1 of 1- RadioActive
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Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
I noticed around 11 PM Monday night that CHAM, aka Funny 820, was off the air. Not sure how long it's been that way, but it's not the first time. They were gone for 3 days back in July. No idea how long this one may last and they could, in fact, come back on at any moment.
It's an excellent DX opportunity, because there's been something underneath them for some time. I just can't quite seem to get it beyond hearing religious programming. My best guess? WPGO an all faith station in Horseheads, N.Y. But it could be anything. Catch it while you can!
- turkeytop
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
- RadioActive
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
Yeah, I thought about WBAP, but I don't think they'd be broadcasting a show about Jesus at 11:30 PM on a Monday night. Their format is news/talk, not religion. So I doubt it's them.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
When I started to read this post, WBAP was the first station that I thought of.
- NW
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
At 7 pm on Monday night it was WVSG Columbus OH (St. Gabriel's Radio) on top of 820.
- RadioActive
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
Yeah, that one makes sense, too. Unfortunately, it was too low for me to make an I.D.
As of 7 AM Tuesday, they're still off.
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Thread Starter
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
9 AM and still no on-air signal on 820. I remember hearing Tom McConnell on Bell's nearby CKTB saying that if there's dead air for a certain number of minutes or seconds, an alert gets sent to the chief engineer, who then sends someone to investigate and fix it.
Would they not have the same thing with CHAM? I realize it's not the #1 station in the chain, but small listenership or not, you'd think someone would have been called in to fix this by now. As noted, the last time this happened it was gone for three days. How long could this one last? How can it possibly take this many hours to fix it?
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Thread Starter- fyshtalk
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
Actually, surprised that anyone even noticed it was off the air . Funny 820 living up to its name...It's a Joke !!
- RadioActive
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
So it was off for almost 12 hours - that we know of. (Not sure when the signal disappeared on Monday.) I guess this is what happens when your entire radio station consists of a computer, apparently with no backup. I actually like the comedy format. It's different and is great when there's nothing else on.
But it speaks volumes about how important it is to the company, when they've let it go off the air for hours twice in the same year and the contributors at SOWNY seem to be the only ones who notice.
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Thread Starter- markow202
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
With streaming they can get away with it plus isnt it better to stream the AM stations? The sound quality is 90% better
- darcyh
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Re: Funny 820's Long Outage Is No Laughing Matter
I think situations like this continue to point to the aging infrastructure of many AM transmitter sites. These stations have been on the air for decades and stuff is wearing out. The number of companies that build AM broadcast transmitters has also diminished. At one time there was Continental, Harris, GE, RCA, Collins / Rockwell, Bauer, Armstrong, Westinghouse and Gates just to name some. I don't think any of these guys make transmitters any longer. It would not surprise me that parts for older transmitters are getting more difficult to obtain. Many stations have or had a backup transmitter which was often their retired transmitter when a new one was placed in service. How many of these are serviced / maintained / tested to operate reliably if the main unit goes down. Same with the back up generators.
Of course to do all these tasks requires someone to perform them and that costs money. As age continues to creep up on these transmitter sites and with fewer listeners and less money coming in, it's understandable costs have to be controlled. As they get older high power AM transmitter sites (especially directional ones with several towers) are relatively expensive to maintain. Sooner or later a tipping point is reached where the costs to keep the station on the air exceed its financial benefit. Case in point the former CKSL 1410 in London.
Last edited by darcyh (October 27, 2021 12:46 pm)