• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WSCR and WBBM to move to the WYLL site.

If Audacy's applications are approved, WBBM will increase its day/night power from 35kw/42kW to 45kW/43kW.
 
WYLL's day site or night site?

I hope it's the daytime site. I'd like to see 670's decent signal in western lower Michigan to remain intact, and I'd like to see 780's signal improved to something that more closely resembles original coverage.
 
Thanks for the info.

The puny wavelength of the proposed site due to short tower height does worry me, assuming I'm reading the data correctly. Looks like 780's signal strength in western lower MI might be a wash compared to the current site / specs, whereas 670 might be worse than its current site.
 
They don't even mention 780 on the air anymore. It's "Newsradio 105-9"

It might improve the signal to the north. It doesn't get out as well as it did since they had to drop power. 670's tower is taller than the old 780 tower, thus the power drop. It's not terrible, but the audio also has taken a hit. The power increase will make up for the shorter tower.

On a side note, WLEY will need a new site. It has several boosters, but it's kind of in a tough spot. I could see them downgrading a tad and going to the 93.5, 94.3 site on the roof in Oakbrook Terrace. It would at least allow them to keep their coverage over most of the immediate Chicago area as well as their boosters. They could also potentially use the WERV tower.

Not sure if 1000 is testing from the WCPT night site yet, but it's pretty bad up here right now compared to usual
 
Bloomingdale is booming. The transmitter site is next to some warehouses (which were built on the old WBBM site) and down Army Trail Road from several shopping centers.

The site is also, as far as I can tell, the oldest continuously occupied transmitter site for a major station in the Chicago area, dating to 1929, when Westinghouse built a tower for KYW. Westinghouse sold the site to RCA for WMAQ in 1934, which owned it until selling back it to Westinghouse in the late 1980s, which evolved into CBS, and now Audacy. WIND (1975), WGN (1939), WLS (1938), WCFL / WLUP / WMVP (1932) and 670/780s new home, WJJD / WYLL (1964), all moved to their current sites after 1929. With the impending move of WMVP, the WLS site in Tinley Park gains senior status.
 
670 might have nasty fading in outer ring suburban areas at night from skywave / ground wave cancellation if this move occurs, no?
 
MarkW said:
670 might have nasty fading in outer ring suburban areas at night from skywave / ground wave cancellation if this move occurs, no?
Click to expand...
The new tower will be about 56 degrees electrical height, while the current one is 181 degrees. Skywave angles will be changed. Anyone here have a good grasp of the electrical engineering aspects of the changed radiation pattern?
 
This is another sad day for AM Radio and Radio in general. This will indeed create worse signals in outlying areas, and a lot more fading.

Good for radio hobbyists who still have crystal radios in the NWC/ORD area. You'll likely pick the signals up on the wire that clips to the antenna. Hard to not hear two signals at the same time though, without some tuned RF filters.

WLEY 107.9 will have to move too. And with the newer Section 73.213 rules, that could be problematic. It's already DA, and would likely have to downgrade, and the Boosters might be affected.

WLS 890 should move to diplex with WGN. THAT would be an improvement. The Northern Chicago city and suburbs get a very weak signal by today's standards, and it has to hurt the ratings. WDLS 900 Wisconsin Dells would be the only station that would be problematic. WSNQ and WFRO are gone from 900. Dave Magnum is a good committed radio owner, and there's a translator, so I don't know if he would want to sell it or downgrade it. WLS tried to move to Addison in the 1970s, and that was a problem, according to the late great Glen Clark. The 900s are Class D, and CHML doesn't have to be protected at Night like a US Class B station would.

BTW, WIND only moved a quarter mile or so in 1975. They have an AUX at the Des Plaines site, which would meet all the main facility rules, but it's only 1000 watts Day, 580 watts Night, nondirectional.
 
Last edited:
WLEY 107.9 has a CP for an AUX on the old Hancock Building (whatever it's called this week). It doesn't look like it's been licensed. It doesn't reach Aurora with a 70 dBu signal, though. I wonder how long they could use the AUX while a new facility is being built. WGCI 107.5 is seriously short spaced from there, so I doubt if they could use it long term.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
WLEY 107.9 has a CP for an AUX on the old Hancock Building (whatever it's called this week). It doesn't look like it's been licensed. It doesn't reach Aurora with a 70 dBu signal, though. I wonder how long they could use the AUX while a new facility is being built. WGCI 107.5 is seriously short spaced from there, so I doubt if they could use it long term.
Click to expand...

They can easily change the city of license since Aurora is served by WERV and WBIG (107.9's former sister station)

107.9 previously operated from the current WBIG tower site, which is also soon to be former.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
They can easily change the city of license since Aurora is served by WERV and WBIG (107.9's former sister station)

107.9 previously operated from the current WBIG tower site, which is also soon to be former.
Click to expand...
Unless they change the second adjacent channel rules, like Mexico and other South and Central American countries have done, they can't put it where the AUX CP is. Considering industry resistance to even the most minor rule changes, I doubt that that can happen any time soon.
 
The WAWE/WVIV site, with a potentially significant decrease in coverage, might be the best bet for WLEY. I am unsure they could operate as a Class B from that site (and even if they could, they'd be below maximum parameters).
 
They could probably keep the boosters. WAWE has a bunch of them. Going Non Directional might also help some of their coverage. It's possible to hear 93.5 and 94.3 in Lake County for example. It wouldn't need to be as directional most likely
 


Back
Top Bottom