New Seattle AM music station KVI 570

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

So much is owned by Entercomm and Clear Channel in N.O. it's a lot of the same automated crap. We have an extraordinary number of stations for our market size, but not much variety:

Religious or Gospel: 600, 750, 800, 940, 1010, 1060, 1280,
Sports Talk: 690, 870, 990, 1350, 1560
Hispanic: 830, 1540
News or Talk: 690, 870, 990, 1230
Radio Disney: 1450

A station in Franklinton, WOMN 1100 has filed a construction permit to move to my town, Chalmette. Currently they play classic country I think. Don't think that's what they'll market to New Orleans though.

I just looked at the listing on RadioLocator.com for WOMN, and found that the construction permit is for a 50kW daytime signal, lower power and three different signal patterns -- one pattern for use from sunrise to sundown, the second for sundown to sunrise and the third for critical hours (two hours before local sunrise and two hours before local sunset). If that station moves to Chalmette (they'd better hurry if they intend to make the move, as the CP expires some time next year) you will get more signal from it than you'd ever need, which might play heck with your cable TV (although the cable company would probably put a trap in the main feed to your house to filter out the AM station's signal). I lived in the Cleveland suburb of Cleveland Heights for three years in the early 1970s. There was an FM radio station on the next street over from me (which also happened to be the main street of town) whose towers were visible from my bedroom window at night, when the red signal lights were on. Anyway, that station got into my TV on channel 6 (the station's carrier frequency was 92.3 MHz, but the signal was so strong it just blasted its way into the TV tuner -- very strong RF signals have a bad habit of pulling this trick if you are very near a powerful transmitter). The signal also came in beautifully on a stereo FM radio I had, not only on its fundamental frequency, but between every other local Cleveland FM station as well. I tried putting a small carbon resistor in the antenna line, hoping to attenuate the signal somewhat so it wouldn't cover the entire dial; no luck--the signal was just too strong (the station ran 27.5 kW ERP and the antenna [only one tower], as I said, was just about a third of a mile or less from where I was living at the time). The only way I was able to get rid of this nuisance was when we moved three years later, in 1975. The signal was also strong enough to get into the audio amplifier stages in my dad's Ampex Micro 88 solid-state stereo tape deck; this all but ruined a recording he was making of a musical program at our church.

BTW, there do not seem to be any country-western stations in the New Orleans area, according to the list of stations in your post; however, I found, on RadioStationWorld.com, two C&W (country/western) stations on FM in the area, as well as one AM C&W station in a suburb of the city, so your area is not totally without country music.

WOMN might stay with its C&W format yet; with a 50kW signal, it could serve the entire New Orleans area quite well, at least during the day. I don't know, however, how large the city of New Orleans is, or the greater NO area for that matter; if the city and its suburbs put together make up a very large metropolitan area, then WOMN's 50kW daytime signal (and its lower power night pattern) could make for some very tough competition for listeners between it and the other C&W AM in town.

[Reece]

Jeff, in the 1950's FM was nowheresville in most small towns and people didn't know much what to make of it. Also, most stations signed on at 6AM and off at midnight (except for some daytimers.) There were half a dozen AM stations in my immediate area (Beaumont, TX, then around 100,000 population) and then comes along this FM station that nobody could hear, except the few that had bought a radio that just happened to have the FM band on it, that most people didn't know what it did. It wasn't going to pay in the beginning to set up a complex arrangement to a deaf audience. The FM station that used the record changer used a corner of the AM station's studio so the changer was monitored and the stack changed. A lot of people back then thought FM meant "fine music" and so this really was a sort of Muzak substitute; IIRC the music was all syrupy instrumentals, think Mantovani, etc. And, of course, the source for DJ and other music in those days was vinyl: in the case of DJ's, two manual turntables with 45's on them. There were 1/4" tape decks for recorded commercials, etc.

By the late '50's and early '60's in my area, FM was being "figured out" and a Houston station played exclusively classical music. FM was pretty much classical with pop etc. on AM until around the '70's.

[Sandy G]

Another thing was most early FM sets I've found have been VERY insensitive...They seem to be set up to pick up local stations only, to take advantage of FM's higher audio frequency response.

[fifties]

I enjoy listening to KYA @1200 kiloCYCLES (lol) both on AM and on the net

http://www.kyaradio.com/

even tho the station is located in 'Frisco and I am in the L.A. area, about 450 miles south, the fading doesn't bother me, listening on one of my AA5's.
They play continuous '50's - 70's oldies, and antique commercials from the '60's.

Another good station is

http://www.kcsn.org/listen.html

on Friday and Saturday nights. They are on FM 98.5, or on the net. Fridays from 9 pm PST to about 3 am, playing '40's to '70's stuff, and Saturdays, midnight PST to 3 am, all '50's.

[jr_tech]

Well, today Seattle FM station KJR ( I like the call letters) switched to "oldies 95.7"... This might be somewhat of a blow to KVI 570 AM.
jr

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Another thing was most early FM sets I've found have been VERY insensitive...They seem to be set up to pick up local stations only, to take advantage of FM's higher audio frequency response.

I think Zenith's FM radios from about 1960 to 1970 or so, particularly the MJ1035 and C845 (from 1965 and 1960, respectively), are quite sensitive; Zenith was not one to cut corners on anything they designed, built and marketed, as long as the original Zenith Radio Corporation existed. I have a C845 that can get FM stations from 50-60 miles away using its built in antenna with no trouble at all, and the sound is very good. I live near Lake Erie and can often hear FM stations from Canada (SW Ontario), Detroit, Toledo, Ohio,et al., as well as all Cleveland stations, on this radio when the band opens up.

I have a feeling that the C845 and other high-end Zenith table and console FM sets must have sold like hotcakes in radio fringe areas, because of their excellent sensitivity and selectivity. Both the C845 and MJ1035 have RF amplifiers ahead of the antenna, and both have RF stages on AM and FM. However, the MJ1035 uses two separate RF stages for each frequency band, whereas the C845 uses a single tube (6BJ6) as an RF amp, switched between AM and FM as necessary. Even my Zenith R-70 AM/FM transistor portable, from 1980, will pull in FM stations like crazy under good propagation conditions, even though it does not have an RF stage on AM. The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of an AFC defeat switch.

I think the reason why this set is so good in this regard (excellent FM sensitivity/selectivity) is that it has four IF stages on FM and at least two on AM. It is probably the best transistor AM/FM portable I have seen in years, even though it was built to Zenith's standards by the company's subsidiary in Korea at the time. However, I do think that the R-70 may have been one of the last really good FM portables to bear the Zenith name, as by the mid-1980s the company had gone out of the radio business and left Chicago for good.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Another thing was most early FM sets I've found have been VERY insensitive...They seem to be set up to pick up local stations only, to take advantage of FM's higher audio frequency response.

I think that is just the Muntz factor, those manufacturers cheaping out. As otehrs have mentioned, Zenith spent the money to make quality FM sets.

[peverett]

Speaking of cheapening out, I have a couple of GE AM/FM sets that use a single tube as both one of the FM IF amplifiers and the FM RF amplifier. One of these chassis is part of a TV/phono/radio set that cost $500 in 1950! As I am near some strong FM stations these work ok, except for warmup drift(no AFC in 1950).

As mentioned, Zenith did make some quality sets at time(still no AFC though). However some of the lower cost Zenith sets used the 12BE6 tube for both the AM and FM converter(unlike the higher cost sets using the 12AT7). In my experience, these cheaper sets seem to have more drift issues.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by peverett

As mentioned, Zenith did make some quality sets at time(still no AFC though). However some of the lower cost Zenith sets used the 12BE6 tube for both the AM and FM converter(unlike the higher cost sets using the 12AT7). In my experience, these cheaper sets seem to have more drift issues.

Possibly at that time, Zenith considered AFC an unnecessary "crutch" to obtain stability. Good design involving the proper temperature coefficient capacitors, could result in a stable FM receiver, without introducing distortion producing AFC circuitry. The best component tuners of the period did not use AFC.

jr

PS: Some Decent Pix of a Marantz 10B on this listing.... no AFC switch!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Marantz-...item5195a06770

Not affiliated,
jr

[peverett]

Funny you mention this. I have several Zenith AM/FM radios from around 1950. Among the more expensive sets, I have a couple that are rock solid, needing no re-tuning as they warm up. The others seem to need a touch up once they are warm.

I did notice that there is a capacitor with a negative TC listed in the Sams. I suspect this is not working quite as it should(or the 50 year old tubes are drifting to much) in the ones that need a touchup.

Another thing to remember is that at this time, there were no solid state components(other than selenium rectifiers), so it would have been fairly costly to add AFC to a table radio.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Well, today Seattle FM station KJR ( I like the call letters) switched to "oldies 95.7"...
jr

I figured that they'd stop with the Xmas music on Dec 26th. They went full time Xmas music a week before Thanksgiving. The way stations quickly drop Xmas music on Dec 26th I figured that there must be an FCC regulation about it So they returned to oldies (they called it something else like classic hits). Full time Xmas music sometimes signals a format change.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Full time Xmas music sometimes signals a format change.

That is true but not a reliable indicator, as a majority of stations return to "normal" programming after Christmas. The biggest clue in this case was when Clear Channel fired the KJR program director 5 days before Christmas... Merry Christmas Clear Channel !
jr

[jbivy]

Just odd, to see a post on a local radio station i listen to.

But yes, theres nothing, or very little on am anymore. But im glad to just pick this up on my shop radio, a little old 1937 zenith, caseless, girl.