WOR TL And Pattern Change At A Glance

[Schroedingers Cat]

I thought the 710 at night thing was just in the last 1-2 years before the fm switchover; to be honest I thought their american coverage at 730>710 coverage (night time)

Depended a lot on where you were. I was pretty much North of the array, and it was very good. The 730 pattern went NW and SE well, but not North that well. They would sometimes inexplicably go back to 730 at Night. I called once and the Night DJ said the array was in bad shape, so I don't know if he meant like the 710 Night Phasor, or Day Night Switching for 710, or what. It went back to 710 Nights shortly.

Well, it's in the Bill Dulmage History Page under 1990. They DID operate at Night for a while on 710, and the signal was good in my area. I didn't remember how long they had used 710 at Night.

http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/...ries/radio/histories.php?id=345&historyID=135

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

That blows away the rationale behind the actions of many small market owners of AMs who were known, in the 50's and 60's, to put a trickling garden hose at the tower base in the hotter and drier months "so the signal won't dry up".

If it soaks down far enough to the skin depth, and especially if you added salt to the water, it might work for reducing losses near the tower, perhaps if the ground system is in bad shape. I'll let Rich comment if he's been following this.

 

[davideduardo]

http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/...ries/radio/histories.php?id=345&historyID=135

I can not speak highly enough of the Canadian broadcast history site. Through their auspices I have many volumes of Broadcaster, the Canadian equivalent of the US Broadcasting magazine. Great site, and there are enhancements coming in the future.

 

[cyberdad]

I can not speak highly enough of the Canadian broadcast history site. Through their auspices I have many volumes of Broadcaster, the Canadian equivalent of the US Broadcasting magazine. Great site, and there are enhancements coming in the future.

Great stuff, David.

I hadn't been aware of the Canadian broadcast history site so thanks for turning me on to it. I had always wondered about the history of the two-frequency operation, and it took about as many twists and turns as I expected. Just for the record, Leamington is pronounced "LEEM-ington". And that item about Heinz being an early sponsor as well as an major employer in the area makes perfect sense. Leamington is known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada". Also the mention of the original transmitter site being at Point Pelee got my attention. Point Pelee is the southernmost point in Canada.....jutting a few miles into Lake Erie.
One result for CHYR on 710 was a very good signal along the Ohio Turnpike between Cleveland and Akron.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Great stuff, David.

I hadn't been aware of the Canadian broadcast history site so thanks for turning me on to it. I had always wondered about the history of the two-frequency operation, and it took about as many twists and turns as I expected. Just for the record, Leamington is pronounced "LEEM-ington". And that item about Heinz being an early sponsor as well as an major employer in the area makes perfect sense. Leamington is known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada". Also the mention of the original transmitter site being at Point Pelee got my attention. Point Pelee is the southernmost point in Canada.....jutting a few miles into Lake Erie.
One result for CHYR on 710 was a very good signal along the Ohio Turnpike between Cleveland and Akron.

Not sure if they moved early on. If you look at the US History Cards, there are a lot of redescribed sites, which has to do with studio buildings being built, access roads changing, and sometimes the driveway access road having a slightly different address. The CHYR site as far as I knew was always at the base of Point Pelee, not on the point or apex. The History says they moved "a short distance away" in the 1960 Section. It doesn't say how far. They kept adding and taking down towers. When CHYR-FM 96.7 moved their tower closer to Windsor, CJSP-FM 92.7 went on the single remaining tower for the FM. There were as many as 6 or 7 towers at one time. My assessment is that they possibly could not get the pattern to work properly to protect WOR and WLW, perhaps because the augmentation was too high due to rereflection, and they weren't able to fully license the Night array on 710. But they ran nondirectional while constructing the FM tower.

By the way, the coordinates for CJSP and formerly CHYR are N 42 00 35 W 82 33 45, which means that Point Pelee and Pelee Island are further South than the Northernmost parts of California.

 

[billmich]

Due north from Leamington doesn't cover too much of the American side, that NW coverage of 730 is what was better over in the US than when it was 710 at night

that Canadian history page indicated that 710 at night was really only in effect from march -September 1993

I consider 1990 fairly close in time to the 1993 switchover (if that's the year you are thinking was 710 night service)

My listening posts in the 80's were Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

It would be great if another AM in Canada, or even the US, could use 710 in the area.It would be great if another AM in Canada, or even the US, could use 710 in the area.
It was probably less restrictive in Canada due to the treaty and border exclusions. It is too close to WNZK for CKWW or another AM to move to, and WNZK might not be able to protect WOR if they moved and WNZK already has 2500 watts to CHYR's 1000 watts at minimum Class B efficiency at 710 at Night and might not be able to protect WOR with more power. CBEF would also be too close to WNZK, and they wanted to use the 1550 anyway because it was a Class A with protected skywave.

 

[icybluelake]

I've noticed WOR showing up more often in recent months here in eastern Iowa. It used to be a rarity, but now seems to be fighting it out with KCMO a little more often.