In this week’s issue… NYC AM finds new home – Alhart steps back – A move on the Vineyard – Stafford out in Toronto – New HD in Canada
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*It’s already been four months since Family Stations flipped the switch to take WFME (1560) in NEW YORK silent following the $51 million sale of its longtime transmitter site in Maspeth, Queens (shown below last year).
At the time, the word we heard from sources in the New York engineering community was that Family had two plans for returning its programming to the airwaves in market #1: the purchase of another license in town, and eventually a rebuilt 1560 at a different location.
With a third of the one-year silent period already having ticked away, there’s been no sign of the rumored station purchase – which may explain why last week, Family filed a request for special temporary authority (STA) to put a limited 1560 signal back on the air at reduced power from a surprising location: a longwire antenna strung from the tower on First Mountain in West Orange, New Jersey that was Family’s New York-market base of operations from the 1960s until 2013, when Family sold what was then WFME (94.7) to Cumulus. (It’s now Audacy’s WNSH, and has a CP to move from West Orange to the East Rutherford tower site of iHeart’s WOR 710.)
Family never actually sold that 200-foot tower on Mount Pleasant Avenue, which is also used by WFMU (91.1) and as an auxiliary site by several other New York FMs. While it’s hardly an ideal spot for an AM station, located in an area with awful ground conductivity, it’s apparently the best option available at the moment to get 1560 back on the air – and so WFME is now proposing to use no more than 12.5 kW day and night into a slanted wire extending from a midpoint on the tower to an ATU on the roof of the transmitter building.
It won’t be a great signal, putting only 1 mV/m over the far reaches of New York City, but it will at least keep the 1560 license alive and keep Family’s programming available to determined listeners in the metro area. Is this Family’s end game? Surely not – and we’ll be following the next steps as Family figures out how to better restore full service, whether it’s on the 1560 license or somewhere else on the dial.
Behold, the 2025 calendar!
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (can you guess? you don’t have to if you buy the calendar!).
We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for immediate shipping!
This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
In this week’s issue… WBUR backs off local talk - EMF's expansion in NY, nationally - Rochester broadcasters honored - Russell finds new PA radio home - Remembering Bruce Stevens - The new calendar's here!
In this week’s issue… Remembering WNY's Palvino, Harris - Will King sell Bangor stations? - Kay moves earlier - New signal on LI - Cumulus cuts hit PA, New England - Frizzell sells in NH
In this week’s issue… Saluting a small-town radio vet - Bell moves CP24 - Scott heads west - Burlington gets Air 1, "Experimental Radio" - Family Life heads down I-86
In this week’s issue… NY TV anchor, radio historian both retiring - XPN PD to retire - More Cumulus cuts - Rogers sells FMs as Corus makes big talent cuts By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT - MA...
