Re: WOWO loud and clear Christmas night around 10:00 PM

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

        Here's my chance to say happy holidays, and especially happy new
year, to everyone on this list. Hanging out here is always a great part of
my year.

        Now I have a comment that relates to a 1999 radio event that I
would *not* include on my list of the ten best things that happened in
radio this year: the elimination of WOWO as a nighttime Class A,
clear-channel station.

>Dan Strassberg wrote:
>I picked up WOWO on my Super Radio III, last night around 10:00 PM for about
>20 minutes. WLIB was not much in evidence for a good portion of the period I
>listened.
<snip>
>I don't know whether these were freak conditions or whether WOWO was
>operating with its daytime facilities. I can't say that I noticed any of the
>other midwestern powerhouses coming in much better than usual
<snip>

        I heard the same thing Christmas night, although I felt as though
some of the other midwestern stations, including WGN, and WHO despite the
wretched pest station in NJ, also were coming in stronger than usual
earlier in the evening than usual. I was even getting KXEL mixing in with
Albany on 1540. (Trivia sidebar: The NRC newsletter just listed Albany as
changing its calls back to WPTR.) So, I don't think it indicates WOWO was
operating with daytime power. From what I've heard, they're very punctual
and reliable about their changes, same as in the olden days.
        This is sort of case, IMO, of how soon we forget. At my location,
90 miles from Central Park, WOWO's daytime signal batters WLIB into the
background before Fort Wayne sunset, just like it used to. By the time WLIB
used to sign off at Fort Wayne sunset, its signal was unlistenable here
behind WOWO. And then WOWO switched to its directional nighttime pattern
and put much more signal in this direction. Wasn't it the ERP of 125 kW or
something? Now, WLIB actually decreases its signal toward me on its
nighttime pattern compared to its day pattern. If WOWO were using 50 kW, it
would dominate big time.
        I did hear something interesting around four to six weeks ago and
never got around to asking Blaine Thompson about it. A station I presume
was WOWO had a promo on saying, "now louder and clearer than ever." I
wondered whether that meant its augmentations to its nighttime pattern were
on and it was a reference to improving the signal in the immediate Fort
Wayne area. From what I could see, the augmentations were not going to
increase the signal toward New England at all, so we wouldn't hear any
difference. The "louder and clearer than ever" line is clearly a case of
how soon the promotions department copywriters "forget." They mean louder
and clearer than at anytime since their great nighttime signal was swept
into the dustbin of history, and that was only last January or February
<forced semi-grin>.




--
********************************************************************

Have you patronized the skywave signal of an AM Class A station today?

********************************************************************