-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Any Plans for FM at 1WTC?
- Thread starter djl
- Start date
Channel 7, 11, and 13 are trying the site out with a STA;
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101671079&qnum=5350©num=1&exhcnum=2
Are these networks receiving any type of financial assistance in moving? If not, why spend the money? What do they have to gain by moving?
I think you gain 200-300 feet additional HAAT. Doesn't the old Trade Center location serve LI and Jersey better than Empire?
Update: I checked the FCC database. The difference in height for WCBS application is 1702 feet (519.1 meters) versus 1302 feet (397 meters) That's a pretty substantial increase in antenna height.
The coverage map (predicted) shows a few miles gain on the island and also north in Conn.
I assume Big A is saying $1M per year. That's north of $80K monthly!! I wonder what the capitalization costs will be.
Update: I checked the FCC database. The difference in height for WCBS application is 1702 feet (519.1 meters) versus 1302 feet (397 meters) That's a pretty substantial increase in antenna height.
The coverage map (predicted) shows a few miles gain on the island and also north in Conn.
I assume Big A is saying $1M per year. That's north of $80K monthly!! I wonder what the capitalization costs will be.
Last edited:
I don't know what the TV rate per year at the ESB is, but it came out during the WBAI eviction that their rent for an FM was in the vicinity of $50,000 per month.
There is one commercial FM that "fit" on the World Trade antenna, WPAT, but which is now on the ESB under an STA with reduced power. It would be a candidate for the move.
G
Groove1670
Guest
I can see it as an advantage for FM if this will improve multipath, or building penetration issues. I guess my question is how much difference is the reception at the current sites vs the former site (2001). With cable, online, etc. For TV, I don't know if they would look at it as a primary and the current location as a secondary backup. In 2001, the TV landscape was very different, and probably more OTA viewers. Now most stations are running a direct cable fiber from the studio to the cable headends. Maybe there are enough OTA viewers to make it viable. Any rating/household insights?
I don't recall there being much of an advantage on Manhattan. Perhaps in other boroughs.
The real issue is separation on a crowded band. For example, CBS-FM which is co-channel with WBEB in Philly apparently can not move an inch farther to the south or southeast. A number of other stations are similarly affected.
Another issue is that there is more population in the metro to be reached from the ESB than from the new location, as more of the radio market is in NE New Jersey and even a piece of SW Connecticut.
Beyond that, adding height would further reduce power and that can affect building penetration in the high-rise areas of the market. One consideration, though, is that there are Midtown structures rivaling the height of the ESB with more planned, and that could shadow or affect coverage from the current preferred site.
I thought the one FM on WTC was 103.5.
IIRC, it was on WTC on a separate antenna back in the WTFM days when it was directional. When, in the 80's, it went non-directional it stayed on the WTC as it was minimally short spaced to WBZO and a station in NJ (Newton, I think). After 9/11 they filed for an STA to the ESB and then requested a waiver for the minimal interference to run 6 kw on the ERI master antenna, which was granted. They now have no reason to go back to the other location.
When they were directional, they had a separate small mast with the DA antennas on it. I actually saw it on the roof when doing due diligence for the purchase of WTFM, and it had a lower center of radiation than the big mast.
WPAT was on the WTC, and still operates with slightly reduced power on the ESB because of spacing.
Last edited:
When we moved 103.5 (WYNY at that time) from the DA antenna on the south tower to the north tower master antenna, there was quite a bit of negotiation involved to bring it about. Westwood One, in order to get the non-directional status, negotiated agreements with WNNJ in Newton, NJ and WPRB in Princeton, NJ. In return for WNNJ and WPRB agreeing to allow WYNY to go non-directional from 1WTC, Westwood One in turn agreed to pay for both WNNJ and WPRB to increase power to bring them to full class B status. All three agreed to accept any mutual interference from overlap in New Jersey. Overall, it was a win-win-win agreement for all three stations. I was only minimally involved with the move as I was primarily working for our AM (WNEW-AM) at the time, so was only involved in some of the grunt work of the project, but if Jim Huste is on this board he could give more details. He was CE at WYNY at the time. Off the top of my head, I can't remember what our input power to the master antenna was, but I do remember that looking at the Bird watt meters in the WTC combiner room that WYNY was pretty much equal to the two other class B's running from WTC, WPAT and WQCD.
Last edited:
I watch OTA TV 90% of the time because the picture quality is far superior to the cable we have, and I sense this is a growing trend. There are also some good sub-channels, such as Antenna TV. We need cable for football games, all the news channels, etc. But almost all our viewing is OTA.
Last edited:
- Status