WNTP makes some changes

[MikefromDelaware]

I was station surfing today, while out in my car, and noticed that WNTP 990 (Salem Talk) had added Mike Gallagher and Fox Radio News (they used to air SRN radio news). I caught the tail end of Gallagher going off at noon, so I'm assuming he was on from 9am to noon. It will be interesting to see if Mike Gallagher pulls any of WPHT's Glenn Beck listeners. I haven't heard Gallagher in a few years (when he was on Wilmington's WILM).

I don't know how well 990 comes in the Philly suburbs, but it's not a great signal in Wilmington (not even very good in the car). I believe that may be the bigger issue for WNTP than who's the host. If your signal doesn't penetrate the office buildings or factory walls, then you've lost the weekday radio game. WPHT has a pretty solid signal in the Wilmington area, so my guess is WNTP won't ever be a real threat to WPHT in the Philly market or in Wilmington.

 

[DG02816]

I do remember Rene Tetro, WNTP's Chief Engineer, saying awhile back that the daytime pattern had been let out somewhat to the northwest to better cover the Main Line. Still a decent amount of wallop for a 50 kW on a foreign clear. Nights, though, do need addressing. Funny that the 10 kW night signal would be heard nicely in RI when the 990 in Providence would go off at sunset, but once I saw the pattern, I understood. It's pulled in heavily to protect Winnipeg, and maybe Montreal.Wondering wht could be done, if at all, to up the night power? Rene, any ideas?

 

[Phillyradiogeek]

I believe Michael Klein reported a couple of weeks back that Laura Ingraham was being dropped in favor of Gallagher (Ingraham's syndicator wanted a sweeter deal with affiliates and 990 balked, I think). Ingraham promises that her show will reappear in the market soon. I don't know whether there is a deal in the works or if that was just radio business hyperbole.

If she is going to appear on another Philly station, who would it be? No way PHT is giving up on Beck, as he's super hot right now. A suburban station perhaps, or dare I say it, is a new talk station on the horizon in Philly?

 

[wprt949]

I believe Michael Klein reported a couple of weeks back that Laura Ingraham was being dropped in favor of Gallagher (Ingraham's syndicator wanted a sweeter deal with affiliates and 990 balked, I think). Ingraham promises that her show will reappear in the market soon. I don't know whether there is a deal in the works or if that was just radio business hyperbole.

If she is going to appear on another Philly station, who would it be? No way PHT is giving up on Beck, as he's super hot right now. A suburban station perhaps, or dare I say it, is a new talk station on the horizon in Philly?

where ya gonna put a new talk station @

 

[aindik]

I believe Michael Klein reported a couple of weeks back that Laura Ingraham was being dropped in favor of Gallagher (Ingraham's syndicator wanted a sweeter deal with affiliates and 990 balked, I think). Ingraham promises that her show will reappear in the market soon. I don't know whether there is a deal in the works or if that was just radio business hyperbole.

If she is going to appear on another Philly station, who would it be? No way PHT is giving up on Beck, as he's super hot right now. A suburban station perhaps, or dare I say it, is a new talk station on the horizon in Philly?

where ya gonna put a new talk station @

There is always speculation about Clear Channel putting a talk format on one of its FM sticks, maybe 106.1. If they did, they would likely take Beck and Rush with them. WPHT would then likely put O'reilly on noon-2 but 9-noon would be empty.

 

[DToTheJ]

There is always speculation about Clear Channel putting a talk format on one of its FM sticks, maybe 106.1. If they did, they would likely take Beck and Rush with them. WPHT would then likely put O'reilly on noon-2 but 9-noon would be empty.

I know a show from 9 am-12 noon that they can put on! ;D

 

[MarcB]

I know a show from 9 am-12 noon that they can put on! ;D

Yeah and that's why she has a restraining order against you.

 

[DToTheJ]

Yeah and that's why she has a restraining order against you.

Unlike the restraining order the entire town of King of Prussia, PA, has against you...

 

[rtetro]

INights, though, do need addressing. Funny that the 10 kW night signal would be heard nicely in RI when the 990 in Providence would go off at sunset, but once I saw the pattern, I understood. It's pulled in heavily to protect Winnipeg, and maybe Montreal.Wondering wht could be done, if at all, to up the night power? Rene, any ideas?

Dave,

I wish I could count the number of calls I get each week from WNTP listeners who complain about the night signal, especially as we get into the winter months when power down comes earlier in the evening. As everyone whose been in the market for a number of years knows, it's been that way ever since the Wibbage days, when the night pattern was much tighter than it is since we let it out in 1986. I can remember when I first arrived at WZZD in 1981, Archie Sichel warned me about the calls I'd get. I agree that it needs addressing, and we have been moving toward that end. The difficult part is that with our current array and property limitations, we've got about all we can. Some preliminary studies have shown that we could indeed get more power and loosen the pattern a bit, but it would require moving the night antenna site to the west (sort of like WPEN did) and putting up a parallelogram array. That would get us at least 20kw and perhaps as much as 30kw.

In so far as who protects whom, Rochester, Montreal, and Providence were all built to protect us at night. They all went on after WIBG. The primary limiting stations when the present night array was built were Winnepeg, New Foundland, and Knoxville. Of course, if we change the night system it will mean that we would have to take all of these post-WIBG stations into account and extend protection to them. By moving the transmitter west and raising power, we could gain a lot of coverage behind the current array in Montgomery County, where our signal is bad (even in Norristown it is not good). Residually, the pattern would be broader in the main lobe - which would still be southeast, increasing coverage in Delaware and Bucks Counties and in NJ. The trick in all of this is finding a suitable site, and - in this economy - determining if such an outlay of cash would increase the value of the station enough to warrant the construction costs.

Rene'

 

[DanStrassberg]

The trick in all of this is finding a suitable site, and - in this economy - determining if such an outlay of cash would increase the value of the station enough to warrant the construction costs.

Rene'

Aren't there six towers at the WNTP/WFIL site, of which WNTP uses only four? I would think that one of the two WFIL towers that WNTP doesn't use (presumably the one more distant from the shared tower) could be added to the WNTP night array and that a clever array designer might find a way to use the resulting five-tower array to increase the night power somewhat. Whether that would put the improved signal where you would like it is a different question but it's a thought.

For an example, take a look at KMPH 840 in Modesto CA. The engineer who was first engaged to do that job (a person well known to your employer) said it would require two sites. She was thinking inside the box. At some point, Pappas fired her and brought in DL&R. Matt Folkert produced a design that uses only one site and no new towers. The site was originally used by Pappas's KTRB 860, which was licensed to Modesto before it moved to San Francisco a few years ago. The KMPH night design uses all five of the former KTRB towers; by day, KMPH uses four of the five. Four of the towers are in-line; one is offest. As you will see, the day and night patterns are radically different; the day pattern produces a signal maximum to the southeast; the night pattern has a signal mximum to the southwest; neither pattern produces a maximum that lines up with the in-line towers. The designer had to think outside the box to be able to produce such a result.

 

[Jul]

Should 990 pick up Bill Cunningham's Sunday night show? It doesn't make any sense to me that all other major markets cleared this show and not Philly.