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WUCO/WILE

RadioStationDudeUSA said:
Ok a coupl of things I thought of here....

Maybe 1270 WILE went for so much because it includes land. Maybe St Gabriel plans to sell the land to help pay off the purchase, hence taking WILE Dark. Also, WILE could've been billing fairly well, which would help account for part of the sale price.

There are NO applications on file for WUCO to increase power.

Also, I dought even if they took WILE dark, would they be able to get enough of an increase/pattern change to be able to cover all of Greater Columbus with just a local like signal. If they are beaming those 500 Watts from 6 towers all west, away from Columbus now, shutting off just one station won't change a whole heckuva lot.

Also, how far is marysville from Columbus? They said their office will be in Columbus. They are going to maintain a local studio in Marysville with localstaffing M-F 9 to 5pm? I like how they say they will keep a local show at 4:30pm on Saturday, like that wil lsatisfy the local presence rule or the need for local programming.

Why dont they just save their money, sell WUCO and WILE and buy a bigger stick in Columbus??
Click to expand...

The terms of the sale were listed, but I don't remember if any land was included. It would have to be a LOT of land to justify that price.

WILE billing well? Again, not enough to justify that price. Remember what it is and where it is. A 1 KW daytime AM in a small market like that with programming from a satellite dish isn't a big draw. Ever heard the old expression about little stations like that selling spots for "a dollar a hollar?" It's not far from the truth.

Closing WILE should allow them to accomplish plenty since that is the main signal they are protecting that is keeping them out of Columbus now. Boosting power to 5 or 10 KW will get them into Columbus just fine without having to protect WILE, and even better if they can put a lobe over the market. I haven't looked into it much yet, but there isn't anything else to the south or east in close range that would stop them from doing that from what I could tell.

By the way, I was behind a car a few days ago with a bumper sticker that said "Catholic Radio 1270 AM" without a call sign mentioned, so they are starting to put the word out.

Since the FCC keeps changing the Rules & Regulations, it's hard to tell what the current status is with studio location. I tried to look it up and came up with nothing but an outdated piece saying everything was under review and subject to change. Oddly enough, AM stations were still required to have their main studio within the city of license long after FM stations were let off the hook. An automatic exception was always made for AM stations that wanted to have their studio at their transmitter site. The reference I saw mentioned something about requiring all stations, AM & FM, to have their studio within 25 miles of the city of license, but again, it said it was under review. The date on it was 1998 or 1999. I couldn't find anything newer. I seriously doubt that the FCC would change the ruling to limit FM stations to 25 miles because there are so many that are 50 miles or more from their city of license. If anyone has any up to date information, please post it.

Your question about why didn't they buy a local signal was posed by me early on. Considering the amount of money they have tied up in WUCO and the purchase of WILE, plus the additional $2 million or so that they project for a power increase, it seems like they could have picked up WVKO easily for the same amount or maybe even less.
 
Based on the following email, it looks like WUCO AM will:

#1. Turn off WILE-AM after they purchase that station.

#2. They will upgrade their Daytime signal at their present tower site location near Marysville, Ohio.

#3. The city of license will still be maintained in Marysville, Ohio after they upgrade their Daytime
signal.

This is all contingent on them raising the funds and getting FCC approval
for the upgrade. There should be no problem with WILE going dark.

This is the email I received today from Linda O'Horo, The WUCO General Manager

Sent : Thursday, August 2, 2007 6:09 PM
Subject : Re: Question on WUCO

Hi Artie:

We will continue to use our towers in Marysville for broadcasting in the future. We will merely purchase the capacity and rights to the airspace to expand our signal throughout a good part of the Columbus Diocese. Thank you for your question.

We will be the same station and on the same frequency -- 1270AM, and we will still be WUCO. But our power should increase from 500 watts to 10,000 watts! We will be well-heard throughout the Columbus area -- hopefully by May of 2008. We just need to raise the money now to do so.

Yours In Christ,
Linda O'Horo
General Manager
 
Probably will be able to increase day power and loosen up the directional pattern some to the east. They'll still have to be sort of an east/west pattern to protect some adjacent stations. Some of the ones I can think of are:
1st adjacents:
1260: WNXT/Portsmouth, WWMK/Cleveland
1280: WONW/Defiance

2nd adjacents:
1250: WCHO/Washington C.H.
1290: WHIO/Dayton, WOMP/Bellaire

3rd adjacents:
1240: WBBW/Youngstown, WHIZ/Zanesville
1300: WJMO/Cleveland, WMVO/Mount Vernon
 
You guys are awful negative. WUCO is still a Marysville station. We still run local news and weather. The reason we moved the studio is because we relay on volunteers and we can get more of them in Columbus area. We don't have any money. We rely on listener support. We are non- profit. Nobody on the board gets paid. Nobody on the board is a millionaire. We are all just normal people trying to make it month to month. Our only motivation is to spread the Gospel. Everything we are doing is an open book. You just need to call if you have any questions.
Chris Gabrelcik
 
Chris:

Two questions. Are you running the night pattern during the day and has it been going on for quite some time in the recent past?

If not, how do you explain the coverage over Columbus?
 
Yes we are running on night pattern. It had been intermittent. We were having problems with the Potomic. We hired 2 different engineers to fix it. They both failed. We were able to get it to switch to day pattern but it would quit working after a few weeks. We bought a rebuilt unit from potomic to fix the problem but it isn't working now. We hired a new engineer to fix it. Unfortunaltely there is a short somewhere and now when we switch to day pattern the whole thing shorts out and we go off the air. I hired a 4th engineer to help the 3rd engineer thinking we could clean this up but he flew in and said it will take a long time to sort this out and we need to file a STA with the FCC asking for 6 months to rebuild. Which we are doing. The engineer wrote it up and sent it to our FCC attorney this weekend.

The problem we encountered with this station is that none of the other owners made any money on it (which is why we were able to buy it) so they didn't put any money into it. 2 of the former owners filed bankrupcy. We had to rewire the studio and the transmitter site. You would not believe the mess of wiring we had when we started. We were off the air at least once a week. We have been working night and day to get the station brought up to code. To make things worse we have a local owner of a tower that is reradiating our signal toward Columbus. We have begged and pleaded with him to detune the tower but he will not. We even offered to pay for the detuning so we could finish adjusting our array but he just refuses. We hired Jack Layton to come out and do field measurements and adjust the array but he said unless we detune Dave Moots' tower we are wasting our time. This is all going to the FCC in the next 30 days.

So to answer your question, the intermittant night pattern is not from lack of effort. We have spent 100's of man hours and 10's of thousands of dollars trying to fix it. We are willing to accept anyones help in this matter. So if any of you gentlemen in the know wants to give us a hand we would deeply appreciate it.

Chris
 
Chris, I must applaud your efforts in trying to get your "Titanic" back into seaworthy condition. A seven tower array is a nightmare to maintain under the best of conditions, much less one suffering from years of neglect. As for your neighbor Mr. Moots, a letter or two from the FCC enforcement bureau should convince him of the benefits of cooperation with his parasitic radiator tower. Once you acquire WILE and take it dark you should be able to rebuild and simplify your antenna array down to two or maybe three towers....much simpler to align and maintain than what you have now.

The two or three religious broadcasters who have pretty much taken over the translator business around the country have made a rather unfavorable impression on many people for various reasons so that may help explain the skepticism that some of us have. It is refreshing to see the Catholic Church's viewpoints receiving some airtime around here though.

Good luck in your endeavors.
 
Chris Gabe said:
You guys are awful negative. WUCO is still a Marysville station. We still run local news and weather. The reason we moved the studio is because we relay on volunteers and we can get more of them in Columbus area. We don't have any money. We rely on listener support. We are non- profit. Nobody on the board gets paid. Nobody on the board is a millionaire. We are all just normal people trying to make it month to month. Our only motivation is to spread the Gospel. Everything we are doing is an open book. You just need to call if you have any questions.
Chris Gabrelcik
Click to expand...

Well said Chris..Lots of negativity(and arrogance) here. It's not like CC took over a Marysvile station and moved it to their cluster depot in "COW-lumbus." Do wish however the studios would remain in Marysville. Catholic radio nevertheless is long overdue..but better late then never. Others join you including WNOP "Sacred Heart Radio" Newport/Cincinnati, WLYV "Redeemer Radio" in Ft. Wayne. WCAR 1090 and WOAP 1080 "Michigan Catholic Radio" and Radio Maria USA out of Alexandria,LA is also growing with a station in Western Ohio (WHJM..repeater of KJMJ) which signed on a year ago.
 
Ok. I have a question. I worked in radio for most of my life and as a 3rd class operator taking transmitter measurements if what Chris said about WUCO is even partially true I would have lost my license and the staiton could well be in jeopardy of losing theirs. I was always told the regulations read you "must" control your transmitter at "all" times and if it is reversing the pattern you must shut it down immediately to prevent interference. Am I missing something?
 
del_griffith said:
For some time now, it seems they've been running the night pattern during the day. They have been coming in this way for some time, and according to the patterns I've seen, they shouldn't even exist in Columbus during the day.

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WUCO&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Click to expand...

Chris Gabe said:
Yes we are running on night pattern. It had been intermittent. We were having problems with the Potomic. We hired 2 different engineers to fix it. They both failed. We were able to get it to switch to day pattern but it would quit working after a few weeks. We bought a rebuilt unit from potomic to fix the problem but it isn't working now. We hired a new engineer to fix it. Unfortunaltely there is a short somewhere and now when we switch to day pattern the whole thing shorts out and we go off the air. I hired a 4th engineer to help the 3rd engineer thinking we could clean this up but he flew in and said it will take a long time to sort this out and we need to file a STA with the FCC asking for 6 months to rebuild. Which we are doing. The engineer wrote it up and sent it to our FCC attorney this weekend.

The problem we encountered with this station is that none of the other owners made any money on it (which is why we were able to buy it) so they didn't put any money into it. 2 of the former owners filed bankrupcy. We had to rewire the studio and the transmitter site. You would not believe the mess of wiring we had when we started. We were off the air at least once a week. We have been working night and day to get the station brought up to code. To make things worse we have a local owner of a tower that is reradiating our signal toward Columbus. We have begged and pleaded with him to detune the tower but he will not. We even offered to pay for the detuning so we could finish adjusting our array but he just refuses. We hired Jack Layton to come out and do field measurements and adjust the array but he said unless we detune Dave Moots' tower we are wasting our time. This is all going to the FCC in the next 30 days.

So to answer your question, the intermittant night pattern is not from lack of effort. We have spent 100's of man hours and 10's of thousands of dollars trying to fix it. We are willing to accept anyones help in this matter. So if any of you gentlemen in the know wants to give us a hand we would deeply appreciate it.

Chris
Click to expand...

WUCO filed this S.T.A. request with the FCC today. Click here for the entire document:

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/...xt=25&appn=101198873&formid=911&fac_num=29636
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exhibit 13
Description: DESCRIPTION OF STA REQUEST

WUCO IS LICENSED TO OPERATE ON 1270 KHZ WITH A POWER OF 500 WATTS UTILIZING DIFFERENT ANTENNA SYSTEMS DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME. THE DAYTIME SYSTEM IS A 6 TOWER 3X2 WIDE SPACED PARALLELOGRAM ARRAY AND THE NIGHT PATTERN IS A TWO-TOWER SYSTEM UTILIZING TOWER TWO OF THE DAYTIME SYSTEM AND A SEVENTH TOWER AT THE APPROPRIATE SPACING AND BEARING FROM THE DAYTIME TOWER. WUCO IS EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY OPERATING THE DAYTIME 6-TOWER PATTERN. ATTEMPTS TO OPERATE THIS SYSTEM RESULT IN THE TRANSMITTER SHUTTING DOWN BECAUSE IT CANNOT MATCH THE COMMON POINT LOAD. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE AGE OF THE SYSTEM, THE LACK OF PROPER MAINTENANCE PRIOR TO THE PURCHASE OF THE STATION BY ST. GABRIEL RADIO, INC. (ST. GABRIEL) AN COMPONENT FAILURE IN THE PHASING AND COUPLING UNITS HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT THIS PROBLEM. THERE IS ALSO SOME SERIOUS CORROSION ON ANTENNA TUNING UNIT COILS WHERE THE TUNING STRAPS ATTACH.

TO MAINTAIN SERVICE WHILE ATTEMPTING TO RECTIFY THIS PROBLEM, ST. GABRIEL IS CURRENTLY OPERATING WITH THE NIGHTTIME PATTERN AT THE LICENSED NIGHTTIME POWER OF 500 WATTS DURING DAYTIME HOURS. THE PROBLEM HAS NOT BEEN YET BEEN SOLVED, THEREFORE ST. GABRIEL NOW REQUESTS A SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY (STA) TO PERMIT IT TO OPERATE WHILE CONTINUING WORK ON THE PROBLEM.

IT IS PREFERRED THAT ST. GABRIEL BE PERMITTED TO CONTINUE OPERATION WITH THE NIGHT PATTERN DURING DAYTIME HOURS AT A POWER OF 500 WATTS. SHOULD INTERFERENCE COMPLAINTS BE RECEIVED, ST. GABRIEL PROPOSES TO REDUCE THE POWER TO 250 WATTS TO AMELIORATE THE INTERFERENCE.

WHILE ST. GABRIEL COULD GO NON-DIRECTIONAL AT A POWER OF 125 WATTS UNDER THE PRESENT STA RULES, THIS MODE OF OPERATION REQUIRES SOMEONE TO BE AT THE TRANSMITTER TO MANUALLY SWITCH BACK TO THE NIGHT PATTERN FOR NIGHTTIME OPERATION IN THE EVENING AND ALSO TO SWITCH FROM NIGHTTIME TO NON-DIRECTIONAL IN THE MORNING. THERE IS ONLY A PROVISION TO MANUALLY MAKE THE NDA/DN-N PATTERN CHANGE. A CHANGE OF TRANSMITTER POWER CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED VIA THE REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM. ALLOWING NON-DIRECTIONAL OPERATION AT NIGHTTIME WOULD RESULT IN INCREASED SKYWAVE INTERFERENCE TO NEARBY CO-AND ADJACENT-CHANNEL STATIONS.

PROPOSED REFURBISHING OF THE EQUIPMENT INCLUDES CLEANING THE COILS, STRAPS AND CLIPS, REMOVING THE CORROSION; VERIFYING THAT THERE HAS BEEN NO CHANGE IN THE VALUE OF THE CAPACITORS USED IN THE PHASING AND COUPLING EQUIPMENT AND REPLACE MENT OF ANY COMPONENT FOUND TO BE DEFICIENT; RECALIBRATION OF THE SAMPLING SYSTEM; RESTORATION OF THE LICENSED PARAMETERS ON THE ANTENNA MONITOR; RESETTING THE COMMON POINT IMPEDANCE; AND FINALLY A PARTIAL PROOF-OF-PERFORMANCE TO VERIFY THAT THE SYSTEM IS FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED.
 
It is acting as a "parasitic element" in the antenna array and is apparently causing a lobe toward Columbus in the day pattern. This most commonly happens when the tower in question happens to be at or near a quarter wavelength at the broadcast frequency. The high signal strength of the BC antenna field will induce high RF voltages in the parasitic tower and it in turn will produce an unwanted signal of it's own which will interact with the desired field from the main antenna array and can cause signal lobes in undesired directions. I remember hearing of this happening when WOSU built their night antenna array near Grove City and the new towers caused a problem with WMNI antenna pattern due to reradiation. The solution most commonly used is to attach a tuned network to the parasitic tower and tune for minimum RF voltage hence minimum reradiated signal. This was also a common problem when cell towers were sprouting up everywhere including the near-field of AM broadcast stations which necessitated detuning of the cell towers.
 
We are looking for some help on fixing the towers at WUCO. Can any of you gentlemen help us find the problem and fix it?
Chris
 
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