I'm resurrecting this old thread because it appears that 1120 is off yet again. Of course it's no longer WVLZ, now it's WJMP. Every time I've tuned in 1120 in the last few weeks, maybe longer, there's no signal. This can't be legal on a long-term basis if the translator is still running.
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WVLZ 1120 AM off the air?
- Thread starter RMarino
- Start date
Not legal but becoming more common. There's an AM in Indiana that's been off around a year with a translator running.
I've been thinking about Digital only AM lately. Loud should test it out in this market with their signals. I have heard about many stations transitioning to this across the country. I don't know much about it to say it would work here, but why not give it a shot? They seem to be a really innovative company.
How many people in this area are going to buy a digital AM radio? I know it's being tried in suburban NYC now, but it's more of an experiment and with that population maybe there's a chance a few people have the radios to hear it. But I'm sure that number is still small. It's a fun experiment, but as they say, if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense.
There are not "many" stations... there are not even enough to run out of fingers on one hand if your are counting them that way!
They are counting on the fact that about half of radio listening is in the car, and we are approaching having a third of all car radios having HD capability.
The pesimists will say that many people don't even know that their radio is able to hear HD subchannels on FM or to get HD at all. Others, bothered by the flipping in and out of HD in fringe areas, have it turned off.
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The only thing I can see is if it's a cheaper way to feed their translators. The AM audience has to be next to non-existant here. News and sports talk have been on FM for a couple of decades. Now even the religious screamers have translators.
The AM is a daytimer, so it can't feed the translator which is on at night as well.
Or "be on the air at less cost while the translator carries the freight"
BTW 1120 was back on the air yesterday
That also occured last time I mentioned it was off the air. It came back on soon after. Makes me think that they read this board, which is not a bad thing at all.
It's amazing in the face of the global climate crisis that we allow these old dinosaurs to keep lumping along. Imagine the pollution the old AM stations are putting out, even with translators, and nobody is listening. It's a waste of electricity, which is generated from burning coal. It's an ecological disaster in the making.
Obviously people are listening or the stations would not be on the air. Revenue is directly related to listeners.
I don't know of any AM station causing climate change. The power companies would be a likely target. From what I have read, bovines are major contributors to climate change with the amount of methane released in the atmosphere.
I don't know of any AM station causing climate change. The power companies would be a likely target. From what I have read, bovines are major contributors to climate change with the amount of methane released in the atmosphere.
Let’s not exaggerate. The amount of power used by less-listened-to stations is minimal. A 1 kw AM in Phoenix uses less annual power than an average single family home, for example.
And, while coal is used to generate some electricity, much has come from hydroelectric plants on rivers, going back to the New Deal. Add in growing geothermal, wind and solar and there is lots of electricity generated by other means than burning coal.
19% of US energy is from coal. 20% from renewables. The rest is gas at 40%, nuclear at 20%. Source: EIA.
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Aren't those CB-sized solid state transmitters pretty energy efficient?
Obviously, AM and FM will have, due to their nature, different efficiency levels. But we are talking about AM here and stations have to produce a carrier and add modulation to it so they will be less efficient, even with some new techniques, than FM operations. But the reduction in heat reduces the need for energy consuming fans, and the reduction in size reduces the need for big transmitter rooms that need heating and cooling.
I've seen some lower power stations, both AM and FM, outside the US that use what is basically a metal cabinet at the base of the tower that is the size of a single kitchen cabinet and which contain the STL gear, monitoring equipment and the transmitter with front and rear access and, depending on the location, fans or a heater or cooling device. No transmitter building at all... just a small rack in a cabinet.
There are station owners, managers, engineers, sellers, programmers... among others... here as well as listeners, fans, critics and bystanders who are not in the business. Everyone has the ability to add a comment or question.
I have about 50 years of experience in broadcasting, both in television and in radio.
While in high school and before I received my PhD in Electrical Engineering, I was an announcer for a number of stations.
Most of my career has been as director of engineering at various radio stations. Later, I moved into television engineering.
The only experience that I don't have is in the sales area.
DavidEduardo has an equal amount of experience in the industry.
China’s air and water are filthy. And where does our electricity go? The ground, that’s where. Straight to China.
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