was in the very early days of radio a very powerful voice at 500 KW! Lights, bed springs, radiators etc resonated with the voice of Powel Crosley Jr. A far cry from his test's at 20 watts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLW
WLW, another behemoth pig of a station that boasts til this day about their d@mn coverage in 38 states. Arggh! This is a Cincinnati, Ohio station BTW.
From the Wikipedia:
"After sundown, the 50 kW signal can be heard across much of the eastern half of the United States and Canada, and as far west as Denver, Colorado.[citation needed] In 1985 overnight host Dale Sommers received a call from Hawaii on his overnight program. It is believed WLW can be heard, regularly, in at least 38 U.S. states at night,[13] and the station refers to this in some advertising."
"At 50 kilowatts, WLW was heard easily over a wide area, from New York to Florida. But Crosley still wasn't satisfied. In 1933 he obtained a construction permit from the Federal Radio Commission for a 500 kilowatt superstation, and he spent some $500,000 (at least $17 million in 2010 dollars using a CPI conversion factor of 0.13[8]) building the transmitter and antenna.
It was the first large amplifier used in the United States for public domestic radio broadcasting and was in operation between 1934 and 1939. It was an experimental amplifier and was driven by the radio station's regular 50 kW transmitter. It operated in class C with high-level plate modulation. The amplifier required a dedicated 33 kV electrical substation and a large pond complete with fountains for cooling. It operated with a power input of about 750 kW (plus another 400 kW of audio for the modulator) and its output was 500 kW.
In January 1934 WLW began broadcasting at the 500 kilowatt level late at night under the experimental callsign W8XO. In April 1934 the station was authorized to operate at 500 kilowatts during regular hours under the WLW call letters. On May 2, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a ceremonial button that officially launched WLW's 500-kilowatt signal.[9] As the first station in the world to broadcast at this strength, WLW received repeated complaints from around the United States and Canada that it was overpowering other stations as far away as Toronto. In December 1934 WLW cut back to 50 kilowatts at night to mitigate the interference, and began construction of three 50 ft. tower antennas to be used to reduce signal strength towards Canada. With these three antennas in place, full-time broadcasting at 500 kilowatts resumed in early 1935. However, WLW was continuing to operate under special temporary authority that had to be renewed every six months, and each renewal brought complaints about interference and undue domination of the market by such a high-power station. The FCC was having second thoughts about permitting extremely wide-area broadcasting versus more locally oriented stations, and in 1938, the US Senate adopted the "Wheeler" resolution, expressing it to be the sense of that body that more stations with power in excess of 50 kilowatts are against the public interest. As a result, in 1939 the 500-kilowatt broadcast authorization was not renewed, bringing an end to the era of the AM radio superstation.[10] Because of the impending war and the possible need for national broadcasting in an emergency, the W8XO experimental license for 500 kilowatts remained in effect until December 29, 1942. In 1962 the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation again applied for a permit to operate at 750 kilowatts, but the FCC denied the application."
"Many reports have surfaced over the years of the power fluctuations from those who lived near the 500 kilowatt transmitter. Residents would see their lights flicker in time to the modulation peaks of the transmitter. It was widely reported that the signal was so overpowering some people picked up WLW radio on the metal coils of mattress and boxed bedsprings,[5] similar to KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Arcing often occurred near the transmission site."
Hey, are your surprised that Clear Channel owns this blow torch? It's all big mega vile vomit corporations that seem to own these 50Kw stations.
What else do we learn from this textbook example of broadcasting abuse in watts?
"The FCC was having second thoughts about permitting extremely wide-area broadcasting versus more locally oriented stations, and in 1938, the US Senate adopted the "Wheeler" resolution, expressing it to be the sense of that body that more stations with power in excess of 50 kilowatts are against the public interest."
Time to revisit Wheeler resolution as a community and Part15'ers. Who knows what else is in there that can help us and clean up radio.
Thanks for the WLW story @rock95seven.
Here is a good sized piece about WLW history. Best thing I've read all week:
http://www.ominous-valve.com/wlw.html
Id still venture to say,
That while maybe WBZ at 5kW would Cover Boston no problem, the whole market wouldn't fare so well.
heres a 5kW AM in the area
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WROL&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Keep in mind, despite being in the "Red", subtract about 20% from that red line to get a better picture of the actual usable signal.
Personally I have no issue aabout stations bragging.
Man if my station made it to 38 states Id be bragging all day long!
Here's my support for long distance super AMs.
Content not available in Dallas
Coast to Coast AM (hush I like it)
We lost our CtC affiliate. So now I must tune to KFAB 1110 Omaha, or WOAI 1200 San Antonio.
There's no Classic Country station here. 650 WSM Nashville solves that problem at night (plus the Grand Ol Opry!) - Used to have 1130 KWKH, but they're gone now.
I happen to love the Saturday night oldies program on 1120 KMOX St. Louis
I like the Saints, but they have no radio affiliates here. WWL 870 New Orleans fixes that problem.
1170 KFAQ had a pet talk show I enjoyed, plus they ran Old Time Radio shows. (They still might)
So that being said...
If radio was still like it was in the 60s/70s, would you be saying this still?
Back when we had 77 WABC, WNBC, WCBS, The Big 8 CKLW, WKBW 1520, KOMA 1520, XERF 1570 (Wolfman Jack), The Big Ape WAPE, WOWO 1190. All the big Top 40 Powerhouses that we would jam to at night. Even the 50kW Country blowtorches, WBAP 820, KVOO 1170, KWKH 1130, WSM 650, ect.
The great power blasters of those old years were great because of the wonderful personalities that introduced the records. There is a hall of fame somewhere for them all.
The only fabulous personality I know of today is Tommy Mischke on WCCO 830 kHz 50kW Minneapollis-St. Paul, another multi-state giant. His show is Mon. - Fri. 10 PM to Midnight.
Well, @mighty1650, 5Kw will cover Boston and 10Kw certainly will.
Both are mere fractions of the 50Kw they are pushing now and lying to justify while bragging about the distance of the signal. The two ideas are incompatible and unsure why the FCC allows such.
As for Coast to Coast AM, yes, I like that show. But driving I-80 overnight , the dial is nearly entirely C2C. It shows up from Ohio, several Pennsylvania locations, Detroit, Toronto. There are slews of long distance signals too. That's insanity, so I think. Especially in this day and age where the internet is very common and yields much better audio "signal".
We need less of these huge stations pushing syndicated stuff. That's a big gripe of mine.
As for the other examples of the New Orleans station, oldies and country, yes, I say wonderful. Big signals for those welcome. Original content.