It might well have been WLW instead of KDKA and according the the story
I recall it had something to do with the "nation's station" which was
WLW for sure. I think that for national defense in 1932 it was granted
a 500,000 watt power level. An interesting story continues about WLW's'
end fed 831 foot tower at*jeff560tripod.com/wlw.html* and the
transmitters that were specially made to achieve this power for MW.
Thanks,
Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
On 9/12/2013 5:05 PM, Donna Halper wrote:
I have heard a number of similar stories, some of which seem to be
legends or perhaps based on some kernel of truth that got exaggerated.
I don't know for sure about the one Herb mentioned, because I find no
reporting on it in any of the sources I've checked. We do know that
in 1938, KDKA was one of 12 stations that applied to be a super-power
station, like WLW, which had temporarily been allowed to use 500 kw.
But KDKA withdrew its request in mid-1938, and settled for operating
at 50,000 watts. In fact, as of 1940, the Pittsburgh AM station was
one of the handful of stations broadcasting with 50,000 w. In
mid-1942, Westinghouse advertisements still stressed the 50,000 watt
transmitters in use by KDKA and other stations in the group.
The only record I can find of high-powered broadcasting is on the
_short-waves_-- requests for super-power were received in 1941, and
the FCC permitted about 12 stations to utilize this high power. And
in 1943, it was widely reported that high-powered shortwave stations
were beaming pro-American news over to Europe, and Westinghouse
stations were among the high-powered broadcasters doing this-- but
there was no mention of KDKA in the list of shortwave stations
involved; WBOS in Boston was one that did receive some press for this
activity. That doesn't mean the story is false-- it just means that
all of the sources to which I have access don't mention it: I even
looked for reports by well-known radio columnists who generally wrote
about such things. Perhaps someone with access to legal databases
(which I do not have) can check to see if a lawsuit was actually
filed, or if this is the stuff of legend. And just as an FYI, we also
know there was a high-powered station with 250,000 watts as far back
as 1925-- the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company put it on the air in
Hialeah, Florida.
_________________
Topband Reflector
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