Roddy, when the Cox family owned everything, I would have agreed that 750 would stay as is. But, now that Apollo is the owner, I think all bets are off. I agree that they probably will not do sports, but what else would work on AM that would even be worth the time to program it?
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WSB 750 AM listeners
- Thread starter BoboKnight
- Start date
Nothing. That's why the simulcast has persisted for several years.
Well, ironically, WDBO in Orlando went back to its original AM position and the rather short lived WDBO-FM went back to playing music.
Actually ground conductivity around most of Central and North Georgia is a real zilch. The "Fallline", the ancient seashore that runs the Central Georgia, leaves buried sand everywhere. If you dig around Augusta southward (for example) you will find lots of sand. The kaolin clay deposits along that band don't help either.
The WSB and AM 640/680 signals would just fall apart as one drives east along I-20 from Atlanta towards Augusta. By the time you hit the Thomson exit there's not much left. Still, WSB was a welcomed source of traffic reports for this former state resident frequently traveling to Hotlanta.
The WSB and AM 640/680 signals would just fall apart as one drives east along I-20 from Atlanta towards Augusta. By the time you hit the Thomson exit there's not much left. Still, WSB was a welcomed source of traffic reports for this former state resident frequently traveling to Hotlanta.
As long as the simulcast adds even a little to the ratings, why not continue it? It would be difficult to make money on AM with anything else.
We're acting like AM is a thing. It isn't! There's nothing to do next. When it's gone, it's gone! You can probably make an exception for places with viable non-Hispanic foreign language but those places are few and far between! If someone hadn't made the decision to chase upper demos, it would've been gone long ago!
The AMs in the Florida peninsula have the advantage of not having to protect many stations to the east (just the Bahama allocations), few to the west (only taking into account signals carrying a long distance over the Gulf, say in LA or TX), and few to the south.
There is video online of the WSB engineers saying that the person who chose the Tucker location for its AM antenna was NOT an engineer and if he would have gone just a few miles to the west.....
(The ground conductivity in the midwest measures 15-30.)
And some of these maps, especially in the shitty ground conductivity of the deep south..... are overly generous even.
WSB selected its current site more than 90 years ago. I doubt there was accurate ground conductivity data readily available, even if the person responsible would have been able to make use of it.
You're right. Way back then, engineers used the latest dowsing rods to measure the conductivity because they could also determine the age of what was older than dirt.
Also, it still remains a mystery whether or not WSB's request for 500kw in 1936 had been granted. Some say that much power would have broken through the granite to reach Cobb county, but we'll never know.
Also, it still remains a mystery whether or not WSB's request for 500kw in 1936 had been granted. Some say that much power would have broken through the granite to reach Cobb county, but we'll never know.
I thought WLW was the only one that ever got approval for 500kW.
As I recall, WSB was never approved for the higher power level.
If you look at the 1920 census page 3 map showing the growth* Dekalb was the fastest growing county in GA. over 50%. 1910-1920. Someone was going for growth. The difference between a crappy 1 and a crappy 2 isn't a big deal then or now it is still crappy. Also the Northern part of Fulton county now was Milton county which lost 4.9% population. (Milton county when bankrupt in the 1930's and the only county that could afford to keep them going was Fulton.). No growth there. It also gave them good coverage in Gwinnet county (30K+ 5% growth 1910 to 1920 census) (Dekalb had 44K 1920 census) and Cobb (30+K and 7.5% growth 1910-1920) I personally would have put it near the old Channel 2 analog site but that land was already developed and would have been expensive for a technology that was is in it's infancy and really not generating a large cash flow. IMHO: it was a good site in the 1920's. They had/have the best AM signal in the ATL (for what that's worth now).
*https://www2.census.gov/library/pub...phics/population-ga-number-of-inhabitants.pdf
*https://www2.census.gov/library/pub...phics/population-ga-number-of-inhabitants.pdf
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Oops - sorry; I meant to say "It remains a mystery what would have happened if WSB's request had been granted.
Here's the history card:
A few clears followed WLW's lead and requested 500kw. Only WLW was approved. (I'll try to check WLW's card to see if there was any difference in the wording.)
If anywhere needed the 500kw, it would've been the south. I'd bet the Conductivity even drops below 0.75 mV/m in some parts of Atlanta, and they would have benefited from a higher power setup. I would also bet that region was amongst the first to jump over to FM, LOL. However, a 500kw days/50kw nights setup could've been good, but we had just witnessed Hitler's rise to power in the 30's, through radio, and decided that radio must be local (I agree with the concept here, just not the methodology, because Georgia got screwed)
Come on Frank, you're not THAT old!
There are only two AMs in the Bahamas. But to the East, Florida stations protect Puerto Rico (WQBA, for example, protects WQII in San Juan) and the Dominican Republic. Between the DR and PR, nearly every AM channel is in use.
To the SW and West, there is significant protection of Mexico, a primary signatory of NARBA and which is further protected by the joint agreements made specifically between the US and Mexico since then.
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