Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada AM radio silent; are U.S. stations next?

[Reece]

I can get Chicago fine here in south central PA. Don and Roma in the morning, etc. etc. I can almost always get WBBM and WLS. Early winter mornings in the car I would switch from them to WWL New Orleans, and even WHO, Des Moines sometimes. But could not always get KDKA Pittsburgh. Back in the day when WLS played music, remember "Double-you, ELL, ess: Larry LUjack!"

[Jeffhs]

WLS-FM still plays music (oldies) on the Internet at 947trueoldies.com. WLS-AM 890 flipped to talk several years ago; the oldies (which were top-40 in the '50s-'60s) went to WLS-FM 94.7 shortly before or shortly after that.

I like oldies, as I grew up in the late '60s-'70s, so I bookmarked WLS-FM's website immediately after hearing of it some time ago. I couldn't listen to the stream until now, however, due to the station using a streaming provider and music player at the time (last year or the year prior) that simply would not work with Firefox 2. WLS-FM's new player, however, works fine with FF2; I just heard Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock around the Clock" on 94.7 a few minutes ago.

Cleveland had two excellent top-40 AM stations in the '60s and '70s: 50kW WKYC-AM 1100 and 5kW WIXY 1260. The former was operated by NBC at the time and had some of the wildest DJs I've ever heard (I particularly remember "Big Jack" Jackson Armstrong, who had a program on 1100 and later on 1260; unfortunately, he passed away recently in North Carolina).

WIXY 1260 had some wild characters spinning wax at the time as well, but that station's downfall was that its 5kW signal could not be heard well east of Cleveland; the further east of Cleveland you went, the weaker the signal became, until by the time you were well outside the Cleveland area (eastern Lake County and beyond) you couldn't hear the signal at all. I was living in a Cleveland suburb at the west end of Lake County at the time and was able to hear the station 24/7; however, where I live now, at the eastern end of the county, I can barely hear the signal in the daytime. Since 1260 is now Radio Disney, however, I have no use for the station (or any Cleveland AM station, for that matter); 1260's format these days is geared towards young teenagers, and I am almost 54 years old.

WKYC 1100 and its FM arm, WKYC-FM, were sold from NBC in 1970; both stations have had several ownership changes since then. The AM station went through several callsign and format changes, eventually becoming talk radio WTAM 1100 some years ago; the FM station also had several changes in calls and formats, winding up in 1982 as WMJI "Majic 105.7" oldies -- the call sign and format it has had since 1981. I remember WKYC-AM's wild DJs, as I mentioned, and also, since the station was an affiliate of the (now defunct) NBC radio network at the time, it picked up a weekend variety program known as "Monitor Beacon" that was simulcast over that station and WKYC-FM.

Monitor went off the air in 1975, by which time WKYC-AM had changed calls to WWWE (3WE) 1100 and was playing a middle-of-the-road music format. WKYC-FM played automated beautiful music (formerly known as "elevator music" because it was also played in elevators at the time) from the time it was sold until about the mid-'70s. WKYC-FM then became an adult rock station and remained with that format until 1981, when it was flipped to oldies (now known as "classic hits") and the callsign changed to WMJI. The station (and presumably WTAM1100, formerly WWWE, as well) is presently owned by Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, Texas.

WKYC-AM 1100 was a true clear-channel station, running 50kW day and night. The only other station on 1100 all night long was then-KFAX in San Francisco, California, also a 50kW clear-channel operation. The other small stations on 1100, and there were a few in smaller towns and suburbs of major cities, were required to sign off at sundown to protect the 50kW operations from what is known as "skywave" interference. Station CKLW, 800 kHz (The Big Eight) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada was also a clear-channel flamethrower, being the only station on 800 kHz from sundown to sunrise. As with WKYC, et al., CKLW's 800-kHz frequency was occupied during the day by smaller stations which were required to sign off at sundown local time.

The FCC abolished clear channels about 25 years ago. The new rules now state that former clear channel stations must limit their coverage to, at most, 750 miles (directional at night if necessary), day and night. The reason for this was so that low-power local-service stations, presently daytime-only, operating on the former clear channels could serve their areas full-time if they desired (and had the money to) do so. Today, the new regulations state that former daytime-only stations operating on the former clear channels may operate full time, but they must decrease their power output by a certain level after local sundown time; as well, many stations must now use sharply directional signal patterns, attained by transmitting from one or more directional towers, separate from the station's daytime arrays. This is especially true of stations that operate 50kW during the day and were formerly licensed for dawn-to-dusk operation. If these stations go to full-time operation on a former clear channel (or any other frequency in the AM broadcast band), however, they must either reduce power to 5kW or less with a directional signal pattern after sundown or else sign off after local sundown time. A sports-talk station in Cleveland on 850 kHz recently increased its daytime power to 50kW, but must go to 4.7 kW and directional antenna after sundown Eastern time; a Detroit ESPN sports station on 1270 kHz did the same thing and operates under the same rules since it increased its power to 50kW daytime. Given the close proximity of Detroit to Cleveland, however, I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as the Cleveland station runs 10kW days/5kW nights; the Detroit station could drown it out without half trying since it runs 50kW 24-7.

[Sam Cogley]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The FCC abolished clear channels about 25 years ago. The new rules now state that former clear channel stations must limit their coverage to, at most, 750 miles (directional at night if necessary), day and night. The reason for this was so that low-power local-service stations, presently daytime-only, operating on the former clear channels could serve their areas full-time if they desired (and had the money to) do so. Today, the new regulations state that former daytime-only stations operating on the former clear channels may operate full time, but they must decrease their power output by a certain level after local sundown time; as well, many stations must now use sharply directional signal patterns, attained by transmitting from one or more directional towers, separate from the station's daytime arrays. This is especially true of stations that operate 50kW during the day and were formerly licensed for dawn-to-dusk operation. If these stations go to full-time operation on a former clear channel (or any other frequency in the AM broadcast band), however, they must either reduce power to 5kW or less with a directional signal pattern after sundown or else sign off after local sundown time. A sports-talk station in Cleveland on 850 kHz recently increased its daytime power to 50kW, but must go to 4.7 kW and directional antenna after sundown Eastern time; a Detroit ESPN sports station on 1270 kHz did the same thing and operates under the same rules since it increased its power to 50kW daytime. Given the close proximity of Detroit to Cleveland, however, I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as both stations operate 50kW sunrise to sundown.

KMOX 1120 in St. Louis is still listed as a 50kW, non-directional station. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=9638

As is WTAM on 1100. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=59595

KFAX is still 50kW day and night, but is licensed for a directional antenna array. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=59595

Additionally, according to the Wikipedia article on clear-channel stations, they're not prohibited from broadcasting past 750 miles, they just don't have signal protection outside that radius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear-channel_station

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I cannot for the life of me see how the former's WXYT-1270 can operate 50kW during the day without interfering with Cleveland's WWMK-1260 (10kW day/5kW night); after all, the two stations are adjacent to each other on the dial. Unless there is a 5-kHz (+/-) guard band between adjacent AM frequencies, I cannot imagine these stations operating this way without one causing serious interference problems for the other in daytime, as both stations operate 50kW sunrise to sundown.

WXYT transmits using 9 tower directional array focusing most of its power to the north.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=28627

Day plot:
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Da...7235-78705.pdf

Night plot:
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Da...7235-78706.pdf

Also, there is no 750 mile limit set by the FCC for former clear channel stations. This radius is the "protected" zone, meaning that other stations may transmit on that frequency as long as their signal strength is within certain limits at the edge of the 750 mile protected zone. Many former 50KW Clear channel enjoy a considerable "bonus coverage" today, well above the 750 mile protected zone.
jr

[marty59]

I can recieve KMOX here also but what really suprised me one night was when I was able to get WWJ/720/Detroit! That area of the band is crammed at night.

Maybe my G500 Trans-oceanic helped a little though...!!

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Reece

I can get Chicago fine here in south central PA. Don and Roma in the morning, etc. etc. I can almost always get WBBM and WLS. Early winter mornings in the car I would switch from them to WWL New Orleans, and even WHO, Des Moines sometimes. But could not always get KDKA Pittsburgh. Back in the day when WLS played music, remember "Double-you, ELL, ess: Larry LUjack!"

You could be in a "skip zone" for KDKA where the signal is above you before it comes back down a distance away. Also, you're in a mountainous area which can play tricks with a signal.