Program guide for W47NY New York City, Dec 1942

[wa2ise]

A classical music station on the old 45MHz FM band, schedule of music to be played.

[stromberg67]

I don't know, but perhaps the predecessor of WQXR-FM.
Thanks for the pic. I will put a copy with my 1941 Stromberg 935-PLM console.
Kevin

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by stromberg67

I don't know, but perhaps the predecessor of WQXR-FM.
Thanks for the pic. I will put a copy with my 1941 Stromberg 935-PLM console.
Kevin

Is that a picture of a skyscraper transmitting antenna on the cover? Although out of date, my S-C 1210-PLM would need some similar accompaniment.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by stromberg67

I don't know, but perhaps the predecessor of WQXR-FM.
...

Looks like it was a competitor to
45.9 W2XQR (W59NY, WQXQ)
according to http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2011/03...r-fm-band.html

Looking at the guide, they also played stuff like "Cocktail Lounge", "Tea Dancing Party", UP News and such

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by stromberg67

Thanks for the pic. I will put a copy with my 1941 Stromberg 935-PLM console.
Kevin

Scanned in all of the program guide, so you could print it all (you'll have to resequence the pages to make it come out double sided correct to create a booklet).
Some of the pages were blank, seems the info for some days got lost at the printers...

[jr_tech]

From the "47" in the call sign, can it be assumed that it transmitted on 44.7 MHz?

jr

[Jeffhs]

Is that someone's idea of a joke? "W47NY" looks like a TV translator call sign, which would make no sense as there was no such thing as television (at least as we know it today) in 1942. If this were a radio station, it would, of course, have a call sign in the form of W---, not "W-47" or whatever. FM broadcasts on 88-108 MHz anyway, so the whole thing looks wrong--to me, anyhow.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Is that someone's idea of a joke? "W47NY" looks like a TV translator call sign.

Not a joke! Here read about the early 45 MHz FM band:

http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2011/03...r-fm-band.html

I have several radios in my collection that tune both bands.

Edit add: Here is a picture of a 8H023 Zenith like I have (not mine however)... Both bands (45 & 100 MHZ) are clearly visible on the dial, as well as standard broadcast AM.

http://radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1230213

jr

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Is that someone's idea of a joke? "W47NY" looks like a TV translator call sign, which would make no sense as there was no such thing as television (at least as we know it today) in 1942.

NTSC monochome was standardized in the first half of 1941, and there were TV stations in at least NYC, Chicago, and L.A.....Many pre-war sets were or could be realigned from the RCA 441line AM sound to 525line with AM slope detection of the FM sound.

The audience was small, but war time TV broadcasting was a thing.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

From the "47" in the call sign, can it be assumed that it transmitted on 44.7 MHz?

jr

Found a 1942 listing of the 45 MHz band FM stations that seems to support the assertion that double digit number in the call sign indicated the last 2 numbers of the frequency, with the leading "4" being assumed. W47NY did indeed transmit on 44.7 MHz.
There are some "oddball" call signs in the list that did not follow that convention, but these were like W2X (experimental - zone W2 signs) and other zone experimental signs, as well as some "normal looking" four letter signs.

http://jeff560.tripod.com/1942fm.html

The use of the last one or two characters in the call sign to indicate the city was apparent, as well, although I don't understand how "MM" was chosen to represent Winston-Salem. (W41MM, Winston-Salem).

jr

.

[jsowers]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

The use of the last one or two characters in the call sign to indicate the city was apparent, as well, although I don't understand how "MM" was chosen to represent Winston-Salem. (W41MM, Winston-Salem).

I live about 20 minutes south of Winston-Salem, so you aroused my curiosity and I found out what the MM stands for. It's Mount Mitchell. That's where the tower was located for the station, but it was owned by the same man who owned WSJS in Winston. This is from WSJS' site...

In 1942, Piedmont Publishing also owned the first FM radio station in the southeast. It was identified as 44.1 W41MM-FM and changed to 97.3 WMIT in 1948, when the modern FM band was adopted. Done in cooperation with General Electric, WMIT was an experiment in building a station that would reach the entire Southeast, from Nashville to Richmond, Atlanta to Roanoke. They built the tower on Clingman's Peak next to Mount Mitchell and broadcast the WSJS signal with 350,000 watts using multiple generators. The Station format was classical music. The only way to send the programming from the studio in Winston-Salem to Mount Mitchell was by placing a broadcast STL atop the Reynolds Building, then the tallest building in the Carolinas.

WMIT was too expensive and required too much technical work to keep the multi-state radio station going. Storms and technical problems that took a long time to fix angered Winston-Salem residents who wanted a signal closer to home for local news during World War II. By the late 1940s and early ‘50s people in the other cities along the 70,000 square mile listening area were starting to get new local FM signals of their own around that time and stopped listening to the Winston-Salem news and NBC radio broadcasts to enjoy local news and programming in their own cities. In 1958, Billy Graham bought it and relicensed it from Winston-Salem to Black Mountain as a religious station. He changed the frequency to 106.9 and he still owns it. 97.3 was still allocated to Winston-Salem and still had a huge grandfathered coverage area, but was moved and dropped to sign on as 97.3 WKBC in North Wilkesboro.

I remember listening to WSJS-FM when their format was still classical music, in the early 1970s. I also listened to WMIT in Black Mountain, which was not always easy to get reception-wise. I never knew it was owned by Billy Graham until I read the above info.

[jr_tech]

VERY COOL! THANKS!
I never would have guessed that in a million years. Wild about the 350KW, as well... must have been a real DXers treat !

jr