Polish the tape heads...The fat lady's 'gonna sing!

[Tom]

It was Tuesday morning…7:25am…T-minus 5 minutes to “local sunrise”, and my CC Radio was on a S.E. Indiana kitchen countertop, powered up, and patiently waiting for signs of intelligent life on 1160AM.  7:30am...”Hey Paula”--still in the distant background--benefiting from no “daytime bump”.  8:00am…”Barbara Ann”--ba ba bobbing to get above the “bog”.  8:30am…”Unchained Melody”--hidden behind a clash between the two 50kw religious titians from Chicago and Nashville.  Not until well after 9am could I clearly gain additional clues from my perch 40 air miles to the northwest on whether Dusty was “that mystery voice”.  At high noon, WDJO is tied with 1360 as the third most receivable AM signal from Cincinnati at my Connersville location, yet ironically, at 5:30pm WYLL’s Brother Scott chastised the gay models at Abercrombie and the pressures of sex in our society while WDJO feebly tried to push J Frank Wilson’s “Last Kiss” into my AM receiver’s front-end.

Much has been made here on this board about 1160’s night-time signal deficiency.  Fact is, it’s a “deal-breaker” that extends several hours each side of twilight.  Granted, the fortunes of WDJO don’t depend on diaries in Fayette County, Indiana, but these signal problems certainly haunt the metro-Cincy hinterlands to the northwest just beyond I-275 also.  As a former station owner (including 2 AMs), I have sat at my breakfast table and experienced the same—frustrated that my station was being pounded from the west by a 50kw “clear”…and NOTHING we could do to remedy the problem.  Frankly, I never understood how the 1160 facility pasted muster in the FCC licensing process.  I only hope that “the messenger” won’t be judged by the wounded horse.

I love “oldies radio”.  I’m a “geek” who thinks they SOUND BEST on AM—but then I’m also a guy who ran songs thru a DBX compressor when making car cassette tapes in the 1980s.  I greatly respect guys (like Dusty) who are passionate toward classic radio and know that younger folks HEAR the difference and appreciate it also!  MAY THE GOOD BROADCAST GODS BLESS YOU!!!  I came here from South Carolina to tape this into, but view its outcome in a different way than its idealistic investors.  There is not one bone in my body that hopes anything less then success for this good man and his partners, and I can’t think of any acquaintance in this biz that doesn’t wish for a “take down”…but we’d like to win the Power-Ball, too.

OK…So my tuned long-wire, trusty 20-yr-old Icom R-71 with the 12kc filter enabled, and Revox PR-77 tape machine is ready.  Forget the streaming crap—I want genuine heterodyne in this Hallstead.  As a good broadcast bud of mine said to me last weekend on the phone…”T…We’re 50 and this WDJO thing is a Swan Song of our life.  ‘Great Top-40 radio on AM…It may never happen again…They say 1160AM--Amplitude Modulation…Make that Ancient Modulation”.

[lashlarue]

Great post!  As an AM owner exclusively, I am cheering from a afar, the new Oldies 1160.  Dusty and the guys, go prove everyone wrong.

[JohnnyBravo]

> It was Tuesday morning…7:25am…T-minus 5 minutes to “local
> sunrise”, and my CC Radio was on a S.E. Indiana kitchen
> countertop, powered up, and patiently waiting for signs of
> intelligent life on 1160AM.  7:30am...”Hey Paula”--still in
> the distant background--benefiting from no “daytime bump”.
> 8:00am…”Barbara Ann”--ba ba bobbing to get above the “bog”.
> 8:30am…”Unchained Melody”--hidden behind a clash between the
> two 50kw religious titians from Chicago and Nashville.  Not
> until well after 9am could I clearly gain additional clues
> from my perch 40 air miles to the northwest on whether Dusty
> was “that mystery voice”.  At high noon, WDJO is tied with
> 1360 as the third most receivable AM signal from Cincinnati
> at my Connersville location, yet ironically, at 5:30pm
> WYLL’s Brother Scott chastised the gay models at Abercrombie
> and the pressures of sex in our society while WDJO feebly
> tried to push J Frank Wilson’s “Last Kiss” into my AM
> receiver’s front-end.
>
> Much has been made here on this board about 1160’s
> night-time signal deficiency.  Fact is, it’s a
> “deal-breaker” that extends several hours each side of
> twilight.  Granted, the fortunes of WDJO don’t depend on
> diaries in Fayette County, Indiana, but these signal
> problems certainly haunt the metro-Cincy hinterlands to the
> northwest just beyond I-275 also.  As a former station owner
> (including 2 AMs), I have sat at my breakfast table and
> experienced the same—frustrated that my station was being
> pounded from the west by a 50kw “clear”…and NOTHING we could
> do to remedy the problem.  Frankly, I never understood how
> the 1160 facility pasted muster in the FCC licensing
> process.  I only hope that “the messenger” won’t be judged
> by the wounded horse.
>
> I love “oldies radio”.  I’m a “geek” who thinks they SOUND
> BEST on AM—but then I’m also a guy who ran songs thru a DBX
> compressor when making car cassette tapes in the 1980s.  I
> greatly respect guys (like Dusty) who are passionate toward
> classic radio and know that younger folks HEAR the
> difference and appreciate it also!  MAY THE GOOD BROADCAST
> GODS BLESS YOU!!!  I came here from South Carolina to tape
> this into, but view its outcome in a different way than its
> idealistic investors.  There is not one bone in my body that
> hopes anything less then success for this good man and his
> partners, and I can’t think of any acquaintance in this biz
> that doesn’t wish for a “take down”…but we’d like to win the
> Power-Ball, too.
>
> OK…So my tuned long-wire, trusty 20-yr-old Icom R-71 with
> the 12kc filter enabled, and Revox PR-77 tape machine is
> ready.  Forget the streaming crap—I want genuine heterodyne
> in this Hallstead.  As a good broadcast bud of mine said to
> me last weekend on the phone…”T…We’re 50 and this WDJO thing
> is a Swan Song of our life.  ‘Great Top-40 radio on AM…It
> may never happen again…They say 1160AM--Amplitude
> Modulation…Make that Ancient Modulation”.
>

Hippo,

Too bad they ain't selling spots in Connersville...bet you'd buy some!

[Tom]

J...IF I owned a card store in downtown Connersville;  IF anyone here listened to 1160am;  and IF a sales rep with a genuine handshake, a belief in his/her product, and a “squat” about my business came in—YES—I would purchase spots on WDJO!  ‘No Tony Robbins talkin’—just the way smart folks do biz.  I began my career selling a Class 4 on 1490—ended up with my own stations employing some awesome sales folk.  A couple I mentored went on to work for CC—They are no longer in the biz…..HUMMMMM?

[Tom]

> Great post!  As an AM owner exclusively, I am cheering from
> a afar, the new Oldies 1160.  Dusty and the guys, go prove
> everyone wrong.

Me too!  I like you guys, and hope you're running Mutha-Modulation.  TN is a lovely state...I canoe there often...Where are you at...I'd love to listen!

[lashlarue]

One station exactly between Nashville and Memphis and the other in beautiful Wayne County, TN, just above the Alabama border.  

It is beautiful!

[skipspence]

> One station exactly between Nashville and Memphis and the
> other in beautiful Wayne County, TN, just above the Alabama
> border.  
>
> It is beautiful!
> So you bought Waynesboro's little neat store front AM..Go for it!  I used to listen to their Live365 stream when they were doing Classic Hits (Tell all the "Jacks" it's been done before them)... We have a little AM in Shelbyville, Indiana short spaced with 1530 in Cincy and at 1520 that sound so good when you get into their day and night directional pattern... On 1160's signal  they have their towers out southwest and it's a hyper-tight pattern that denies west and north west coverage...but the pattern does decent over 85 of the Hamilton County population, less extreme northwest areas near the Miami and Whitewater...  Anybody know if they will have a website or stream?? (for us out in the hinterlands)...

[Joe Boatwright]

> > One station exactly between Nashville and Memphis and the
> > other in beautiful Wayne County, TN, just above the
> Alabama
> > border.  
> >
> > It is beautiful!
> > So you bought Waynesboro's little neat store front AM..Go
> for it!  I used to listen to their Live365 stream when they
> were doing Classic Hits (Tell all the "Jacks" it's been done
> before them)... We have a little AM in Shelbyville, Indiana
> short spaced with 1530 in Cincy and at 1520 that sound so
> good when you get into their day and night directional
> pattern... On 1160's signal  they have their towers out
> southwest and it's a hyper-tight pattern that denies west
> and north west coverage...but the pattern does decent over
> 85 of the Hamilton County population, less extreme northwest
> areas near the Miami and Whitewater...  Anybody know if they
> will have a website or stream?? (for us out in the
> hinterlands)...
>
www.oldies1160.com.
In Columbus (110 miles or so), during the day, the signal is almost always comfortably listenable.  Nighttime is a different story.  It's not quite lost in the clutter (mainly WYLL Chicago) but it might as well be.  It's not listenable at all unless you're a hard core DXer.

[lashlarue]

Skip,

Sure did, and proud of it.  It sounds great.  We'll stream it again soon.  

See ya at GMA