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WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Covers all of Northern Lower Michigan (from Ludington to Tawas northward), as well as the Straits Area and Soo Region.
CK-722
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Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by CK-722 » Tue May 26, 2020 10:55 pm

Sadly, not much stays the same. I'm pretty sure it was at Houghton Lake. I remember seeing someone I slightly knew from HS there in about 1972. There was some nearby Teen Rock Concert Venue near there, called the Music Box? I guess WTAC Big 600 sponsored some Concerts there.
Greenfields by the Brothers Four
I always associate certain songs on certain stations with certain vacations. This allows me to remember what year it was. I remember staying on Crystal Lake in 1967, and hearing "Silence Is Golden" by the Tremeloes on WDOR 910 Sturgeon Bay, WI and "Jill" by Gary Lewis on WDBC 680 Escanaba, MI on one vacation. Another, I heard "The Joker Went Wild" by Brian Hyland on WMBN 1340 Petoskey in 1966. And "I'd Wait A Million Years" by The Grass Roots on the Cable Access Channel another place. And "Ooh Ooh Child" by The Five Stairsteps at another place on CKLW early one evening, near the Straits. Oh, and "Make Me Smile" by Chicago on WNOX 990 (probably the FM) in Knoxville, on the Cable Access Channel in Gatlinburg, TN in 1970. It wasn't Mid July, as in "A Boy Named Sue", but it was early July, when AT40 Began. A station in Corbin, KY, WYGO 1330 I think, was counting down the same chart as the original AT40, but it wasn't AT40.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

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HGR1290
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Location: Acworth, GA

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by HGR1290 » Fri Jun 05, 2020 4:12 pm

I am still here, in addition to the "other site". Houghton Lake, has a public access area, but not a state park. There is a "state park store" at South Higgins Lake State park. It is a "log cabin" looking place, if I recall.

WHGR had the three AM towers on M55, where the Walmart etc is, now. The WHGR signal at Higgins Lake always had "chatter" under it at night. To be expected with WHIO, aiming 5kW north at night. I was always amazed at how quickly WHGR faded out, when you headed south on US-27 (now 127). It would be gone as as you passed the moraines just north of Clare. Meanwhile, the signals out of the Saginaw Valley seemed to go forever. To a certain extent, WCRM-990 (or WRNN) died quickly as well.

WJGS, was either on the north tower, or the center tower of WHGR. WJGS was 19kW ERP as I recall from that site. They moved to Maple Valley in the late 70s and ran 100kW from roughly 500 ft.

Other "go now where" AM signals included WGRY on 1590, 1kW day, WBMB West Branch on 1060, any of the Cadillac signals, Gaylord, TC etc.

Back in the 70's the Higgins Lake area was a great place to DX from. Hardly any FM signals at all, and very few AMs. I miss those days.



HGR1290
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:05 pm
Location: Acworth, GA

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by HGR1290 » Fri Jun 05, 2020 4:12 pm

I am still here, in addition to the "other site". Houghton Lake, has a public access area, but not a state park. There is a "state park store" at South Higgins Lake State park. It is a "log cabin" looking place, if I recall.

WHGR had the three AM towers on M55, where the Walmart etc is, now. The WHGR signal at Higgins Lake always had "chatter" under it at night. To be expected with WHIO, aiming 5kW north at night. I was always amazed at how quickly WHGR faded out, when you headed south on US-27 (now 127). It would be gone as as you passed the moraines just north of Clare. Meanwhile, the signals out of the Saginaw Valley seemed to go forever. To a certain extent, WCRM-990 (or WRNN) died quickly as well.

WJGS, was either on the north tower, or the center tower of WHGR. WJGS was 19kW ERP as I recall from that site. They moved to Maple Valley in the late 70s and ran 100kW from roughly 500 ft.

Other "go now where" AM signals included WGRY on 1590, 1kW day, WBMB West Branch on 1060, any of the Cadillac signals, Gaylord, TC etc.

Back in the 70's the Higgins Lake area was a great place to DX from. Hardly any FM signals at all, and very few AMs. I miss those days.



CK-722
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Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by CK-722 » Fri Jun 05, 2020 4:47 pm

Welcome Back HGR1290! I have always enjoyed your posts!

WCRM...WABX 990 was located where the sand began. JP McCarthy always used to answer this question about why WJR faded out near Clare in the Daytime, and yet could be heard on the Northern Islands of Lake Huron and mainland of Canada in the Daytime, when JP and John McMurray (he had a boat called "The Edge" and another named "Over The Edge") sailed up there. I think we talked about 990 in Clare before, about how under the US Canada Agreement when they went on the air required no more than 5 uV/m over Canadian land. That is the ONLY reason it had to be directional. This despite the fact that the Canadian Class I-A/A station that needed protection was CBW Winnipeg, MB. The null to the East was very deep to accomplish this. They changed the rules about the time the late Paul Christy owned it and changed the call letters to WABX. It probably could have had a considerable power increase and gone Nondirectional. The better conductivity was also to the East, cutting the possibility of better coverage in that direction. Of course, as a result of changes in the US Canadian Agreement, WDEO 990 in Ypsilanti was able to go to 9.2 kW Day and toward Canada, and operate at Night with 250 watts. Using M-3, there would have been overlap with WABX, so they turned that in also.

WITL was directional for the same reason. CFRB is a Class I-B/A station according to the US Canada Agreement. That took three towers with 500 watts, with deep multiple nulls toward Canada. The US Canada Agreement still required CFRB to be protected, but just to its actual 0.1 mV/m contour, or land in Canada. Where the 0.1 mV/m goes into the US, then it would be the WITL 0.5 mV/m overlap with the 25 uV/m of CFRB. CFRB also limited WITL to 10 watts PSSA (some records say 13 watts), even with all the deep nulls to the East.

I don't know if WHGR did any ground wave measurements from the newest AM site at the FM tower, but I suspect that the conductivity is very low from the sandy hill it is on. That is another reason why WHGR could have likely stayed on the air. The guy who did the WOOD application agreed that based on the WGVU 1480 Nighttime Proofs of Performance, that the conductivity was much lower, but it was too far from the new WOOD site to be used. But if you remember the WAAM 1600 application for COL change to Oak Park, WTTF challenged it claiming overlap, based on WJBK...WLQV Proofs of Performance, as it was only a mile away from the proposed site. Both involved Clear Channel, by whatever name they are using today.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

CK-722
Posts: 1284
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by CK-722 » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:57 am

WHGR got interference primarily from WHIO Dayton, OH, but also from WIRL Peoria, IL, and CJBK London, ON. I never saw an NIF calculation, but I'm pretty sure it would be in excess of 25 mV/m. I saw a calculation of what the WIOS 1480 NIF is, and it seems like it was around or in excess of 50 mV/m, from WSDS, WGVU, and WHBC.

Did you ever hear the "echo" in CH and near Sunset when WXYT 1270 and WMKT 1270 aired the same sports or talk program?


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

HGR1290
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:05 pm
Location: Acworth, GA

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by HGR1290 » Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:59 pm

I dont remember that, but I dont recall to much time spent on 1270. WVOY was pretty weak by the time it made it to Roscommon County.

Regarding 1290: Yes, the NIF had to be "up there" for WHGR. WHGR, reportedly, was a frequent visitor via the polar path. Makes sense since WHGR was at best a + or - 5 degrees from true north.

A bunch of the Ohio Regionals were in every night, they had strong skywave that was listenable for quite long periods of time. (before everybody got fleapower at night)

WONE-980, I think they were country
WING-1410, Top40
WHIO-1290, Full service
WSLR-1350, Country
WAKR-1590. Top 40



CK-722
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Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by CK-722 » Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:58 pm

I used to hear all those Ohio 5 kW Fulltime Stations in Central Genesee County back in the 1960s and 1970s. I would occasionally listen to WING and WAKR. They seemed to come in better in the Summer, when WLS and WCFL and WOWO seemed worse. When WRMN and WONX (now WCGO) went to Nighttime Service, it really messed up their signals. The Ohio station whose signal amazes me at Night is WKRC 550 with 1 kW. WSPD came in strong and WHK sometimes. For some reason WTVB never bothered WAKR much. It must have passed over my RL usually. I do remember getting a strong signal during CH with 5 kW nondirectional a few times from WTVB. WTVB was Harold Munn's first station.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

KeenerGold
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 1:57 pm

Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by KeenerGold » Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:26 pm

"THE MIGHTY 92. WKKM/WWKM FM-AM Harrison. WDEE Reed City"

Gosh that brings back memories.



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DJ-MichaelAngelo
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Re: WTWS 92.1 The Twister Off-Air??

Post by DJ-MichaelAngelo » Mon Oct 30, 2023 3:57 pm

Dr. Sandi wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 8:08 pm
When some of this was getting moved around was during the time when they tried making WUPS a Mt. Pleasant radio station with studios and offices in Mt.Pleasant. I think it was still at the time the "main" studio was at the last strip center, but they actually operated from Mt. Pleasant for awhile. They tried getting CMU sports for awhile too. I guess it didn't work out because they move the studios out of Mt. Pleasant and back to (I think) where they are now.
I worked at 98.5 WUPS back in 2000-2001 and can remember doing board-engineering for the live CMU sports games radio coverage many times around that period. This was when UPS had its office right in Mt. Pleasant at the Mid-Michigan Community College building.



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