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1340

Back at college (Ithaca, NY) in 1969 - 1970 WMID's skywave was also a frequent catch - despite four or five co-channel graveyarders within a couple of hundred miles. And one of which was only about 40 miles distant in Auburn, NY. That old WFPG-TV tower and the salt-marsh conductivity made the station an amazing performer.

But then again, my roommate's old summer stomping grounds, WERI in Westerly, RI was also a nighttime catch in upstate NY with co-channel WENY Elmira only 25 miles away!

Coastal location seems to be key.
 
Back at college (Ithaca, NY) in 1969 - 1970 WMID's skywave was also a frequent catch

Hey! I was there back then! The Auburn station wasn't strong, even in the daytime, but WGVA, at 1240 in Geneva boomed in! Better than it looks on the map below:

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WGVA&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

That was back when WICB (Ithaca College - at that time) had ten watts.

Savage, do you remember Ocober 20, 1969, when the rumor that 'Paul was dead' broke, and WVBR was taking calls, and Roby Younge was on WABC talking about it?
What a night!

in case you missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_DXCy2Buc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXGhR8ZFzHI
 
I know this is a bit off topic, but I can't resist.

In the 1969-1970 year at Ithaca College, Rod Serling visited the campus twice, and spoke to the student body. He was officially there to talk to the people in the Radio-TV curriculum about the issues involved in producing The Twilight Zone, but after answering some questions about that, he opened the discussion to any topic at all. Also the forum was open to the entire student body, and believe me, the place was packed on both occassions.

There's a famous Twilight Zone episode called "One for the Angels", in which actor Ed Wynn, keeps Death from taking the life of a dying little girl while making "a pitch for the angels".
Basically, a sales-pitch that is so entertaining that Death is delayed from his appointment.
Here's a link to a summary of that episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Angels

What happened at Ithaca that year was that someone asked Rod Serling how he felt the war in Vietnam was going.
His response was totally spontaneous, and started slowly. "It doesn't seem to be going very well", he observed, and he cited some statistics.
He then went on to say he felt that the human potential was so much better than it was being lived at the time.

And then he went into "a pitch for humanity" that was so eloquent, so awesome, so moving, and so mind-blowing that when he had finished speaking, everyone sat there in dumbstruck silence for about five seconds. It was as if we had heard the voice of Michael the Archangel, pleading humanity's case before God! It was the best performance I've ever seen or heard, bar none.
We gave him a three minute standing ovation.
Sadly, no one appears to have recorded the comments on tape.
 
amfmsw said:
and the dreaded horizontal oscillator of the TV.
Click to expand...

I remember that. I could tell which station the TV was tuned to by the sound of the whine on the radio station I was listening to.

Richard in Allentown
 
Various things here, from various posts .......

...... Just at the point on Long Island where the Jersey Coast blockage subsides, in western Nassau County, WMID just takes OVER on the south shore. And way out east in Mastic-Shirley, even WOND 1400 puts a big signal in, even after dusk.
At times where we lived, physically within the five boroughs in Laurelton Queens, WMID was louder than the share-time WPOW on 1330 -- which was largely a water-path effect itself! ......

....... I recall reading a long time ago about WMID being heard in the state of Washington. Maybe Fybush knows a bit more .......

....... @ Zenith T-O : There's hardly any overlap vis-a-vis WHAT and WRAW. Just from casual and infrequent observation, though, I'd say that WHAT has the worse signal. DXing from that Laurelton section of Queens in the 60's, I heard WHAT once. (WMID was off, of course) .......

....... Again, it was the late Sixties when a pal of mine was working on some 1490 rock station in upstate New York. He forgot to power down to 250 one sunset. He got a complaint call from a jock at a station in North Carolina who was getting my pal's station in the North Carolina studio.
It'd be cool to hear an evening or two with that mutual lower-power concept. Perhaps someone could ask the FCC to declare some test period. Hey -- if it works? Stations save money with lower power .......

....... GY stations are terrific indicators of Auroral activity. If you're hearing a semi-local GYer loud and clear at night. rock-solid (like WPAM 1450 and WAZL 1490 sometimes act in these parts), the great Northern Lights are affecting reception big-time .......

....... There was a similar discussion, although about two 1490 stations, on one of these forums. It might have been the Hudson Valley site. Someone was curious about the proximity of WKNY Kingston NY to WDLC Port Jervis NY (and vice-versa). There is no overlap there, either ........
 
Zenith Transoceanic said:
I know this is a bit off topic, but I can't resist.

In the 1969-1970 year at Ithaca College, Rod Serling visited the campus twice, and spoke to the student body. He was officially there to talk to the people in the Radio-TV curriculum about the issues involved in producing The Twilight Zone, but after answering some questions about that, he opened the discussion to any topic at all. Also the forum was open to the entire student body, and believe me, the place was packed on both occassions.

There's a famous Twilight Zone episode called "One for the Angels", in which actor Ed Wynn, keeps Death from taking the life of a dying little girl while making "a pitch for the angels".
Basically, a sales-pitch that is so entertaining that Death is delayed from his appointment.
Here's a link to a summary of that episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Angels

What happened at Ithaca that year was that someone asked Rod Serling how he felt the war in Vietnam was going.
His response was totally spontaneous, and started slowly. "It doesn't seem to be going very well", he observed, and he cited some statistics.
He then went on to say he felt that the human potential was so much better than it was being lived at the time.

And then he went into "a pitch for humanity" that was so eloquent, so awesome, so moving, and so mind-blowing that when he had finished speaking, everyone sat there in dumbstruck silence for about five seconds. It was as if we had heard the voice of Michael the Archangel, pleading humanity's case before God! It was the best performance I've ever seen or heard, bar none.
We gave him a three minute standing ovation.
Sadly, no one appears to have recorded the comments on tape.
Click to expand...
Having been born after Serling passed away, that's a real shame that nobody recorded that. It's something my and younger generation would have loved to have heard. If only there were camera phones then!
 
Cassette recorders were just starting to catch on then, and the audio quality wasn't the best.
I guess no one had one, or thought to bring one, or if they did, the tapes have been lost.
It's funny that no one thought to use professional equipment to record him, because the broadcasting school had a good reputation, but I guess it was just considered an informal session.

Also to SteveGreen NEPA: Thank you for the report, and comments.
 
I've found on the Pa. Turnpike that once you get a few miles east of Morgantown WHAT starts to cut in over WRAW & WHAT just gets stronger heading toward Philadelphia. WHAT puts a strong signal daytime into the northern Philadelphia suburbs but disappears at night (from trying to listen back in their previous standards format, not the current Spanish one).

Funny though, there is one place I travel in Warminster/Ivyland Bucks Country (a 1/2 mile stretch of road, Hatboro Pike) where there is some kind of null and WMID booms in for a few seconds over WHAT, every time, then disappears. Funny how just a certain ground condition can cause that on a regular basis!
 
Rod would speak to the radio-tv department every year at the beginning of the fall semester during part of the 70's. He died in 1975, sadly...I started at IC in 1978...too late for me...I herad from the upperclassman about how awesome his lecture was.

KF
 
As Savage pointed out,I remember in the Mid 60's hearing WMID in Wayland,New York early mornings as well as WTRN in Tyrone,Pa...I think even after the power down to 250 watts,I could sometimes hear WMID over the hash.

Then one morning I got the one I was really shooting for..WHAR in Clarksburg,WV where I ended up living and working at in 1970.

1340 Daytime in Wayland was WMBO with WUSJ Lockport in the background...The WMBO signal was audiable but not really listenable...WGVA was much better...

I remember traveling form Philly to Atlantic City and how quickly WMID took over from WHAT....but WHAT also seemed to have the edge over WRAW traveling the Pa. Turnpike westbound...I thought all three stations were cool to listen to...WRAW's news opener was similar to KB in Buffalo.
 
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