Topband: and KDKA

[Herb Schoenbohm]

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.