WTIC (and WBZ, WRKO) night signals

[Dan.Strassberg]

Two other Class IA AMs were directional at one time--both stations
were owned by RCA/NBC--WEAF (now WFAN) and WTAM. Neither was very
directional but both used DA patterns to reduce radiation over nearby
bodies of water--the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound in WEAF's
case and Lake Erie in WTAM's. I always wondered why the west-coast ND
Class I's KFI, KNX, and KPO (now KNBR) didn't do something similar. In
the case of the two Los Angeles stations, the issue may have been
co-channel Canadians (although the one on 640 wasn't in Canada when
NARBA put it there--Newfoundland didn't become part of Canada until
several years later).

WTAM's DA was unique in the US, AFAIK, though not unique in North
America; it was a one-tower DA. "How's that?" you may ask. Well, I
didn't say one element; it was a two-element array; the second element
was a drop-wire suspended from one of the guys. The antenna was
designed by the legendary Carl Smith and several like it are
apparently still in existence in Mexico and Europe. From what I've
been able to learn, the efficiency was extraordinarily high.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@gmail.com>
To: "Mark Casey" <map@mapinternet.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: WTIC (and WBZ, WRKO) night signals


> One night I was on 95 in North Carolina and hit scan and it only
> stopped once...on 1030. WBZ has always done well along the Chicago
> lakefront starting a hour before sunset. WBZ and WWL probably have
> the
> strongest signals of the old 1-A stations as they elected to be
> directional.