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WDIA/730 & 1070 kHz (Was Re: "all-girl" radio)



>Dan Strassberg wrote:
>Although I may be wrong, I vaguely recall that WHER took
>over 730 in Memphis when WDIA made an almost
>unprecedented move from 730 kHz (well, it was 730 kc
>then) with 250W-D ND to 1070 kHz with 50 kW-D/5 kW-N DA-
>2.<snip>
>
>I think that when WHER signed on, it had more power
>(500W or 1 kW) than WDIA had had when it was on 730. But
>WHER was still a daytimer.

        There was in the 1976 Broadcasting yearbook list a 250w daytimer,
KSUD, licensed to West Memphis, Arkansas, on 730 kHz. It shows a start date
of 1961 and as far as I know was never connected with Sam Phillips or WHER.
I don't know if 1961 is when WDIA moved to 1070. I guess I thought that
happened earlier.
        Also, I don't know about the WDIA move being unprecedented. 1070 is
clear for the U.S. and Canada. It was/is a I-B channel on which the U.S.
made only a single Class I (now Class A) assignment, LA. In 1976, KNER in
Houston on 1070 showed as 10 kW day, 5 kW night. And the best known/oldest
secondary station in the U.S. on 1070, IMO, is WAPI, Birmingham, which by
1976 used 50 kW day, 5 kW night, same as WDIA. And WAPI was full-time with
5 kW on 1070 at least back to 1946.
        It seems like the U.S. assigned a bunch of Class II/now Class B
stations on 1070 outside KNX's protected area rather than make another I-B
assignment somewhere east of the Rockies. There were so many side
agreements and bilateral agreements going along with the original NARBA
that it's hard to figure why. Maybe it was good lobbying by KNX, or maybe
it was part of an agreement with Canada, that also covered other things,
that the U.S. would give the Canadian assignment in Moncton a wider berth
than maybe it otherwise would have had to. For example, Birmingham is far
enough from both Moncton and LA that it seems as though WAPI could have
been made a I-B assignment back in the '40s.  WAPI's 50 kW in the daytime
is non-DA, although even that was not an absolute requirement for a I-B.