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WWBA-AM 820 dead air
- Thread starter Louis_009
- Start date
This is relatively common weekend occurance anymore, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, not just on WWBA but some of the large chain stations as well.Louis_009 said:
I suppose with little or no staff on the premises on the weekends and what little staff there is, multitasking, it's a wonder this type of thing doesn't happen more often.
I remember several years ago on a Sunday afternoon, as I was scanning the AM dial, looking for anything interesting to listen to, I discovered that 1250 WHNZ was running two different programs at the same time. (this turned out to the most interesting thing on the AM band at the time!
). At any rate this went on for about 10 minutes or more and then dead silence....... until what I assumed was a board operator calling someone for help and I guess he didn't realize there was an open mike, so his side of the conversation was being broadcast...... and then eventually there was only one program on the air........ and then it was time to put in a CD, the sole entertainment on the AM dial that weekend had ended.drt,
st. petersburg
I'm surprised you are able to pick up 1250 WHNZ at night; in n.e. Hernando county (toward Webster,FL) there is not a trace of WHNZ at night and only a nominal signal during the day. (not really listenable).
In s.e. St. Petersburg, neither 970 or 1250 come in as well as they used to before the power increases and directional pattern changes. Both still have listenable signals at night, just not as strong as before. In fact I sometimes can hear another station under WFLA.
I'm not sure when 1550-WAMA reduced their night time power, but now at 125 or 130 watts at night, they are reception at night is not listenable with the 1550 from Miami often coming in as strong.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
In s.e. St. Petersburg, neither 970 or 1250 come in as well as they used to before the power increases and directional pattern changes. Both still have listenable signals at night, just not as strong as before. In fact I sometimes can hear another station under WFLA.
I'm not sure when 1550-WAMA reduced their night time power, but now at 125 or 130 watts at night, they are reception at night is not listenable with the 1550 from Miami often coming in as strong.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
There was a period of time when WWPR still had tower and transmitter on the Old Memorial Pier (and IIRC was still 1,000 watts day and night) that their signal was stronger in s.e. St. Pete than 1250; of course, now with 1490 reducing power and moving their transmitter and tower to the old WBRD site; their signal in s.e. St. Petersburg has been greatly reduced. I could say their programming is not what it used to be either!flwfg said:
IIRC, I had been told by a business/francise owner in Lakeland in late 2002 or early 2003, he had been contacted by WFLA to advertise and was told that Lakeland would soon become part of the Tampa/St. Petersburg market and that there were signal improvement toward Lakeland.
I'm guessing word got out that another county was to be added to the Tampa Bay market and there was conjecture that Polk county would be added to the Tampa Bay radio market........... but it ended up being Hernando, where the AM signals just don't make it that well at night, some don't even make it to Hernando all that clearly during the day and at least two major FM stations 92.5 and 98.7 are MIA.(at least east of I-75 in Hernando county).
drt
820 has had lots of dead air lately. I should see if they need help. The thing that amuses me is that half the time I hear dead air, it's when I'm coming home at night trying to listen to the repeat of Phil Hendrie... Which is right after Dan Maduri's show, so it's like Dan signs off, they send the board-op home... and 15 minutes after they lock up everything goes silent. It's sad, these stations can't afford to pay people who actually know what they're doing, so they hire kids who have absolutely no idea what to do in a crisis, and not only do they not know what to do... they're scared to even try to do anything... so they just sit there waiting for their boss to call up and yell at them. That's what my first month as a bored op was like... (cue the time travel music) "OMG dead air!!! I don't understand this stupid proprietary automation system! S***!!! I'm going to get yelled at!!! I should do something, but I don't want to make things WORSE, I better just sit here and wait for the phone to ring" ------ *phone rings* "You Mother F*#&$!!!!! You stupid F&*$#%!!!!!!! Are you a complete F*$&#& *!*%*#@*$(%?!?!??"
It's funny, because to this day when I hear dead air, I still remember how it used to paralyze me, and how illogical that was. I'm assuming that most of the dead air on WWBA occurs when no one is in the studio, but I heard it at 5pm last Tuesday... it was funny because after the audio cut out, I could still hear 7 seconds of RFI on the delay lulz.
It's funny, because to this day when I hear dead air, I still remember how it used to paralyze me, and how illogical that was. I'm assuming that most of the dead air on WWBA occurs when no one is in the studio, but I heard it at 5pm last Tuesday... it was funny because after the audio cut out, I could still hear 7 seconds of RFI on the delay lulz.
;D
Studio20 said:
Their nighttime signal covers almost all of Pinellas, and the Tampa metro area. I think that's enough to work with... I mean if you look at their signal...
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWBA&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
Ok, maybe that's a little generous, but my point is, even with 1000 watts they're still covering the most populated parts of the area. I get great reception in downtown Tampa, St. Pete, and even in well into Bradenton and Sarasota. I gotta respect that antenna system they have, it's doing the best it can with what they've got. So the signal doesn't make it up north of Pinellas... sometime I forget that there are even people up there. They are definitely covering their COL though, especially when they don't turn all the way down some nights
Cedric said:
Cedric,
Thanks for your comments regarding WWBA. I reviewed the automation commands for the Phil Hendrie show which runs from 10p-1a Mon-Fri. Comparing them to the program clock provided by Talk Radio Network shows all the commands are there and in the correct position. I did add a 10 second liner at :29:50 each hour, as they leave that hole, but don't provide a reliable trigger at that time. The trigger at :30 is reliable, and that starts the local cut-away which includes the ABC News headlines.
I did find an error over the weekend during the paid programs that run only in the second half-hour. I inadvertently left the triggers turned on during the paid program, so when the network show that would have otherwise been on sent the local break trigger, the automation reacted and started the next event, which is the Legal ID, and then waited for ABC News at the top of the hour. I now turn triggers off when there is such programming.
It was interesting that you heard dead air at 5p on a weekday, as the local news programming is on then, and there is a board operator. I trust the dead air was only for a few seconds.
I can't remember when but there have been a few times in the last month or two that I've been on my way home around 10:30, and coming out of the news at the bottom of the hour it'll go silent. Generally I'll switch over to 970 or 1340 for a few minutes to kill time on my drive, and then switch back to 820 looking for Phil. He's usually back on before the 45 break, so it could just be TRN issue. I've noticed some dropouts on Sunday night around the same time during Mancow or whatever the hell it is...
As for the daytime dropout, that definitely happened, and it was during local news, it was for about a minute I'd say and then came back with a liner. Oh well, I don't have any right to criticize, we have dead air all the time. Just ask druidhills!
As for the daytime dropout, that definitely happened, and it was during local news, it was for about a minute I'd say and then came back with a liner. Oh well, I don't have any right to criticize, we have dead air all the time. Just ask druidhills!
The 820 daytime signal is just spectacular. Heard it in Key West, and in Panama City..and nearly everywhere in between. CMBU near Havana does a job on them more toward Miami, but overall that seems to be the best AM signal during the day in Florida. 620 is good, and can be heard in the Keys between Radio Rebelde..and up to big bend..what happened to 570? Just sounds weak..
Just a guess, but 570 may have lost it's permit to increase power at night. As I recall, they are/were one of the few AM stations in the country authorized to increase it's power at night. They may only be running 5k at night now.
According to this FCC letter from 4 months ago (January 2013) WTBN still has the STA to broadcast 10,000 watts night to help combat the Cuban interference. (I'm really surprised that authority doesn't include the day time hours as well).Cedric said:
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=38001
I do know there are major nulls to the east to protect WDBO 570 in Orlando and WQAM 560 in Miami and I used to routinely make trips to the east coast via S.R. 70 and I would always loose 570 WTBN to Cuba proably about 10 miles east of Lakewood Ranch.
In fact even during the day, I will often hear the Cuban 570's under WTBN in downtown St. Petersburg.
When in n.e. Hernando county WTBN is unlistenable during the day due to the null toward Orlando and on some radios the splatter from WDBO 580 as well.
In Hillsbourgh county; going out SR 60, I lose 570 in the eastern part of Brandon, which is probably why Salem purchased 910 with tower in Dover to cover eastern Hillsborough county as well as western Polk county.
The 820 WWBA signal is spectacular, on those trips to the east coast, 820 would be listenable on a car radio almost to Fort Pierce, when the 810 from Freeport, would start to cause some splatter. Indoors in Okeechobee, 820 WWBA comes in during the day on a good radio.
Someone on another thread mentioned that 690 WOKV out of Jacksonville has by far the best coverage of any Florida radio station, since the cover three or four states during the day; but of course, Jacksonville is near the Georgia border and being on the east side of the state, the Atlantic insures coverage for coastal, Georgia as well as coast S.C. and coastal N.C.
drt,
st. petersburg,fl
Parttimer said:
While WWBA's night service is relatively poor in comparison to its daytime service contour, 1kw DA-N utilizing three towers covers Largo, WWBA's city of license, just fine which is all it is required to do. However, if Genesis Communications is willing to make a substantial investment in additional towers, WWBA should be able to increase its night power. So long as its signal is directed away from Fort Worth's co-channel WBAP, I see no reason WWBA cannot increase to 50kw at night. However, the real question is "How many towers will it require to accomplish that objective?" and "... at what cost?" There comes a point where any such upgrades are cost prohibitive in relation to any potential additional revenue sources realized as a result of such upgrades.
C
cd637299
Guest
jmtillery said:
If it goes 50k at night, judging by DFW protection, Bermuda oughta hear it well at night!
cd
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