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WOWO Power/Reception Change

C

Cincinnati Kid

Does anyone know why WOWO changed its power or at least the area where it can be received? Until a few years ago, WOWO could be received here in Cincinnati both day and night as you could hear the Komets games and everything aired. Now, it can not be heard heard here at night - only in the daytime Did the station start going directional after dark or what is/was the story? Thanks for any information.
 
WOWO was downgraded so WLIB 1190 in New York could get a nighttime signal. I believe that happened around 1994-95. When Price Communications went broke, Inner City Broadcasting, which owned WLIB and had been trying to get it a nighttime signal for years, bought it. WOWO was a thorn in Inner City's side because they saw WLIB as a potential big money maker that had to go off-air at night to protect WOWO. So, they bought WOWO and filed to downgrade it from 50 kw at night to 9,800 watts and directionalize the signal.

I'm not sure why you're not able to get WOWO any longer in Cincinnati. I'd think you'd still be able to get it at night as it sends a lobe south/southeast right toward Cincinnati, and it looks like you'd be far enough from the groundwave signal as to not have interference between groundwave and skywave signals. Is there another station stomping over it by any chance? I wonder if it's another station's IBOC, or maybe even WOWO's own IBOC, causing the problem? I've heard IBOC can reduce a station's range.
 
Kent said:
WOWO was downgraded so WLIB 1190 in New York could get a nighttime signal. I believe that happened around 1994-95. When Price Communications went broke, Inner City Broadcasting, which owned WLIB and had been trying to get it a nighttime signal for years, bought it. WOWO was a thorn in Inner City's side because they saw WLIB as a potential big money maker that had to go off-air at night to protect WOWO. So, they bought WOWO and filed to downgrade it from 50 kw at night to 9,800 watts and directionalize the signal.
Click to expand...

The application was filed in November 1994, granted in October 1995; the license-to-cover filed at the end of 1998 and granted late in 1999. (I would imagine the new facilities were on the air for most if not all of 1999)

WOWO was downgraded from Class A (nighttime skywave coverage area protected from interference) to Class B. (only the nighttime groundwave coverage is protected)

They were directional at night for - well, I suspect as long as they've been on 1190. But their directional pattern was modified to protect WLIB. However, Cincinnati seems to be pretty much in their major lobe - so the DA pattern shouldn't be responsible for any loss of signal there. The power decrease sure didn't help but it shouldn't have been all that dramatic.

Probably the big problem, if this has been going on for several years, is interference from other stations. When WOWO went to Class B, large areas no longer needed to be protected from interference at night. 16 other stations on 1190 have since filed to make some kind of technical changes, 15 of them granted. (I cannot guarantee all 16 involved increases in night power)

IBOC from Philadelphia and/or San Antonio and/or Rochester might be responsible, but nighttime IBOC has only been authorized for a few weeks.
 
Thanks for the information! You may be right about WOWO being 50,000 watts for most of 1999. I lived in Indiana for a little while that year, but, by that time, WOWO had become only a fraction of its former self. So, I never listened to it.

If I'm remembering your prior posts correctly, you're an engineer. Am I correct? If you are, does IBOC reduce the range of an analog AM signal? There are so many rumors from angry DX'ers, it's hard to grasp the facts!
 
I caught WOWO down here in Mississippi a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to hear something from what I consider my other hometown.
 
I once picked up WOWO in downtown Atlanta, GA. It was stronger than a local. Not til I heard a Charley Butcher promo did I believe it was WOWO!!

Cincy should not be a problem.
 
After reading the responses tonight, I checked 1190 and heard WOWO somewhat faintly - The Colts pre-game show was on. The explanations do help me understand. Previously at night, WOWO used to roll in here with only some fading. It's daytime signal is still received, but so much is lacking in its night-time signal. Thank you for the responses.
 
It also depends on where in Cincinnati you live. The signal is fine north of the city, towards Mason. However, down by the river, WOWO's signal is more of a challenge.
 
radioguy244 said:
It also depends on where in Cincinnati you live. The signal is fine north of the city, towards Mason. However, down by the river, WOWO's signal is more of a challenge.
Click to expand...

I live in the northeast suburbs, about eleven miles out of downtown; not far from the Kenwood Town Centre.
 
Kent said:
If I'm remembering your prior posts correctly, you're an engineer. Am I correct? If you are, does IBOC reduce the range of an analog AM signal? There are so many rumors from angry DX'ers, it's hard to grasp the facts!
Click to expand...

Well, I'm a television engineer, so take this in that light :) I, too, am a DXer and not fond of IBOC. But some in the DX community have been tossing around some pretty bizarre claims about IBOC interference that sure don't help the "no" side of the argument.

No, there is no reason for IBOC to reduce the range of the AM station that's running it. I suppose if you're using a rather wideband receiver, you might hear additional noise when tuned to the IBOC station which may give the illusion of reduced coverage. (and could be quite annoying) Personally I've not experienced IBOC self-interference.

IBOC interference can definitely reduce the range of other AM stations on the 1st and 2nd adjacent frequencies, even on receivers of average selectivity.
 
As a sidebar to this...WOWOs audio since going IBOC is simply awful. They have historically had a very nice audio signature. Now they are muddy...no "punch"...no "mid range"...with 'sewer pipe' sound in the lower register. One wonders what the Fed Med engineers are 'hearing' on their own car radios, clock radios, etc. (oh ya...on the mod monitor, too! - assuming they still have one in the rack).

Can't believe they would think IBOC is a "...giant leap for mankind."

Like taking drugs...somebody should have just said NO.
 
Kent came the closest to explaining the problem. The groundwave and skywave cancel eachother
when they approach equal strength. As conditions change with winter comming the skywave will
increase and the reception problem will go away. At this time, Cincinnati may be too close yet too
far away to get a good night time signal from WOWO.
 
I think that maybe the FedMed engineers have too much on their plates right now to notice that WOWO's performance is in the tank. (I saw somewhere about a month ago they were looking for a chief engineer; whether it was for Fort Wayne or South Bend I don't know...) When I worked for FedMed (in 1989, mind you,) they only had 2 stations in Fort Wayne and 3 engineers, so they were on top of it all. Now 6 stations and about 8 locations (counting tower sites) - well, consolidation. Sing along, we all know the words.

As long as the hockey games come in I couldn't care. And where I live I have trouble getting WLW in for baseball games, so there's a black hole somewhere... ;)
 
What happened to WOWO in the 90's was the broadcast crime of the century. All of those involved should be de-balled.

Now ask me how I really feel about it! :'(
 
Having once worked at WOWO, I agree that the signal reduction was sad indeed. I don't know what Juan Bodley's name is to the IRS, but I may have known him when he worked "across town at the Fed Med competition" when I was at WOWO.
 
We use to could get WOWO real clear here in NC at night until they downgraded their power, but now it's only on an odd night you can play with the radio and pick up anything on 1190.
 
radioguy244 said:
Having once worked at WOWO, I agree that the signal reduction was sad indeed. I don't know what Juan Bodley's name is to the IRS, but I may have known him when he worked "across town at the Fed Med competition" when I was at WOWO.
Click to expand...

Hey Radioguy, if you worked there around 1989-1991, then yes we were "fierce competitors on the AM Superband!!" ;D
After that I was just a lonely operator of a high school station. (Where I got more requests from local jails for metal than calls telling me to get off the air...ah those were the days!!)
 
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