WLOR AM 1550 Huntsville

[radio lover]

I was hearing this station this evening around 7P.M. EST in Terre Haute, IN. Are they a full time 50kw station?  Sounded great!

[TALLRED]

They are supposed to be 50KW days, and (I believe) 500 watts nights.

I do not beliveve they have been running 50kw recently, it seems like someone said on here that they were running 10kw or either 30 kw.

Also, congratulations on the dxing.

Travis

[SporaticE]

I recall someone mentioning on here they are running about 20-25kw daytime power right now, but expect the station to return to 50kw with upcoming repairs.  I live about 5 miles from their 3 tower transmitter site off of Pulaski Pike just north of Huntsville.  Even at night with their reduced power, the signal is very strong at my house to the northwest of the towers.

They used to run Kahn-Hazeltine AM stereo back in the 80's when the the station was top-40 powerhouse WAAY 1550.  Their old daytime tower was near the Farmer's Market off of North Memorial Parkway.  That tower site was demolished several years ago and the station now transmits 24 hours from the original nighttime site.

[caindog]

The original studio was demolished and old daytime tower site has been turned into a mini-storage facility.

[Brian Voice Guy]

The original day and night site was near the Farmer's Market. 5k non-directional day and 500 watt directional at night. I think in 1980 the 50k daytime site came into play with 4 towers. With 4, the signal was stronger toward Chattanooga. It soon changed to three towers. It may have been to protect the station already IN Chattanooga. The night signal always came from the old site near the Farmer's Market. The frequency went dark for awhile(a sad time) and then when it went back on, it operated at a lower power at night from the 50k site on Pulaski Pike. I worked for WAAY from '84 to Sept. '85 as Chris Roberts. I have been told that the middle tower of the old night time array was different because that station was on 1490 non-directional and years ago changed frequeny to 1550 and added the other two towers. 1490 moved to Decatur.

[SporaticE]

Thanks for the clarification and insight on the original WAAY towers.  Do you know when they plan the repairs at the Pulaski Pike site to return the power to full 50kw?

I'm from Chattanooga and remember the other 1550.  It was WCHU (sister to "Choo Choo 102" WCHU) and COL was Soddy Daisy, TN.  The station went dark several years ago.  WCHU 1550 shared Al Ham's Music of Your Life programming with the FM frequency for several years.  At dusk... it seems I can recall hearing WAAY and another 1550 in Atlanta regularly.



 

[Zach]

I was hearing this station this evening around 7P.M. EST in Terre Haute, IN. Are they a full time 50kw station?  Sounded great!

If you're hearing that in the evening, you should shoot for Birmingham stations on 850 (WXJC) and 690 (WSPZ).  Every time I've been up that way, 1550, 690 and 850 all seem to boom in at about the same time.

[BamaWOLF]

I recall someone mentioning on here they are running about 20-25kw daytime power right now, but expect the station to return to 50kw with upcoming repairs.  I live about 5 miles from their 3 tower transmitter site off of Pulaski Pike just north of Huntsville.  Even at night with their reduced power, the signal is very strong at my house to the northwest of the towers.

They used to run Kahn-Hazeltine AM stereo back in the 80's when the the station was top-40 powerhouse WAAY 1550.  Their old daytime tower was near the Farmer's Market off of North Memorial Parkway.  That tower site was demolished several years ago and the station now transmits 24 hours from the original nighttime site.

1550 is pretty much the only Huntsville AM signal I can get at night out here in Toney at night, even on my cheap radios that don't pick up anything else during the day.