WTKZ 1320 Allentown area

[alok]

This station years ago was WKAP 1320. I think it was 5,000 watts day & night,maybe 1kw night. If I recall correctly it had three towers in line right along a major highway.
Now this station operates with much lower power from a different site.

What happen to this facility ? Why was it downgraded ? When did this occur ?


Al

 

[rdcuffpa1]

This station years ago was WKAP 1320. I think it was 5,000 watts day & night,maybe 1kw night. If I recall correctly it had three towers in line right along a major highway.
Now this station operates with much lower power from a different site.

What happen to this facility ? Why was it downgraded ? When did this occur ?


Al

It has been perhaps 10 years since the facility was moved from MacArthur Road (adjacent to Produce Junction?) to South Allentown. AFAIK the reasons were economic...the land was worth more for other uses

Others may have more details...

Richard in Allentown

 

[edarmsttrong]

It was actually 5 towers right where the Best Buy stands today.

The station changed transmit locations in 1997. And Richard is right, the land value was
greater than what the station was worth, so Holt sold the land to Best Buy and moved the transmitter to Poplar and Colorado streets in Allentown. The signal is diplexed into one of the WHOL 1600 AM towers. The thought was that now the signal is right in the middle of town, so not much coverage was lost.

 

[NigelWick]

Plenty of antennas up that way at one time. Is 1470 still off Rt 145, as well as 790?

 

[stoshman]

wwe's daniel bryan's answer to your question
YES YES YES
oh you didn't ask 3 questions; only two; sorrie

 

[edarmsttrong]

Plenty of antennas up that way at one time. Is 1470 still off Rt 145, as well as 790?

1470's array is still in the Whitehall Mall parking lot, but the studio building is long gone.

790 is a bit further north on 145, and it's 5 tower array is still there. Some clown chopped down their
northern most tower last year, but has been replaced.

 

[Tim Y]

I had worked part time on the weekends at WKAP in the late 1960s as a disc jockey and engineer. The studio and transmitter were indeed located at MacArthur road near route 22 and I believe it had a Whitehall address. It had a directional signal both daytime and night time however we would change patterns at night and reduce power from 5kw to 1 kw.Scranton (WSCR) and Gettysburg (WGET) were both on 1320 kilohertz.I believe it was a 5 tower array,however please forgive my memory.
WKAP had a quality sound with professional announcers such as Sammy Anderson ,who also sold their shows.News department was headed by Alan Raber and "Tiny" LaBaar was the chief engineer.We would sign off about 1:00 AM Monday morning for transmitter maintenance.The GM was a nice old fella named Auggie Davis,and I believe it was part of the "Rahall" group.I still have WKAP jingles from old air checks.Thank you for the memories.( I have not been in Allentown for years )
Note---- I also baby sat the WSAN transmitter at night which I believe was located in a mall somewhere near WKAP.

 

[TheMinimumDose]

This station years ago was WKAP 1320. I think it was 5,000 watts day & night,maybe 1kw night. If I recall correctly it had three towers in line right along a major highway.
Now this station operates with much lower power from a different site.

What happen to this facility ? Why was it downgraded ? When did this occur ?


Al

What happened to it: changed ownership several times. Mega, an owner of multiple Spanish-language stations, held it for a time. Nassau picked it up later in the 2000s. Nassau was just broken up; a holding company, NB Broadcasting LLC, has it now.
Why it was downgraded: Nassau, I believe, decided to drop its power at some point. Since the Federal records site closes up during non-9-to-5 hours, I can't find the details right now.
When it occurred: Nassau acquired it in 2006.

 

[Bill790]

This station years ago was WKAP 1320. I think it was 5,000 watts day & night,maybe 1kw night. If I recall correctly it had three towers in line right along a major highway.
Now this station operates with much lower power from a different site.

What happen to this facility ? Why was it downgraded ? When did this occur ?


Al

What happened to it: changed ownership several times. Mega, an owner of multiple Spanish-language stations, held it for a time. Nassau picked it up later in the 2000s. Nassau was just broken up; a holding company, NB Broadcasting LLC, has it now.
Why it was downgraded: Nassau, I believe, decided to drop its power at some point. Since the Federal records site closes up during non-9-to-5 hours, I can't find the details right now.
When it occurred: Nassau acquired it in 2006.

Here's what radio-locator shows:
Hours of Operation Unlimited
Antenna Mode Directional - Nighttime Only
Daytime Power 750 Watts
Nighttime Power 195 Watts
Daytime Number of Towers 1
Nighttime Number of Towers 2
Transmitter Location 40° 35' 33" N, 75° 28' 42" W
License Granted March 16 2000
License Expires August 01 2014
Last FCC Update March 16 2000

I was surprised to see this because when I was in the area in the early 70's WKAP (1320) had a very good 5 KW signal. (I'm not sure, but I think they did drop to 1 KW at night.) Their studios and transmitter were on MacArthur Blvd, just north of Rt. 22. As I recall, there were 5 towers. 4 of them were arranged in a parallelogram (nearly square), with the 5th tower in the middle.

 

[Seltzer]

Loved the Super K in the 70s. Felt, like the Big X, they had a much tighter sound than WAEB. But alas, after trying for a good # of years, was never able to beat AEB. KAP was also the LV home for American Top 40.

 

[TheMinimumDose]

Loved the Super K in the 70s. Felt, like the Big X, they had a much tighter sound than WAEB. But alas, after trying for a good # of years, was never able to beat AEB. KAP was also the LV home for American Top 40.

They gave away their AT40 shows in a drawing of all correct guesses of the #1 song each week... I won them three times! Still have 'em, 1976 and '77.