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WLW's 500,000 watt transmitter video tour

Nice videos.. One thing that stood out to me was the size of the older transmitters compared to the modern Harris models they are now using. It's a shame the old Western Electric 50kw is no longer able to function due to busted cooling tubes.
 
What struck me was the pictures of the turbines That used to be there and how complicated it was to get a signal on the air. It almost looked like some kind of a power plant. Running a radio station must have been a very expensive proposition back in those days.
 
The amazing thing was the fact that Crosley's engineering team was very young when they built and put that 500kw rig on the air. Their average age was 27yrs old.
 
Some background as to why WLW had a 500,000 watt transmitter...

Between 1934 and 1942, WLW Cincinnati was given FCC permission to run half a million watts. Its owner at the time, Powel Crosley, Jr., was a strong supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt and got special FCC approval to boost its power. Crosley was a manufacturer of radios, refrigerators, even a car called the Cosleymobile. He had first put a station on the air in Cincinnati in 1921 running only 20 watts. Over time, he kept increasing the wattage. In 1934 he spent half a million dollars (today nearly $9 million) to construct the giant transmitter. Pres. Roosevelt was given the honor of pushing the button turning on the half million watts.

At the time, there was no other station on 700 in all 48 states. But with such high power, stations on nearby frequencies complained, even one in Toronto. For a short time, WLW powered down to 50,000 watts at night. Crosley constructed two more towers to make WLW directional, away from Canada, and resumed 24 hour operation at 500,000 watts.

In 1938, under pressure from other broadcasters that didn't have superpower authorization, Congress passed the Wheeler Resolution, suggesting AM stations not exceed 50,000 watts. The following year, Crosley lost his special superpower FCC approval. In 1939, WLW returned to 50 kW, non-directional.

Today, the maximum power for all U.S. AM stations licensed by the FCC is 50,000 watts, although 1170 Radio Marti in Marathon FL, not under FCC jurisdiction, operates at 100,000 watts, directional to Cuba. Mexico has about a dozen stations running more than 50,000 watts, with 900 XEW Mexico City grandfathered at 250,000 watts.
 
You know what's funny? Some AM broadcasters are now pushing for power increases as a way to combat man made interference caused by computers, lighting and power lines. What goes around comes around as they say.
 
And, given the apparent attitude of the current FCC head, there might be some AM stations that get their wish for more power. Whether it can help the band survive is another thing...
 
Gregg said:
Between 1934 and 1942, WLW Cincinnati was given FCC permission to run half a million watts. Its owner at the time, Powel Crosley, Jr., was a strong supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt and got special FCC approval to boost its power. Crosley was a manufacturer of radios, refrigerators, even a car called the Cosleymobile. He had first put a station on the air in Cincinnati in 1921 running only 20 watts. Over time, he kept increasing the wattage. In 1934 he spent half a million dollars (today nearly $9 million) to construct the giant transmitter. Pres. Roosevelt was given the honor of pushing the button turning on the half million watts.
Click to expand...

I really do not like to take issue with this information, but in studying the history of WLW Radio, particularly its 500,000 watts year, I would like to note the following.

Powell Crosley, Jr. was a conservative Republican and not what I would call "a strong supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt". Roosevelt was basically given the honor of throwing a switch in the White House to power up the 500,00-watt transmitter because he was the President. There is also speculation concerning the station being pushed back to 50,000 watts because of Crosley being a staunch Republican and FDR being a Democratic. Also, to my understanding, WLW stopped using 500,000 watts in 1939 although there are reports that over the next several years the station did use the 500,000-watt transmitter late at night for experimental broadcasts.
 
For what little it's worth, technically the 500,000-watt license was not WLW, it was experimental station W8XO. I don't know if the W8XO call letters were actually used. Only one additional tower was used to protect the Toronto station, which was then on 690. (a frequency which was of course later shuffled up to Montreal. I wonder if that was done thinking that WLW would eventually get a permanent 500,000-watt license?)

I have heard the same thing, reports that there were occasional 500,000-watt broadcasts during World War II.

I think in the end, what killed the 500,000-watt permit was the jealousy of other stations and the fear that stations carrying popular network programming would be rendered obsolete. How would you like to be the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, knowing that national advertisers would find it a lot easier to buy WLW than your station, and knowing that WLW is just as strong as your station in most parts of Indianapolis? On a political level, in that day when non-DXers still avidly listened to out-of-state stations, states other than Ohio feared that they would lose influence if they didn't have a 500,000-watt station - and it was obvious that even if superpower was generally permitted, most states would never have a 500,000-watt outlet.

Really the issue wasn't finally killed until the 1970s. (but I think the Wheeler Resolution is still technically on the books. It is not binding and today, I suspect if the FCC chose to ignore it Congress wouldn't even notice, let alone care...)
 
Wasn't one of the reasons behind the 500,000 watts was Crosley's over the air facsimile product, enabling information (maps, etc) to be sent to Western Europe overnight? Also, I believe the Crosley start up transmitter was 10 watts.
 
w9wi said:
I think in the end, what killed the 500,000-watt permit was the jealousy of other stations and the fear that stations carrying popular network programming would be rendered obsolete. How would you like to be the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, knowing that national advertisers would find it a lot easier to buy WLW than your station, and knowing that WLW is just as strong as your station in most parts of Indianapolis?
Click to expand...

I think this had a direct effect on stations in cities with-in 100 miles or so of Cincinnati and it continued long after the 500,000 watts had been turned off. I don't believe Dayton or Columbus has ever had an NBC Radio affiliate. I don't think Lexington, Ky. has had one either. I'm not sure about Indianapolis although it may have been WFBM 1260-AM at some point. I know in the 1960's, Louisville station WAVE - 970-AM - carried NBC news and events (and their TV station there on Channel 3 was an NBC-TV affiliate). I know as late as the 1960's (and possibly later) the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper listed WLW Radio programming on their Radio-TV page.
 
My dad spent some years as a teenager in Chillicothe, Ohio, right around the time WLW was 500,000 watts. While he didn't know anything about what power they were, he remembers the call letters very well. And he remembers walking down his street hearing all the radios tuned to Amos & Andy, which I imagine WLW carried in the 30s as an NBC affiliate.

My guess is even though it is more than 100 miles from Cincinnati, Chillicothe had no local NBC affiliate. Everyone just listened to WLW for NBC shows.
 
Gregg said:
Everyone just listened to WLW for NBC shows.
Click to expand...

In addition to that. WLW originated some shows that benefited from the station's long-range signal. "Avalon Time" and "An Evening at Crosley Square" are two such programs. For a time, Red Skelton was a featured performer on "Avalon Time".
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
Gregg said:
Everyone just listened to WLW for NBC shows.
Click to expand...

In addition to that. WLW originated some shows that benefited from the station's long-range signal. "Avalon Time" and "An Evening at Crosley Square" are two such programs. For a time, Red Skelton was a featured performer on "Avalon Time".
Click to expand...

I remember reading somewhere that WLW was at one time used as a second audio channel to create a stereo channel for all the WLW TV stations. But this sounds wrong to me. I'm guessing the FM stations (WLWB, WLWF,etc.) were used for this.
 
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