1520am Toledo

[Howard Dean]

I know this station has a long history of being differant things. I remember the towers over on Jackman rd in Temperance Michigan and the little building right there. Everytime you would go by it would cut into every other AM station. There is nothing around the site anymore, the building is gone as are the towers, I did noticed a Dish laying on its side still there however .

It seems they had a Soul music format for many years under the calls WVOI and I remember when they were WDMN they would play music or have preaching on there.

 

[radiolistener66]

I know this station has a long history of being differant things. I remember the towers over on Jackman rd in Temperance Michigan and the little building right there. Everytime you would go by it would cut into every other AM station. There is nothing around the site anymore, the building is gone as are the towers, I did noticed a Dish laying on its side still there however .

It seems they had a Soul music format for many years under the calls WVOI and I remember when they were WDMN they would play music or have preaching on there.

Yeah, Howard, it's WNWT now, and owned by the Educational Media Foundation--which, despite its name, is actually an enormous religious broadcasting outfit from California. At this point EMF is the second or third largest radio company in the nation with 200+ radio stations--behind CC but somewhere in the Cumulus range. Apparently financed by some born-again billionaire, IIRC.

And, yeah, it was Urban for 20-plus years as WVOI and did okay until the FMs starting encroaching on their Urban turf. Before that it was Country as WTUU (wrongly thinking that their fulltime rig could knock-off the daytime-only 1560/WTOD) and before that it was Top 40 WTTO, trying to be Toledo's local answer to The Big 8. Wrong again (well, wrong for the first time).

The Temperance site was a 6-tower array used for night-time hours in tandem with a different 6-tower daytime array down around Perrysburg. Many years ago (15? 20?) they got FCC approval to drop power from 1,000 watts to 500 watts day/400 watts night and get rid of the Michigan tower site... loosened up the sound end site from 6-to-5 towers... and change the COL from Toledo to Rossford (to make it all legal). But the net result was never much better (aside from lower power bills and an easier ride for the engineer). It was still an under-powered AM pea-shooter with lousy dial position incapable of fully covering a fairly large metro area.

Truth is, the commission should have never approved the original application for that station. It was doomed from before it ever hit the air.

 

[Howard Dean]

Didnt they use the calls WGOR and WAWR at one point? I think they were all news then relgious at one point?

 

[CaptBob92]

Actually, you have some of the details wrong. The station started out as WTTO 1KW day/night with daytime transmitter site at Temperence Michigan but licensed to Toledo. The night site was South East of Perrysburg. The station protected WBNO 1520 at Bryan, Ohio and WYFC 1520 at Yipsolantee, Michigan. It took years to get it on and the original plan was to license it to Rossford and operate with just the South site at Perrysburg but the Yipsolantee station got a cp first and so to use it in Toledo they had to add the Temperence site to protect WYFC. WYFC moved to 990 and that allowed them to give up the Perrysburg site which was overgrown with weeds and vines up the tower last time I saw it last year.

The original calls were WTTO and they called it WE TOE fifteen copying WKNR 1310 in Detroit which called itself KEENER thirteen. The jingles were the same so was the reverb and jock presentation. I worked weekends there. The Jocks included JR Nelson, the late Lee Fowler, Tommy Dean, Bob Ladd, Jim Edwards ( later of CKLW) and Marty Mason doing news.

The station dropped Top forty for All news a few years later using the short lived NBC all news format under the calls WANR ( all news radio ) that didn't last long before it became WTUU trying Country, then I believe it changed to WGOR ( worst gospel on radio? LOL ) After that I lost track of their shananaguns. The original studio was on the forth floor of the Commadore Perry and was built at the exact same time that channel 24 was building studios on the same floor. The jocks used to walk across the hall and sit in the peanut gallery during the live kid's shows on 24 in the afternoon.

Eventually, channel 24 moved out to the West end and last I heard the 1520 studios were up at the transmitter site in Temperence. I visted them once after they made the move.

 

[FredRichards]

Hey Capt, the day site was at Smith and Jackman, 1 mile into Michigan. The original transmitter was a Gate Vangard 1, a real treat to work on. The day site took into consideration Ypsilanti MI to the north, a little protection to WKBW Buffalo (mostly due to crit hours), and then the Kent/Canton combination, and then as you said "Beeno" WBNO to the west. It was a 2 x 3 (6) tower pattern. Somewhere around here I have pictures of CE Jim Hartzler changing guy wires on the tower. I worked there as a jock and engineer, later did the move of the station from the 4th floor of the Commodore Perry to the day site in the trailer next to the transmitter. I worked there into the Hal Gore period (WGOR), then took off for the big time. Prior to the religion we ran oldies off reel to reel tapes.

Night was just north of where the turnpike and I75 come together. It was a (6) tower in line, that also originally had a Gates Vangard 1 but that was later changed out. The night signal was due north right through town. You could get it great in downtown, but in Sylvania and Oregon it sucked big time. It protected KB, someone to the SE, (maybe Kent/Canton), KOMA to the SW, and then there was protection to the NW which was for (I think) Muskeegon MI. Hell, it's been 40 years.

I got trapped at that God forsaken transmitter one night. The station had a Moseley remote control with the stepper switches. The night site's control would get goofy, and someone had to go out there and "wack it". I drew short straw, and jumped in the car and made the drive to Bates Rd. While there, a thunderstorm rolled in and the towers were getting hit, and there was flashed between the phasor and ground strap on the wall, and the TX would kick off. Being the brave guy I was, I hid under the desk, and with the broom in one hand I would take the handle and press the Plate On to get the station back on the air after a hit. All the time, the phone is ringing, and my "friends" downtown are wondering what the heck is happening. When the storm ended, I swore I would never revisit that site. God, was that awful!

All towers are gone. The night site was chopped down last year. If you google "Tower Hunting From The Air" you'll see the site(s) from the air. Note the grapevine climbing up the towers.

BTW, I loved your WMGS stories. A minor correction to one of the posts, the pattern protected 730 in Leamington, then CHIR owned by Sun Parlor Broadcasting. (Great little rocker) 710 CHYR was the day station. But WMGS had to take into consideration 720 Chicago, 730 Pbgh/Leamington, and 740 Toronto. I was there when Max got his walking papers and they were in receivership. Interesting place with a Gates BC-1T transmitter, and RCA board and processing (later repossessed). Somewhere I have reels of jingles, which were the Pepper and Tanner "Country Giant" and before that the CRC package with lyrics "WMGS in Toledo". I lost most of my aircheck in moves as radio gypsy, but they were not that stellar to save.

It was fun!