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The very first WFTL became WGBS!

Mike Sheridan

Mike Sheridan

I had always heard this but did some research and saw it with my own eyes. The first WFTL on 1400 came about in 1939. It was 250 watts, but sometime around 1943 moved to 710 with 10KW. The owner was coerced to sell the station (because he was convinced he was going to lose the station) to George B. Storer who moved it to Miami and later upped the power to 50KW day 10 KW night and finally 50KW full time.

The second WFTL 1400 came about in 1947.

Storer strikes again! in 1954 WFTL-TV 23 came on the air as South Florida's first NBC affiliate. UHF had a tough road in the early days for lots of reasons. WFTL was sold to Storer and moved to Miami becoming WGBS-TV 23 for awhile before going dark.
 
Yes and 23 was Miami's first NBC-only station.....when WCKT 7 came on, well that was it for 23 until being WAJA in 1967.

FCC being stricter IMO in those days about interference, I wondered how 710 (or even 940) got night authorization. In the 70s when I listened to 710 overnight Sun/Mon as WGBS went off for maintenance, WOR in NYC was no problem! I wonder if WOR put up a stink in 1939 or 1943 or whatever. Of course now, due to 710 running mostly anti-Castro programming, Cuba putting up Radio Rebelde to block the signal, how WOR initially reacted.....certainly their coverage has suffered.

cd
 
cd637299 said:
Yes and 23 was Miami's first NBC-only station.....when WCKT 7 came on, well that was it for 23 until being WAJA in 1967.

FCC being stricter IMO in those days about interference, I wondered how 710 (or even 940) got night authorization. In the 70s when I listened to 710 overnight Sun/Mon as WGBS went off for maintenance, WOR in NYC was no problem! I wonder if WOR put up a stink in 1939 or 1943 or whatever. Of course now, due to 710 running mostly anti-Castro programming, Cuba putting up Radio Rebelde to block the signal, how WOR initially reacted.....certainly their coverage has suffered.

cd
Click to expand...

That is a very interesting piece of radio history. Thank you for sharing.
 
cd637299 said:
Yes and 23 was Miami's first NBC-only station.....when WCKT 7 came on, well that was it for 23 until being WAJA in 1967.

FCC being stricter IMO in those days about interference, I wondered how 710 (or even 940) got night authorization. In the 70s when I listened to 710 overnight Sun/Mon as WGBS went off for maintenance, WOR in NYC was no problem! I wonder if WOR put up a stink in 1939 or 1943 or whatever. Of course now, due to 710 running mostly anti-Castro programming, Cuba putting up Radio Rebelde to block the signal, how WOR initially reacted.....certainly their coverage has suffered.

cd
Click to expand...

A side note, I was watching when WAJA was running test pattern in 1967. The very first test pattern had WGBS-TV on it.

As for WGBS 710 you probably know it's a 6 tower directional at night which keeps the signal well away from WOR and points north. The day pattern is only 3 towers. Checking base currents and phase for 6 towers was a pain!
 
jmtillery said:
That is a very interesting piece of radio history. Thank you for sharing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your interest. I emailed you the article which talks about the sale of the station in 1943 (PDF attachment). Hope you enjoy!

Mike
 
At night, one can drive around Pembroke Rd and 172 ave, about a mile and a half from the station slightly east of due north in the direction of NYC into their nulls. When silent, they disappear and when the announcer speaks, sounds like SSB suppressed carrier.
 
I would guess that their day null was originally to protect the FCC monitoring station but now protects WSBR on 740.
 
I think WSBR is far enough down the dial so they don't have to worry about 710. Besides 710 was around long before WSBR.

I remember WGBS could be heard up though the middle of the state easily.
 
Unless it has changed, this is an old BS protectionist rule. Two stations three channels apart (710/740) could not overlap 25mv/m over 25mv/m. WINZ had to limit their field strength at the FCC station to 33mv/m and I assume WGBS did the same and during that time, WSBR came into being. So now and forever more, 710's 25mv/m contour can only go as far north as the 740 equivalent contour goes south. I do not know whether two AM stations on third adjacent channels can agree to short space with each other.
 
I always wondered how Tampa's 1050 got to move to 1040, with 1010 there. Yeah I know the COL is now Pinellas Park or something, but Tampa Bay is Tampa Bay to me.

cd
 
Come to think of it, doesn't or didn't the Fort Myers area have 1410 and 1440? It gets confusing.
 
1410 is allocated to Ft. Myers, 1440 to Lehigh Acres, more inland.

cd
 
cd637299 said:
Of course now, due to 710 running mostly anti-Castro programming, Cuba putting up Radio Rebelde to block the signal, how WOR initially reacted.....certainly their coverage has suffered.

cd
Click to expand...

WOR's coverage closer to home in NYC has suffered. At night, WOR is almost unlistenable south of Exit 91 on the Garden State Pkwy in NJ. NYs other 50 kW AM blasters, 660, 770 & 880 are easily received in Ocean County at all hours.

WOR is the one NY AM blaster that could benefit by switching to FM, but it would need to be re-invented to be successful. That's a topic for another thread. :)
 
radioguy39nj said:
WOR's coverage closer to home in NYC has suffered. At night, WOR is almost unlistenable south of Exit 91 on the Garden State Pkwy in NJ. NYs other 50 kW AM blasters, 660, 770 & 880 are easily received in Ocean County at all hours.

WOR is the one NY AM blaster that could benefit by switching to FM, but it would need to be re-invented to be successful. That's a topic for another thread. :)
Click to expand...

I'd be very interested in reading and participating in your WOR thread. Let me know when you are ready to begin the discussions.
 
jmtillery said:
radioguy39nj said:
WOR's coverage closer to home in NYC has suffered. At night, WOR is almost unlistenable south of Exit 91 on the Garden State Pkwy in NJ. NYs other 50 kW AM blasters, 660, 770 & 880 are easily received in Ocean County at all hours.

WOR is the one NY AM blaster that could benefit by switching to FM, but it would need to be re-invented to be successful. That's a topic for another thread. :)
Click to expand...

I'd be very interested in reading and participating in your WOR thread. Let me know when you are ready to begin the discussions.
Click to expand...

Actually I haven't started a WOR thread, but I will do so under "New York". My comment was based on the belief that WOR, despite being a well-known NY radio brand, is perceived as being "geriatric" and is missing the mark by not doing more local programming to counter WABC. :)
 
Mike Sheridan said:
I think WSBR is far enough down the dial so they don't have to worry about 710. Besides 710 was around long before WSBR.

I remember WGBS could be heard up though the middle of the state easily.
Click to expand...

GBS 710 had a huge signal up in Melbourne and beyond.
 
nutballgazette said:
GBS 710 had a huge signal up in Melbourne and beyond.
Click to expand...
They had the strongest day north signal of any South Florida station in spite of their pattern with the possible exception of, of all stations, WAVS when they were on 1190. We worked for them and can say that they sounded almost local @ the cape, just very deeply nulled toward WOAH 1220 (now 1210) when they were @ NE 71 Street.
 
ai4i said:
nutballgazette said:
GBS 710 had a huge signal up in Melbourne and beyond.
Click to expand...
They had the strongest day north signal of any South Florida station in spite of their pattern with the possible exception of, of all stations, WAVS when they were on 1190. We worked for them and can say that they sounded almost local @ the cape, just very deeply nulled toward WOAH 1220 (now 1210) when they were @ NE 71 Street.
Click to expand...

When WAVS was on 1190 at first you couldn't even hear the station in Hollywood it was so directional. Later they had a signal to the south. According to the WAVS engineer I talked to it was due to the power lines re-radiating the signal.
 
"Radio Waves" had four (almost) in-line quarter waves running south-north in a cow field on the south side of Peters Rd between University Dr and Pine Island Rd. The CE told me to never read the base current meters when the bull was out there. Their complete format was network news from very low fidelity phone lines.
 
ai4i said:
"Radio Waves" had four (almost) in-line quarter waves running south-north in a cow field on the south side of Peters Rd between University Dr and Pine Island Rd. The CE told me to never read the base current meters when the bull was out there. Their complete format was network news from very low fidelity phone lines.
Click to expand...

That was one of the first sites I ever visited. They had a Bauer 5KW transmitter. The bull wasn't the only problem. There were hippies that would come out there to harvest the wild mushroom crop. They could get violent when chased away from their score.
 
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