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A Once Great Radio Station's 1560 AM Frequency Goes Silent
Anyone who's ever DXed has almost certainly heard 50,000 watt WQXR-AM 1560 in New York City.
From 1944-1998, it was known as "The Radio Station of the New York Times" and had a long time classical format, often simulcasting with its FM counterpart at 105.9. It later became WQEW, picking up the old WNEW Music of Your Life format, and then was sold to Disney in 1998, where it remained until the House of Mouse gave up on radio in 2015.
After that, it became a shadow of its once powerful self as WFME, an all religious station with a much reduced power.
Now the station that's been emanating mostly non-stop since 1929 is gone, with the news that WFME has officially shut down, with the mysterious "irrevocable technical difficulties" given as the reason.
It brings to an end a bit of radio history that's been around from its experimental days for 102 years. What else is on the frequency? Tune in after sundown and see what, if anything, is there.
1560 WFME New York Goes Silent
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Re: A Once Great Radio Station's 1560 AM Frequency Goes Silent
It now appears the religious station could yet undergo a resurrection on its 1560 frequency.
Family Stations Takes New York AM Dark, But WFME Is Not Dead Yet
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Thread Starter- Skywave
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Re: A Once Great Radio Station's 1560 AM Frequency Goes Silent
So follow the money:
Sold WFME-FM for $40 million.
Paid $12.95 million for 1560 AM
Sold site for $51 million
Net profit after going dark: $78.05 million.
Like most AM stations, definitely worth more dead than alive
In looking at their FCC notified antenna patterns, they can easily operate 10 kW non-directional daytime and 4 to 5 kW omni night, at least. The challenge is to find a site. There are several direction stations operating at the high end of the band that would be good candidates for diplexing if they could do a deal. Failing that, find an acre of land in the right place and put up a self-support 150 foot tower.