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WMBL

Richmond's WRVA (1140 AM) is a very prominent station, one of the Commonwealth's very first stations (I don't recall if Norfolk's WTAR beat them to the airwaves). Hearing those legendary calls a few miles down I-95 at the top of the hour still seems odd in light of their better-known Richmond sister station (both are owned by CCU)
 
WRVA...W-Richmond-VA....

anyway...WRVQ 94.5 is licensed for 200kw at 400ft....grandfathered...they have a massive signal even from that low height...their antenna is on one of the towers used for WRVA AM and looks very anchient...

also in richmond...WRXL... 102.1 running 20kw at 791ft was up until 1996...running 140kw at some low tower height...
 
To be technical, they are not the same calls. One of them must have the band designation as a part of the official call sign. My guess it is WRVA-FM since the Virginia AM has been there since close to dirt. Was at one time a Jefferson Pilot Station, I believe.
 
Not quite...Jefferson-Pilot purchased WRVA-TV back in the 70's from the Laurus & Brothers tobacco concerns, and changed the calls to WWBT. WRVA AM-FM was sold separately and shortly after that the FM was split off to become WRVQ.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
Bob Statham helped me out in my learning years. I would give him a hand when he worked on the old WRNB RCA Transmitter. The old Gates at MBL did not fail that much, He kept that thing humming. Remember the old Western Electric Shell in the AM control room? I would have loved to see that transmitter run. KRON-TV, When were you there?
 
RadioDze said:
Here's an interesting webpage on grandfathered superpower FM stations:
http://members.aol.com/jeff1070/fm-max.html

While I didn't see it here, Rocky Mount-licensed WRVA-FM (while not a superpower) has one of the nation's largest FM coverage areas. I actually picked them up Wednesday night about a mile or two south of the Capital Beltway/I-95/I-395 "Mixing Bowl" in Springfield, Virginia..and very clearly at that.

When did WRAL-FM drop their power to the current 96 kW? Might this have been around 1978 when the first 2,000-foot Auburn tower was built (the one which collapsed in 1989)?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the cool link. The station referred to as having the biggest FM coverage area--KRUZ is now Cumulus' KVYB running 105-kw @ 2971 feet, HAAT. There is no doubt that this is the greatest combination of ERP and HAAT in the U.S. However, since much of "The Vibe's" signal covers ocean, as do the stations in San Juan & LA, New Hampshire's WHOM is usually recognized as the FM with the greatest land coverage--with a mere 48-kw @ 3746 feet, HAAT. Roanoke's WSLQ is damn close though, with 150-kw @ 1993 feet.

WRVA-FM (the old WTRG) is really just a standard-issue Class C, running 100-kw at about 2000 feet. What you are hearing on I-95 is sort of an accident of geography. Harrisonburg's WQPO is a Class B on 100.7 that gets blocked to the east by some very steep peaks of the Blue Ridge. And, to the north, Baltimore's WZBA is another B on 100.7 that operates directionally to protect adjacencies to the southwest (100.3 & 101.1 in DC???). All of this gives WRVA-FM an "alley" of non-interference allowing the signal to go further than it should.

Back in the early days of FM--before the dial got so cluttered--this was a common occurence with B-or-C sticks that hadn't yet become "hemmed-in."

And, swinging back to the original topic, the same might be said of the former 740/WMBL. It was on a Canadian Clear and had very few co-channel and/or adjacent channel stations around it to interfere. So, yeah, it went forever!!!!
 
Hey Mark (or others)--

Do I remember correctly that WMBL ran 1-kw with a two-tower or three-tower directional rig (to protect 740 in Toronto)?

We were all in awe of that signal. And we were all jealous of you guys getting to work On The Beach!
 
WMBL was 1KW non-directional (one tower). The station and tower was on Radio Island between Morehead City and Beaufort. The ground radials were in sandy saltwater which gave the station about the same coverage as a 10KW signal. Mark
 
That is the reason it was a daytimer. I sat many a evening with a shortwave radio coupled to that tower on radio island. Toronto was a local. Later, after the station moved to Little Nine, I could barely get Toronto. There was a nighttime allocation, but it was only 14.4 watts. You could pick it up in Atlantic Beach, But that was just across the sound. The cutback circuit cost more than the revenue they could make at night.
 
JimA said:
Can anyone still apply to put WMBL back on the air? I HATE CC
Click to expand...

Probably, but I know the calls are now for an FM and I don't know if the same calls can be used for AM. I guess that's possible too with there being a WRVA-AM in Richmond, VA and Raleigh's WRVA-FM (100.7 the River).
 
I hurrd there was some sort of shapeshifting and transmogrifying with a 740 in Charleston that was increased and moved that would nullify anyone restoring WMBL's license these days. So it's all just mem'ries, sweet mem'ries..... :mad:
 
It was WWSC, AM 730 in Charleston, that WMBL "took the bullet" for. I'm not sure if Clear Channel has built out the Charleston CP yet or not.
 
Dang I knew that shapeshifting had "Clear Channel" wrote all over it, but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and not blame them if I wasn't sure. :-\
 
I don't know what they're doing, but the station in Charleston is WLTQ. They play "Music of Your Life". From what I have read, that's similar to what you get on 105.1 FM in yout market.

And the nighttime signal is kind of limited, which is a shame for those fans of that music that liked the station after the Hilton Head station started playing garbage.
 
With permission, the WMBL calls could be used on an AM. And, I'll bet their reverb was a Fisher "Spaceexpander".
 
The Reverb was a Fairchild 6 spring reverb. I saw 2 sold on ebay for about 1000 4 or 5 months ago. It was the same reverb that was Abbey Road studios for years.
 
Eddie, does anybody still used any Leslie Organ Springs..anymore? Or does anyboby use anything any more?
 
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