Re: WTIC (AM) anniversary broadcast

["Dan Strassberg" <Dan.Strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

Well, 433' towers are 105 degrees at 660, so they would have worked. At some
point, WTIC and WBAL were supposedly on the same frequency and were
synchronized at night. When synchronizing fell out of favor, I believe that
WTIC and WBAL shared time at night. Such arrangements were fairly common
before DAs became popular (the first US DA went on the air in 1931; DA's
started to become popular in the mid 30s) and before NARBA (1941). WBBM and
KFAB shared time at night on 770; KOB and KEX shared time at night on 1180.
I'm sure that there were quite a few other examples. In fact, I believe that
CBS bought WBT, which until then had been non-duplicated at night (in other
words it was a IA), and made WBT's frequency (which became 1110 with NARBA)
available to KFAB (then KFOR Lincoln, I believe) so that WBBM could become a
full-timer. Then CBS sold WBT to what eventually became Jefferson-Pilot. If
I recall, it was only after World War II, that KFOR moved to Omaha,
increased to 50 kW-U, and became KFAB. These machinations should make it
clear that ICBC's purchase of WOWO for the purpose of upgrading WLIB was not
unprecedented.

--

Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
Phone: 1-617-558-4205, eFax: 1-707-215-6367

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin J. Waters <mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu>
To: Pete Kemp <kempp@bethel.k12.ct.us>
Cc: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Date: Sunday, February 13, 2000 4:02 PM
Subject: RE: WTIC (AM) anniversary broadcast


>>Pete Kemp wrote:
>>
>>As Connecticut's only 50,000 watt AM station, I have always been surprised
>>by WTIC's iffy signal coverage around the state.  Here in Fairfield County
>>it's basically a no go. Totally useless in the car.  If I hook up the Kiwa
>>Loop, WBZ come in about as strong and Boston's maybe 4 times the distance
>>away.
><snip>
>
>        I've never been able to find out whether they initially had a
>horizontal wire antenna in Avon or whether they installed a vertical
>antenna from the beginning. The two existing towers, I figure, are not
>original to the site. WTIC was on 660 kHz back around 1930, in some sort of
>share time and/or synchronous operation with WEAF (WNBC/WFAN). WTIC had
>moved to 1040 kHz by 1936, and was paired on that frequency with KRLD, as
>it is now. They both moved to 1080 in 1941 with NARBA. The WTIC towers are
>an odd height, 171 and a fraction degrees, which suggests maybe they were
>built for 1040, as someone who knows how to do the math could figure out.
>Except they would have been electrically even shorter on 1040. But, the
>point is, those towers would not have been built for operating on 660 kHz,
>IMO, and I don't think they had a DA pattern anyhow at least until they
>moved to 1040 and got paired with KRLD. So there must have been some
>earlier antenna at that site.
>
>