-did-such-and-such" perspective. It sucks to be forced to take off the rose colored Ray Bans, but the reality is, 1540 would be a money pit. Sure, Oldies from 55-79 would be grand. And wouldn't the geeks like us love it... at least for a while. It would be wonderful to recreate the station that so many people loved back in the day. But who's gonna put down the cash to buy the station, make the investment in talent and equally if not more important, qualified sales reps? And who's gonna listen? When 68 year old grandmothers are walking the malls listening to their iPods and personal entertainment devices, no doubt playing "favorites from yesterday and the day before" that they downloaded from iTunes, it makes running an AM on 1540 a tough slog, even with 50 kw. Sorry. Reality bites.
 
There is another possibility that has not been discussed....
Many broadcasters have been known to take a station that has been silent for almost the entire "countdown to extinction" period of one year, bring it back on the air for a week or a month, and then shut it off again. This resets the countdown clock for another year. It will be interesting to see if the station goes silent again while it continues to be shopped.

Frankly, the idea of converting it to non-com status and selling it to the archdiocese is an interesting one, and perhaps the most viable option. (...and I'm not even Roman Catholic). But, it has worked for many stations across the country.
 
rtetro said:
It will be interesting to see if the station goes silent again while it continues to be shopped.
Click to expand...

That only works for so long, A station needs an STA to remain silent longer than 30 days. Eventually Uncle Charlie will run out of patience.
 
NHRadio said:
rtetro said:
It will be interesting to see if the station goes silent again while it continues to be shopped.
Click to expand...

That only works for so long, A station needs an STA to remain silent longer than 30 days. Eventually Uncle Charlie will run out of patience.
Click to expand...

Some stations have used the loop hole in this law for years. As long as they broadcast for a week or a month, they can go silent for another year, by applying for another STA. The FCC routinely grants these applications. One notable example in this area 560 WCKL , Catskill, NY The previous owner The Black United Fund did this from I think 2004-2010 , before LMAing the outright selling it to the infamous Brian Dodge.

Although putting oldies 1540 may have some nostalgic value, it won't work; most people interested in oldies listen to FM, because it is much clearer. WDCD does not reach the Mid-Hudson Valley, but I do have a choice to get my oldies fix AM 1390 WEOK or FM WBPM, or WGNY. I chose the FM stations. Of course if that does not suit me there is always my I-pod.
 
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