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Power Blackouts and "Public Service"
Someone raised an interesting point in another newsgroup:
I noticed that the Clear Channel stations here in Ann Arbor, both of them, 100% of the commercial FM stations* in Ann Arbor, MI; were off the air for the entirety of the power outage. The same was true for the CC FM station in Detroit that is on my pre-sets. This shows how little they were ready to be of public service in time of need. Something that should be pointed out and recorded for license renewal time. *excludes public radio/college radio and a religious station. But I don't know--Are commercial FM stations required to be prepared for emergencies like this? One would think that they should want to be prepared, but is it a requirement? |
Radio was useless in my area for local blackout information.
The county executive resorted to calling into the New York City Channel 4 WNBC News Center to pass info to the public. So how many folks do you think could view his State of Emergency Message and curfew decree for Orange County, NY ? -- Remove "zz" from e-mail address to direct reply. "CAndersen (Kimba)" wrote in message ... Someone raised an interesting point in another newsgroup: I noticed that the Clear Channel stations here in Ann Arbor, both of them, 100% of the commercial FM stations* in Ann Arbor, MI; were off the air for the entirety of the power outage. The same was true for the CC FM station in Detroit that is on my pre-sets. This shows how little they were ready to be of public service in time of need. Something that should be pointed out and recorded for license renewal time. *excludes public radio/college radio and a religious station. But I don't know--Are commercial FM stations required to be prepared for emergencies like this? One would think that they should want to be prepared, but is it a requirement? |
CAndersen (Kimba) wrote:
Someone raised an interesting point in another newsgroup: I noticed that the Clear Channel stations here in Ann Arbor, both of them, 100% of the commercial FM stations* in Ann Arbor, MI; were off the air for the entirety of the power outage. The same was true for the CC FM station in Detroit that is on my pre-sets. This shows how little they were ready to be of public service in time of need. Something that should be pointed out and recorded for license renewal time. *excludes public radio/college radio and a religious station. But I don't know--Are commercial FM stations required to be prepared for emergencies like this? One would think that they should want to be prepared, but is it a requirement? No, there are no legal requirements for backup power. -- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com |
On 18 Aug 2003 14:23:48 GMT, "CAndersen (Kimba)"
wrote: But I don't know--Are commercial FM stations required to be prepared for emergencies like this? One would think that they should want to be prepared, but is it a requirement? FM stations have never been known for news. If you want to know if Eminem wears boxers or briefs, go there. It's "lifestyle" stuff. Doesn't your market have a full service AM? Or, at least, an AM that's known for its news? FMs treat news as the plague. You can't, suddenly, expect them to put together a full news staff qualified to report on an emergency of this magnitude. A top story for an FM might be when socialite Lizzie Grubman ran over a group of people in a hissy fit at a trendy night club. Wars. Blackouts. Who needs it? That's for old people. Now where did I put my MP3 player? Rich |
List of what I hear AM from Middletown NY in Orange Cty, NY. WTBQ is the
only live station I know of left to produce local news and shows. Radio - Kenwood TS-430S Antenna - 125 foot long wire Date Time Frequency Call Sign AM/FM/LSB/USB/CW City State Country Comments 5/21/2003 12:46:27.98 PM 540.0 WLIE AM Islip NY USA Long Island S-8 5/23/2003 10:56:33.60 AM 560.0 AM USA 5/21/2003 12:48:58.45 PM 570.0 WMCA AM Kearny NJ USA Religous 5/21/2003 12:50:28.46 PM 600.0 WICC AM Bridgeport CT USA s-6 5/21/2003 12:52:51.90 PM 610.0 WIP AM Philadelphia PA USA sports radio 5/21/2003 12:54:22.21 PM 620.0 WSNR AM Jersey City NJ USA Eastern European / Russian ? 5/21/2003 12:55:19.04 PM 630.0 WEJL AM Scranton PA USA ESPN - Sports 5/21/2003 1:04:04.70 PM 660.0 WFAN AM New York NY USA Sports 5/21/2003 1:05:31.01 PM 680.0 WINR AM Binghamton NY USA music - old pop (CBS News) (LSB) 5/21/2003 1:07:28.48 PM 710.0 WOR AM New York NY USA Talk Radio 5/21/2003 1:08:20.41 PM 740.0 AM USA Asian / Chineese 5/21/2003 1:11:45.05 PM 770.0 WABC AM New York NY USA Talk Radio - Rush 5/21/2003 1:12:28.62 PM 790.0 WAEB AM Bala Cynwyd PA USA Rush 5/23/2003 11:21:49.05 AM 800.0 WLAD AM Danbury CT USA S-4 5/21/2003 1:13:06.80 PM 810.0 WGY AM Rennsaler NY USA Rush 5/21/2003 12:43:44.44 PM 820.0 WNYC AM New York NY USA NPR 5/21/2003 1:13:48.30 PM 830.0 WEEU AM Reading PA USA Rush 5/21/2003 1:14:27.48 PM 840.0 AM USA Spanish Music - fading in and out 5/21/2003 1:15:01.94 PM 850.0 WREF AM Danbury CT USA Oldies 850 - Creedance 5/23/2003 12:01:10.90 PM 860.0 AM USA AP News 5/21/2003 1:17:31.02 PM 880.0 WCBS AM New York NY USA Talk Radio 5/23/2003 1:14:25.60 PM 900.0 AM USA Black ethnic 5/21/2003 1:18:26.98 PM 920.0 WGHQ AM Poughkeepsie NY USA Clear Channel - Music Of Your Life 5/21/2003 1:23:55.16 PM 930.0 AM USA spanish ? 5/21/2003 1:24:32.40 PM 940.0 AM USA Clear Channel - Music of Your Life (same as 920) 5/23/2003 1:20:17.95 PM 950.0 WHVW AM Poughkeepsie NY USA 30's/40'S s-7 - continous music 5/21/2003 1:25:24.24 PM 970.0 AM USA religous 5/23/2003 1:40:53.17 PM 980.0 AM USA rush 5/21/2003 1:25:59.08 PM 1,010.0 WINS AM New York NY USA All News 5/23/2003 1:43:37.72 PM 1,020.0 AM USA Big Band 5/23/2003 1:45:30.49 PM 1,030.0 WBZ AM Boston MA USA news - s-7 5/23/2003 1:47:11.55 PM 1,040.0 AM USA s-4 religous 5/21/2003 1:26:47.34 PM 1,050.0 WEVD AM New York NY USA ESPN 5/23/2003 1:54:35.18 PM 1,060.0 KYW AM Philadelphia PA usa news (LSB) 5/21/2003 1:27:59.34 PM 1,080.0 WTIC AM Hartford CT USA Rush S-8 all news 5/21/2003 1:28:25.63 PM 1,090.0 WBAL AM Baltimore MD USA Rush s-6 5/23/2003 2:06:44.65 PM 1,100.0 WGPA AM Bethlehem PA USA s-4 5/21/2003 1:28:57.90 PM 1,110.0 WTBQ AM Warwick NY USA 5/21/2003 1:29:29.38 PM 1,130.0 WBBR AM New York NY USA Bloomberg 5/23/2003 2:09:16.79 PM 1,160.0 WVNJ AM Oakland NJ USA show: the healthy colon 5/21/2003 1:30:53.14 PM 1,170.0 WRWD AM Cornwall NY USA News - 5/21/2003 1:42:41.65 PM 1,190.0 WLIB AM New York USA 5/21/2003 1:43:32 PM 1,210.0 WPHD AM Philadelphia PA USA Rush s-8 5/21/2003 1:44:14.98 PM 1,220.0 WGNY AM Newburgh NY USA CNN 5/21/2003 1:45:17.81 PM 1,240.0 WVOS AM USA Country 5/21/2003 1:46:21.36 PM 1,250.0 WMTR AM Morristown NJ USA Tony Bennett 5/21/2003 1:46:51.53 PM 1,260.0 WBNR AM Beacon USA Nat King Cole 5/21/2003 1:47:39.35 PM 1,270.0 AM USA Old Time Radio 5/21/2003 1:48:24.08 PM 1,280.0 USA Spanish 5/21/2003 1:48:40.49 PM 1,290.0 WNBF AM Binghamton NY USA Rush 5/21/2003 1:49:00.57 PM 1,300.0 WRCR AM Spring Valley NY USA Rockland Cty 5/21/2003 1:49:46.40 PM 1,310.0 AM USA spanish 5/21/2003 1:50:21.83 PM 1,320.0 AM USA spanish 5/21/2003 1:50:44.33 PM 1,340.0 WALL AM Middletown NY USA Spanish 5/21/2003 1:51:01.68 PM 1,360.0 AM NJ USA Country 5/21/2003 1:51:43.16 PM 1,370.0 WELV AM Ellenville NY USA Standards s-10 5/21/2003 1:52:16.58 PM 1,380.0 AM USA spanish 5/21/2003 1:52:36.42 PM 1,390.0 AM USA spanish 5/21/2003 1:53:16.05 PM 1,410.0 AM USA 60's/70's music 5/21/2003 1:53:49.93 PM 1,420.0 WLNA AM Cornwall NY USA Perry Como 5/21/2003 1:54:18.22 PM 1,430.0 AM USA foreign ? 5/21/2003 1:54:50.76 PM 1,440.0 AM USA financial advice 5/21/2003 1:55:41.32 PM 1,470.0 WKAP AM Lehigh PA USA 60's pop - Never My Love 5/21/2003 1:56:16.23 PM 1,480.0 AM USA asian 5/21/2003 1:56:37.45 PM 1,490.0 WTSX AM Port Jervis NY USA FOX 5/21/2003 1:59:39.59 PM 1,500.0 WGHT AM Pompton Lakes NJ USA 5/21/2003 2:00:57.23 PM 1,510.0 AM USA ABC News 5/21/2003 2:01:22.54 PM 1,520.0 AM USA religous 5/21/2003 2:02:01.55 PM 1,530.0 AM USA foreign ? 5/21/2003 2:02:28.08 PM 1,540.0 WNWR AM Philadelphia PA USA Delaware Valley 5/21/2003 2:04:32.26 PM 1,550.0 WICK AM Scranton PA USA Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs RObinson 5/21/2003 2:05:16.40 PM 1,560.0 WQEW AM New York NY USA Disney 5/21/2003 2:05:52.24 PM 1,580.0 AM USA French ? 5/21/2003 2:06:16.13 PM 1,590.0 WPSN AM Honesdale PA USA Country (1587.8) 5/21/2003 2:06:36.65 PM 1,600.0 WWRL AM New York NY USA Urban / Ethnic 5/21/2003 2:08:29.20 PM 1,660.0 AM USA spanish 5/21/2003 2:08:51.55 PM 1,680.0 WEBC AM USA foreign / mixed / indian |
The only requirements I know of were back in the days of conelrad. Nothing now.
-- Gene Seibel http://pad39a.com/gene/broadcast.html Because I fly, I envy no one.... I noticed that the Clear Channel stations here in Ann Arbor, both of them, 100% of the commercial FM stations* in Ann Arbor, MI; were off the air for the entirety of the power outage. The same was true for the CC FM station in Detroit that is on my pre-sets. This shows how little they were ready to be of public service in time of need. Something that should be pointed out and recorded for license renewal time. *excludes public radio/college radio and a religious station. But I don't know--Are commercial FM stations required to be prepared for emergencies like this? One would think that they should want to be prepared, but is it a requirement? |
Doesn't your market have a full service AM? Or, at least, an AM that's known for its news? In Orange County, NY AM is almost dead, especially if you speak English. Only AM station that is alive and not lights out studio is WTBQ in Warwick. The rest are canned, lights out remote satellite or microwave feeds or non English speaking. Steve N2UBP |
On 20 Aug 2003 14:38:05 GMT, Rich Wood
wrote: FM stations have never been known for news. Guess mine must be chopped liver, then. (AP Station of the year twice, dozens of other awards, own the news image in the market for more than 25 years, 5-person news staff, and #1 in the ratings, including the "money demos"). Yes, there's an AM simulcast, but the vast majority of listeners don't even know it exists. And yes, we are a music station. Mark Howell News Director, KUZZ AM/FM, KCWR (FM) Bakersfield, CA |
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I was just getting started in the business in 1970. I was working at a
station on 1260 kHz. The way I remember it, was that they were to go to Conelrad 1240 in case of national emergency. They had been provided with a government surplus generator, and were obligated to keep it operational. -- Gene Seibel http://pad39a.com/gene/broadcast.html In article , (Gene Seibel) wrote: The only requirements I know of were back in the days of conelrad. Nothing now. Do you remember what the specific requirements were back in the days of conelrad? Regards, John Byrns |
On 20 Aug 2003 22:55:30 GMT, "Steve Stone"
wrote: List of what I hear AM from Middletown NY in Orange Cty, NY. WTBQ is the only live station I know of left to produce local news and shows. Radio - Kenwood TS-430S Antenna - 125 foot long wire Date Time Frequency Call Sign AM/FM/LSB/USB/CW City State Country Comments 5/21/2003 1:07:28.48 PM 710.0 WOR AM New York NY USA Talk Radio I spent 10 years at WOR. If we didn't produce live local news how did we win all those AP News awards? 5/21/2003 1:17:31.02 PM 880.0 WCBS AM New York NY USA Talk Radio WCBS is All News. Live. 5/21/2003 1:25:59.08 PM 1,010.0 WINS AM New York NY USA All News Live. 5/23/2003 1:54:35.18 PM 1,060.0 KYW AM Philadelphia PA usa news (LSB) Live 5/21/2003 1:27:59.34 PM 1,080.0 WTIC AM Hartford CT USA Rush S-8 all news Actually News/Talk 5/21/2003 1:44:14.98 PM 1,220.0 WGNY AM Newburgh NY USA CNN CNN was all news last time I listened. 5/21/2003 1:56:37.45 PM 1,490.0 WTSX AM Port Jervis NY USA FOX More news. Even "fair and balanced" Judging by this list you weren't lacking in news. Rich |
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On 21 Aug 2003 02:54:39 GMT, (John Byrns) wrote:
In article , (Gene Seibel) wrote: The only requirements I know of were back in the days of conelrad. Nothing now. Do you remember what the specific requirements were back in the days of conelrad? In the 60 and 70s every transmitter I worked with had a crystal for either 640 or 1240. As I recall there were serious requirements to be part of the system. I think they were an underground studio, generator at both studio and transmitter and a connection to a local, regional or federal emergency feed to, I think, Civil Defense. I don't remember what the testing procedure was because everyone would have had to switch to their assigned emergency frequency. I'm just not old enough to remember. Rich |
"Paul Van House" wrote in message ... In article , says... In article , (Gene Seibel) wrote: Do you remember what the specific requirements were back in the days of conelrad? If we're talking FM stations, I don't know for sure but I think the FMers (what few there were) would have had to sign off. The participating am stations all switched to one of two frequencies (1 high or 1 low) theoretically to confuse enemy "signal tracers" from seeking and destroying transmitters. 640 and 1240. Local areas or markets had stations assigned to one of the two, and they would cycle on or off to further confuse RDF usage of signals. The entire national system was tested several times in the early 60's, with nothing on any channel except 640 and 1240 for a half-hour around 11 AM on a weekday. |
--------------010207050005070101080006 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm old enough to remember. At the class 1B clear channel station I worked at our 10 kw auxiliary transmitter had a bunch of components that had to be jumpered and/or added. We would test it into the dummy load after we set it up on 1240. There was a large manual denoting the changes that had to be made. There was also an area test where we would get an alert from the Conelrad control point and we would have to set the aux to 1240 and turn its control over the the control point and then they would test for a half hour or so. On for 30-60 seconds and off for 3-4 minutes in a random pattern. I think this was the only exception to the union contract that we could do anything except take meter readings without a supervisor there. Of course we took about 100 meter readings and then typed them into the official log every 1/2 hour. Later at a EBS (what was it now CSPS??-1) main station we had a 35 kw generator and 1500 gallons of diesel fuel, console, turntable, cart machines, tape machines and at least 30 days of food at the transmitter with walls 24 inches thick (8" block, 8" reinforced concrete, 8" block sealed and air conditioned. We also had two way radios between us and the State Police and the local County Sheriff/FEMA office. FCC (for FEMA I believe) came out every so often to check out our EBS readiness. Even the food and the other ends of the two way radios to be sure the links worked. Everything was also (supposedly) protected from EMP. I asked one day how much notice we would have to man the site in the event of an attack and was told about 15 minutes and I said "Oh good! It takes me 20 minutes to get there from the studios in an emergency". The FEMA guy just shook his head and smiled..... Rich Wood wrote: On 21 Aug 2003 02:54:39 GMT, (John Byrns) wrote: In article , (Gene Seibel) wrote: The only requirements I know of were back in the days of conelrad. Nothing now. Do you remember what the specific requirements were back in the days of conelrad? In the 60 and 70s every transmitter I worked with had a crystal for either 640 or 1240. As I recall there were serious requirements to be part of the system. I think they were an underground studio, generator at both studio and transmitter and a connection to a local, regional or federal emergency feed to, I think, Civil Defense. I don't remember what the testing procedure was because everyone would have had to switch to their assigned emergency frequency. I'm just not old enough to remember. Rich --------------010207050005070101080006 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" html head meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" title/title /head body I'm old enough to remember. At the class 1B clear channel station I worked at our 10 kw auxiliary transmitter had a bunch of components that had to be jumpered and/or added. We would test it into the dummy load after we set it up on 1240. There was a large manual denoting the changes that had to be made. There was also an area test where we would get an alert from the Conelrad control point and we would have to set the aux to 1240 and turn its control over the the control point and then they would test for a half hour or so. On for 30-60 seconds and off for 3-4 minutes in a random pattern. I think this was the only exception to the union contract that we could do anything except take meter readings without a supervisor there. Of course we took about 100 meter readings and then typed them into the official log every 1/2 hour.br br Later at a EBS (what was it now CSPS??-1) main station we had a 35 kw generator and 1500 gallons of diesel fuel, console, turntable, cart machines, tape machines and at least 30 days of food at the transmitter with walls 24 inches thick (8" block, 8" reinforced concrete, 8" block sealed and air conditioned. We also had two way radios between us and the State Police and the local County Sheriff/FEMA office. FCC (for FEMA I believe) came out every so often to check out our EBS readiness. Even the food and the other ends of the two way radios to be sure the links worked. Everything was also (supposedly) protected from EMP. br br I asked one day how much notice we would have to man the site in the event of an attack and was told about 15 minutes and I said "Oh good! It takes me 20 minutes to get there from the studios in an emergency". The FEMA guy just shook his head and smiled.....br br br Rich Wood wrote:br blockquote type="cite" " pre wrap=""On 21 Aug 2003 02:54:39 GMT, a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" /a (John Byrns) wrote: /pre blockquote type="cite" pre wrap=""In article a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" "<bi0u9 >/a, a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" /a (Gene Seibel) wrote: /pre blockquote type="cite" pre wrap=""The only requirements I know of were back in the days of conelrad. Nothing now. /pre /blockquote pre wrap=""Do you remember what the specific requirements were back in the days of conelrad? /pre /blockquote pre wrap=""!---- In the 60 and 70s every transmitter I worked with had a crystal for either 640 or 1240. As I recall there were serious requirements to be part of the system. I think they were an underground studio, generator at both studio and transmitter and a connection to a local, regional or federal emergency feed to, I think, Civil Defense. I don't remember what the testing procedure was because everyone would have had to switch to their assigned emergency frequency. I'm just not old enough to remember. Rich /pre /blockquote br /body /html --------------010207050005070101080006-- |
Rich Wood wrote:
Doesn't your market have a full service AM? Or, at least, an AM that's known for its news? Like I said, the original scenario was not posted by me. It prolly ties in with the idea that most people don't know that AM exists. |
Not lacking in news.. but lacking in local news.
There is a difference. Do I really care that the subway is broke in NYC when no friend or family lives or works in NYC... or am I more interested to know that I-84 has a backup up for 10 miles at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge because a tractor trailer full of hazmat dumped at a toll booth? (hint, I-84 can be seen from my backyard) Rockland County's answer to the problem was to install reverse 911 systems and create a network of low power AM stations on TIS freqs to warn the public. Most NYC stations don't know life exists north of Yonkers. Canned national satellite feeds on local stations that do not break in with local issues don't count. It takes a local axe murder to get coverage from NYC stations up here. -- Remove "zz" from e-mail address to direct reply. "Rich Wood" wrote in message ... On 20 Aug 2003 22:55:30 GMT, "Steve Stone" wrote: List of what I hear AM from Middletown NY in Orange Cty, NY. WTBQ is the only live station I know of left to produce local news and shows. Radio - Kenwood TS-430S Antenna - 125 foot long wire Date Time Frequency Call Sign AM/FM/LSB/USB/CW City State Country Comments 5/21/2003 1:07:28.48 PM 710.0 WOR AM New York NY USA Talk Radio I spent 10 years at WOR. If we didn't produce live local news how did we win all those AP News awards? 5/21/2003 1:17:31.02 PM 880.0 WCBS AM New York NY USA Talk Radio WCBS is All News. Live. 5/21/2003 1:25:59.08 PM 1,010.0 WINS AM New York NY USA All News Live. 5/23/2003 1:54:35.18 PM 1,060.0 KYW AM Philadelphia PA usa news (LSB) Live 5/21/2003 1:27:59.34 PM 1,080.0 WTIC AM Hartford CT USA Rush S-8 all news Actually News/Talk 5/21/2003 1:44:14.98 PM 1,220.0 WGNY AM Newburgh NY USA CNN CNN was all news last time I listened. 5/21/2003 1:56:37.45 PM 1,490.0 WTSX AM Port Jervis NY USA FOX More news. Even "fair and balanced" Judging by this list you weren't lacking in news. Rich |
On 22 Aug 2003 14:48:24 GMT, "Steve Stone"
wrote: Not lacking in news.. but lacking in local news. There is a difference. Do I really care that the subway is broke in NYC when no friend or family lives or works in NYC... or am I more interested to know that I-84 has a backup up for 10 miles at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge because a tractor trailer full of hazmat dumped at a toll booth? (hint, I-84 can be seen from my backyard) I would guess that hundreds of thousands of people stranded in sweltering heat underground is a bigger story for a New York station than a traffic backup on I-84. That day traffic was backed up everywhere. Friends who live in New Jersey took as long as 12 hours to make a trip that normally lasts less than 40 minutes on a bad day. Most NYC stations don't know life exists north of Yonkers. Are they supposed to? Your issue is with traffic. I recall lots of Yonkers coverage when low income housing was proposed and the city made lots of nimby noise. It's rare that bedroom communities generate a lot of news. We do hear about murders of wealthy people We still hear news about ugly, self-centered, insensitive, PR socialite Lizzie Grubman running down the rich and famous at a trendy nightclub on Long Island. Very, very important news here in the city. She now has a radio show, giggly gossip about terribly important rich people. I always tell people to put your latest conviction at the top of your resume. It takes a local axe murder to get coverage from NYC stations up here. Unfortunately, that's news. Rich |
On 22 Aug 2003 17:11:23 GMT, Rich Wood
wrote: That's not our experience in New York. On 9/11 WINS had an AQH of more than 900,000. I can't help it if they're too dumb to figure out how to change bands on their radios. WCBS had an AQH of more than 300,000. Both are awesome figures. These figures came directly from an Arbitron representative at an R&R Talk convention. Such figures had never been seen before. Maybe all those people didn't realize they were listening to AM stations. It would be more accurate to say that younger listeners don't know AM exists -- especially teens. I have a young lady working in my newsroom who claims never to have listened to AM radio, even up to this day, and being aware of its existence only in the vaguest sense before starting to work in radio. (She had also never seen a 45 RPM record, and didn't know what they are until I showed her one that happened to be lying around in one of the studios). She turns 19 in a couple of months. I think she's probably typical of her age group, judging from conversations I've had over the past few years. Mark Howell |
Rich Wood wrote:
On 22 Aug 2003 14:48:14 GMT, "CAndersen (Kimba)" wrote: It prolly ties in with the idea that most people don't know that AM exists. That's not our experience in New York. On 9/11 WINS had an AQH of more than 900,000. I can't help it if they're too dumb to figure out how to change bands on their radios. WCBS had an AQH of more than 300,000. Both are awesome figures. Might that be market-dependant? NYC has no shortage of AM stations with adequate technical facilities to provide good signals throughout the market. That can be very different in other markets. For example, here in Nashville there are only two AMs (WSM & WLAC) that have reliable coverage throughout the market at night - and even WLAC can be flaky in places. (it may not be a coincidence WLAC's news-talk and all-sports competitors are both 100kw FM stations) -- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com |
Are they supposed to? Your issue is with traffic. I recall lots of Yonkers coverage when low income housing was proposed and the city made lots of nimby noise. My issue isn't with the traffic. My issue is the hazmat debris all over the place. grin My answer was a generic answer. I listen to NYC stations for NYC or National topics. I expect local issues and concerns to be aired on local stations, not national satellite fed pabulum. |
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"Rich Wood" wrote in message Not long from now, probably within our lifetimes, the generation after her won't know what FM or Satellite Radio is. When I was her age I had never seen a 78 or an Edison cylinder until my grandfather showed me his collection of them. I'd say the term "Satellite Radio" will outlast the term "FM". Listeners will always need to consider whether the programming they seek requires a special outdoor antenna, oriented to the sky. They'll want to be aware of which bands offer local weather and commercials, and which offer niche music. But they won't care to know which component of a terrestrial signal was modulated to represent the ones and zeros of digital data. Thus they're likely to say "local radio" and "satellite radio," just as they refer to cable, satellite and local, or "regular" TV. As you note, content is what matters, and the term "satellite radio" conveys crucial information about what content to expect and how to set about receiving it. Terms like FM or the truly archaic UHF and VHF do not. BTW, are you predicting the obsolescence of the terms or the technologies? 78's and Edisons are long out of production, a fate I don't hear you predicting for satellite or FM radio. Jerome |
Rich Wood wrote:
On 23 Aug 2003 20:08:49 GMT, Doug Smith W9WI wrote: (it may not be a coincidence WLAC's news-talk and all-sports competitors are both 100kw FM stations) The only talk stations that have reasonable numbers are WWTN-FM (5.1) and WLAC-AM (4.0) What's the other FM talk/sports station? Not Salem's "Christian Talk" with a .8? Both WLAC and WWTN dropped in the Spring book. You may not have heard of it, as it was a VERY recent format change - just last week IIRC. WGFX-104.5 (licensed to Gallatin) flipped from classic hits to all-sports. There hasn't been a book since they flipped, so I've no idea how they're doing. (which station are they listing with Salem "Christian Talk"? I thought Salem's only stations in the market were religious AC simulcast pair WYYB/WRLG. But I work in TV so am not fully up to date on who owns what.) (oh, I meant competitors strictly in the sense of offering similar formats - not necessarily in the sense that they were having any relative successgrin) In Nashville you might be right. I'm amazed that WWTN has better numbers than WLAC. WWTN's programming is weak (IMHO), compared to WLAC. Looking at the lineups I would assume WLAC has a signal problem. Up here north of town WLAC definitely has nighttime signal problems. I've heard the Joliet, Illinois daytimer on the same frequency on the car radio at sunset, while driving within 20 miles of the WLAC transmitter. They are directional at night, though their nulls don't fall into any extremely important areas. I suspect the high dial position is the big problem. My personal impression is that, averaged across the market, WWTN's signal is considerably better than WLAC's, especially at night. Too, by comparison to NYC, Nashville's FMs have considerably better coverage. Less interference, more power, higher towers. -- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com |
This is a fascinating discussion. I remember when AM transistor radios had the little triangles on the dial denoting 640 and 1240, but that's as far back as my memory goes on the subject. There is a station in Fayetteville NC (WFNC) on 640 centrally located amidst several military bases. Does anybody know if this station had some sort of central role with CONELRAD back in the day? For that matter, did the heritage AMs currently on 640 or 1240 fulltime have any history with it? GTT Charles Gustafson wrote: --------------010207050005070101080006 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm old enough to remember. At the class 1B clear channel station I worked at our 10 kw auxiliary transmitter had a bunch of components that had to be jumpered and/or added. We would test it into the dummy load after we set it up on 1240. There was a large manual denoting the changes that had to be made. There was also an area test where we would get an alert from the Conelrad control point and we would have to set the aux to 1240 and turn its control over the the control point and then they would test for a half hour or so. On for 30-60 seconds and off for 3-4 minutes in a random pattern. I think this was the only exception to the union contract that we could do anything except take meter readings without a supervisor there. Of course we took about 100 meter readings and then typed them into the official log every 1/2 hour. Later at a EBS (what was it now CSPS??-1) main station we had a 35 kw generator and 1500 gallons of diesel fuel, console, turntable, cart machines, tape machines and at least 30 days of food at the transmitter with walls 24 inches thick (8" block, 8" reinforced concrete, 8" block sealed and air conditioned. We also had two way radios between us and the State Police and the local County Sheriff/FEMA office. FCC (for FEMA I believe) came out every so often to check out our EBS readiness. Even the food and the other ends of the two way radios to be sure the links worked. Everything was also (supposedly) protected from EMP. I asked one day how much notice we would have to man the site in the event of an attack and was told about 15 minutes and I said "Oh good! It takes me 20 minutes to get there from the studios in an emergency". The FEMA guy just shook his head and smiled..... |
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