The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » 1220 AM St Catharines again

darcyh · February 11, 2019 1:59 am

Well it has been about a year since I asked whether anyone is aware of any developments with respect to the still silent 1220 AM. Any testing taking place? Any activity at the transmitter shack? I think its been over two years since the new operators were given the okay to put it on the air.

I occasionally check the frequency but only hear the signal from Cleveland.

Anyone hearing anything?

Radiowiz · February 11, 2019 3:09 am

A cut and paste from Airchecker.ca:

(CRTC) CONSTRUCTION PERMIT FOR NEW ST. CATHARINES STATION ON 1220 AM
HAS BEEN SOLDThe CRTC has granted an ownership change of the “yet to go on the air” 10,000 watt facility on 1220 AM in St. Catharines, Ontario which was approved in 2016. Sivanesarajah Kandiah and David J. Dancy will be relinquishing 100% control of the construction permit to Manu Datta and Ripudaman Singh Dhillon (Radio Dhun). Purchase price is $300,000.00. The new owners plan to stick with the original plans of launching the English language station with a Classic Hits.

The big mystery remains....WHEN???

darcyh · February 14, 2019 9:36 pm

Thanks for the update. Doesn't look promising for a spring launch.... how long can they prolong this before the CRTC becomes concerned?

Maybe 960 in Mississauga could use this frequency / facility to improve coverage there.

Kilgore · February 15, 2019 8:11 am

Chuck99 wrote:
The new owners must be looking for a tax write-off.

What profitable media properties do they currently own, that would qualify for losses from this venture to be applied to profit, Chuckie?

Dial Twister · February 15, 2019 10:10 am

Kilgore wrote:
Chuck99 wrote:
The new owners must be looking for a tax write-off.

What profitable media properties do they currently own, that would qualify for losses from this venture to be applied to profit, Chuckie?

I have to agree. Once a person has been in business, they understand the value of making a profit, not looking for losses to write off. If write-offs were the goal, we'd all be offering crappy products and services to ensure a loss, just to get that tax break.

Radiowiz · February 15, 2019 6:39 pm

Chuck99 wrote:

The previous owner, Pellpropco, essentially ran out of money

Where are you getting your information from? They were making good money with Radio Uno.
The problem is, they did so illegally, beyond what would have been an acceptable number of hours dedicated to such a format.
The week-end Radio Uno content alone made more money than the week.
However, they did not want to be known as a multicultural station.
They continued with classic hits during the week day.
CRTC did not tolerate their format, nor did they tolerate their website, claiming to be a Toronto radio station.

There is nothing to suggest that they had no money. Just several indications of not serving St. Catherines properly.
If they didn't target Toronto, and if they respected the max number of hours allowed for multicultural content, they may have continued to make just the right amount of money to continue on.

Here is a link to a time when they insisted that they are a Toronto radio station...
https://web.archive.org/web/20110706201950/http://www.radiouno.ca/

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 15, 2019 6:50 pm)

darcyh · February 15, 2019 10:00 pm

What kind of signal (quality / strength) did CHSC put into Toronto through the day and night?

darcyh · February 16, 2019 1:21 am

If I were going to try to program this station, I would do local news / talk in the morning from 05:30 to 09:00. Then switch to classic country with a live announcer at 09:00. At 15:00 - 18:00 some kind of live drive show with local host. You would need some deep pockets to hire good personalities.

In the evening you could automate or hire newbie low cost announcers who would polish their skills and stay live until 23:00.

A pipe dream? Could it be profitable?

RadioActive · February 16, 2019 8:04 pm

darcyh wrote:
What kind of signal (quality / strength) did CHSC put into Toronto through the day and night?

As someone who used to listen to 1220 at night, I can tell you the signal was almost non-existent after sundown in Toronto. (It was just OK during the daylight hours, but listenable.) I was actually tuning in to hear WGAR Cleveland back in its Top 40 glory days and they came in nearly perfectly, with very little interference from CHSC.

In fact, most nights if you didn't know there was a St. Catharines signal on the frequency, you never would have even really detected it.

RadioActive · February 16, 2019 8:47 pm

Long before there was an Internet, a guy from Indiana named Vane Jones used to put out a yearly book called "The North American Radio-TV Station Guide." This was an invaluable tool for DXers, since it listed every TV and radio station in North America, including the U.S., Canada, Cuba and Mexico, by dial position, location and more.

I have a few of them saved upstairs in my library (really just a big Ikea book shelf but it sounds way more impressive that way!) and as of 1985, it lists CJRN as 5,000 day, 2,500 night. It had to protect WOR in New York, which never came in here when CJRN was on the air, but now does on a regular basis.

As for CHSC, the same edition has the power at 10,000 watts day, 1,000 night. Curiously, other Jones editions differ. In various years, CHSC is listed at 10,000 watts both day and night, but for some reason there's a note that they were "temporarily" operating at 500 watts day and 250 watts night, which may explain why WGAR came in so clearly.

The Jones guides are now long obsolete and out of print, but a great site called "American Radio History" has scanned many of them in for posterity. They're a great way to track long extinct station information.

You can see them here.

Radiowiz · February 16, 2019 9:03 pm

RadioActive wrote:
darcyh wrote:
What kind of signal (quality / strength) did CHSC put into Toronto through the day and night?
As someone who used to listen to 1220 at night, I can tell you the signal was almost non-existent after sundown in Toronto.

You could still pick up 1220 CHSC in Scarborough at night but the signal would fade in and out at times.

darcyh · February 17, 2019 3:06 am

Great information. This is the stuff you cannot find on the net.

I also recall listening to WGAR in its glory days, living in Kitchener the night time signal was good and I don't remember any reception of CHSC.

With all the challenges to put the existing facility back on the air and try to make a profit maybe this is just unworkable. Someone is still paying to light the towers (I presume) and a three phase electrical connection. Eventually those nine towers will need some maintenance.

When CKSL 1410 London was silenced, in less than a year the transmitter building was demolished, towers down, ground radials ripped up and all debris removed; even the hydro poles feeding it. You would not recognize it as a former transmitting facility.

It seems unusual that a station that's been off the air since 2010 still has its transmitting facility more or less intact. I'd wager there is an old Harris MW 10 still sitting in the shack...

Last edited by darcyh (February 17, 2019 3:07 am)

Radiowiz · February 17, 2019 5:23 am

Too bad 1990's caused hard times for them.
1220 CHSC knew how to make the good times great...

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 17, 2019 5:24 am)

February 17, 2019 7:45 am

darcyh wrote:
Great information. This is the stuff you cannot find on the net

Sure you can, this IS the net

andysradio · February 17, 2019 8:12 am

darcyh wrote:
It seems unusual that a station that's been off the air since 2010 still has its transmitting facility more or less intact.

The CHNS towers in Halifax still stand. Also in Quebec City the CHRC array is still there.

Back to CHSC, the CP for getting this back on air expires Apr. 20 this year.

Radiowiz · February 17, 2019 3:47 pm

Chuck99 wrote:
The station had some really good programming in the 1970s.

That video was from the 80's or 70's?
It sure was interesting seeing a young Ted Yates playing the role of Frankie Valli all in pure fun!
Dare I say it, it looks like CHSC had more fun in those days (at those functions) than 1050 CHUM ever did...

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 17, 2019 3:54 pm)