RE: Dual Frequency Day & Night

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

For years, there was the famous and unique setup of WFAA 
Dallas and WBAP Fort Worth, both of which shared time on 
820 and 570. I chronicled this bizarre arrangment and 
how it came to exist in a long post here over a year 
ago. Someone sufficiently interested might be able to 
find the post in the Archives.

The frequency changes were unrelated to sunrise or 
sunset. When WFAA signed off on 820, it signed on on 570 
and WBAP did the opposite. The time-share arrangement 
was contrived in hell. Each station was on each 
frequency exactly half of the time, but if you name a 
day of the week and a time; it would be two weeks before 
either station would be on the air again on the same 
frequency on that day of the week at that time.

Needless to say, the only way to make sense of it all 
was to program each _frequency_ as if it was a station. 
At one point, I think 820 was country and 570 was easy 
listening. There was little mention of call letters 
except at the handoffs. What was mentioned were the 
frequencies, as in Country 820 and Easy 570.

I think, but I'm not sure, that the arrangement forced 
the two stations to downplay air personalities because I 
think (though I'm not sure) that each station had its 
own air staff. I wonder whether there was some similarly 
creative way of dividing the responsibilities of the 
sales staffs.

Ultimately, the FCC broke up the arrangement. WBAP 
landed on 820 full-time and WFAA (now KLIF) landed on 
570. Presumably the then owners of WBAP paid a goodly 
sum to the owners of WFAA because the 820 IA clear 
channel facility was more valuable than the 570 Class 
III facility, notwithstanding that 570 was the best 
Class III facility in the market.
--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367

> I imagine
> it does complicate matters for the listening audience.
> 
> 73, de Hakim (N1ZFF)