• 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

WVKO AM ON THE AIR

P

phatdaddy

Guest
WVKO AM is on the air testing as I write this on Saturday morning. Thought y'all might be interested to know.
 
Yes, I stopped buy the transmitter site yesterday and noticed that a small army of people there working to get the station back on the air as soon as possible... I was told yesterday they they 'HOPED' to be on the air by Noon today... They said they had to be on the air by the May 6 deadline, the one year anniversary of WVKO going silent...

They are Now in the testing stage, broadcasting from one stick, at low power and are playing a C.D. from the new transmitter site. They said that they will not be on all the time during this testing stage, presuming only when staff is present at the transmitter site.
 
Listening to them right now from Northern Columbus at 1:39pm on air first with dead air and now what it seems like country music -- with an Legal id between the two tracks I've heard..

Right now their playing Shania Twain and Bryan White "From This Moment On"
 
Heard it last night near Riverside Hospital. As I went south on 315 (shortly after midnight, the ingress got worse. At the 315/70 split it was a voice among voices. You needed to know what you were listening to to discern who they were. Drove out to Brice road area and they simply gone.
 
If I read the STA correctly, they should be running 250W during the day and 62.5W at night during this temporary period. All things considered, it's not surprising they disappeared into the QRM at night. It would be nice if the Chief Engineer would go out to his truck and get a different CD to play for a while though ;)
 
I have been listening to them scince saturday morning they are running 250 watts on 1 stick building on 3rd stick going on right now crew is from dallis tx. area thats why the music is the way it is. They plan on some programing this week ,full power is expected sometime in july. No one knows what the format will be.
 
They must be playing a CD-R disc with one track on repeat. The last track on the CD skips and stutters badly (Ive seen this happen before when the Audio CD player freaks at a burned track on a CD-R -- normally last part on a burned disc of 76 minutes). I listened for a few hours yesterday -- Garth's "Calling Baton Rouge" stutters badly and when that track ends its dead air for 10 or so seconds then its back to the same selection of tracks over again with the id between each.

I drove around -- their signal is impressive during the day for 250watts. They should cover Columbus during the day well once their other towers are up and their up to full power.

Sure it wont be no WTVN but with the right programming someone could turn some profit I feel.
 
WVKO was back on the air testing this afternoon . Playing a different test cd same country format with station id. sounding like tuning transmitter modulation. Three towers up one to go.
 
Does anybody have an update on their return-to-air date? Haven't heard anything on 1580 for several days now and I thought they had to be back on the air by this time. If it were up to me, rather than playing russian roulette with the FCC I would have a laptop out there at the transmitter site running something like Zara Radio and at least get something on the air while the rest was being worked out.
 
phatdaddy said:
Does anybody have an update on their return-to-air date? Haven't heard anything on 1580 for several days now and I thought they had to be back on the air by this time. If it were up to me, rather than playing russian roulette with the FCC I would have a laptop out there at the transmitter site running something like Zara Radio and at least get something on the air while the rest was being worked out.
Click to expand...

I drove by the new tower site today and I know the 4th tower is now up and the ground work has begun, I also noticed that they have a generator on a trailer next to the transmitter building, so i don't think they have power to the building yet. also since they filed for the STA and are doing testing, i would guess that keep the license active after the old may 6th deadline.
 
The Phasor unit should be on site within the next couple of days. All four towers are up and the engineers are gathering to start taking measurements for the tuning and proof of performance which should be completed within the next couple of weeks. The transmitter chosen for the site is a 5kw BE.
 
WVKO Update

The phasor manufactured by Phasetek arrived last Thursday and was connected the same day. This phasor is no less than a work of art inside The care, thought and planning put into to it's design shows in every detail. The next 7 days were spent conducting the proof of performance. This involved taking signal strength readings out to 20 kilometers. The numbers are being crunched now to assure the signal complies with FCC rules and regulations. A few pieces of gear are still on backorder which are required for operation

More to follow
 
The equipment on backorder has arrived and has been installed. There is a remaining issue though. The site still does not have utility company power or phone lines. These need to be straightened out before operation can take place. The numbers have also been submitted to the FCC and are within the predicted signal strength and contour. Hopefully this will not take long to approve.

All indications now point to the fact that WVKO will come back stronger than ever. A format has still not been announced.
 
I stopped by the WVKO Tower site again last Monday evening(very close to my shopping) and also noticed they are still hooked up to a electric power generator... Just as I was going to point this out on the Radio-Info board then did RF man post and say they do not yet have city power at the site.

I wonder if there is some kind of political hold up?? Maybe they can't drop the power lines until they have
have city permission?? Or could it be something to do with their Fabricated transmitter building??
How long will it be before they will have power at the site??
 
Click here for more:

http://www.thisweeknews.com/?sec=ho...060707/Northland/News/060707-News-368604.html

WVKO prepares to return to airwaves

Thursday, June 7, 2007
By RANDY NAVAROLI
ThisWeek Staff Writer

A historic Columbus radio station is set to return to the airwaves from its new home in Northland, possibly on a limited basis, within the next few weeks.

WVKO-AM 1580 has been off the air for more than a year and had until May 5 to begin broadcasting again or risk losing its FCC license. In March, the FCC agreed to give the station's new owners, Bernard Ohio LLC, an extension until Sept. 15 to get back on the air after construction delays occurred at its new locaion.

Delays erecting the towers were blamed on wet soil conditions at the station's site at 2708 Morse Road. However, the station has enough of its equipment operating to broadcast station identification information every few minutes. Other than that, it remains silent for now.
 
gabigley1 said:
I stopped by the WVKO Tower site again last Monday evening(very close to my shopping) and also noticed they are still hooked up to a electric power generator... Just as I was going to point this out on the Radio-Info board then did RF man post and say they do not yet have city power at the site.

I wonder if there is some kind of political hold up?? Maybe they can't drop the power lines until they have
have city permission?? Or could it be something to do with their Fabricated transmitter building??
How long will it be before they will have power at the site??
Click to expand...


My guess would be that they will have to put in new drops for power and telephone. The apartment complex next door I am sure was never planned to have a transmitter site as a neighbor and probably does not have capacity for more phone lines. It also looks as though poles will need to be set in order to supply service.

I am also fairly certain that the prefab is not a problem as they are used in many cell sites around the country and have proper access for service as well as full blown breaker boxes.
 
RF Man is correct, the prefab equipment shelters come from the factory with all electrical panels, outlets, air conditioning, etc already installed. If the hut is similar to the ones I worked on, the phone circuit termination will need to be installed by local engineers but this is a relatively simple operation. Special phone circuits usually need to be ordered at least a month or two in advance because they have to be custom engineered and provisioned by the phone company. The phone lines will undoubtedly be some sort of digital service, most likely at least a fractional T-1 which can use existing pairs in the apartment complex if available, but still need to be cut over to the site and installed. I don't know what sort of delay to expect from the power company as all of the sites I worked at already had power installed.
 
My Intel tells me that power will be going in next week as well as fencing for the entire site. They will also have to dig a trench from the apartment building to get DSL for the site. Rumor is that they are shooting for a July 1st on air date. No format has been announced as yet.
 
My guts tells me this will end up sold or brokered to Salem for their talk lineup.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom