Re: WNFT-1150 AM

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>At 02:16 PM 5/22/98 -0500, Bump Martin wrote:
>>
>>I thought it was mainly to protect CKOC(?) in Hamilton Ontario (50kw Day
>>& Night).
>>
>>Although they've since moved from that frequency, haven't they?
>>
>And then Dan Strassberg wrote:
>I don't know when CKOC arrived and/or departed from 1150, but I think it was
>(is) a relative newcomer on the frequency. For sure, CHNS was on 1150 a
>long, long time. It did not protect Boston, which means it was there before
>the local 1150. Years before CHNS moved to 700, I saw their TX site. There
>was what looked like a very old 5/8-wave guyed tower and a newer shorter
>tower to the south of it. The old night pattern was a very loose inverted
>figure 8, with no real nulls. There was a minor lobe--probably equivalent to
>1 kW ND--over roughly 180 degrees to the south (over water mostly) and a
>stronger lobe to the north. I believe that, at the time (1977), CHNS was 10
>kW-D/5 kW-N DA-N.
>
>The other station that the Boston 1150 was built to protect is in Wilmington
>DE. Calls were--and maybe still are--WDEL.
<snip>

        The 1972 Broadcasting yearbook lists on an on-air date for CHSJ of
April 18, 1934. WNFT (as WCOP) also went on in 1934, date not listed,
although I bet it's on the Boston radio timeline at the Boston Radio
Archives site. But it doesn't matter, since you can't tell which was
authorized first or what negotiations took place. But, the oldest station
in this equation appears to be CKOC, Hamilton, Ontario, listing a date of
May 20, 1922. In a 1936 list, CHSJ was 500 watts and shared time with CKOC,
500 watts, and WISN, 500 watts day and 250 watts night, in Milwaukee. WCOP
was 500 watts, daytime only.
        In 1942, CHSJ was 1 kW, fulltime, not sharing time. WCOP was still
500 watts, but fulltime. CKOC was 1 kW D, 500 watts night, not sharing
time. All these stations had moved from 1120 to 1150 in the frequency
shuffle. CHSJ and WCOP were listed the same in 1946 while CKOC was 5 kW. As
late as 1976, CHSJ still was on 1150, with 10 kW D, 5 kW N, DA-2, as Dan
said. CKOC was 10 kW, DA-2. I don't have any lists for the in-between
years. But CKOC is still on 1150, with 50 kW, DA-2. Two much more recent
Canadian stations (not listed in the 1976 Broadcasting yearbook) are CHGM,
Gaspe, Quebec, 5 kW, DA-1, and CJRC, Gatineau, 50 kW D, 5 kW N, DA-1.
Gatineau is west of Montreal.
        The NRC night pattern book seems to show, as Dan said, that WNFT
has a null toward St. John and its major lobe to the southeast, close to
due south. Why it has such an awful signal on the South Shore, even in the
daytime, therefore is more of a mystery. But its really sharp nulls are to
the west. They look extreme on the NRC map. One, as Dan said, is southwest
for WDEL, Wilmington, Delaware (on-air 1922). The other appears to be a
little north of due west,for Hamilton.
        One factor that might have limited WCOP's facilities was that the
United States never allowed more than 5 kW on the regional channels, while
Canada did, until the much more recent change from the old class I, II,
III, IV system to A, B, C, D. Protecting WDEL also must be a major
limitation, but WNFT probably could get some power increase. Off the top of
my head, its first and second adjacents seem to be clear at night of any
nearby stations it would have to worry about protecting and in the daytime
there's really only the 1170 in Norfolk, which the WNFT owner might be able
to buy and put out of its misery.

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