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WJAS

On Sunday 7/25/10 @ 8:45 while listing to the Terry lee show on WJAS 1320. The Signal Died for about 15 seconds, then it came back Very weak,Filled with Static, And being Over ridden by Another station. The FCC website Lists WJAS as Having a CP for 7kw day 3300 watts Night, I guess that has Happened and the North Hills Area Where Beaver Butler and Allegheny Counties come together Lose WJAS at night. Why could they not stay 5KW at night? Deja vu Terry Lee on WMCK 1360 ,1967 Lawrenceville Section of Pittsburgh.
 
Word has it they were forced to move tower site by the city. The power level from what I was told is slightly less than their old site. Was also told that the old site was a 5000 watts input but they only got less than 4000 out. Something about having to run the transmitter at full power and burn off some under old practices in directional antennas? That area of the north hills is showing to be in an area with less signal, at least on the old tower site. Think it's the same signal just moved and a little less power now.

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WJAS&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
 
Their old tower was on the site of the Slag Dump upscale housing development near the Squirrel Hill Tunnels. I had heard that the
City of Pittsburgh under the Tom Murphy administration tried to evict them from that spot and lost. As part of the settlement
the City had to find them a new site, which is near Highland Park. Interesting then that the signal loss is to the north and not the south.

Of course, many of us remember when they were at their original site off of Crane Avenue in Beechview.
I believe they moved to that Squirrel Hill site during the 13Q days, because at the time the hot growth
areas of town were to the east (Monroeville, Murrysville, etc.)
 
On sunday 8/15/10 Static on 1320 in Butler County at 10:00 pm. I did not listen to WJAS Except when They carried Friday Night Football. But When it was 13Q in the 70's the signal was Loud and Clear in Evans City 24/7.
Are they running 3300 watts night? Nothing in the FCC web or Radio locator site is noted.
 
The FCC does have it. Look in CDBS for a date of 07/20/2010 there is the application and program test approval. Came right up!
 
Living Where Butler Beaver and Allegheny Counties come together WJAS 1320 Has a "Static Signal"
After Dark . Now it"s Beinging Overridden by a French Station. And I found It. CJMR 1320 Oakville Ontario, Putting out 20,000 Nighttime from a Transmitter site on Lake Erie Across From Buffalo New York. This Station was On 1190 and moved to 1320 in 1990. How can Canada let Stations
Incress Nighttime Power on the Border, Causing Interfernce to US Stations?
 
I've had a lot of trouble picking up the WJAS signal in the Mon Valley & general outer Pittsburgh area for a few weeks about a month ago. Its been alot better the last few weeks, but not how it used to be!!

This past Sunday night (9-18-10) about 5-10 miles south of Virgina Beach along the coast, I could pick up WJAS on a sony walkman! It would boom in great for about 25-30 seconds then fade out (still very recieveable) for about 5-10 seconds....then repeat the same process! It's been doing the same thing every night & came in the strongest in most places I moved around too. Can anyone explain that?

I had a similar experience about 7 or 8 years ago when I was in Ocean City, Maryland with picking up WJAS! Just couldn't believe how well I could recieve WJAS down here, but have trouble in parts of western pa. picking up the signal!
 
Nighttime propogation of medium wave signals is via ionospheric reflection. The degree to which this occurs depends upon several factors, including frequency, angle of incidence, and height of the ionopheric layers (which depends, in turn, on the amount of sunlight, etc.).

Long distance reception will often occur in roughly circular "zones". Close to the transmitter, reception is via sky wave (direct) and doesn't vary much. Especially in the evening and nighttime hours, as the distance from the transmitter increases, the receiver may be at a distance that is too far for sky wave, but too close for the first "hop" of ionospheric reflection. Many of the lower-powered AM stations in Pittsburgh become virtually inaudible here in Westmoreland County by late afternoon and early evening.

The fading you observed was probably due to small variations in the height of the reflective layer. A few thousand feet variation in that height could shift both the degree of reflection and the distance of the "hop". Such variations are especially notable during the early evening and early dawn hours, as amount of sunlight received from the sun changes rapidly.

KidDooWop said:
I've had a lot of trouble picking up the WJAS signal in the Mon Valley & general outer Pittsburgh area for a few weeks about a month ago. Its been alot better the last few weeks, but not how it used to be!!

This past Sunday night (9-18-10) about 5-10 miles south of Virgina Beach along the coast, I could pick up WJAS on a sony walkman! It would boom in great for about 25-30 seconds then fade out (still very recieveable) for about 5-10 seconds....then repeat the same process! It's been doing the same thing every night & came in the strongest in most places I moved around too. Can anyone explain that?

I had a similar experience about 7 or 8 years ago when I was in Ocean City, Maryland with picking up WJAS! Just couldn't believe how well I could recieve WJAS down here, but have trouble in parts of western pa. picking up the signal!
 
The new WJAS nighttime signal, in addition to being lower-powered (3,300 watts), is further away from
me (I am in the South Hills) and has a deeper directional "notch" in my general direction. I have a heck
of a time hearing it clearly on Sunday night when Terry Lee is on.

C.
 
The last 2 Sundays [Oct 16,23] The Signal is Cleaner. Is it Because of the Time of year?[1360 Mckeesport is comming in not Cinciniti] Or have Adjustments been made to the Signal Pattern?
 
I am not really a WJAS fan but did tune in a couple of times this week.
(hearing Your Bogut in the Morning made me nostalgic for waking up at 6AM
and listening to KD waiting for them to get thru all of the school closings).
Also listened to some of Chris Shovlin in afternoon drive.

They sound terrible. Not Bogut and Shovlin, but the signal. Scratchy, hollow,
tinny, a tad overmodulated. All of those being really bad things for an AM
station that is playing music. Nowhere near as solid as their signal from the
old site.
 
I was told they built the new site new to improve the audio. Maybe there is that much difference with the old site?

Also, I just looked on the FCC website and they are moving the daytime signal now. It is still pending approval but with more power than what they have now.
 
Parttimer said:
The old site is on a slag heap. All that metal in the ground does crazy things to the signal.

If there is still that much metal left in the rock then the old time steelworkers
must have really been slacking off. Or should I say, slagging off?

If so it has been doing crazy things to the signal since the mid-70's when they bugged
out of the old Beechview site.

Personally I enjoy driving family members from the upper Midwest past Century III Mall
and telling them that "we were bringing the Iron Range here, one rock at a time".
 
Anything left to Century III ? It is listed on Dead Malls.com. Haven't been there in years as I forgot how to get there and Waterfront is so much closer and has Target.
 
CIII is a shell of what it used to be. There are still a few "anchor" stores, but it's definitley a ghost mall. Better than Parkway Center, but not by much.
 
Which makes it just about like most of the malls around here. Still a big empty space where Kaufmann's used to be in South Hills Village.
 
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