WLW's 500,000 watt transmitter

[electra225]

I found this video and found it interesting so thought maybe some of you would as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbHjcwIoTiY

[Conelrad]

I toured that site about 25 years ago when in Ohio, working with Harris Broadcast on our new studio complex KJZZ-KBAQ. It was really impressive to see just what was necessary then to make the 1/2 million Watts of high-level plate modulated AM signal.

At full modulation, the demand was almost 2mW off the power line. A single mod transformer weighed some 22.5 tons...

D

[electra225]

When I was driving a truck, there were only a few stations I could get anywhere in the US. WLW, WWL, WBAP, WHO. Now I can't get any of those here, not even on a Hallicrafters radio. I don't get WSM here, but it's pretty good east of the Mississippi River. Have these big stations cut their power, or has cellphone service killed DX-ing on the AM band. Would a 500,000 watt transmitter even be possible today?

[Conelrad]

Background RF noise is a real problem on the AM band, and the loss of clear channel powerhouses meant many smaller stations on same frequencies across the US add up to more noise.

Culprits like Ooma phones, LED lights, Wi-Fi routers, switching wall warts, lack of maintenance on power lines, and some types of online kWh electric meters are to blame for tons of wideband noise.

AM Dxing can still be done, but it takes a bit of dedication: An active steerable loop antenna, a radio with variable IF bandwidth and adjustable noise limiting, and a clean house in terms of interference generated within. That is something many don't have a clue about just what is making the band so noisy. A simple LED desk lamp can really make a lot of hash on the air. Plasma TV's used to be a real offender, but most of those have gone to landfills.

I do my AM Dx with a Wellbrook ALA1530 antenna & a very vintage Hammarlund Super Pro, a beast of some 100 lbs with the RX & PSU added together.

D

[electra225]

There is an AM station in Window Rock, AZ you may be familiar with. On the Navajo reservation, may have arguably the best country music station on the air today. "The Ride" from the San Carlos reservation is good as well, although it is FM. I can get the Window Rock station from 3 am to about 6 am, or sunrise, whichever comes first. The station I am referring to is at about 900 khz. We have a sports station here in town at 910. I think the local station increases its power, crowding the Window Rock station out. Surprisingly, the best DX-ing radio I have is an Emerson 518, just a common old AA5. That little thing thinks it's a Hallicrafters. I've had it since 1955, it's never had anything done to it in the last 50 years. Still running all its original parts, even the filter caps. I have a Hallicrafters SX-110 that should be a good set, just never could get it aligned right. It was given to me, the original owner was glad to get rid of it. He never could get it to working right, either. There is a station in Nebraska that comes in here really well about 7am. Only lasts about 30 minutes before it goes away...

[Conelrad]

Perhaps you are referring to KTNN, The Voice of the Navajo Nation with 50kW on 660 kHz.

I just got back from a 2-day repair session there, due to lightning damage, albeit now with just 25kW as some of the damage wasn't field repairable.

Those parts are off to Nautel in Maine for repair.

D

[electra225]

Is that station in Window Rock? I remember them saying they were out of Window Rock. They played classic, and I do mean CLASSIC country music. I was "scanning the band" when I came across the station playing Margo Smith "There, I Said It". That song was from 1973 or so and wasn't played a LOT when it was young. Been a long time since I heard it on radio.

[Conelrad]

Yes, they play a very eclectic program of country tunes, along with native language singing too. The on-air staff is a cool bunch to gab with when I'm at the studio.

We should both be able to hear it at home when I get the station back to the full 50kW.

I've listened in several times from here and it is readable in the daytime.

[electra225]

It would be great to be able to hear it here in the daytime! Would that be possible on a home radio or do I need a boat anchor of some sort? We can get "The Ride" on FM, no problem, and they do a pretty good job with country music as well. They broadcast off the San Carlos reservation, so they must have a pretty big transmitter. When we lived in Missouri there was a station in Pittsburg, KS, just across the line in KS. 860 AM, as I recall. I could hear them at our house in the daytime, yet they were almost 200 miles SE of us. They played a good mix of classis country, complete with live air personalities and the pork belly and grain market reports at noon......

There was a country station out of Chicago I listened to as a kid. Came in like FM in the day when we were in central Indiana. WJJD, 1160 AM "A broadcast service of Plough, Inc." One day, it was gone. I still to this day have no idea what happened to it. Then there was an AM station out of Indy, WIRE, 1480 "Number one-derful WIRE". Same situation, one day it just disappeared. I could listen to WIRE all the way to "The River". The Ohio River at Evansville, IN. There was a little flea-power station in Washington IN, WAMW/WFML that simulcast country music. They had the farm report at noon on the AM side, but continued with music on FM. Maybe a couple counties of coverage, but I enjoyed them when I was in that area. Then there was "WKZI, CA-sey Illinois". Last I knew it was a religious discussion station, but they did a nice job with country back in the day. I listened to them when I was hauling grain out of Clinton, IN. Terre Haute finally got a country FM station. WTHI-FM abandoned their elevator music format and became "Hi-99" and featured Cork McCord. They were owned by Channel 10, WTHI-TV. Their country format was broadcast in stereo. Cork McCord later came to "Camel Country" here in the Valley for a time. I have no idea what happened to him after that stint. There was a stereo FM station come on the air in Indy at 95.5, that many felt was the replacement for WIRE. This all took place in the 1973-1975 era. Country music on AM back in that part of the country was on its way out by then......

[19&41]

I can barely get WSM here, only at night. It drifts in and out, just like WOWO and KCMO.

[electra225]

How far from Nashville are you? Can you get WWL and or WBAP? I can't get WSM out here, partially due to a strong local station at 620....

WOWO is in Fort Wayne, IN isn't it? I'm surprised you can get that where you are. I couldn't even get the carrier for WOWO in Missouri... I can't get WBAP out here.

[19&41]

Not very far. I can get WWL easily at night. I've gotten WBAP and WHO plenty of times.

[electra225]

Isn't there a clear channel AM station in Atlanta? WHB comes to mind, but don't quote me on that. I know it's a three-letter call sign. I used to get it in Missouri. I wonder if they "fire" WSM toward "the heartland". You may be on the backside of their antenna where you are.

[Conelrad]

Here's the answer to finding out if a station is still on the air, what power it has, who owns it, eTc:

https://fccdata.org

Go there, and punch in the call sign and everything will pop up.

D

[electra225]

Thanks, Dennis. I bookmarked that. I learned something.....

WJJD is now a low-power FM station in Kokomo, IN.

What was WJJD in Chicago is now WYLL. A Christian talk station.

WIRE is now WIRE-FM out of Lebanon, IN, not that far NE of Indy.

WFBM is now out of Beaver Springs, PA, I think owned by a religious organization, a church, maybe.

WBTO, a little flea-power local station from back in the day is now an FM station out of Petersburg, IN.

WKZI is still in Casey, IL. A Christian talk station.

WAMW is still in Washington, IN. WFML, the FM side is now WAMW-FM. The AM side still broadcasts country music, the FM side does "oldies".

WTTV is still in Bloomington. Still a Sarkes Tarzian company? It didn't really tell that.

[electra225]

Finally, after years of wondering, I may have an answer as to what happened both to WJJD and WIRE. WIRE was at 1430, not 1480. WIRE still exists, technically. It has had two call letter changes and is currently a sports talk station. (How many of these do we need?) Both stations succumbed to the moving of music to FM formats. WFMS at 95.5 technically adopted WIRE's country music format. Its on-air personalities scattered to the wind. It was one of the best in its day. Unfortunately, its day has passed by the late 1980's.

[Conelrad]

Years ago I had a boss that had worked for Sarkes back in Indiana.

Said he was a genius in television design, building radios & TV sets with a factory employing some 2,000 workers.

ST morphed into a supplier of lots of types of Selenium rectifiers.

He passed in 1987.

[electra225]

My mom worked for "Sarkie" from 1955 to 1967. She started out winding the Channel 3 tuner stick. She moved to test sometime later. Occasionally, she would have to go to "Rectifier" the other ST factory in town where they made rectifiers. She hated working at Rectifier, loved her job on the TV tuner line. She rebuilt tuners as a side hustle. She would do the physical work at home on the kitchen table, then take the tuner to work in her dinner bucket for alignment if it needed that. She would do that on her lunch hour. Sarkes Tarzian lived in a mansion on the grounds with the East Hillside Drive tuner factory. There was an underground tunnel from his house to the plant so he could drive to work and not get his baby blue '56 Continental dirty. He was quite the personality. He owned Channel 4 TV station, WTTV. He would have his on-air personalities to company functions. We got to meet Chuck Marlowe, Happy Herb (Herb Isaacs) Janie Wood and even Dick The Bruiser, a local wrestling star. Dick the Bruiser was alleged to, in reality, be Ed Tutwiler, a Cadillac dealer in Indianapolis. I never determined that for a fact. He had feeds for the employees and had a company swimming pool that was a big deal back then. I saw a demonstration of FM stereo in that plant, IIRC, sometime in 1958. Sarkes told us at that meeting that they were working on stereo sound for TV sets, which seemed far-fetched in 1958. There was a Buick dealer in Indy who was my hero. Bob Catterson. Quite the personality in his own right, had some of the most colorful car commercials ever. He was a major sponsor of Channel 4, so I got to meet him at one of Sarkie's company feeds. "If, yes if, you can buy a new Buick for less money than at Bob Catterson Buick.........you buy it!" was Mr. Catterson's schtick.....The good old days....