Excellent write up and proving once again the exception is always the
rule grin.   



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BRETT WINCHESTER
[log in to unmask] 
208-639-8386
###


-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 9:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: KYW History

Steve and this Steve were both right.  KYW originally moved from Chicago
to Philly in 1933.  IN the 1950's, they swapped calls with Cleveland,
but recovered KYW in 1965.  A link with history of the station is at:
http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/kywstory.html
In June 1924, the KYW frequency was changed to 1020 kc and the results
were disastrous. In many places in Chicago, the KYW signal could not be
received, fortunately the station was permitted to change back to a
lower frequency, 570 kc.

In 1925 KYW moved to the roof of the Congress Hotel and a high powered
(20 Kw) transmitter was installed. This was the first water cooled
transmitter in the mid-west area.

In 1923, Westinghouse had installed a transmitter with call letters KFKX
in Hasting, Nebraska to relay KDKA programs and also to originate some
programs for the local area. In 1927, KFKX operations in Hastings were
discontinued and the license moved to Chicago where KYW and KFKX shared
time. (The move of KFKX to Chicago was made in anticipation of the
upcoming 1928 frequency reallocation). 
Finally the Commission is effect said "quit kidding yourselves, which
license do you want?" So the KFKX license was deleted.

In the November 11, 1928 frequency reallocation, KYW was again assigned
to 1020 kc with the same disastrous effect on the station's coverage in
Chicago.
To improve coverage in the Chicago area, a 500 watt synchronized booster
station KYWA was installed on the roof of the Edgewater Beach Hotel.
This improved the coverage in the North Side area but did not help the
main problem so plans were made to move KYW to a new site out in the
country, near Wheaton, Illinois, and at the same time the studios were
moved to the Strauss Building and arrangements made for the Chicago
Herald and Examiner to take over the program and sales operations of the
station.

The 1020 kc frequency assigned to KYW in the 1928 frequency reallocation
had been, in the Davis amendment (the Davis amendment divided the
country into five zones with all available broadcast frequencies divided
equally among the five
zones) assigned to the third zone, as well as new applicants applied for
the 1020 kc frequency creating an almost continuous legal battle for KYW
to protect its frequency assignment.

Finally, in 1932, KYW applied to the Commission to move to Philadelphia.
The application was granted on October 27, 1933 for the facilities at
this site.

The new KYW transmitter for the Whitemarsh location was the first all AC
operated high powered transmitter, no rotating equipment except water
pumps for circulating cooling water for the power tubes (now even the
power tubes are air cooled). The antenna, a four tower array consisting
of steel poles mounted on wood sub-bases was the first directional
antenna designed to suppress sky-wave radiation while providing the
required horizontal directional pattern.

As part of the move of KYW from Chicago to Philadelphia, arrangements
had been for WCAU personnel to handle the program and sales operations
of KYW and for Westinghouse personnel to take care of all technical
operations. The KYW studios were located in the WCAU building on
Chestnut Street. I worked with Jack Leitch, then Chief Engineer of WCAU
on the layout and design of the studios for KYW. Jack was certainly a
fine man to work with during the daytime but it was awfully tough trying
to keep up with him at night.

In May, 1938, KYW studios were moved into the KYW Building at 1619
Walnut Street and NBC took over the programming and sales operations.
This arrangement with NBC continued until July, 1940 when Westinghouse
resumed the programming and sales operations of all the Westinghouse
stations.

About the move out of the WCAU Building, some KYW personnel commented
that KYW had gotten a divorce from WCAU on the ground of
incompatibility.

On January 16, 1941, the power of KYW was increased from 10 kw to 50 kw
and March 29, 1941 there was a frequency reallocation in which KYW's
frequency was changed from 1020 kc to 1060 kc.

In 1949, the present directional antenna system consisting of two IDECO
450 foot steel towers which had better radiation efficiency than the
shorter steel poles, was installed.

In January, 1956, Westinghouse and the National Broadcasting Company
swapped their Philadelphia and Cleveland stations and KYW moved to
Cleveland. On June 19, 1965, by action of the Department of Justice and
by order of the Federal Communications Commission, the swap was reversed
and KYW moved back to Philadelphia where we still are.

In 1965, KYW changed its programming to a 24 hour all news operation
which, in a way, would be repeating the very successful 1922 "World
Crier" news operation but on a much more highly sophisticated basis.

Steve, K8SP