The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / What Happened To 610 CKTB's Signal?

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 12:05 am

I mentioned this in another thread, but the outage is now over 12 hours old as I write this. CKTB in St. Catharines has been silent since at least noon Tuesday and possibly before that, with no explanation that I can find. They reman on the web and can be heard online, but there's nothing but static at 610 on the dial, a normally very strong signal into the GTA.

Anyone know what's going on? (I'm reminded of my favourite WKRP scene, "How can we announce we're off the air, when we're off the air?")

**Posted by eladb** February 19, 2025 1:16 am

At 2:09 p.m., they replied to someone on X who asked about the signal: "Unfortunate transmitter issues today. Hopefully back soon - You can still listen online!"

https://x.com/610CKTB/status/1891928127854494161

That's the only reference on their X account that I could find for this. That's quite the long down time!

**Posted by Radiowiz** February 19, 2025 1:24 am

How do you say you're not on the air if you're not on the air?
In today's times, you say so on the internet.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 8:21 am

This happened to the station once before, back in May 2021. They were off the air for almost five days(!), an eternity in radio. Something happened at their transmitter and they could not get the part they needed to repair it, indicating it was coming in from the U.S. and they had to wait interminably for it to arrive.

If that's what happened this time, given the extreme winter weather travelling conditions and the difficulty in sourcing this part, it could be a while before they return.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 8:28 am

Radiowiz wrote:
How do you say you're not on the air if you're not on the air?
In today's times, you say so on the internet.

That's true, but what's very odd is there's nothing on their website about this outage that I could find. You'd think they'd pin that to the top to let listeners know. Instead, there's nothing about it at all.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** February 19, 2025 8:32 am

They could still stream it, no need for a transmitter. I often stream radio, who doesn’t!

**Posted by mace** February 19, 2025 8:33 am

Any DX catches while CKTB was/is silent? Maybe WTVN Columbus?

**Posted by NW** February 19, 2025 9:46 am

mace wrote:
Any DX catches while CKTB was/is silent? Maybe WTVN Columbus?

WTVN Columbus was inbooming at 6 p.m. on 610 last night and underneath there was WPLY Roanoke. (Was actually expecting WTEL in Philadelphia as the second station)

**Posted by Saul** February 19, 2025 10:12 am

Just got ujp to DX site last night. Was gonna hook coax to two outdoor loop antennas and DX but with 3-4 feet of new snow on the ground I'm not sure I can manage that during daylight today, never mind at night last night... I can almost climb onto parts of the roof...

POSTSCRIPT: Well, that was shockingly easy. My first strategy was to shovel pathways. I quickly realized this would take a few hours and exhaust me. I then realized I can swim, and the snow is just crystalized water powder. And the snow is in drifts. Some were indeed as high as 4 feet. Others maybe a foot. Directional west loop antenna is fixed in place, just needed to get coax and an amp onto the west end. I changed the route of my temporary south-north loop antenna, which gets folded up and collapsed when I'm not here, to be more ne-sw to make it easier to access. I'll be ready when sunset arrives, but I betcha CKTB will be back!

Last edited by Saul (February 19, 2025 11:04 am)

**Posted by darcyh** February 19, 2025 11:11 am

Looking at Google maps it appears the building where the transmitter lives it is located at the end of a long driveway. I doubt regular snow removal is done at a site so just getting the snow removed for access may take some time. There is a lot that can go wrong at a directional tower site especially if maintenance has been deferred. I don't think many stations keep broadcast engineers on payroll any longer especially smaller stations. Finding someone who can tackle the problem will take time. Usually a station will have a back up transmitter and some redundancy; obviously this is not working.

At one time this would be an embarrassing situation for a station.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2%B002'12.2%22N+79%C2%B009'58.2%22W/@43.0362898,-79.1673775,409m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d43.036722!4d-79.166158?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Last edited by darcyh (February 19, 2025 11:13 am)

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 19, 2025 12:21 pm

Whiteoaks might have takin over before they get back on air.

**Posted by NW** February 19, 2025 1:48 pm

Saul wrote:
Just got ujp to DX site last night. Was gonna hook coax to two outdoor loop antennas and DX but with 3-4 feet of new snow on the ground I'm not sure I can manage that during daylight today, never mind at night last night... I can almost climb onto parts of the roof...

POSTSCRIPT: Well, that was shockingly easy. My first strategy was to shovel pathways. I quickly realized this would take a few hours and exhaust me. I then realized I can swim, and the snow is just crystalized water powder. And the snow is in drifts. Some were indeed as high as 4 feet. Others maybe a foot. Directional west loop antenna is fixed in place, just needed to get coax and an amp onto the west end. I changed the route of my temporary south-north loop antenna, which gets folded up and collapsed when I'm not here, to be more ne-sw to make it easier to access. I'll be ready when sunset arrives, but I betcha CKTB will be back!

Here's hoping that you are wrong and it was worth putting up the antenna. At 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. WTEL-Philadelphia was duking it out with WTVN. I know that WTEL and WTVN certainly would not be worth you driving up to Four Mile Lake.

**Posted by Saul** February 19, 2025 2:16 pm

NW wrote:
Here's hoping that you are wrong and it was worth putting up the antenna. At 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. WTEL-Philadelphia was duking it out with WTVN. I know that WTEL and WTVN certainly would not be worth you driving up.

I wouldn't mind W2PLY from Roanoke. It's not logged here. Lots I need on 610, actually. The CKTB-WTVN combo pretty much keeps the channel full and loud. We'll see what sunset brings...

My hips are about done for the day from crawling through the snow to set up for DX. Looks like the roof will need a shoveling for the second time in a week. Glad I'm hiring out for that because my roof shoveling days are in the past tense.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 19, 2025 3:46 pm

Think of all the make goods advertisers have coming as a result of this. More than 24 hours off the air and counting...

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 19, 2025 4:06 pm

Bell media also had these problems with CHAM in its commedy days.
CHAM was off the air once the weakend after Canada day in 2021.

**Posted by ToRon** February 19, 2025 5:28 pm

Try finding an RF enginner then try finding one who wants to work for bell

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 19, 2025 5:45 pm

Bell does not have a good rep for its small and mid market Am stations.
London closed and the ones that are getting sold or are sold went off the air more times than not.
Neeti is not having tech problems with cham so far.

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 19, 2025 8:12 pm

ToRon wrote:
Try finding an RF enginner then try finding one who wants to work for bell

That's not even hyperbole. For AM especially.

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 19, 2025 8:14 pm

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
Bell does not have a good rep for its small and mid market Am stations.
.

They're no better or worse than anyone else; they just have (had) more of them.

**Posted by NW** February 20, 2025 10:04 am

CKTB was still absent at 6:50 a.m. this morning. The folks in St. Catharines would been enjoying KFNZ Kansas City with sports talk instead.

**Posted by Saul** February 20, 2025 1:11 pm

NW wrote:
CKTB was still absent at 6:50 a.m. this morning. The folks in St. Catharines would been enjoying KFNZ Kansas City with sports talk instead.

I recorded overnight to 0630 and when I upwoke it was all WTVN Columbus with some KDAL Duluth MN. I did hear Kansas City during something like the Reagan or Carter administrations. Someone on Fakebook asked if anyone had any idea how long this transmitter outage might last. Good question...

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 20, 2025 1:28 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
Bell does not have a good rep for its small and mid market Am stations.
.
They're no better or worse than anyone else; they just have (had) more of them.

The smaller broadcasters don't go off the air as much as bell's stations did.

**Posted by Jody Thornton** February 20, 2025 1:31 pm

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
Bell does not have a good rep for its small and mid market Am stations.
.
They're no better or worse than anyone else; they just have (had) more of them.
The smaller broadcasters don't go off the air as much as bell's stations did.

Sounds as though you're basing that on your gut feel. What source are you using to confirm that?

**Posted by andysradio** February 20, 2025 1:56 pm

torontostan wrote:
Driving through Niagara this morning and the station sounds normal. Perhaps the new owners want to run it at a lower power?

Nothing heard in Peterborough at 11

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 20, 2025 2:13 pm

Bell's still programming the station from what I know.
I think whiteoaks will keep the egsisting power for CKTB.
Maybe they will also add some ethnic programs like in the 90s with radio india.

**Posted by Saul** February 20, 2025 4:17 pm

They might be back. If that is the exceedingly weak signal I have on my south antenna from north Kawarthas. If this is indeed the case, maybe this is a longer-term backup plan?

**Posted by NW** February 21, 2025 9:27 am

Last night at local midnight with no CKTB there was the added bonus of Cuban station Radio Rebelde underheard WTVN. Easily recognizable with the Cuban national anthem that all Cuban stations play at that time.

**Posted by Radiowiz** February 21, 2025 9:44 am

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
Whiteoaks might have takin over before they get back on air.

The real question is, was 610 sold as "a working thing" or as an as is deal?

**Posted by Saul** February 21, 2025 1:09 pm

NW wrote:
Last night at local midnight with no CKTB there was the added bonus of Cuban station Radio Rebelde underheard WTVN. Easily recognizable with the Cuban national anthem that all Cuban stations play at that time.

Conditions are pretty abysmal for AM DX the last few days. Pretty solid wall of WTVN Columbus and WTEL Philly, with very weak stuff underneath. I've had Fox Sports Radio on south and west antennas, presuming Roanoke VA and Kansas City MO but I wopn't count these in my log as nothing definitive on either. South antenna also had African American gospel music that briefly sounded the same as what I heard on an internet-enabled software defined radio (SDR) from Birmingham AL. But at times the gospel music didn't sound exactly like that at all. So I had either or both of stations in Birmingham and/or Pensacola FL. I did some recording. But after awhikle I ghave up live listening because there's only so much I could take of listening to Sean Hannity (WTVN) and Black Information Network (WTEL) duke it out. Maybe conditions will improve...
NW et al, if things get super auroral there's three Rebeldes on 610, two at decent strength. Maybe there will be an echo effect with two or more in. There is also a Reloj outlet in Cuba on 610, with the tick-tock sound that really cuts through. I'd also watch for Colombia (30kw station) and even Uruguay has a 50kw signal. That's if we get any auroral storming like we had in October and at New Year's, and CKTB is still MIA or weakened.

**Posted by Saul** February 21, 2025 5:07 pm

Don't think it was WTEL or WTVN talking about Trudeau on 610 as I was driving home from Kawartha DX site around 1pm...signal seemed fairly strong so presume the fix is done...