Toledo Station For Sale

[Colonel Flagg]

Yes, they applied for literally the last open frequency in town, 106.9MHz for a translator.

WOHO, where is the original 730 WMGS site exactly? My memory seems to tell me it was near Cygnet, but another "old timer" says it's not far from WRQN's original transmitter site (long gone) on Gypsy Lane, near I-75. Maybe a little southeast of there. Any memory of this at all?

[WOHO]

Col Flagg, I'm thinking 730 was near Route 6, close to where the Wood County Sheriff's tower is now.
WAWR/WKIQ I think was also SE of BG, and transmitted in mono FM IIRC long before they doubled power and moved to the tower on 582 (Haskins).

If I had the time and energy, I should be able to calculate it from an FCC proof that was done about 1959-1961 era that I ran across a few years back with the monitor points listed. It was very specific, like "the first stone driveway west of Lime City Road on Dowling Road" in Webster Township.
Plot the points and work backwards I would think would work?

[Deleted User 15502]

I went by WJYM today, I live about 10 minutes away from the transmitter. There was a big green dumpster near the entrance, and 1 or 2 cars parked out front. So I'm guessing in that building, there was possibly a lot of stuff. Say, someone was using it for storage or something. The WJYM sign looks like it's seen better days. So somethings up.

[Ben Zonia]

There's really no need to guess the transmitter location. Click "View Towers" and then "Open Street Map" on the map.

https://www.fccdata.org/?facid=&call=WJ ... d=&lang=en

If AM wasn't in the situation it is, going back in time, it might have made sense to move the WJYM 730 TL up North of Toledo slightly into Michigan, and try to figure out how to fit it in with the current allotment constraints. It would make more sense than building a nondirectional facility on 1470.

[Colonel Flagg]

There's really no need to guess the transmitter location. Click "View Towers" and then "Open Street Map" on the map.

https://www.fccdata.org/?facid=&call=WJ ... d=&lang=en

If AM wasn't in the situation it is, going back in time, it might have made sense to move the WJYM 730 TL up North of Toledo slightly into Michigan, and try to figure out how to fit it in with the current allotment constraints. It would make more sense than building a nondirectional facility on 1470.

I am quite familiar with the WJYM site on Fremont Pike in Lime City. I was referring to the original WMGS 730 site, which was southeast of Bowling Green, somewhere near the junction of U.S.6 and I-75. There are a couple different towers there. Not sure which one was used by WMGS. I was told the local cable company uses it now, but neither of the towers in that general area look anything resembling a cable head-end.

Unrelated, but the old 93.5 tower site was northwest of there, on E. Gypsy Lane, just west of I-75. Back in the 80s, WRQN had to broadcast from a trailer at the Gypsy Lane transmitter site briefly, due to a previous owner's financial troubles. And today, we fondly recall those as the good 'ol days.

[Ben Zonia]

Just for convenience, this link is reposted. It has several locations described, but no new ones after 1961.

It looks like Carl E. Smith had to redo the applications several times from several proposed locations for 730. It was 250 watts directional for somewhere around six years. In one application, it says they added one more tower to the proposed DA. It's hard to say what the 250 watt array was like. Carl E. Smith liked to experiment with unusual DA designs like the WHK dogleg array. But just about every array from the Post WW II era on was in one way or another influenced by his work.

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/c ... r_id=62042

[WOHO]

OKAY, who's messing with me?
I drove by the WJYM site during the lunch hour, and a I swear that I only saw 3 towers? (Blind in one eye, and can't see so well with the other!)
WTF, they dropped a tower overnight? With the almost daily dynamite blasts from the stone quarry, it's possible it fell down, but not very likely.
Possibly installing a new antenna that will be their FM translator tower and then just have a 'top hat' of wires run down for the AM signal??
Would they have to file that in their Construction Permit issued this year?

[JGP1954]

Didn't AM 730 used to be a daytimer?

[WOHO]

Yes, originally 730 was a daytimer, 250W, then they applied for 1KW with a new transmitter, then directional (4) towers with 1KW days and I think 389 watts nights. History cards are sketchy on whether or not 730 got Post Sunrise and Post Sunset powers like AM1520 has.
The idea of the 730 transmitter site actually in Luna Pier, Michigan and the big teardrop to the SW going over most of Toledo, down to Lima makes more sense than where they're at now, if that could be accommodated?

[Ben Zonia]

I saw the PSA authorization on one of the microfiche file pages. It is confusing, so you may have to go through a few times to find it. The PSSA was from after the History Card era, a blanket communication authorizing the power level for each PSSA. WJYM 730 got 359 watts authorized, over 250 watts, so it automatically became Class B.

[Ben Zonia]

Initially, WVFN 730 only got 18 watts PSSA because the DA goes right toward Class A CKAC Montreal. They then got 50 watts nondirectional. And as you can see, WJYM got much more power because of its DA pattern away from CKAC.

[Gary Fullhart]

From my source, WJYM intentionally dropped one tower to replace it with one that will hold the FM translator they have authorized. They expect to be off another couple of weeks.

[WOHO]

Thanks Gary. So the tower will likely only be a 'support' for their translator antennae and will not be an AM radiator, meaning a new phasor network using just 3 towers?

[Gary Fullhart]

From what I've been told, it will be both an AM radiator and support for the FM.

[innate-in-you]

I wonder why WJYM (if that's who we're talking about) doesn't open up its signal up north? There is no CHYR anymore, so who do they have to protect, short of first adjacent WGN? Did not know about the 106.9 translator, which sucks, because that is about the only clear frequency you can use for an FM modulator in T-town. Are you s***ting me, $635K for essentially only a 1959 AM station? WPAY has all new towers, new transmitter (well, built this century at least) and sold for a whole lot less. Guess I should have jumped on 1520 for that for my niche music channel which already has a functional translator (is 104.1 K-Loves, or theirs?).
Andy Stuart, wherever you are, f**ked me on 1470 turning-in the license before you could even do a study on a 500w Omni signal with a Perrysburg COL, as he wanted to screw the Dickey Brothers personally, since they owned the Pickle Road land and were leasing the station back to Cumulus. City of Oregon paid those boys way to much for their land. Also, 730 ground conductivity has to be total sheet, sitting on top of 2 stone quarries in Lime City (unless they could use that railroad track as a ground radial).

What did 106.5 sell for? 730 sure ain't gonna pull that kind of cash with a Bowling Green COL pattern and Toledo out of the picture every 4 blocks?

1470 omni would have been limited to daytime only, and 500 watts is probably optimistic.

I still prefer the 730 facility. It seems to hit all of the right zip codes where what little population growth that's occurring in the Toledo metro is happening. The Fremont Pike transmitter site, I believe, was built in the 1970s. The original WMGS site was south of Bowling Green, and is still there, repurposed by one of the cable companies, if I recall correctly. WMGS was a country music station, with much of it's revenue coming from AG related businesses. 730 blasts the I-75 corridor at night. I've heard it as far south as Wapakoneta, well after dark. Very unique facility, many pros and cons as to what it can do.

If you think WJYM gets out good at night, get a load of how they do during the day to the SSW.

Loud and clear in Dayton, last I knew.