The new 910AM News Talk Superstation

[Bobbert]

Handel on the law would be fantastic. WCXI had it, but often replayed the same show for weeks on end.

He's based on KFI in Los Angeles. That's a fun station—John and Ken, Tim Conway, Jr. If you want a local report on what's going on in L.A. and California, that's the place to go.

[MWmetalhead]

WJR has made some questionable programming decisions for sure, but it has nothing to do with their "lenders."

Lenders don't care about programming or even ratings, they care about cash flow.

Polarizing hosts are a tough sell in SE Michigan. Almost zero local advertising airs during Mark Levin (not as big of deal since he airs in a non-prime slot), and when Savage ran in mid afternoon, I never heard a local ad between 3p and 5p.

[radiofann]

Kudlow sounds like a pull string doll when he speaks.
All I hear is a hodge podge of tired one or two line sound bites with little substance or data in support of them.

Many years ago, and I do mean many years ago, his show was a bit more appealing. His TV and radio work each come across as lazy to me.

Bob Brinker was good. He came across as knowledgeable and his content had substance.

Call me crazy - but I sorta miss Bruce Williams. His evening show was a fixture on WOOD 1300 for years.

Bruce Williams show on the old talknet was great. Such a natural and a constant presence on the dial. There are numerous hours of his show on YouTube.I find it interesting to pull those up and listen, and guess what year. His advice still rings true today. Even mortgage rates are back up to where they were in early 90s.

[radiofann]

Bob brinker was good also. His show was a great recap of the weeks market news. I’m not sure if his newsletter timed the market perfectly or not, but his show and advice was solid in that he always spoke highly of low cost vanguard funds and indexing.

[CurlyHoward]

Many years ago there was a book called "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks" written by a guy who spent the summer of 1985 visiting every MLB ballpark in the country, driving to all of them. He wrote about listening to Bruce Williams' show for much of his time driving at night.

Anyway, this station looks awful.

[Round Six]

Curious.
In the past, I never really listened to 910 AM. Tuned it in today. Not very good reception by Grosse Ile airport.
Where is the transmitter located? How is the orientation? Do most Buzzboarders hear it loud and clear?.

Myself, unless they are giving out tomorrow's lottery number, I can't see myself listening to that station much just because of the poor reception, no matter what the format is.

[Ben Zonia]

Curious.
In the past, I never really listened to 910 AM. Tuned it in today. Not very good reception by Grosse Ile airport.
Where is the transmitter located? How is the orientation? Do most Buzzboarders hear it loud and clear?.

Myself, unless they are giving out tomorrow's lottery number, I can't see myself listening to that station much just because of the poor reception, no matter what the format is.

The towers are just North of Carleton. The pattern protects the vacant allotment for CKLY 910 Lindsay, ON under treaty. Also CHML 900 Hamilton, ON. If it had been allowed to build in Riverview near the WJR tower, those nulls would be over Canada, and it would be much stronger over the Eastern parts of Detroit. Their Night signal is great in Northern Michigan, where the WTCM 580 signal doesn't reach when they reduce from 50000 watts Day to 1100 watts Night. But that doesn't help in the counties that count in the ratings.

[MWmetalhead]

There are massive nulls in all directions other than due north and northwest. Much of Grosse Ile probably gets a 1 to 2 mV/m signal, which in layman's terms means an OK signal if you are listening outside away from interference sources and a crappy signal in just about every other situation.

The signal in my location (Beverly Hills) is good during the day and fairly good at night. Reception indoors is fine away from running TVs and dimmer switches. It is not quite as strong as WWJ, WJR, WLQV or the daytime signal of WDFN, but is definitely stronger than WDTK, WXYT (AM), WMUZ (AM) and way stronger than CKLW here.

Is there a station in NW Ohio somewhere that uses 910? The null toward Toledo in the daytime is ridiculously deep.

When I lived in the NW part of Warren, daytime signal was comparable but nighttime signal was sketchy (narrower pattern; less power). The nighttime signal pattern is pretty useless for most of Macomb County and Detroit's east side.

Coincidentally, Grosse Ile (and places such as Monroe) should actually see much improved reception at night versus the day.

[Ben Zonia]

There are massive nulls in all directions other than due north and northwest. Much of Grosse Ile probably gets a 1 to 2 mV/m signal, which in layman's terms means an OK signal if you are listening outside away from interference sources and a crappy signal in just about every other situation.

The signal in my location (Beverly Hills) is good during the day and fairly good at night. Reception indoors is fine away from running TVs and dimmer switches. It is not quite as strong as WWJ, WJR, WLQV or the daytime signal of WDFN, but is definitely stronger than WDTK, WXYT (AM), WMUZ (AM) and way stronger than CKLW here.

Is there a station in NW Ohio somewhere that uses 910? The null toward Toledo in the daytime is ridiculously deep.

When I lived in the NW part of Warren, daytime signal was comparable but nighttime signal was sketchy (narrower pattern; less power). The nighttime signal pattern is pretty useless for most of Macomb County and Detroit's east side.

Coincidentally, Grosse Ile (and places such as Monroe) should actually see much improved reception at night versus the day.

There is an area of conductivity between the Downriver sites and Ypsilanti which may exceed M-3. The signal booms in to Ann Arbor. At Night, it's stronger there than WWJ, CKLW, WXYT, and others from the East. Only WJR is stronger, and the four local stations in places depending on exact location. Based on WDEO 990 Proofs found online, the conductivity goes down below M-3 further West.

On the car radio, WFDF 910 and WWJ 950 are neck and neck to around West Branch on I-75 Days. At Night, both have ground wave skywave fading around there. They both usually boom in from around Gaylord Northward to the Soo at Night.

[edj]

There are two 910 AMs in Ohio- WLTP Marietta (next to Parkersburg WV) and WPFB Middletown (halfway between Dayton and Cinci, station favors the former). Both are Class D with very low night power. Daytime isn’t exactly booming either. There is a 920 in Columbus, but it’s only 1000/500. Of course there was WFRO 900 in Fremont but that was silenced for the move to the Carleton area (it’s either Ash or Berlin Township, can’t remember which)

I haven’t looked deeper- that’s for Ben Zonia or someone else who knows far more about this than I.

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks!

WPFB must be the station they are primarily protecting by way of the daytime null toward Toledo.

50 kW from Ash Twp seems like such a waste, though. Couldn't the station have located much closer to the heart of the Metro with less ERP?

I cannot help but wonder if this - much like 1270 - is a case of a station picking a less than ideal TX location just to have "we're pumping out a full 50 kW" bragging rights. I never did understand why Disney in the mid or late 00s thought it needed a station on the AM band to distribute programming geared to children.

For instance, would a diplexing from the 1030 WKEG site had been viable? Or would the closeness in frequency make that unviable?

[ADD in TC]

Call me crazy - but I sorta miss Bruce Williams. His evening show was a fixture on WOOD 1300 for years.

YouTube has many recordings of Bruce Williams talknet program.While I did not always agree with all his advice, he was very articulate and a joy to listen to.

As a side note Bruce's 2nd wife Susan was from the Cedar Springs /Rockford area,of course well within the Wood 1300 listening area.

[Mega Hertz]

I pick it up quite well on my home tuner at night, but there is this very weird "whistle" when it tunes in, and goes from higher to lower as I hit the sweet spot when tuning. I don't have that on any other signal. WJR booms in, of course.

Side note: the best signal reception is WUOM, followed by WHMI, which I'm only a few miles away from.

[Marcus]

920 CKNX from Ontario is another limitation to the Northeast. It's still on the air, so there is no getting around it.

[MWmetalhead]

That's why a tower site in central or eastern Macomb County might've made sense. They could've put a massive null in the pattern to the NE to protect Wingham without compromising coverage over most of the highly populated sections of Macomb County.