PBRTV - Pittsburgh Area Radio/TV Mailbag

PBRTV - Pittsburgh Area Radio/TV Mailbag PBRTV - Pittsburgh Area Radio & TV

PBRTV Mailbag March 1-12, 2001

I heard WZUM back on subsequent to the posts regarding its silence. Must have been a "technical" interruption. (March 12, 2001)

Since we're on the topic of WIXY I have an even more ironic story. From 1987-1991 I was the GM of 1060 WMCL Mt. Vernon Illinois and WTAO-FM Carbondale Illinois. My program Director was an aggresive young kid named Steve Holestein from Elizabethtown Kentcucky. He moved on in early '91 when I moved back to Steubenville. 2 years ago I was surfin and punched in the call letters WIXY on Yahoo. Voila! Steve is currently the PD at WIXY, Springfield Illinois, 100.3 playing hot country. I called him and asked if he knew the history of the call letters, to which he had no clue about their history! Best Regards, Jim (March 9, 2001)

Eric's Response: Always research your callsign. You just NEVER know what kind of a past they've had!

Its ironic that WZUM was off yesterday. I was in Weirton around 10am and it was comming in louder then 1600 out of Wheeling. WZUM was louder then normal( throwing side band splatter under 1600.) Speaking of WPTT, when I was a kid growing up in Solon(near Geuga Lake in Cleveland) we used to listen to 1360, then WIXZ at night all the time! It came in louder then Clevlands WIXY which believe it or not was on 1260,(now Radio Disney)! (March 8, 2001)

Eric's Response: I believe it. There were about 12 or so "Wickzees" at one time all owned by the same company with the same format. All of them had some combination of letters that came close to being "Wickzee". WIXZ, WIXY, WIXC, WYXZ, etc. etc. The ironic thing was that they all had a "60" setting on the dial. 1360, 1260, 860, etc. It was a unique operation.

I think that WPTT's reception in Virginia just was a freak nighttime skip. The AM dial (particularly the upper end) can do some pretty weird things when the skip is active. A few months back I was in the Baltimore area, and WEAE and KQV came in loud and very listenable, while KDKA pretty much unusable. That happened two nights in a row! (March 8, 2001)

Has anyone noticed that WZUM 1590 AM went off the air? To the best of my knowledge, it went off sometime yesterday (3/07/01) and hasn't been on since. (March 8, 2001)

Eric's Response: As of 9 AM on 3/8, there was indeed nothing more than a buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Anyone know what's going on?

No "Signal to Noise" column since Nov. 30? Hey, that was so long ago Three Rivers Stadium was still standing and Mario Lemieux was a retired hockey player. I know Jason is busy with his job but it would be great if he could contribute more often here. Vic (March 8, 2001)

Eric's Response: Jason and I have an agreement. He is always welcome to write here with an article, but when time permits. I'm not going to pin him to the wall to do something when there is no $$$$$$$ involved. I'm sure he will write something soon.

Re: WPTT signal: one word!!!!!!!!!!!!! skip!!!!!!!!!! Thats AM (March 8, 2001)

Eric ~ It is with a sad heart that I am reporting the death of Former Classy 100 personality Cosmo Rose. It happened after a long illness yesterday. He replaced Captain Dan over 3 years ago at Classy when Dan moved over to Froggy 94.7. Cosmo was 35. Tom L. (March 7, 2001)

Has WPTT 1360 AM increased signal power or have a new antenna pattern? I was in northern Virginia on the morning of March 6th and clearly heard WPTT around 6:30 in the morning. Found it odd that a station I can hardly pick up in the North Hills can be picked up better several states away! (March 6, 2001)

Eric's Response: Regarding the power, I request a response from the great Chief Engineer at Renda Broadcasting. Yet, this is the magic of AM radio. It might not be heard in the general vicinity of the signal, but at night, you never know where you might hear it!

eric, re: the WAMO letters way up on the blvd. of the allies and clarke's comments too: it USED to be, a long time ago, disc jockeys were "showcased" for the public to see! on-air jocks in the windows! KQV downtown comes to mind..and when i was a little kid i remember seeing jocks at WTAE-AM and KDKA , on-air, in the windows of the hallways, while on tours of those stations...nowadays, the public can't get close to the actual studios in use.. you can't just stand there and watch a jock work... for a number of good reasons too, i know...also, remember when all jocks wore a shirt and tie or even a suit and tie while they worked?? (March 6, 2001)

Eric's Response: I recall learning about the KQV windows on Rick Sebak's "Stuff that's Gone" show in his history series. I thought that was pretty cool. Joe Fenn was interviewed regarding the subject and had said that he took advantage of anything he could that went on outside those windows. One he remembered in particular was when a mom had some rowdy kids in the back and it was obvious that she was listening while she was trying to calm them down. He potted up and said, "HEY KIDS! MIND YOUR MOTHER!" Those kids were looking around for who that possibly could have been! As for dressing up, if you have a copy of the book, "When Radio Was Young" by William G. Beal, Alice Sapienza-Donnelly and Richard J. Harris, there are several pictures of announcers who were dressed up. For instance, one of them is of Bill Hinds on KDKA.

Eric, Yes we have those Penndot stations along the 2 interstates in the Erie area (I - 79 & I - 90) during the always busy summer construction season. Usually they are on 1610 AM but I do remember one along I - 90 at 870 AM 2 years back. Yep, it is the basic loop of road construction updates you hear over & over again. I also have to check & see if this other low power AM station is still on the air. It was on from Erie's Presque Isle State Park along lake Erie. Located at 1480 AM, It ran NOAA weather radio (now from Cleveland) and Updates on park activities. Though it was to only serve the park, I picked it up well south of I - 90 in Waterford, Pa. I will check & see if it is still on & receivable south of Erie. Tom L. (March 6, 2001)

WAMO and a large neon sign on the building at 105 E. 8th, too, before they moved to the Boulevard. The sign was easily visible from the High Level bridge, and within easy reach of a stone flung from the same vantage point. It was frequently vandalized, just like the one was on the Boulevard. Does anyone remember WAMO bumper stickers? They were very common on cars in the Pittsburgh area during the late 50's and on through the 60's, well before other stations in the area issued their own bumper or window stickers. Paul. (March 6, 2001)

The 1620 TIS originates from the Fort Pitt tunnels area. And yes, these do seam to interfere with stations in the area. (March 5, 2001)

This morning Rob Pratte starts reading school closings. Well, I didn't think anything of this, when there's a lot of them they usually have two people doing them. Guess what, Cigna didn't do one closing! All he did was commercials and introductions. "Here's Bob Kopler with the news." "Here's Lisa.....Here's Trisha.......Here's Elliot.......Here's Goose". And they should settle on one weather source. Elliot is saying 1-3 additional inches, then on the news, they're saying a dusting to an inch additional snow. I heard he got best talk show host for his interviews? Interviews???? If he does a four minute interview, it's a long one. I know he has the highest ratings for his time slot, but I think this is misleading. Allegheny County has the second highest senior citizen population in the U.S.. I think the majority of his listeners are these people, the ones who listened to Bob Logue all night long and are still in bed trying to sleep. Anyone with an interest, ie., politics, sports, etc., are listening to another show. Tom (March 5, 2001)

Eric, I remember the WAMO Boulevard of the Allies studios well. I used to drive past it every evening on my way to and from doing nights at WXKX (96-KX) in the Channel 4 building in Wilkinsburg. What I remember most is that WAMO couldn't keep those neon letters lit. Depending on the day, it might say W-MO, -AMO, WAM-, and so on (for a while it was just "MO"). This became a running joke among some of the radio people I knew at the time. Regards, Clarke. (March 5, 2001)

Eric's Response: Ah, the disappearing letter trick. Does one suppose that this is why many radio stations don't have signs on their buildings anymore?

Eric, It appears your writer "stumbled" onto one of PennDOT's Construction Advisory Channels. These are maintained on any number of low powered transmitters along major highways. Since he lives in Irwin, I imagine he is getting the channel along exit 7 of the turnpike, considering the construction going on between New Stanton (exit 8) and Donegal (Exit 9). PennDOT must have added the NOAA broadcasts just recently. Prior to this was just a loop of construction advisories. Regards, Greg McAtee (March 4, 2001)

Eric's Response: It's ironic that this all comes up now. On my way down I-279 (Parkway North) on 3/2, I saw the blinking lights to tune into 1620 AM for traffic information. A constant recording was playing alerting to the normal traffic tie-ups on I-279 (Parkway West). It was a woman's voice Identifying the station as "WM-U, 382, 1620 AM. This message WILL repeat". I left it on for a while just to see how far I could get it. I received it from the portion of I-279 in front of Allegheny Center, past the former Three Rivers' Stadium, across the West End Bridge and just across the tracks on Steuben St. Anyone know where the signal comes from?

From the P-G reports, it sounds like the AIR Awards luncheon was quite the event! Congratulations to all the 2001 AIR award winners, especially Trisha Pitman. She does a great job on KDKA, from what I can hear evenings as I drive home in Central PA. :) J (March 4, 2001)

I am from around the Baltimore/Washington DC area (Frederick County to be exact), and am disappointed in what has happened to WWCS AM 540. It put out a real low signal that covered, all the way to here! I had a AM Stereo capable receiver and listened to the world news programming. Then it turned the AM Stereo off and went to Radio Ditzey. I don't have a local R.D. in the area, but I still get enough off it from other cities(ala Philly, NYC, Salisbury & Frostburg, MD). Also a minority is AM Stereo stations. In the whole central MD area there are a grand total of 3 stations in AM stereo. That is like out of 40+ stations! Radio just gets more and more disappointing as the it becomes more homogenous. What a shame. -Travers (March 4, 2001)

Regarding the Callsign Cavalcade, WHOD was the original call sign of 860 am. The station operated out of studios at 105 E. Eighth Avenue in Homestead until about 1963. They moved to 1811(?) Boulevard of the Allies, where they remained about 20 years, before moving downtown. WHOD was originally a 250 watt, nondirectional daytimer, licensed to Homestead. In 1960, the FCC granted an upgrade to WAMO to 1000 watts, daytime, with a two tower directional array protecting Canada. The 1000 watt station City of License became Pittsburgh, but the studios remained in Homestead for a few years, during which time the FCC granted a waiver to the rule requiring the studio to be in the COL. 105.9 fm came on the air in 1961 as I remember, possibly in 1960, as WAMO-FM, and running a 1000 watt ITA transmitter into an antenna on one of the am towers. The original ERP was about 4500 watts (4520 watts, as best I can recall). Shortly after completing the program test period, WAMO-FM became WAZZ, and all Jazz station, featuring the same Tony Mowod who can be heard today on WDUQ. The studio was located at the transmitter site on Troy Hill, above Millvale. Other on-air staff included Paul Blair, Glenn Tryon, Zane Knauss, John Eastman, and for a time, John Christian. The engineering staff during the period of 1960-1963 included the CE, Jim Herbert, J. Claude Calloway, and myself, Paul Carlson. Jim Herbert was one heck of a nice guy, by the way. (March 4, 2001)

I've also noticed NOAA weather on 1610, audible while driving in the downtown Pittsburgh area. They never seem to identify. I assume that it is a TIS station, and licensed to PennDOT. Another TIS station operates on 1560, and ID's as a PennDOT operated station. I think it is odd that the FCC would grant a TIS license at 1560 when a nearby commercial station operates at 1550. Have the operators of 1550 complained to the FCC? Paul (March 4, 2001)

WXKX 99.1 in Parkersburg, WV is now Froggy 99 as WGGE. The WXKX call letters were parked on 1340 WHAR. WTUS 102.7 Mannington/Fairmont, WV is stunting to become Froggy on Monday morning. When will this madness stop? Jon (March 2, 2001)

On Monday March 2, Forever Broadcasting's WODZ-AM in Johnstown ended "The Oldies Channel" from Westwood One and became known as Sports Radio 850 WSPO. (March 2, 2001)

Eric, R&R Online has the ratings for WBGG, but they still have it listed as WWSW. They got a 0.3. Just wanted to let you know because Allaccess still has WWSW-AM and WWSW-FM listed together. Regards, Steve (March 2, 2001)

Dear Eric: I happened to stumble on 1610 AM and heard a rebroadcast of the NOAA Weather Radio Station. It was complete with the KIH-35 162.55 MHz ID of that station. This unknown station has a good signal in the Forest Hills and North Versailles areas. It can also be heard in parts of North Huntingdon and Elizabeth Townships albeit with some co-channel interference from other Travelers Information Stations. Does anyone know anything about this station, especially where its transmitter is located, its power and antenna height, who is running the station, and why? From my location near Irwin, I can receive ten Low Power TV stations, channels 28, 29, 32, 35, 56, 59, 61, 63, 65, and 69. Channel 35 recently had some coverage at PBRTV and in the Trib and P-G regarding their nightly local auction and the shopping show that covers the rest of their broadcast day. As for the rest, Ch. 61 and 63 are also mainly shopping channels. Ch. 28, 32, and 69 formerly carried the Jukebox Network where viewers called a 900 number and requested music videos for $2.50 each but now these carry MTV 2. Ch. 56 and 59 are "WBGN," the Bruno-Goodworth Network and have variety programming (there are others of these in other areas, such as Ch. 66 in the Beaver area); Ch. 65 is religion, and Ch. 29 used to be a Warner Bros. affiliate but now has only a color bar test pattern on the air (when it is on). Of all these, only Ch. 59 and 63 get any newspaper listings. Ch. 28 and 56 are in or near Greensburg; the others are in or near Pittsburgh. LPTV could be a good thing if used to cover local community events but most of what is on LPTV here is anything but local. I'm not being critical of the existence of these stations but I have to wonder who's watching considering that most viewers have taken down their outdoor antennas and some 80% get their TV via cable. As with 1610 AM, any information that anyone can supply regarding the technical details of these stations, who runs them, and why they're on the air would be appreciated. Also, how many viewers do they have, and are they making any money? I see that items being auctioned on Ch. 35 are getting bids so there must be a few people watching it, but what of the others? Do people even know they're on the air? I had a look at the Ch. 35 studio recently through the window (it was daytime and no one was there). Behind their portion of the Eastland Mall building is a trailer to which is attached a 30-some foot tower with a vertically polarized paraflector antenna atop it. This would be for their STL which a Mailbag post said is on Ch. 62, so people who are in high enough locations within the narrow beam of this antenna and to the northwest of Eastland Mall should be able to tune in the STL directly. TV transmissions normally use horizontal polarization; the use of vertical for this STL will reduce interference to reception of Ch. 61 and 63 for viewers who are along the STL path and using standard horizontal outdoor antennas. While on the subject of stations you didn't know were there, high-powered PBS station WNPB, Ch. 24, Morgantown, W. Va., puts quite a decent signal in this area. Before cable, it had a listing in the Pittsburgh edition of TV Guide but this has gone by the wayside years ago with all the cable listings now. Some months after reading about the installation of FM reception in the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, I had occasion to go through it, but alas, I couldn't get anything. Did the system happen to be down? This was on January 10. (March 2, 2001)

Eric's Response: Alas, it seems that there has been no FM reception in the tunnels anymore...at least for now. I had occasion to travel through the tunnels this past week and it was nil reception! I don't know if there was a test period or whether a temporary mishap has occurred.

Thanks, Vic. Dave Shallenberger it was...how did my mind slip to think of nature writer Scott Shalloway? While we're on Double Double, let's remember the great hourly image/ID "Sounding better every day"... Larry and John were in great form today (March of Dimes A.I.R. Awards) and were introduced by Ted Atkins (Captain Showbiz). "Scout" and Neal Spence were there as well. OB & G received a standing ovation and were very entertaining as they gave out the awards in the categories remaining after theirs. Among the highlights...John referring to WKST as "Variable 96" and Larry and John handing Joe Destio an award for Best Sportscast (well deserved -- Joe's a class act) and saying "we worked together at TAE, EAE, or whatever it is this week." -- Larry (March 1, 2001)

I Don't Understand how the Chairman of the Board on MT. Washington could not get WZUM at 8:30 am, When iI got WZUM at 5:45 am in Sheetz parking lot on Perry Hwy. at Highland road. in Mccandless Twp. A coworker from Plum also tuned in between 6:00a and 7:00a on his way into Pgh. and said the Signal was fine. I listened to the 1st ETA show on new years day, and in the Morning's on the way to work. ETA became a Talk Show with out Callers, Don't blame the power of the Radio Station, ETA could have Aired on KDKA and Lost Listeners. (March 1, 2001)

(Re: Earlier message seen here) Eric, Some help for Larry on the old "Double Double" lineup on WWSW. He's correct about Ed Price and Charlie Warren. Scott Cassidy was in there somewhere, too, and Jay Mitchell did the overnight show. The other name Larry is trying to think of is Dave Shallenberger. It was a good-sounding adult contemporary station. I wish someone had airchecks. Amen to what he said about O'Brien and Garry. When they started at WTAE, they really built the mornings up from nothing and the station gave KDKA a good run in the important demos despite a vastly inferior signal. Vic (March 1, 2001)

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