AM Blowtorch KDWN 720 KHz Las Vegas going dark March 1

[n6hgg]

One of the giants going dark wow. The owner, audacity, sold the transmitter property for 40 million. They'll still be transmitting on a translator and on fm. The station had amazing coverage. Going dark starting on the night of February 28th at 1 minute before midnight and will continue for 10 more minutes through till March 1 with a full power 25,000 Watt test, and the DX's have been notified that this is happening so they can have one last chance to log the station.

 

[iowajm780]

Happening in allot of places now. Some of these sites are large and yes with today's real estate prices go for big bucks. Some AM stations are now diplexing or just going off the air. AM ain't what it used to be. Won't hear it in my area due to WGN out of Chicago. I see that KXST is also going off the air. Those 2 stations were diplexed together. At 2.5kw night, not much of a DX target though. Sad state of affairs for AM broadcasting.

 

[FrensicPic]

Just did a quick listen this evening from Los Angeles on my ATS-909X2. Heard the announcement just prior to the top of the hour (0400Z) regarding going off the air.

 

[radioman2008]

just tried listening for it in florida on a Kenwood TS890, nada. the title says march 1st 10-7 but the post says today.

 

[northwoods]

Never able to hit the mighty KDWN even when 50.000 watt WGN 720 out of Chicago would do a shut down maintenace on a Sunday night. Tried for 55 years. Another fish that got away. Thank you very much for your post. I bellive WSM 650 AM Nashville will be the last antenna standing. Cheers.

 

[northwoods]

Happening in allot of places now. Some of these sites are large and yes with today's real estate prices go for big bucks. Some AM stations are now diplexing or just going off the air. AM ain't what it used to be. Won't hear it in my area due to WGN out of Chicago. I see that KXST is also going off the air. Those 2 stations were diplexed together. At 2.5kw night, not much of a DX target though. Sad state of affairs for AM broadcasting.

Monitor AM 1600 - 1700 it is more compact then the graveyard is. Let AM DX live on forever. Yea Haw!

 

[n6hgg]

The positive side is that the more of them go off the air, the more distant stuff you might find on the same frequency. KDWN was always there and within range for me on the west coast here, but now I might be able to hear WGN. It might help also for when I look across the Pacific Ocean on the AM band in the 720 kilohertz area. You would think there would be some value in somebody relicensing a new station on that frequency. I guess the market will decide.

 

[n6hgg]

the title says march 1st 10-7 but the post says today.

If you look carefully it says 1 minute before midnight on February 28th (tonight/today) they begin a 10 minute final test. 10 minutes will take them to 1209 a.m. on March 1st. That's when they turn the switch off.

EDIT: I guess it means they turn the switch off at 12:08 a.m.. my mistake haha

 

[Grunddiigg]

There is a ton of money to be made in ads in over the air broadcasting still especially with a powerful station. This does surprise me. Lots of people still listen in.

I'm in my early 40's and I tune in way more than FM. I like talk radio, game broadcasts, and old radios. I don't think radio is going away anytime soon. My two cents.

 

[Thunderknight]

I though translators could only retransmit their parent AM station and not originate broadcasting?

 

[mmckenna]

There is a ton of money to be made in ads in over the air broadcasting still especially with a powerful station. This does surprise me. Lots of people still listen in.

I'm in my early 40's and I tune in way more than FM. I like talk radio, game broadcasts, and old radios. I don't think radio is going away anytime soon. My two cents.

It's not, but 40 million for the land the antenna site is on is a LOT of ad revenue.

Take a few million of that, build a new transmitter site farther outside of town, and pocket the rest.

 

[Grunddiigg]

It's not, but 40 million for the land the antenna site is on is a LOT of ad revenue.

Take a few million of that, build a new transmitter site farther outside of town, and pocket the rest.

That is a great idea! Hopefully it pans out that way somebody will fill the void I'm sure at some point.

I did see in some stats that a particular am station on the east coast pulled in 44 million in ad revenue a year.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

I though translators could only retransmit their parent AM station and not originate broadcasting?

Its not originating programming, they are going to feed it off of the HD3 subchannel of KMXB.

That said, Houston is the wild west for translators being not in their licensed location, way over their TXPO/ERP authorizations and originating their own programming and nothing seems to happen to them. Once our FCC guy Steve Lee retired, it doesn't seem like anyone else cares.

There are a couple of AMs here in the Houston DMA that diplexed with a third station and sold off their antenna farms. Land value is crazy and its hard to justify these massive plots of land for towers, particularly for AM broadcasting. The market for AM is not exciting to new folks and a lot of car manufacturers are not even including AM in their vehicle radios. It seems a lot of folks now are streaming or really only listen to FM.

 

[steve9570]

Well I am glad I still got WBZ 1030 Boston the # 1 station for braking news in the nation.

And one of the first if not the first AM stations in the US. at 50,000 watts it heard in at least most of the northeast and out to the Mid west. Gives WGN a run for is money at night.

 

[hamstang]

Braking news. Is that traffic reports?

 

[hill]

Sorry to see another AMer go.

I really like AM radio and listening to talk when out, plus all the time spent in my work truck making deliveries.

That said my go to station for it's great mix of older country music is WSM. Plus them doing Opry broadcasts, since 1925.

 

[iowajm780]

I was going to call over and ask Nexstar and see if they could shut off the WGN transmitter for a bit tonight. I don't think anyone would notice.

 

[Boombox]

There is a ton of money to be made in ads in over the air broadcasting still especially with a powerful station. This does surprise me. Lots of people still listen in.

I'm in my early 40's and I tune in way more than FM. I like talk radio, game broadcasts, and old radios. I don't think radio is going away anytime soon. My two cents.

Radio experts will tell you that nighttime listeners bring in little ad revenue, and out of town listeners bring in no ad revenue.

That's the problem. Long distance listeners don't count, really. They did in the 1960s still, and maybe into the 1970s, but not anymore.

 

[Boombox]

The positive side is that the more of them go off the air, the more distant stuff you might find on the same frequency.

The negative side is that if a station like KDWN, a high powered AM in a large, growing market still can't make enough money off its AM, it's a sign that AM will thin out to nothing within a decade or so. There won't be distant stuff to hear. That's the problem.

Even as late as ten years ago, in 2012-2014, the Shortwave bands were fairly active at night and during the morning hours.

Now the 31 Meter band -- which was wall to wall signals in the 1980s -- is mostly dead. Maybe 3-5 signals a night. Take a listen to the 31 Meter Band some night. That will be the AM band in the US probably well before 2040, maybe even before 2035.

 

[northwoods]

There is a ton of money to be made in ads in over the air broadcasting still especially with a powerful station. This does surprise me. Lots of people still listen in.

I'm in my early 40's and I tune in way more than FM. I like talk radio, game broadcasts, and old radios. I don't think radio is going away anytime soon. My two cents.

AM is never ever going away. Screw electric car companys not installing AM radios in there production lines. Enough of this bull****.