I don't believe the WSCR site on Army Trail Road has been sold to date. Audacy probably holding out for a larger dollar amount for the land for commercial development.
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WSCR and WBBM to move to the WYLL site.
- Thread starter JJSPC
- Start date
Here you go. There's an X in the file number, and AUX. Then click Tower Payload.
I have relatives that were or are living in Evanston. Ended up eating there with my Mom and Sister when my XYL had a stomach virus. It was around Thanksgiving, and Mustard's Last Stand was even closed.
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Since December of 2025 the site on Belmont Avenue is also the STA site for WRDZ AM 1300 Rebel Radio. This site was also used in the past by WSBC 1240 and WSCR when they were briefly on 820 kHz.
@Schroedinger’s Cat: Outstanding! That’s a great resource. Thank you.
@CADXER: Thank you also. I viewed the Engineering Exhibit for the WRDZ STA and learned that they are now diplexed on the tower with WBBM-AM (AUX) and WSCR-AM (AUX). It’s amazing how that can be done.
That’s a darned good “emergency” antenna for WRDZ. 😄 I’ll be in that neighborhood later this week, and must stop by to take a look!
@CADXER: Thank you also. I viewed the Engineering Exhibit for the WRDZ STA and learned that they are now diplexed on the tower with WBBM-AM (AUX) and WSCR-AM (AUX). It’s amazing how that can be done.
That’s a darned good “emergency” antenna for WRDZ. 😄 I’ll be in that neighborhood later this week, and must stop by to take a look!
WRDZ probably won't be in a hurry to move from that STA. With 1000 watts Night Nondirectional STA, they will interfere quite a bit with WOOD 1300 Grand Rapids at Night, especially when they moved the transmitter so far out that even with 20000 watts DA-1, the conductivity is so bad, they had to get a rimshot FM from Muskegon to simulcast on. Plus the WOOD signal is weak enough to get fading at Night in Grand Rapids. The null in the WRDZ Night Pattern toward WOOD is the equivalent of about 32 watts.
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As far as the tower site on Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale is concerned, besides WSCR and WBBM moving to Des Plaines, something needs to happen to WLEY 107.9 FM which also uses that tower. As far as I know they did not apply with the FCC to move to a different site yet. I would think that once that happens, the end of that site will not take too long.
I've never seen that in a response from the FCC, what they asked for and what they got authorized. They'll have to have some kind of skirted radiator, as 530 feet is too much for 1300 kHz.
Signal here in the southwest suburbs is so-so daytime (including right now) and vanishes on powerdown.
I can still get WBBM and WSCR loud and clear in Saint Paul tonight. If they did move, it did not appear to degrade skywave propogation.
From my south of downtown Chicago location, the nulls of both WSCR AM and WBBM AM now match that of 1160 WYLL. Before this week was the traditional null towards the west/northwest legacy Bloomingdale location. Strongest signal is now with the radio facing maybe 10 degrees north/northwest for both WSCR AM and WBBM AM. Ground wave signal strength is pretty much the same as before. For me the WYLL site is closer at 16.9 miles vs the legacy Bloomingdale at at 21.2 miles.
The only way I was ever able to make people believe my field strength estimates was to buy a used FIM-41 and actually measure it. The only people who believed my rough estimates without measurements were engineering consultants. Most station engineers still think that M-3 is accurate. My recommendation for anyone serious about this is to borrow or buy one. The null method for the origin of the signal is fairly accurate with just a radio outside the house. It has to be repeatable, in the same exact place though. Inside, electrical wires and copper pipes can twist things around. When there were copper standpipes, now usually PVC, those could really influence field strength and reflect the signal at different places in a house.
I suspect any change would impact groundwave reception more than anything.
When I was back in Illinois/Wisconsin a few months ago, I really noticed issues with WMVP, especially near the state line.
It's also interesting to me that Audacy even bothers to continue both AM frequencies. I get WBBM serves as the emergency alert services for the area, so maybe they get some federal money there? There really is no business-reason to keep either frequencies on the AM dial.
When I was back in Illinois/Wisconsin a few months ago, I really noticed issues with WMVP, especially near the state line.
It's also interesting to me that Audacy even bothers to continue both AM frequencies. I get WBBM serves as the emergency alert services for the area, so maybe they get some federal money there? There really is no business-reason to keep either frequencies on the AM dial.
With WMVP's move out to Joliet it's now 27 miles from downtown Chicago. WLS, WGN, WSCR and WBBM are all around 21 miles from downtown Chicago. For WMVP, the Downers Grove site was ideal as it was centrally located. Only issue was the directional night signal that put the deep null towards Naperville, Bolingbrook and Joliet. The Naperville, Bolingbrook and Joliet problem is solved, the problem it created with the move was the weaker signal towards the IL, WI state line with probably some fading as well.
Read this:
WMVP(AM) Engineer Explains Its Transmitter Move to Joliet - Radio World
Scott Clifton, currently senior engineer at Good Karma Broadcasting, which owns the 50 kW 1000 WMVP(AM), says its Joliet site has improved its signal.
www.radioworld.com
I believe WGN serves as the Emergency Alert Station for North East IL, not WBBM. I'm sure that Heartland Signal would snap up AM 780 to transmit WCPT 24/7 on 780 at 5,800 watts from their Milwaukee Ave location so they would not need to use the night site in Joliet assuming these frequencies are as worthless as many on here are claiming that they are. Also believe political (conservative talk) and religious groups would buy up these signals at a fire sale just for the need to get their message out.
Audacy's biggest problem is programing and not having anything to reach a desired demographic on the FM's of 104.3 and 105.9 where they need to resort to butchering the AM's for the sake of lack of programing and spending cash to program these signals properly. This is primarily a problem of mass consolidation of the major broadcasters in the mid to late 90s that caused the mess we have today.
Over-all, streaming is the future for these broadcast groups, not more FM signals, and not more translators as most on here believe. There has been some discussion of the TV broadcasters leasing portions of their ATSC 3.0 signals for traditional broadcasters to use to depopulate both the AM and FM bands with higher quality audio signals. Guess there would need to be ATSC radio tuners for this purpose but Nextstar and Sinclair would be charging big money for leasing of these band slots. So, streaming is probably the best option.
You are correct. Different rooms in the house can and do produce different results with taking a simple receiver and nulling a signal out to determine it's approximate location. I'm not doing this for living thus purchasing professional equipment is not in my future. Just describing what I'm seeing. The storms in the area last week might have changed the perceived signal nulls I'm seeing. So yes, I could be wrong!
This article explains more about the ATSC 3.0 audio services as of a few years ago:
ATSC 3.0 Audio Services: The How and Why - Radio World
One of the most interesting applications of ATSC 3.0, the new global standard for broadcasting, has been its use not only for television services but also for pure audio (radio) services.
www.radioworld.com
With many of the directional stations going off the air or going nondirectional, you might ask an engineer at one of those stations if you can at least borrow it.