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WLFP 1550

PHIL Z said:
I Spoke With Terry Lee on Saturday Night. He Said He "Got A Letter From the Mckeesport Daily News" Asking to conform the Romer

The McKeesport Daily News. Utilizing the very latest in Journalism Technology.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
PHIL Z said:
I Spoke With Terry Lee on Saturday Night. He Said He "Got A Letter From the Mckeesport Daily News" Asking to conform the Romer

The McKeesport Daily News. Utilizing the very latest in Journalism Technology.

I guess the carrier pigeon was still out on another run
 
"The Owners are Edward Dehart and Stephen Zelenko, Does Anyone Know Them?"

I do know them but that would be cheating since I'm Ed DeHart. Stephen and I use to own Pittsburgh Radio Werks (not to be confused with the folks in the Johnstown called Pennsylvania Radiowerks). We inherited "The Edge" from the PA Radiowerks folks who put it back on the air after Inner City shut it down for almost one year. They couldn't keep it going and wanted to spend more time with the station they owned. We thought about buying the station off of Inner City but the price was higher than we wanted to pay.

During the The Edge days, we had several hours of locally produced shows on the weekends, plus Woodland Hills Football, Robert Morris Women's basketball, and the Unshow during the week. The station started building an audience which was lost when Lifestyle TalkRadio Network purchased the station. We hope to bring local shows back to the air.

One of the favorite items to point out on this list is the super powerful 4 watt signal at night. It covers the Woodland Hills area and is perfect for their football broadcasts. I know a number of Imus in the Morning listeners in the Squirrel Hill area that listen during those winter days when the station is on low power. We do plan to add an audio stream.

As all of you are aware, WLFP and its former lives have not been financially successful. Given the price we are paying there is no debt service. We are also trying to find ways to lower the monthly expenses too. Owning the building where the station is located helps. Our hope is to keep the station alive. Too many local AM stations have turned into dust. Maybe WLFP should be one of those. Time will tell if we made a good purchase or not.
 
hypwr said:
I believe Steve was the audio guru for the late Kathryn Kuhlman.

Steve Zelenko is Stephen's father. Stephen has worked at KDKA TV many years ago. He also spent time at the WPIT transmitter building a very long time ago. I worked at WNUF from 1968 to 1972. In WNUF years, that was a lifetime.
 
I put the WNUF transmitter on the air in 1967. It took 3 days and 3 nights. I thought that was a lifetime!!!!!
 
1550 Was A Great Station George Parpard Got his Start Their. Matta Had Plans for 5kw Full Time. WCKG SoulFull Radio of the 70's was The Best. I Love AM Radio Grew up on it still Listen, And yes your 4 Watts Gets Out in the Mon Valley . Good Luck Hope You Are A Big Sucess!
 
PHIL Z said:
1550 Was A Great Station George Parpard Got his Start Their. Matta Had Plans for 5kw Full Time. WCKG SoulFull Radio of the 70's was The Best. I Love AM Radio Grew up on it still Listen, And yes your 4 Watts Gets Out in the Mon Valley . Good Luck Hope You Are A Big Sucess!

This is an old interview of George Peppard talking about one of his experiences on WLOA. As for the 5KW plans, that ship has sailed. We had the engineering done for a 4KW daytime signal using the north and south tower on 860's tower array. We made it through the first round of the FCC's major filing window. When it came time to do the final filing, Inner City used their consultant instead of ours and filed for a 2KW daytime power. The station was sold and the new owners, BTRN, let the CP expire. The CP also allowed for a city change to Reserve Township. We could have moved the 1KW non-directional to Reserve if the new owner did not want to build the directional antenna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1B6iuvvgQ
 
It would only be Fitting if 1550 would move to the 860 Towers, If not for 1550 860 Might not Exist. ie In Aug of 1946 Braddock was Granted 910 with 1KW Day on 11/18/1946 the Application was Changed from 910 to 1550, 12/9/1946 1550 was Granted. During that time Apollo wanted 890 250 day and Homestead wanted 860 250 day, But their was a Problem. So when Braddock was Granted 1550 Apollo Applied for 910 and Homestead Reapplied for 860. On 2/3/1947 1550 Applied for a mod of CP Asking 5KW Fulltime, On 6/9/1947 1550 1kw day was Granted a License to Cover. the 5kw Fulltime was Denied.On 11/8/1948 96.9 FM Pittsburgh was Granted with 20 KW. 2/15/1952 Matta Broadcasting Applies for TV Channel 4 Braddock [ Tower Site near the WEDO site ], Channel 52 Atlantic City NJ. and Channel 61 Akron Ohio.
 
Phil Z's recounting of some of the early history of 1550 is correct. Even back then, I don't think 1550
ever would have been granted 5kw fulltime because of the nearness of CBE Windsor; 910 would have
been a better choice.

Matta's application for channel 4 Braddock was four-tenths of a mile too close to channel 4 Columbus,
and thus was denied. He applied again when the channel was finally allotted (to Irwin) but didn't win
the license.

Mike Payne did a good job with WCKG, but it didn't scratch WAMO and 1550 returned to simulcasting
FM97. I don't think 1550 has had any meaningful ratings since it was WLOA, and even in those days
the FM side was more prominent.

C.
 
PHIL Z said:
It would only be Fitting if 1550 would move to the 860 Towers, If not for 1550 860 Might not Exist. ie In Aug of 1946 Braddock was Granted 910 with 1KW Day on 11/18/1946 the Application was Changed from 910 to 1550, 12/9/1946 1550 was Granted. During that time Apollo wanted 890 250 day and Homestead wanted 860 250 day, But their was a Problem. So when Braddock was Granted 1550 Apollo Applied for 910 and Homestead Reapplied for 860. On 2/3/1947 1550 Applied for a mod of CP Asking 5KW Fulltime, On 6/9/1947 1550 1kw day was Granted a License to Cover. the 5kw Fulltime was Denied.On 11/8/1948 96.9 FM Pittsburgh was Granted with 20 KW. 2/15/1952 Matta Broadcasting Applies for TV Channel 4 Braddock [ Tower Site near the WEDO site ], Channel 52 Atlantic City NJ. and Channel 61 Akron Ohio.

Why would 1550 move from a tower they own to one they don't? Plus WAMO-AM is on the 1550 tower, which means income for 1550.
 
Parttimer said:
Why would 1550 move from a tower they own to one they don't? Plus WAMO-AM is on the 1550 tower, which means income for 1550.

Having 660 on the tower does indeed help with the tower expenses. The reason for using the 860 site was due to the power increase we wanted for 1550. We needed a two tower array and we do not have space at the current location for the second tower. Also, the bulk of the power would go south so having a transmitter site located north of the city would be ideal. The 860 site has four towers. Two are north & south. They are located across the river from downtown Pittsburgh so we had a chance to penetrate some of the office buildings if we used the 860 site. Plus the night power would have been 38 watts aimed at the City. We also considered using the 1080 4 tower array in Hampton Township for even a higher power nighttime signal. They were open to us using the tower at night since 1080 is a daytimer. The height and location of each tower made the site less perfect for a directional array for 1550 which is the main reason for not using it.

The big problem is getting any return on investment in today's economy. I would like to improve the signal but it has to earn its keep. It has a long history of zero billing.
 
2 Comments, 1st To bad Matta is not around today, With Mayor John Federman Trying to Build up Braddock he would be an Asset ie Moving a
Pittsburgh Licensed FM to Braddock Building a TV Station Both with Studio's Office's and Transmitting Equipment Their. 2 Maybe you Could hook up With someone Like Frankie Day He Brings Sponsers and Listerners. GOOD LUCK With 1550 I WISH YOU THE BEST.
 
PHIL Z said:
2 Comments, 1st To bad Matta is not around today, With Mayor John Federman Trying to Build up Braddock he would be an Asset ie Moving a
Pittsburgh Licensed FM to Braddock Building a TV Station Both with Studio's Office's and Transmitting Equipment Their. 2 Maybe you Could hook up With someone Like Frankie Day He Brings Sponsers and Listerners. GOOD LUCK With 1550 I WISH YOU THE BEST.

WRRK is licensed to Braddock, it was moved when the Frischlings bought it.
 
sparks said:
Parttimer said:
Why would 1550 move from a tower they own to one they don't? Plus WAMO-AM is on the 1550 tower, which means income for 1550.

Having 660 on the tower does indeed help with the tower expenses. The reason for using the 860 site was due to the power increase we wanted for 1550. We needed a two tower array and we do not have space at the current location for the second tower. Also, the bulk of the power would go south so having a transmitter site located north of the city would be ideal. The 860 site has four towers. Two are north & south. They are located across the river from downtown Pittsburgh so we had a chance to penetrate some of the office buildings if we used the 860 site. Plus the night power would have been 38 watts aimed at the City. We also considered using the 1080 4 tower array in Hampton Township for even a higher power nighttime signal. They were open to us using the tower at night since 1080 is a daytimer. The height and location of each tower made the site less perfect for a directional array for 1550 which is the main reason for not using it.

The big problem is getting any return on investment in today's economy. I would like to improve the signal but it has to earn its keep. It has a long history of zero billing.

I worked at 1080 back in the 80's when their studios were in the Fulton Building downtown. We could not hear the night signal in the studio and had to run a phone line from the modulation monitor so we could have an air monitor for pre- and post hours.
 
WRRK is licensed to Braddock, it was moved when the Frischlings bought it.
[/quote] In 1948 96.9 was Licensed to Pittsburgh. Matta Changed City of License to Braddock.
 
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