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WSCR and WBBM to move to the WYLL site.

Nobody except a trained engineer or a savvy radio listener will notice a difference in the Chicago area. Outside of the area…

On WLEY's tower, it's efficient. People lament the loss of a few thousand watts, but I can hear WBBM listenable in Dubuque, Iowa, about just as well as I did before they moved to the WMVP tower.

This will probably keep me from doing that in the future, once they move. But the ground wave may be little better, so...we will see. One thing is for sure, you'll get them downtown clearly on 105.9, and that's the signal they care most about.

I really wish I knew how many people who listen to the station listen on the FM side versus the AM side.
 
There is more to it than the RMS Horizontal Efficiency. There is the fact that areas from about 60 miles to about 300 miles where the skywave field ratio is much higher for the short towers than the present tower. In Detroit, the towers of the newer Glen Clark arrays for WFDF, WWJ, and WXYT have areas 50 miles away where there is sometimes severe fading. This is also due to the narrow broadside lobe field ratios, and the lack of an endfire component to reduce the field with elevation, like WLQV and WDFN Night Patterns have.
 
I don't think anyone has ever called the Army Trail site "WLEY's tower."

The site was built by Westinghouse for KYW before its move to Philadelphia in 1934, and was then acquired by WMAQ. NBC built the current tower for WMAQ in the 1940s.

It's been owned for most of its existence by 670, then added 780 when the former WBBM site in Itasca was redeveloped.

WLEY didn't come along as a tenant until the 1990s, and has only ever been a tenant at the site.
 
Where are the towers for the old WJJG? The towers by 294 were removed with the tollway expansion. I understand WCKG 1530 will be increasing their power.
 
Dr Wayne said:
Where are the towers for the old WJJG? The towers by 294 were removed with the tollway expansion. I understand WCKG 1530 will be increasing their power.
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They have a single short tower just off the east side of I-88 north of Roosevelt Road. 360 watts ND, daytime only.
 
fybush said:
I don't think anyone has ever called the Army Trail site "WLEY's tower."

The site was built by Westinghouse for KYW before its move to Philadelphia in 1934, and was then acquired by WMAQ. NBC built the current tower for WMAQ in the 1940s.

It's been owned for most of its existence by 670, then added 780 when the former WBBM site in Itasca was redeveloped.

WLEY didn't come along as a tenant until the 1990s, and has only ever been a tenant at the site.
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True, but soon they will be the only tenant on the tower.
 
Don't they have a permit to move the FM translator near the Trump tower or some other tall building near by? Or have they moved already? It's hard to tell with the FCC site being "non-essential".
 
secondchoice said:
Don't they have a permit to move the FM translator near the Trump tower or some other tall building near by? Or have they moved already? It's hard to tell with the FCC site being "non-essential".
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None of the stations involved here (WBBM, WLEY or WSCR) have a translator. Are you thinking of WLEY's auxiliary (backup) transmitter on the Hancock Tower? https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&appid=25076ff395b07bd80195b9e75bea0247&facid=71282

There's been previous discussion on this thread doubting whether WLEY would be able to use their new Hancock Tower aux site as a replacement for their primary licensed site, and that it's more likely they'll have to join WAWE and WVIV atop the Oakbrook Terrace Tower. We'll just have to wait and see.
 
jlalande said:
None of the stations involved here (WBBM, WLEY or WSCR) have a translator. Are you thinking of WLEY's auxiliary (backup) transmitter on the Hancock Tower? https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&appid=25076ff395b07bd80195b9e75bea0247&facid=71282

There's been previous discussion on this thread doubting whether WLEY would be able to use their new Hancock Tower aux site as a replacement for their primary licensed site, and that it's more likely they'll have to join WAWE and WVIV atop the Oakbrook Terrace Tower. We'll just have to wait and see.
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Sorry, they called my flight before I could proofread and I discovered my typo. Does Salem still own this site? I believe they sold a bunch of sites to keep up with iHeart and some other of the big broadcasters.
 
I visited the WJJD/WYLL 1160 site when they just had put in the radials and the two new towers. The ground was all torn up on the side toward I-294. I think it was around 1980. Little did I know the new towers would have eventually have been the site for WMAQ/WSCR 670 and WBBM 780, and the AUX site for WIND 560 that meets all the requirements of a LIC site with 1000/580 watts U1.

The towers form a rhombus, a special case of a parallelogram where all sides are equal.
 
secondchoice said:
Sorry, they called my flight before I could proofread and I discovered my typo. Does Salem still own this site? I believe they sold a bunch of sites to keep up with iHeart and some other of the big broadcasters.
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Salem still owns the Ballard Road site in Des Plaines.
 
Does anyone know if this move has occurred yet? I've noticed over the last few days that both WBBM and WSCR are a little bit weaker on my radio's S-meter (like 7-8 out of 10) than they used to be (full-scale). I live about 6 miles from the WYLL site.
 
r388yh said:
Does anyone know if this move has occurred yet? I've noticed over the last few days that both WBBM and WSCR are a little bit weaker on my radio's S-meter (like 7-8 out of 10) than they used to be (full-scale). I live about 6 miles from the WYLL site.
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Are you near the Sarkis Cafe, if it's still there?

Both WSCR and WBBM have a Auxiliaries on Belmont Ave. They are on a ~500 foot tower, both with 10 kW. From what I remember, it's the old WXRT tower, and has a few FM AUXs on it also. If they are on those AUX facilities, that may be why it's weaker.
 
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Yes, am located near Sarkis Cafe. They're still open and seem to have lots of customers especially on weekends.

Just curious, but how did you find out about AUXs on the old WXRT tower? I searched the FCC website but the "AM Query" results for WBBM did not include AUX information. The ASR Registration for the tower has no info about who's on it. 🫤
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Are you near the Sarkis Cafe, if it's still there?

Both WSCR and WBBM have a Auxiliaries on Belmont Ave. They are on a ~500 foot tower, both with 10 kW. From what I remember, it's the old WXRT tower, and has a few FM AUXs on it also. If they are on those AUX facilities, that may be why it's weaker.
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I believe the WSCR Aux is still at the main transmitting site on Army Trail Road until the move to the 1160 site is finally cut over. The WBBM Aux is at the former WXRT site on Belmont Ave as you have stated. Probably future Aux site for WSCR.

With recent severe storms, the 50kW WSCR signal appears to shut down for brief intervals for lightening protection. The 5kW Aux at Army Trail Road is switched over to during those brief intervals. Sunday afternoon 3/15/2026 the 5kW Aux was on with null towards the Army Trail Road location, not Belmont west of Cicero Ave.
 


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