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| Atwater- Kent, Model 84 |
A Blast from the Past: Medium Wave Broadcasting Stations on High Power
A few weeks back here in Wavescan, we
presented the story of radio broadcasting with high power on the long wave
band. On this occasion today, we present
another similar story, regarding radio broadcasting with high power on the
medium wave band, under the title: A
Blast from the Past. So let’s
go way back to the introductory events, in the year 1925.
Back at that time, the power output
of licensed medium wave radio broadcasting stations throughout the world was
quite low. Many stations were on the air
with a power output of just 5 or 10 watts, and occasionally lower; and even
then just 100 watts was a common power level.
A comparison of entries in various
radio lists at that time, reveals that the highest power level in 1925 was just
5 kW, and we should remember that the rating for transmitter power was calculated
as the input to the transmitter itself, which would be approximately twice the
calculated power output to the antenna system.
Thus a 5 kW listing in 1925 could be interpreted as approximately 2½ kW
output into the antenna system.
In 1925, the radio lists show that 5
kW was the highest power rating for a medium wave station anywhere in the
world. There were just eight stations
listed at 5 kW in the United States, four in Australia, and just one in Canada,
making a world total of only thirteen stations on the air at this transmission
level.
Even then, the lone Canadian station
was in the planning stages and not actually active on the air. This station was CKCW and it was granted a
construction permit for a location near the city of Toronto.
However, station CKCW was never
erected as originally intended near Toronto, but instead the license location
was transferred to nearby Bowmanville under an adjusted call sign CKGW. This new station CKGW was subsequently
inaugurated some three years later in 1928 and it became well known due to the
fact that an associated low power shortwave transmitter carried a relay of the
medium wave programming under the call sign VE9GW.
The original call CKCW was
eventually assigned to another station in Moncton New Brunswick which went on
the air in 1934 with a more normal power of 100 watts on 1370 kHz.
Interestingly, in that same year
1925, the American radio magazine Radio Broadcast for January printed a
prophetic item on page 474, forecasting an increase in power for medium wave
stations. The writer conjectured that
one day we would listen to super power medium wave transmitters with a
power even as high as 10 kW!
During the following year 1926, a
higher power level began to appear in the medium wave station lists, with two
American stations at 10 kW (KGA Spokane & KJR Seattle), another at 20 kW
(WOK Chicago), and one at 50 kW (WJZ New York).
During the 1930s, the medium wave
power race was on throughout the world, with a maximum power rapidly increasing
up around 100 kW. Additionally, many
stations in Europe and Asia were operating at a level around 50 kW.
In 1933 for example, the highest
powered medium wave station was listed as station OKP near Prague in
Czechoslovakia with 120 kW on 614 kHz.
Radio Moscow in Russia sported 100 kW on 704 kHz, and XGOA in Nanking
China was shown with 75 kW on 680 kHz.
During that same era, six stations
in France, Germany and Switzerland are listed with 60 kW; and eight stations in
Sweden, England, Scotland and Italy are listed with 50 kW, including the famous
2LO in London.
During the mid and late 1930s, the
power race was demonstrated further afield, with both Vienna on 592 kHz and
MTCY at Hsingking in Manchukuo qt 100 kaW; in Japan, JOAK2 in Tokyo operated at
175 kW on 870 kHz. The highest powered
medium wave radio broadcasting station in the South Pacific was the well known
national station 2YA in Wellington with 60 kW on 570 kHz. In those days, 2YA was often heard in the
United States, as well as right across Australia.
During the early 1940s, more than fifty medium wave
stations in the United States were on the air at a power rating of 50 kW, which
by then was the highest that the FCC would permit for regular broadcasting. Most of these high powered American stations were
operating on a Clear Channel, with little or no co-channel interference.
After World War 2, the power levels
on medium wave continued to grow, until now half a century later, there is a
multitude of medium wave transmitters on the air with a rated power of one and
two megawatts. For the transmission of
superpower radio energy, usually two or more transmitters are coupled,
sometimes into separate antenna systems on the same frequency, and sometimes
with a combined power output into the one antenna system.
For example, Saudi Arabia is on the
air with medium wave transmitters listed at 2 MW, that is 2,000,000 watts
output. These super power two megawatt
broadcasting systems in Saudi Arabia are heard on 594, 648 and 1521 kHz. Hungary is also listed with 2 MW on 540 kHz,
and Vietnam on 1242 kHz. Both North
Korea and South Korea radiate 1½ MW on 657 and 972
kHz. Both Russia and China are on the
air with 1.2 MW via a total of six medium wave channels.
At 1 MW, that is with one million
watts, at least 30 medium wave stations are on the air in Europe, the Middle
East, North Africa and Asia. The
countries in Asia with such high-power are India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Siberia,
Bangladesh, China, Thailand and North Korea.
In addition, the Voice of America is on the air with 1 million watts on
1575 kHz in Thailand, and 1170 kHz at Poro in the Philippines.
On a
coming occasion here in Wavescan, we plan to present the story of superpower
medium wave stations in North America.(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 284 via Adrian Peterson, AWR)