WNED to sell AM station to Crawford Broadcasting

[SirRoxalot]

Just think of all those Canadian listeners tuning in crystal-clear AM-HD...

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

HD through a five tower highly directional pattern. Diplexed with 1270 WHLD. Grand!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

In my experience with AM-HD it's very difficult to get the HD signal especially indoors at night. I have never been able to receive any out of town HD signals ever when the analog signal was strong and you could heard the digital noise on the side bands. That makes it a detriment to reception and pretty much worthless in my opinion.

 

[jim8230]

I mentioned this before elsewhere...WNED did install HD for AM 970, but the sidebands would not pass through the tuning circuits so it was never utilized. The HD would not decode. So they can try it but they ain't going to get too far..... The exciter has made for a very nice door stop out at the transmitter.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Geez, Jim, what a iBuzz-kill.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I mentioned this before elsewhere...WNED did install HD for AM 970, but the sidebands would not pass through the tuning circuits so it was never utilized. The HD would not decode. So they can try it but they ain't going to get too far..... The exciter has made for a very nice door stop out at the transmitter.

That figures and it's understandable. What isn't understandable was the Buffalo Crawford engineer wrote he didn't know why the station wasn't using HD since it was installed. Wouldn't you think they would have told him?

 

[jim8230]

I don't know....maybe it never came up in conversation. If I went there to see the place before my company bought it, I would have asked why it wasn't being used. Then again...I would not recommend using HD on AM in the first place.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

now....im a little confused,
I thought wned (am or fm) if sold,
could NOT change the format...
as per the unique lic. it is issued..

if 94.5 fm was sold.....could it be,
say sports...or a music based(current music) format...

 

[Philip_Airtime]

now....im a little confused,
I thought wned (am or fm) if sold,
could NOT change the format...
as per the unique lic. it is issued..

if 94.5 fm was sold.....could it be,
say sports...or a music based(current music) format...

The only restricted part of either band is between 88 and 92FM. That part of the FM band is reserved for non-commercial operations, which is why most NPR stations, and in most recent years religion stations, are located in that frequency range. So, when UB sold WBFO, it could only go to another public broadcaster or a non-profit religious operator. Fortunately, it landed up at Western New York Public Broadcasting. There was no such restriction for the sale of AM 970, which is why Crawford was able to buy it. And the same would be true for 94.5FM. It's outside the restricted range and could be sold to a commercial broadcaster, which could put on sports, hip hop or Chinese gong music. But I must add that there are no plans for that. Western New York Public Broadcasting is proud to have two strong stations, one featuring NPR News and the other classical.

By the way, Crawford has started broadcasting on AM 970. I'm not sure when it started, but it was there this morning. I heard a liner at 9:30 that identified the station as "WDCX, 99.5 FM and AM970." Obviously, they'll add the official calls of WDCZ for the top of the hour ID. I tried my HD radio, and it did not capture an HD signal. I don't have an antenna for AM, so I can't say for sure whether AM 970 is broadcasting in HD.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

chinese gong music..........
really made me laugh out loud...
thank u, philip_airtime, haapy 2013

 

[bmcglynn]

chinese gong music..........
really made me laugh out loud...
thank u, philip_airtime, haapy 2013

That was a good one.

How about "Gong Show Radio". New concept for a format?

 

[therealjm12]

If you are planning on using the Chinese Gong Music format you'd better hurry. I hear Clear Channel is going to copywrite it.

 

[benson86]

Heard Don Crawford on WDCX/WDCZ last Tuesday. He confirmed that they bought 970 to fill in coverage in Canada. It seems a Canadian Low Power FM is messing with the 99.5 FM signal in parts of Toronto, Hamilton and Brampton.

Will they keep 99.5 or sell it?

 

[stevensonair]

How much appeal does US based religious programming have in Canada? Not being sarcastic, I honestly don't know.

 

[Element9]

If you are planning on using the Chinese Gong Music format you'd better hurry. I hear Clear Channel is going to copywrite it.

That's "copyright," RJM, but we get the joke. Good one. Word on the street has it as the next format on KB. Bang A Gong 1520.

 

[fybush]

Heard Don Crawford on WDCX/WDCZ last Tuesday. He confirmed that they bought 970 to fill in coverage in Canada. It seems a Canadian Low Power FM is messing with the 99.5 FM signal in parts of Toronto, Hamilton and Brampton.

Will they keep 99.5 or sell it?

99.5's not going anywhere. It's still one of the biggest signals in the Crawford portfolio. One suspects 970 won't do as well into Toronto as they hope (especially if CKNT 960 in Mississauga ever gets off the ground), but who knows?