No More AM Radio in CArs

[Typist Clerk]

The Rocky Mountains do a pretty good job of blocking most clear channels from the East Coast, which has stirred up arguments for and against multiple Clash I-A stations on the same frequency across time zones. The other thing that hinders picking up far signals is bleed over from closer, less powerful stations one or two clicks up or down the dial.

I can't hear WJR 760 out of Detroit here in north Georgia because WSB 750's signal overwhelms it. However, I have been in the rental car on my way to the Detroit airport before dawn and heard WSB. So there's something about WJR's night-time pattern that's different.

I only worked at one 50,000 watt blowtorch: KFBK in Sacramento. I was responsible for switching the pattern at dusk to protect several smaller stations on the same frequency. I remember getting my butt chewed by the chief engineer for not remembering to make the switch one night, and he had apparently gotten a call from Colorado Springs where we were bleeding over someone else's 1530.

Daytimers are an even weirder deal. You get more airtime in the summer -- signoff is usually determined by the monthly average sunset -- but there's hell to pay if you decide to play an extra record or two past the scheduled transmitter shutoff time.

The four clear-channel stations in Chicago (670, 720, 780, 890) do hit both coasts, but their effectiveness on the West Coast is negated by the presence of other stations in the area. The signal is there, just covered. If the closer station goes silent, there's a good chance you can hear the audio.

720 is an interesting example. WGN's 50 kW signal can be heard in Hawaii on a souped-up antenna now that KDWN Las Vegas, once a 50 kW directional, then 10 kW directional (west to protect WGN's nighttime service area) is gone. But in the west, another 720, KFIR Sweet Home, Ore., has now chosen to stay on its daytime power of 10 kW rather than drop to its required 146 watts at night. That makes WGN that much harder to hear in the Pacific Northwest. (KFIR is an easy catch in Boise, Idaho, tonight, and should not be.)

Re 750: The ground conductivity in much of Georgia is much poorer than it is in the Midwest. Driving through Georgia in the day, WSB 750 just about disappears by Macon, if I recall. Yet you can hear Chicago's four clears into Ohio (670 all the way to the outskirts of Columbus). And WSB bombs into the Midwest at night because the ground helps the signal, whereas in Georgia WJR and other clears are attenuated by the ground. Then again, I spent a night in Aiken, S.C., last spring and had no trouble picking up the usual suspects to the north, all the way to Toronto's CFZM 740, and one morning several years ago, drove into Augusta, Ga., a few miles south of Aiken, and had no trouble hearing both WLS 890 and WYLL 1160 (a directional East 50 kW in Chicago) rolling into the Augusta National parking lot.

 

[wicked]

KFIR Sweet Home, Ore., has now chosen to stay on its daytime power of 10 kW rather than drop to its required 146 watts at night.

The FCC used to care about this stuff, but their enforcement staff is minimal anymore.

 

[maumann]

There are some great air checks and station jingles on the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame site. Plus, some awesome historical play-by-play, including several Roy Storey/Bill King San Francisco Seals Western League championship clips here.

San Francisco Bay Area Sports On The Radio | Bay Area Radio Museum

 

[Typist Clerk]

The FCC used to care about this stuff, but their enforcement staff is minimal anymore.

FCC doesn't do anything until someone complains. Maybe WGN should make a call (if their staff even knows).

 

[Twirling Time]

You can file a complaint to the FCC online. I did once when a local daytimer kept its transmitter on all night and kept me from being able to listen to a long extra-inning game.

 

[HanSenSE]

I've said on here before, in a lot of ways, AM was the internet before the internet.

Agreed. Out here, when the pennant races hit crunch time, I'd follow the Giants via TV but had a radio tuned to the Dodgers on KDWN out of Las Vegas, the Rockies on KOA or the Padres, either on KFMB or KOGO. Easier nowadays to watch the Giants and have a tab open to a Gamecast, but not as much fun.

 

[Twirling Time]

Agreed. Out here, when the pennant races hit crunch time, I'd follow the Giants via TV but had a radio tuned to the Dodgers on KDWN out of Las Vegas, the Rockies on KOA or the Padres, either on KFMB or KOGO. Easier nowadays to watch the Giants and have a tab open to a Gamecast, but not as much fun.

That's true for instantly live results — you could not beat AM live PXP.

For live streaming then and now, you had to (and still have to) get creative. Find just one teensy-weensy affiliate that doesn't block live broadcasts due to network restrictions. Every network has at least one. Bookmarked several for Angels games, for instance.

 

[MTM]

I heard a radio commercial asking listeners to tell Congress to keep am radios in cars. Their reasons were that if the internet and/or electricity is out, am car radios are the best place to go for emergency information.

 

[LanceyHoward]

In southwest Missouri in 1991, I was able to pick up the last few innings of Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter on WBAP out of Fort Worth. One of the greatest moments of my sports life.

The announcer on WBAP would have been the late. great Mark Holtz. He did the Triple A Bears on KOA Denver during my college years in Boulder. An all-timer.

 

[garrow]

Ford reverses course on AM radio, will include it in new cars

 

[wicked]

Speaking of AM radio...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/06/01/arts/wjibs-bob-bittner-was-always-an-easy-listen/

This guy ran what really was a unique station. In an era where most AMs are fed from the bird, Bob programmed it himself. Sure, it was automated almost all of the time, but the format came from a shack in Maine, not a consultant's office in New York. Before he went to computerized automation, he automated it using VHS tapes. Yes, VHS tapes.

If there were more Bob Bittners, the AM band wouldn't be as dead as it is, and you might get folks listening other than guys living in a fortified compound and armed with 500 guns.

 

[DanOregon]

After looking at this list - I'm not surprised. I thought I was up on my radio hosts, but there is a whole lot of "who is that?" here. And is it just me or do most of these guys seem like dead beat dad poster boys?

2023 Heavy Hundred - 1-25 | TALKERS magazine