WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#11

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:07 PM UTC

bitexploder wrote: post #5

> People living near the transmitter site often got better reception than they wanted; some lights would not turn off until WLW engineers helped rewire houses. Gutters rattled loose from buildings. A neon hotel sign near the transmitter never went dark. Farmers reported hearing WLW through their barbed-wire fences. That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just…

The Vatican Radio has a 500kW transmitter, plus several lower powered ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Radio

There was a lawsuit about it causing leukemia, but it is unclear how substantial that is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Radio_lawsuit

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#12

Post by caymanjim » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

Of course, for most broadcasters and regulators debating these broad delivery systems, “listeners” meant Americans who were white and middle or working class. Programming reinforced presumed middle class values. While some local stations offered programming targeted to ethnic groups, occupations, and even political beliefs, black Americans and other minority groups were largely left out of national radio, except as caricatures—usually played by white people—in comedy programs.

Why is this paragraph in the article? Do we have to make everything a wokeness contest? The article is about engineering, and this paragraph is a non sequitur plopped in the middle of it for no reason.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#13

Post by Udo » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

> enough power to supply a town of one hundred thousand coursed through an 831-foot tower

That would mean 5W per inhabitant. In 2020, this would barely be enough to charge a phone, and in 1934 that would have been a light bulb per 20 citizens.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#14

Post by geerlingguy » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

simmons wrote: post #7

The station’s once groundbreaking transmitter is long retired but preserved, on-site, beside its modern counterpart. I wonder if they ever offer tours. It would be neat to see some of this history the next time I'm passing through the Cincinnati area. On a related note, it looks like there's a "National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting" just down the street from the WLW site.

It's not quite the same scale, but another of the nation's 'mega AM stations', KMOX in St. Louis, has a few interesting articles covering the history of their transmitter / tower and associated gear:

https://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Radio/RadioArticle...

I used to work as an engineering assistant there, and went to the tower site a few times. The amount of RF energy in that 50,000 watt tower was enough to cook snakes, rats, etc. which got close enough to the gear.

The tower itself is energized to the extent you wouldn't want to be within at least a few feet; see https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/02/11/what-happens-if...

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#15

Post by viggity » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

For point of reference, the max power allowed in the US is 50kW

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#16

Post by mmhsieh » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

for national security it would be best to shut this puppy down because it is broadcasting our position to extraterresterial civilizations, not all of whom may be friendly.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#17

Post by scblock » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:25 PM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #12

Of course, for most broadcasters and regulators debating these broad delivery systems, “listeners” meant Americans who were white and middle or working class. Programming reinforced presumed middle class values. While some local stations offered programming targeted to ethnic groups, occupations, and even political beliefs, black Americans and other minority groups were largely left out of national radio, except as c…

This is a history article, not an engineering article. It's published on the Magazine for the National Endowment of the Humanities. The article spends time discussing the perceived cultural potential of radio, as below:

"Since radio’s beginnings in the early 1920s, industry and government leaders promoted it as the great homogenizer, a cultural uplift project that could, among other things, help modernize and acculturate rural areas."

The paragraph you take such objection to follows that statement, and is entirely relevant in the context of the article.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#18

Post by at_a_remove » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #12

Of course, for most broadcasters and regulators debating these broad delivery systems, “listeners” meant Americans who were white and middle or working class. Programming reinforced presumed middle class values. While some local stations offered programming targeted to ethnic groups, occupations, and even political beliefs, black Americans and other minority groups were largely left out of national radio, except as c…

It's the Magazine of the National Endowment of the Humanity publication, so there you go.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#19

Post by danharaj » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #12

Of course, for most broadcasters and regulators debating these broad delivery systems, “listeners” meant Americans who were white and middle or working class. Programming reinforced presumed middle class values. While some local stations offered programming targeted to ethnic groups, occupations, and even political beliefs, black Americans and other minority groups were largely left out of national radio, except as c…

Dovetails nicely with the previous paragraph, I think you doth protest too much.

"In the early days of broadcast development and regulation, Crosley and WLW sparked debate about what radio should and could be. Could a few clear-channel stations adequately serve—and acculturate—entire regions of listeners? Or would a national network system with local affiliates better target listener needs and interests?"

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#20

Post by fignews » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

simmons wrote: post #7

The station’s once groundbreaking transmitter is long retired but preserved, on-site, beside its modern counterpart. I wonder if they ever offer tours. It would be neat to see some of this history the next time I'm passing through the Cincinnati area. On a related note, it looks like there's a "National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting" just down the street from the WLW site.

Here is a tour on YouTube https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY