🚀 go-pugleaf

sjsobol@nacs.net (Steve Sobol) wrote:

>Quite honestly, a big company (Cablevision) owns KNR and I can't understand
>why they haven't increased power. Perhaps one of the reasons is that 
>they might overlap signals with some of the other members of the Indians
>network (notably WFUN in Ashtabula, WLEC in Sandusky and WQKT-FM in Wooster).
>Or maybe Cablevision doesn't have, or just doesn't want to spend, the money..

Buzz!  Thanks for playing, no bonus round :)

WKNR is already operating at the highest power possible in the U.S. on
the AM band - 50,000 watts.  Just like 3WE...er....WTAM.  (I *still*
can't get used to that set of calls.)  But unlike 1100, WKNR isn't on
a clear channel on 1220.  I'll leave it to the more technically
inclined, if they're out there, to nitpick and say there aren't really
many clear channels anymore...

Anyway, WKNR is directional, and tightly so.  I can't remember offhand
who they're protecting on 1220, but they directionalize their signal
away from a pretty decent chunk of NE Ohio - notably, Medina County
and southwest of there, and for that matter parts of Summit County
(Montrose, etc.).  It isn't because they're protecting any Indians
affiliates - heck, the signal's been like that since well before there
was a WKNR or a sports format on 1220.

And though I can't speak for them, I'm a former employee of the above
mentioned WQKT-FM/Wooster...and they don't really seem to care if the
flagship station booms into town via a 50KW AM signal.  'QKT carries
all the major Cleveland sports team radio networks, including the
Cavs...which when I was in town, were coming out of what was then
WWWE-AM 1100.  For that matter, Cavs radio voice Joe Tait has been
known to listen to 'QKT coming home from a game when the station would
tape delay a Cavs game after a local high school game. ;)

And to further the discussion, like pretty much any AM signal anymore,
'QKT sister station WKVX-AM 960 carries Rush Limbaugh 12 noon to 3,
just like AM 1100 in Cleveland.

Whew.  Basically, it's not a thing about Cablevision spending extra
money.  The only way they could get a better signal out of WKNR (aside
from incremental engineering improvements) would be to buy WTAM and
move the station to AM 1100.

Mike