Re: WJTO sign off

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

>No, 730 is a Mexican clear channel, on which Canadian Class II (now Class B)
>stations were and are allowed to operate full-time but US stations were
>originally restricted to daytime-only operation.

        I believe this comes from one of the side agreements back in 1940,
like the U.S. and Canadian use of 1010 and 1050 and the U.S. use of 1220 (a
Mexican I-A clear channel) in Cleveland. CKAC is definitely and always has
been a Class II/ Class B station. But it's like WKNR (old WGAR) on 1220--it
sounds like (and in the old days even more so) a clear-channel station
because nobody else was/is on at night anywhere closer than Mexico.

>When the Rio treaty went into effect, US stations were permitted to operate
>full-time on such channels, provided they protected foreign stations
>heretofore-protected nighttime contours within the foreign stations'
>national borders. That's how both WJIB and WJTO became full-time stations.
>The US stations receive no protection from the foreign stations, however, so
>CKAC just creams WJTO, which uses some tiny power (29W, I think) at night.
<snip>

        Frequent poster Ron Gitschier, of the U.S. Navy and the mighty 1570
station in Ferdinanda Beach, Fla., has told me that more restrictions
remained in place regarding the Mexican clear channels than the Canadian
channels even after Rio, right up until now. But he said that is about to,
or maybe now just has, finally changed, so the same general rule will be in
effect--that the Class A stations need not be protected beyond the national
border.
        His station apparently is talking about getting significant
full-time power, even though the Mexican station is the one in the city
across the river from Del Rio, Texas, and so not all that far from Florida.
So, I'm wondering whether WJTO's nighttime operations have been restricted
because of Mexico, not Canada, but that that is changing now, as it is in
Florida. Or perhaps the restrictions that remained until now were only for
stations located closer to Mexico.