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wxcy

O

oasisrulz

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Do they use the WSTW-WDEL studios on Shipley Road and only use the site on the banks of the Susq River between Route 40 and 95 bridges for their transmitter...It seems like a flamethrower with tower and power and in a great location between Philly and Balt and Wilm....how did HDG get hold on a station like this in this small town...were they always country and did they ever have studios at the X-mtr site....I receive them once and awile in Philly but not too much they do come in like gangbusters as soon as you go south a bit....they just seem like a very unique station.... I also would receive a AM signal on 1330 from HDG and they played great old country classics a few years back and were receivable during the day in Philly...thanks for the info....
 
WXCY was originally WASA-FM. Simulcast of their AM (1330). Changed call letters to WHDG and was all religious for a time in the 70's.

It was not unusual for FM's in rural areas to have good power in order to cover a wide area.
 
Did they always have that great signal and tower location...so they were co-owned with 1330 which was Country Classics a few years back..thanks for the info....
 
I did notice the three tower array for now wjss on the middle tower that is used for daytime and night there is a 4 bay FM antenna mounted on it....what is this for is it for wxcy backup or was it the original antenna for wxcy..I know the wxcy transmitter is a few blocks away closer to the river...thanks
 
I can answer your questions---I was the original PD----WXCY is the house that BC built in 1989, along with GM Bob Bloom who is still there! Bob and I built WXCY from the ground up. The history as far back as I can tell it is the station was co-owned w/WASA 1330 (now WJSS) by Virginia Pate-Wetter who still owns the land. She sold WHDG to Bill Prettyman's Prettyman Broadcasting in 1988. New studios were constructed at 707 Revolution St in HdG, in the former Jose's House of Hair. 3 inch blonde shag carpet and I sat on a pile of lumber for my interview. Our original studios were not bad at all, and they have now remodeled again and it's beautiful.

The FM antenna was a 4-bay Gates "toilet seat" or "ring" antenna on the middle AM stick. WHDG ran 20kw ERP. This was replaced in Fall of '89 by the 4-bay Shively you see there now and I believe there is still a transmitter there as emergency backup. Probably the old Harris. Prettyman has a 99 year lease on that stick, so why not? The old Gates/Harris FM5H was put into backup service (what a piece of junk!) and a new BE FM20B was installed at that time giving a new 50kw ERP with a SW null to protect 103.5 in DC. You will notice that there is a large plate at the 50 ft level where the smaller tower face section goes up 50 more feet and holds the Shively. That is because the idiots who put in the tower turned it so that the guy wires would fit on the property better----You can't turn a face mounted directional antenna, morons, it changes where the null is!! But the guys were already cemented in before I realized what they had done. So, the plate was ordered and shipped so that the top 50 feet is turned the right way!! I don't think Bill ever paid the $5000 for that plate, nor should he have.
But the tower was too low and we'd get our a$$ kicked on humid summer mornings by Atlantic City and Richmond. So, after many searches for a new site, they moved to the tower you now see with an ERI Roto-tilt antenna (vast improvement over the Shively).

More than you ever wanted to know?

Peace, BC
 
No this was great info..thanks... so in a nutshell, the four bay at the jss site was the old 103.7 xmtr and now their backup.....and now they are located at the newer location off of quary road...I just was facinated with it a small town station with a great signal, nice studios and great xmtr kept up very well....I just dont know why I cannot pick them up here in Philly, as soon as I go a few miles south the are booming in...chester pa for instance they are like a local...I cannot receive wmgm here so I dont know why wxcy cannot get some clearance to bring their signal a bit more northeast...Just for fun I did take a ride down to revolution street today and saw the building and studios a nice facility..the calls on the front door the address I think the building looked like a blue paneling or something like that....was wxcy housed in the same building as wasa when co owned...are they owned by wstw-wdel now...
 
This is kinda funny last night I tried to receive them and they were booming in loud and clear in the city of Philadelphia....which is odd never caught them before and no real tropo last night....they were gone by this morning....they really sound big city for a small market....do they have any ratings in Baltimore...just curious
 
Thanks for the info, are they the farthest station from Baltimore that shows up in the ratings...I wonder what type signal they have in the city limits....
 
Pulled a few snakes out of that old Harris transmitter myself at the WHDG site, it was located at the base of the center Windcharger 1948 vintage tower when WXCY started up.
 
God, Dave, that Harris was a loser. What, 5 weeks into WXCY, the piece of junk dies and we're off for what, 2 days? Although engineer Donnie Kampes did the best he could with the paper clips and duct tape he had to work with. They just spent no money. The place was a dive head to toe. One jock used to jock am and fm AT THE SAME TIME! Different formats. Took a little timing! And you often heard dead air on one while the jock wrapped up on the other and the record ran out.
 
JohnnyU---Baltimore has never been the target. It's Wilmington and they are usually 2nd or 3rd there. Pretty respectable for a signal from 30 miles out.

Oasis---I wonder if 103.9 in Philly is running HD IBOC? If so, they're wiping out your 1st adjacent channels, 103.7 and 104.1. Perfectly asinine but legal.
 
oasisrulz said:
Thanks for the info, are they the farthest station from Baltimore that shows up in the ratings...I wonder what type signal they have in the city limits....
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that WXCY is considered a Wilmington market. At least that's how I think Arbitron ranks them.
 
Oasis---I wonder if 103.9 in Philly is running HD IBOC? If so, they're wiping out your 1st adjacent channels, 103.7 and 104.1. Perfectly asinine but legal.


All I know is Praise 103.9 is broadcasting in HD, with no side channels, 2 or 3, I dont think R1 has any sides on any of their properties, the station does not bleed into any adjacent channels....so 103.7 and 104.1 are free and clear....when XCY is vacant MGM comes in.....but at times nothing is on 103.7....that is why I wondered why XCY could not receive a power increase up to the northeast....
 
oasisrulz said:
Oasis---I wonder if 103.9 in Philly is running HD IBOC? If so, they're wiping out your 1st adjacent channels, 103.7 and 104.1. Perfectly asinine but legal.


All I know is Praise 103.9 is broadcasting in HD, with no side channels, 2 or 3, I dont think R1 has any sides on any of their properties, the station does not bleed into any adjacent channels....so 103.7 and 104.1 are free and clear....when XCY is vacant MGM comes in.....but at times nothing is on 103.7....that is why I wondered why XCY could not receive a power increase up to the northeast....
Click to expand...

WMGM would not be happy with that! And during tropo on the Jersey Shore (I'm in central Ocean County), WXCY beats up on WMGM. So, I think the status quo will be maintained.
 
In downtown Havre de Grace XCY pretty much stomps all over everything but 98Rock. Especially the former 99.1 WHFS and 103.1 WRNR. WHDG once played Rock,whether full time or just a certain DJs show I don't know but I remember listening in the late 70s. I worked at Forwood Exxon and someone who worked for the station came in alot....don't remember his name but he had an ego that barely fit in that compensator-on-wheels. I grew up in that town and never considered it a country atmosphere....Elkton would have been a much better choice to host and boast that honor.
 
WXCY uses the taller tower, behind the Havre de Grace Community Center. They use the middle tower on the WJSS tower as a back up. They moved to this taller stick about 5 years ago.
 
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