Re: WGY now non-directional but not always?

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

I suspect that WGY is still using the 660' uniform cross-section guyed tower
it had when I visited the facility almost 50 years ago. The tower dates back
to sometime before NARBA, when WGY was on 790. Even though GE made AM TXs in
the early 50's (WPTR had one), WGY's TX back then dated to the 1920s. It was
a large collection of assemblies and components set off from the more
accessible areas of the building by wire fencing, such as you sometimes see
around stockrooms in electronics-manufacturing facilities. I estimate the
floor space as 30 by 60'. The building was enormous by the standards of most
TX buildings and the reason it was was that the WGY TX was far from the sole
occupant. It was also far from the most powerful occupant. The building also
housed several short-wave transmitters, most of which were used for VOA
programming. Two of them were, I believe, 150-kW units. Which brings us to
the towers, some of which you undoubtedly saw. There was a large antenna
farm of short-wave towers surrounding the WGY tower. The WGY tower was by
far the tallest, but I would be surprised if there were fewer than 20
others. Among those shorter towers were two that supported the WGY long-wire
before the 660' tower was constructed. WGY has never been directional,
although, at some long-ago time, KGO reportedly made an unsuccessful attempt
to have the FCC require it to run DA-N so that KGO could loosen its pattern.

In those days, WGY operated around the clock, as did all other US 50-kW
stations that operated ND at night. The purpose was sky-wave monitoring at a
time when the AEC was conducting tests of nuclear devices in the Nevada
desert. It had become apparent that the tests were affecting medium-wave
signals and the AEC wanted to know more--as they slowly poisoned the
atmosphere with radiation. Although the stations were clearly audible, the
real purpose was concealed from the general public until years later.

WGY carried no commercials overnight in those days and the programming
originated from the TX building, which had no studios. It was amusing to see
the program source for these programs that WGY's mighty 50-kW ND signal
carried all over the eastern and midwestern US--an RCA 45-rpm record changer
sitting on a table not far from the TX.

--

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

-----Original Message-----
From: lglavin@lycosmail.com <lglavin@lycosmail.com>
To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Date: Monday, February 14, 2000 6:32 PM
Subject: WGY now non-directional but not always?


>All the scuttlebut about the histories of WTIC-AM and
>WBT-AM and how they arrived at their present facilities
>set off a little light-bulb in my brain.  I remeber
>travelling the NY Thruway West a very long time ago
>as a passenger in a friend's car.  This allowed me time
>to scope out the terrain for AM towers.  Unless my
>eyes deceived me (and they were very good then) I'm
>sure that I say the tower(s) of WGY. licensed to
>Schenectady, NY but physically in Scootia I believe.
>Anyway, I'd swear that the station had at least two
>towers indicating a directional array at least at night.
>I've been by there a few times recently and there's just
>one not-very-imposing tower indicating NDA all hours.
>Would a broadcast historian/techie elucidate on the
>history of 810 AM (and has it always BEEN 810?) I'm
>curious about this station because it's my source for
>news during my jaunts to the Berkshires. (WAMC
>can't ake the place of WBUR)
>