Its been nice knowing you all

[Dan Strassberg]

Well, all stations were SUPPOSED to move on March 29. I've heard that it
took several weeks longer, but in New York. where I was a kid not quite six
years old, it SEEMED as if all stations moved on that day. I suspect that in
crowded areas like New York, everyone HAD to move at the same time to avoid
chaos. In less populous areas, a simultaneous move was less
imperative--unless stations that couldn't move just went dark until they
were ready to move.

I guess there were about 700 AMs then; a significant fraction were probably
share timers. So if you count each group of share times as one station (even
if they didn't share a transmitter site), there probably were well over 600
stations. Not many were directional. Retuning a DA wasn't something you
could expect to get done overnight, especially in those days when the
measuring equipment was more primative. I assme that all directional
stations (except maybe WEAF, WBZ, WTAM, and WWL, which didn't have to
protect anyone) had to proof their DAs at the new frequency. That was a job
that could take weeks.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Bello <RBello@BelloAssoc.com>
To: Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net>; Bill O'Neill
<billo@shoreham.net>
Cc: Boston Radio Interest <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: Its been nice knowing you all


>
> Did all stations move on the same day ?
>
> How did they do it ?
>
>
>
> At 12:56 PM 1/19/04 -0500, Dan Strassberg wrote:
> >Pre NARBA, WBZ was on 990, WEEI was on 590, WLAW was on 680, WHDH was on
830
> >(I believe), and WLLH was on 1370. That was just prior to March 1941.
NARBA
> >did not move most of the stations below 730. Dropping in the Mexican
Class
> >IA channel on 730 resulted in most stations between 730 and 780 moving up
> >one notch. The next Mexican IA at 800 caused most stations between 790
and
> >890 to move up two notches. The third Mexican IA at 900 caused most
stations
> >from 900 to <something> to move up three notches. There were four more
> >Mexican IAs added--at 940, 1050, 1220, and 1570. Some channels, including
> >990, moved up four notches, but somewhere one channel must have been
> >subtracted, because a whole bunch of regional channels in the 1200s,
1300s
> >and 1400s moved up only 30 kcps (no kHz then). The New York area had
> >regionals at 1250, 1300, 1350, 1400, and 1450. Most of the New York area
> >stations on these frequencies were share-timers. Today, the equivalent
> >stations are on 1280 (WADO), 1330 (WWRV), 1380 (WKDM), 1430 (WNSW), and
1480
> >(can't remember the current calls). The local channel at 1500 moved down
one
> >notch to 1490.
> >WMEX moved from 1470 to 1510 and WJSV Washington moved from 1460 to 1500
and
> >became WTOP. Those moves were four notches. Before NARBA, the "broadcast"
> >band (there was no regularly licensed FM service, so there was no need to
> >identify the standard broadcast band as the AM band) ran from 550 to
1500,
> >with "experimental high-fidelity" stations on 1530, 1550, and 1570. NARBA
> >did away with the hi-fi channels but extended the band to 1600. NARBA did
> >not extend the band downward to 540. That happened later. Canada (and
maybe
> >Mexico) went down to 530 still later, but the US never went below 540,
> >except for TISs.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Bill O'Neill <billo@shoreham.net>
> >To: 'Dan Strassberg' <dan.strassberg@att.net>; <rogerkirk@mail.ttlc.net>;
> >'Scott Fybush' <scott@fybush.com>;
> ><boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>; 'Kevin Vahey'
> ><kvahey@tmail.com>
> >Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 12:02 PM
> >Subject: RE: Its been nice knowing you all
> >
> >
> > > > I had one of those Zenith AM-FM radios when I was in college
> > > > and for many
> > > > years afterward. Both the AM and FM were excellent, and I
> > > > believe that a
> > > > side-by-side comparison with my GE Super Radio III (a very
> > > > fine receiver by
> > > > today's standards) would reveal the Zenith to be superior to
> > > > the SR III in
> > > > almost all respects on both AM and FM.
> > >
> > > That's quite an endorsement I'd not expected. I actually own two of
them.
> >The
> > > other I picked up at a yard sale about 20 years ago.  It works but
> >occasionally
> > > has an audio drop out and there's a very narrow bandwidth audio.  Tube
> >theory
> > > ain't my bag, but I think I'll try to tinker with it sometime just for
> >fun.  I
> > > also have a GE 1921 floor model radio purchased new by my grandparents
at
> >the
> > > Bon Marche in Lowell that year.  Broadcast Band, SW1, SW2.  A speaker
the
> >size
> > > of a satellite dish ;-) and decent sound.  I pre-dates whatever the
> >smartie
> > > engineering types invented so as to bring close and far stations into
some
> >sort
> > > of leveling. So, the locals are very loud and the distants (beyong .25
> >mV/m it
> > > seems) need a big of a volume tweak.  Not running a longwire, so I'm
not
> >getting
> > > SW on it right now.  It still has the station names (Boston/Lowell)
market
> >over
> > > the five "auto" preselects. WBZ, WEEI (590), WLAW (680), WHDH (850),
WBZ
> >(1030),
> > > WLLH (1400).  I have to wonder if those were the dial positions in
1921.
> >I
> > > don't think so.
> > >
> > > Bill O'Neill
> > >
>
>