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WMVP New CP

kevtronics said:
Not anymore. As part of the FCC's AM revitalization plan, the "ratchet clause" was abolished. See page 15:

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As I recall, those proposals were only partly implemented. Most of the highest interfering stations "upgraded" a long time ago. You don't see many applications for those stations anymore. I have upgraded in quotes because most of those changes were not unqualified successes.

Do you have a link to the Final Report and Order?
 
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jlalande said:
How's WRJN reception there in Crystal Lake? :)

Too bad iHeart isn't simulcasting the Packers on WISN, like they do in Madison on WIBA AM and FM.
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WRJN (1400) is okay during the day. Actually a little stronger than WIBA At night,,,,like WISN....it vanishes. Thanks for the WIBA heads-up. Hope they take their own sweet time diplexing with WTSO. (Which is also audible here daytime and most nights),
 
WRJN is a graveyard frequency. Goes about 10 miles in either direction even though the power doesn't change.

The WIBA diplex has been in the works for over 2 years now. The current site is at the same site as the studio facility. It's for sale but nobody has bought it yet
 
crainbebo said:
Yes. Red Eye Radio is just another conservative talk show now with an occasional weather report and a few commercials for trucking companies, parts, and oil companies. A far cry from their days as Bill Mack's Midnight Cowboy Show on WBAP.
Do truckers even listen to AM anymore? Seems like every semi-truck has SiriusXM in it nowadays. I'd say a good few are tuned to channel 146 (the Road Dog channel), and/or the music channels of varying genres. There may be a few that find Coast to Coast AM on a 50KW affiliate.
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Truckers? No they don't listen to radio much.
They can stream full video 98% of the country. Some are experimenting with Starlink.
 
boiseengineer said:
Truckers? No they don't listen to radio much.
They can stream full video 98% of the country. Some are experimenting with Starlink.
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Before SiriusXM, Trucker Shows were normal during the overnight hours on AM and some FM signals. Usually Country music, road updates, commercials for truckers. Fred Sanders had one on WMAQ during the Country days and it wound up being the last music show the station had after it went talk. He eventually launched The Interstate Radio Network, which had affiliates around the country.

WBAP and it's affiliates, WJR was one, had the Midnight Cowboy Trucking Network which was the same thing. Country and Trucker info. That ran until the Early-Mid 2000s when the music stopped and it was rebranded to the Midnight Radio Network and eventually Red Eye Radio.

SiriusXM has a dedicated Trucker channel. These days it runs Coast To Coast AM overnight. SiriusXM's reach made the idea pretty much obsolete. Now it's beyond that, since it doesn't even run a trucker show overnight on the trucking channel.

It was in it's prime good use of 50kw AM signals at night. Family would sometimes dedicate songs to those who were driving. It was a unique source of revenue.
 
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I suggested the WCPT night site back in December of 2021. Looks like my suggestion was pretty much on the mark. Wonder what the target completion time will be? Hopefully the old Art Deco building at the Downers Grove location can be left as a historical marker.
 
boiseengineer said:
Truckers? No they don't listen to radio much.
They can stream full video 98% of the country. Some are experimenting with Starlink.
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That's what we call 'distracted driving'. Unless, of course, they are surfing YouTube at the truck stop after they pull in for the night.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
WRJN is a graveyard frequency. Goes about 10 miles in either direction even though the power doesn't change.

The WIBA diplex has been in the works for over 2 years now. The current site is at the same site as the studio facility. It's for sale but nobody has bought it yet
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When I lived in Grayslake, I could get WRJN quite well during the day and adequately at night too, in spite of it's graveyard frequency allocation. However, Crystal Lake is farther southwest and thus farther from the WRJN tx site. On the FM side, sideband signals from WDRV 97.1 and WZOK 97.5 probably doom any possibility reception of WRNM at 97.3.

Ironically, my first reaction to this post was "oh, I hope this doesn't hurt my reception of Bears PBP!" which is (of course) moving to WMVP. I live west of Kenosha, so that doesn't appear to be the case. Of more concern is TV, as Spectrum acts as if we live in freaking Waukesha, Sheboygan or some other cheesehead place by not offering Marquee (Cubs) and sometimes blacking out the ends of late Bears games on Fox32.
 
BRNout said:
When I lived in Grayslake, I could get WRJN quite well during the day and adequately at night too, in spite of it's graveyard frequency allocation. However, Crystal Lake is farther southwest and thus farther from the WRJN tx site. On the FM side, sideband signals from WDRV 97.1 and WZOK 97.5 probably doom any possibility reception of WRNM at 97.3.

Ironically, my first reaction to this post was "oh, I hope this doesn't hurt my reception of Bears PBP!" which is (of course) moving to WMVP. I live west of Kenosha, so that doesn't appear to be the case. Of more concern is TV, as Spectrum acts as if we live in freaking Waukesha, Sheboygan or some other cheesehead place by not offering Marquee (Cubs) and sometimes blacking out the ends of late Bears games on Fox32.
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On U-Verse, there is no Chicago broadcast TV but there is Marquee, NBC Sports Chicago and Bally Sports Wisconsin.

Spectrum used to carry WPWR until 2000 but they didn't carry WBBM until 2002. They brought them in over the air, so they were often full of static.

Cable systems tend to be more market based. Spectrum carried WHA Madison back in the day but they stopped carrying most out of market channels over the years.
 
It will degrade the signal to the north. It doesn't look too severe however. Depends on how well they build it.

WYLL's nighttime tower site is about 5 miles from this site. WYLL's night signal is very strong in the north.

It will probably be comparable to WLS during the day.

820 is barely listenable at night however for different reasons. First is the power level is about 1.5kw. Second is the skywave from WBAP. 1000 shouldn't have this problem. Both of them have directional patterns aiming north and east toward these areas.

Over time they might be able to work out a power increase at night. They generate these patterns on a computer. It is possible to take real world measurements and submit them for a power increase down the line, at least during the day.
 
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JeremyAndrews said:
It will degrade the signal to the north. It doesn't look too severe however. Depends on how well they build it.

WYLL's nighttime tower site is about 5 miles from this site. WYLL's night signal is very strong in the north.

It will probably be comparable to WLS during the day.

820 is barely listenable at night however for different reasons. First is the power level is about 1.5kw. Second is the skywave from WBAP. 1000 shouldn't have this problem. Both of them have directional patterns aiming north and east toward these areas.

Over time they might be able to work out a power increase at night. They generate these patterns on a computer. It is possible to take real world measurements and submit them for a power increase down the line, at least during the day.
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This was my thinking, too. Reception will decline in the Northern suburbs, including Kenosha WI. However, many of those folks can receive the Milwaukee ESPN affiliate, so maybe corporate doesn't care?
 
pattywells said:
Reception will decline in the Northern suburbs, including Kenosha WI. However, many of those folks can receive the Milwaukee ESPN affiliate, so maybe corporate doesn't care?
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That appears to be correct. The Milwaukee ESPN affiliate WKTI is also owned by Good Karma, owner of WMVP, and its main signal reaches Kenosha. Good Karma also owns WTMJ-AM, and its signal also reaches Kenosha.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
WBAP and it's affiliates, WJR was one, had the Midnight Cowboy Trucking Network which was the same thing. Country and Trucker info. That ran until the Early-Mid 2000s when the music stopped and it was rebranded to the Midnight Radio Network and eventually Red Eye Radio.
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The music stopped 9/11/2001 and never returned.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
Before SiriusXM, Trucker Shows were normal during the overnight hours on AM and some FM signals. Usually Country music, road updates, commercials for truckers. Fred Sanders had one on WMAQ during the Country days and it wound up being the last music show the station had after it went talk. He eventually launched The Interstate Radio Network, which had affiliates around the country.

WBAP and it's affiliates, WJR was one, had the Midnight Cowboy Trucking Network which was the same thing. Country and Trucker info. That ran until the Early-Mid 2000s when the music stopped and it was rebranded to the Midnight Radio Network and eventually Red Eye Radio.

SiriusXM has a dedicated Trucker channel. These days it runs Coast To Coast AM overnight. SiriusXM's reach made the idea pretty much obsolete. Now it's beyond that, since it doesn't even run a trucker show overnight on the trucking channel.

It was in it's prime good use of 50kw AM signals at night. Family would sometimes dedicate songs to those who were driving. It was a unique source of revenue.
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We can't forget the Truckin' Bozo (Dale Summers) on 700 WLW and several other stations, including WHAM, WWVA and KWKH at various times. When Dale had to retire due to medical issues, his son, who had been doing the weekend versions, took over, the show was dropped by most affiliates, though was re-named The American Trucker Radio Network. Earlier, there was Interstate 7.
 
BRNout said:
When I lived in Grayslake, I could get WRJN quite well during the day and adequately at night too, in spite of it's graveyard frequency allocation. However, Crystal Lake is farther southwest and thus farther from the WRJN tx site. On the FM side, sideband signals from WDRV 97.1 and WZOK 97.5 probably doom any possibility reception of WRNM at 97.3.
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The only time I hear WRJN at night is during auroral conditions. Otherwise, 1400 is a typical graveyard mess. WGIL from Galesburg. IL most likely to occasionally rise to the top.

And you're absolutely correct about 97.3 at my location. WDRV and WZOK have the channel pretty well hemmed in most of the time.
 
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