[BC] WLW Superpower Coverage

[Rob Atkinson]

I was thinking that if 500 kw ever made sense, it made more sense then, 
compared to now.   while the g/w area wasn't much bigger apparently, radio 
as an electronic entertainment medium was in a completely different 
situation then, with only live entertainment and motion pictures for 
competition.   I think there were more average listeners (as opposed to 
hobby dxers) who sought out skywave signals in the evening hours, and maybe 
the 500 kw did make a difference in skywave reception.  It also may have 
stamped out more noise from lightning and  gotten through better in critical 
hour periods, and in summer.   average listeners then as now, probably 
weren't disposed to tolerating noise.

the XE border stations seemed to rely on superpower for skywave to sell 
their quack medical remedies to night owls in the u.s. and canada since 
their ground conductivity down there south of texas must have stank.   heck, 
they may as well have shut down in the daytime and saved the money.

rob atkinson
st. charles IL
k5uj

From: Barry Mishkind <barry at oldradio.com>
Reply-To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Subject: Re: [BC] WLW Superpower Coverage
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:35:35 -0700

At 07:36 PM 12/15/05, Jeff Johnson wrote

>>Not the large improvement expected.  So getting a real listenable 500 kW 
>>daytime WLW signal in north Texas (about a 1,000 mile path) probably is 
>>not likely.
>>
>>RF
>
>This was the reason the 500KW license was not renewed past the late '30's. 
>The difference was not substantial. WLW did remote recordings of changeover 
>from 50KW to 500KW. One of those recordings is on WVXU's "WLW-The Nations 
>Station" historical compilation. The FCC decided in favor of all of the 
>licensees who wanted 50KW locally arguing that "Super Power" was not 
>effective.

         Perhaps Mark Durenberger will "weigh in" here,
         although he was out of the country last I heard.
         His discussion of the "Clear Channel Proceeding"
         (on www.oldradio.com) also mentions a lot of
         politics ... if the other stations couldn't have
         500 kW, neither would WLW.

         Other factors, I would think, included more
         sensitive radios that didn't need the high
         power to work (The Harko was, what, only
         $10 in 1930s money), the proliferation of
         stations in small markets after the war
         (they were clamoring for spectrum prior),
         and the lack of revenue from outside
         the market....

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