• 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

AM College Radio: Thoughts

I think a college/university could pick up a dying commercial AM and do well as a college radio/community radio station. Maybe have the weekend days set aside for ethnic music formats that aren't heard much anymore, polkas, polynesian, German music during Ocktoberfest. Happy music. Maybe some Euro techno once in awhile. Maybe even broadcast some local high school sports (to share the signal so to speak). Maybe have local people debate the issues instead of being subjected to and being brainwashed by talk/hate radio. Great way to practice the concept of diversity.
My thoughts....
 
Does anyone know if there any AM signals in the Northern Chataqua County, New York(Fredonia/Dunkirk, NY) area? If there were, how would a college go about purchasing the frequency for a LPAM station?
 
To add the this subject, the former commercial station I engineered, WMMM-AM in Westport, CT, was donated to Sacred Heart University in neighboring Fairfield, CT. It is now an outlet for their NPR talk programming. I know there are another AM a little more up the coast from me that ended up being donated to Quinnipiac University. It seems this was a way for these stations to gracefully divest themselves of properties that had proved difficult to liquidate otherwise.

A past message mentioned URH, which is a Part 15 station from what research I've been able to gather. There are many schools an universities utilizing Part 15 stations as part of their campus radio programs. I'm hoping to profile some in the near future for my website, CampusBroadcaster.net
 
We don't have "LPAM" in the U.S. as a licensed service but LPB makes some transmitters that are LPAM & legal for college stations (I believe those rules are in Part 15 as well). I'm not sure what parts of the dial are used for what but as I remember it, the carrier current stations are usually between 530-600 & stations with an antenna are up around 1700. Each is such so they radiate well. Here in R.I., WRIU used to have a carrier-current station on 580 & Brown University's was on 600. Anyway, the F.C.C. regulations are a little more lax but it's set up so that your station's signal is no more than x millivolts per meter at x meters off campus.

I hope this helps!
 
You mentioned northern Delaware in your piece and I think that Newark's 1260 would be an excellent station for a college to take over.

Not a bad idea assuming you could get the college kids to listen to an AM station. However, in the case of Newark's former AM 1260 WNRK it's too late, 1260 Newark is now an Espanic Station. They don't show up in the 12+ numbers for Wilmington, but then again they rarely did even when they were in their prime. So I have no idea how many listeners they are pulling in with their new format of about a year. It does seem that the signal is getting out a bit better than it used to at night, but as I don't speak Spanish and they aren't speaking any English (at least during the couple of times I've tuned in) I don't listen and do not know much more about the small station that once was the former pride and joy of Newark back in the mid 60's.
 
If memory serves, it's 25000 microvolts/meter at the campus boundary. A good CC system will do far better than a Part 15. I've seen 2 miles of decent coverage with CC.


N1WVQ said:
F.C.C. regulations are a little more lax but it's set up so that your station's signal is no more than x millivolts per meter at x meters off campus.
 
I think a college/university could pick up a dying commercial AM and do well as a college radio/community radio station.

It was tried at WBTN and failed badly, despite a "proven" lineup and even having the Red Sox games (usually a sure winner).

To be blunt, why would a college inherently be better at running a failing radio station than any commercial operator? An AM station is rarely a good idea for a student activity; most students don't even own a radio (save perhaps for their car) and AM radio is even more a "relic" in their eyes than FM radio is, thanks to a viciously-overcrowded band at night. The school could spend a lot less and reach a lot more students by starting a webcast-only station. (assuming SoundExchange doesn't manage to end all webcasting as we know it)

So unless the station is part of a course curriculum (which would be an odd thing to start in these times, especially considering CT School of Broadcasting just abruptly went bankrupt)...or unless the college wants a radio outlet for broadcasting sports games (which almost always can be done much cheaper by working a deal with an existing local station) then there's really no reason for a college to take over any station, much less a station that is already failing financially. Hell, most NPR affiliate stations depend on SOME form of subsidies from their parent college; rarely are they 100% fiscally self-sufficient...and most of them have decent-sized *FM* signals, too.

I know it's easy for me to say this since I'm not relying on such a license for my livelihood...but I can't help but think the entire radio industry would be better off if a lot of these small, fiscally-shaky, "graveyard channel" Class C and small Class D AM stations were just taken off the air and the allocations deleted permanently. It'd help make the entire band a lot more viable, especially at night.
 
The real problem with this entire discussion is that it assumes colleges and universities have money. A lot of them are in big trouble. Their endowments were tied up in stock fund that lost between 40-50% of their value. Alumni giving has stalled. State and federal funding is down. I've read of several colleges that have sold off their FM stations. A few more are considering it. If it doesn't directly involve classroom learning, it's on the chopping block. Radio stations, AM or otherwise, are not necessary to classroom learning. They're either a student activity (and those fees have increased dramatically lately), or it's a revenue producer (such as a university-owned NPR station). If the revenues don't cover the cost of operation, those stations are being sold.

I agree with the poster who said these stations should simply shut down. There are way too many stations for the operators to make money. A lot of states own these AM stations and use them for traffic information on the highways or airport information. That's about all they're good for, and I expect with cuts in state funding, those radio stations will be among the first things to go.
 
Tom Wells said:
KUOM has always sounded great, and when I am in the cities, it's the 1st station I put on a rental car radio preset.
I seem to remember they were in CQUAM stereo, too.
One college AM which airs a "Classic Alternative" format is KGRG at 1330 out of Enumclaw, Washington. Their website is: http://www.kgrg1.com/
 
A better idea would be to offer to program an unused HD-2 or 3 channel on an FM station with real power and coverage.
One could even do pledge drives on a non-com.
 
A list of Carrier Current AM Stations, from the "Cliff Notes" of reference sources, Wikipedia.

Current Stations:

Bulls Radio 1620 - University of South Florida, also heard on licensed WMNF-HD2[1]
KAMP-1570 at the University of Arizona[2]
KANM-1580 at Texas A&M University[3]
KASR-1330 Arizona State University[4]
KCIZ 1650 at Mora High School, Mora, Minnesota[5]
KJACK 1680 - Northern Arizona University[6]
KLBC-1610 at Long Beach City College[7]
KMSC-1500 at Minnesota State University Moorhead
KRFH at Humboldt State University
KSSU 1580 AM at California State University, Sacramento
KUR-1670/88.3 at Kutztown University[8]
KUTE-1620 University of Utah[9]
Radio SNHU 1620 at Southern New Hampshire University[10]
WALT-1610 at Davidson College[11]
WAUG 97.9 FM cable cast at Augustana College[12]
WERW 1570 AM at Syracuse University
WEXP at La Salle University
WFVS 530 AM and recently LPFM at 100.5 at Fort Valley State in Fort Valley, GA (fiber-optic linked carrier current system)
The WIRE - 1710 AM at the University of Oklahoma
WMAX 540 at Hesser College, Manchester NH
Wolfpack Radio-1700 at the University of Nevada[13]
WPPJ-670 Point Park College[14]
WPMD-1700 at Cerritos College[15]
WSIN-1590 at Southern Connecticut State University[16]
WSLU-1620/100.1] at St. Leo University, St. Leo, Florida[17]
KSUB at Seattle University in conjunction with 8 mW low-power broadcasting and Internet radio[18]
WTBU 640 AM/89.3 FM at Boston University
WVYC 640 AM at York College of Pennsylvania, sister station to FCC licensed WVYC FM 99.7 also on the Internet.
Radio Laurier Macdonald 560 AM at Laurier Macdonald High School in St-Leonard, Montreal QC Canada.

Former Stations:

CHRW-FM at the University of Western Ontario started as a carrier current station at 610 kHz
K.C. AM at Colby College, now WMHB
KAL at University of California, Berkeley - now KALX
KCC at Chabot College, Hayward, CA - now KCRH 89.9
KCWS-AM at Central Washington State College - now KCWU-FM
KDVS, originally KCD at University of California, Davis
KFRH at Washington University in St. Louis - now KWUR-FM
KMPS-AM at University of Alaska Fairbanks - now KSUA-FM
KNAB at Chapman University, Orange, CA - ceased carrier current in 1991, now internet-only station ChapmanRadio.com
KOWL at Rice University - now KTRU-FM
KSU at Stanford University – now KZSU-FM
KSWC at Southwestern College (Kansas) in Winfield, KS - now at 100.3 FM
WBMB at Baruch College, CUNY started as a carrier current station at 590AM
WCAR 550AM at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill - now WXYC-FM 89.3
WDBS 560-AM at Duke University - now WXDU-FM 88.7
WFAL 1610AM at Bowling Green State University
WHAT 530AM at Johns Hopkins University, later WHSR and now WJHU
WHEN 640 AM at University of Delaware
WHEN at Western Illinois University - now WIUS-FM
WJJX 650AM at the University of Michigan, sister station to WCBN-FM 89.3
WJPZ at Syracuse University, now 89.1 FM
WKC at Knox College - now WVKC-FM
WKDU-FM 91.7, the student-run radio station of Drexel University formally WMAX (1958)[19]
WKDT 89.3 FM, the cadet radio station, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY
WLKR AM Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI - Now WLSO 90.1 FM "The Sounds of Lake State"
WMTU-FM started as a carrier-current AM station.
WMUC-FM started in 1937 on 650 AM. [20]
WNYU on 800 AM in New York University's dorms at its lower Manhattan campus.
WOCR-650 A "pirate" carrier current station in Ocean City, MD in 1973
WOLF at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina - now WKNC
WPSM at Penn State's Mckeesport Campus (aka Penn State Allegheny) - now an internet station WMKP[21]
WQAD/WFQR/WIN/WIUS at Indiana University - now WIUX-LP
WRAF on 590 AM at Binghamton University - now WHRW
WRLC-AM on 1110 and 1150 AM at Rutgers University, now WVPH-FM
WRCK at Slippery Rock University - now WRSK-FM
WRCR-AM Rockford College[22]
WRCT on 900 AM at Carnegie Mellon University - now WRCT-FM
WRUR-AM 1090 at University of Rochester in Rochester, New York - now WRUR-FM see also Campus Radio
WSOE on 1200 AM at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - now WMSE on 91.7 FM see also Campus Radio
WUFI-540AM at Florida International University now WRGP 88.1 & 95.3 FM[23]
WUVT 640 AM at Virginia Tech
WVAU on 610 AM at The American University (station is still present, but they no longer broadcast carrier current)
WVBU on 640 AM at Bucknell University later licensed to 90.5 MHz FM, carrier current turned off several years later
WVOF on 620 AM at Fairfield University
WXOU 88.3 FM at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan (Licensed to Auburn Hills, Michigan)
WXPN and WQHS-730 at the University of Pennsylvania
WRIU Studio B, now only online, at University of Rhode Island and licensed to Kingston, Rhode Island
WCUR as WSCS 640 AM, and WCUR 680 AM at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, but has since migrated to 91.7 FM, as well as online at wcur.org
 
Northern Kentucky University has just purchased WPFB 910 Middletown OH and is currently simulcasting WNKU 89.7. Being that the university plans to rebroadcast 89.7 on WPFB-FM, I wonder what plans are in store for the AM?
 
College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Ca. signed on last friday as KCOD 1620. An article in the local paper, the Desert Sun claimes the station has 10 watts, which would make it a pirate. An e-mail to the "station" concerning this operation outlining the power limitations for a part 15 failed to generate a response.
 
JON BRUCE said:
College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Ca. signed on last friday as KCOD 1620. An article in the local paper, the Desert Sun claimes the station has 10 watts, which would make it a pirate.

Probably, but not necessarily. The FCC rule for Part 15 college stations (47 CFR 15.221) is that the field strength at the perimeter of the campus must be no more than (24000 / f) uV/m, where f is the frequency in kHz. That's 14.8 uV/m at 1620 kHz. Whether 10 watts is legal or not depends on the antenna size/efficiency and the size of the campus. It sounds a bit excessive, though.

An e-mail to the "station" concerning this operation outlining the power limitations for a part 15 failed to generate a response.

As long as no licensed station complains about interference, the FCC won't do anything about it. Being non-commercial and not taking ad dollars away from licensed stations would probably work in their favor as well.
 
MarcB said:
Yale Radio 1340 in New Haven, Connecticut has been moved to internet only. Yale University has LMA'd WYBC 1340 to WSHU Public Radio. (Like WSHU really needed another repeater). Yale's WYBC-FM 94.3 remains commercially LMA'd to COX and features an Urban AC format.

That's interesting to me. I was aware for a long time that most of the Ivy League colleges had commercial FMs. Harvard and Princeton are the two I knew best. But didn't know that Yale had LMA'd its stations. Probably a good idea in terms of revenue and operations.
 
College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Ca. signed on last friday as KCOD 1620. An article in the local paper, the Desert Sun claimes the station has 10 watts, which would make it a pirate. An e-mail to the "station" concerning this operation outlining the power limitations for a part 15 failed to generate a response.

Anything from 1610 to 1700 AM would have to be either a TIS/HAR station or a expanded-band station that migrated there from another frequency; it couldn't be a truly "new" station. However, because of the engineering restrictions of Part 15 free-radiating broadcasting...and because, generally speaking, the expanded band is "quieter" than the cacophony of the regular AM band...it makes sense for Part 15 stations to broadcast above 1600.

Unsurprisingly, there is no facility with "KCOD" (or even "KCOD-FM") in the FCC's CDBS. Whatever it is, it's not licensed.

However, regarding its legality...I wouldn't necessarily read too much into the "10 watts" thing, though. Newspapers rarely understand or care about the complexities of legal Part 15 AM broadcasting. All they know is "it's a lot less powerful than regular AM stations". So they might be legal at 100 milliwatts (and radiating element limited to 3m in length) and the paper just got it wrong.

It's a little unusual for a college radio station to be a pirate these days. The administrators are too savvy to let it happen for long because there's tremendous legal liability for any college where the students are running a pirate operation.
 
Possible but unlikely. The nature of carrier-current means that it works markedly better at the low end of the band. Plus virtually all the carrier-current transmitters out there are either made by LPB or Radio Systems, and IIRC those have always been 20 watt transmitters for many, many years. It's been a while since I "worked" at LPB (I sorta did and sorta didn't for a year or two after college) but I don't recall us ever having a 10 watt CCAM transmitter.

BTW, the Ivies are a little weird when it comes to radio; moreso than most they ended up having quasi-independent alumni/student boards be the actual license-holder, and moreso than most they ended up being colleges that have/had stations in the commercial band, although not exclusively. I don't really know why either of those things ended up like that. (shrugs)

Harvard: WHRB 95.3 commercial, quasi-formatted. (not actually owned by Harvard)
Brown: WBRU 95.5 commercial, formatted.
Dartmouth: WFRD 99.3 commercial, formatted? Used to own WDCR 1340AM (IIRC)
Cornell: WVBR 93.5 commercial, not really formatted. (very much not owned by Cornell). Used to also own WHCU 850AM.
University of Pennsylvania: WXPN 88.5 NCE, formatted NPR station.
Princeton: WPRB 103.3 NCE, not formatted. (yes, they are non-commercial, despite the freq)
MIT: WMBR 88.1 NCE, not formatted. (also not actually owned by MIT, and MIT is sort-of-an-Ivy)

And, of course, Yale.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom