WCNS: AM Transmitter Silent, FM Translator Still On
August 7, 2022Latrobe-based classic hits station WCNS has had a silent AM signal for the last 60 days.
Sources tell PBRTV.com that a snake entered the transmitter facility near Arnold Palmer Regional Airport at the beginning of June and shorted out the power supply, which was recently sent off to be repaired.
The FCC website does not show any correspondence was filed by owner Maryland Media One. In cases where a station needs to be off the air for more than 30 days, the FCC must be notified. The station has remained on the air under its FM translator operating at 107.5, with an ERP of 250 watts.
WCNS’ co-owned AM sister, WAVL in Apollo, along with its translator operating at 98.7, simulcasts programming from WCNS. Their operations are not affected.
Maryland Media One, owned by Steve Clendenin, acquired both WCNS and WAVL from owner Laurel Highland Total Communications early last year, following the untimely death of general manager Brandon Kail. Kail’s family purchased the station from longtime owner John Longo eight years ago this month.
Not to split hairs here… I am thinking that with the programming being the same on both stations, it’s a no brainer. As long as the translator for WCNS is not covering the same footprint as WXJX, from the rules I read, you do not have to notify the commission should you switch it from one to the other. That’s of course as long as you have ownership of both signals.
Re: the paper work… let’s hope the commission is acting slowly on this one.
As a note, the Kail family didn\’t acquire WCNS from John Longo, but rather the station was acquired by a subsidiary of Laurel Highland Total Communications, Inc.
I think it would be better if Latrobe had their own station near Latrobe Westmoreland Gold in downtown Greensburg doesn’t matter to me Maybe i’m old fashioned
Reading stories in Radio World and other industry publications, it’s pretty common for snakes and rats to get into equipment, drawn in by residual heat as the station shuts off at night, they must lay across capacitor terminals, then when the station signs on in the morning and voltage hits, pow!
That must be an older transmitter, these days a power supply will soft start, and if there’s a short it should e-mail a technician and stay off until the fault is removed.
WCNS never had much of a signal here in Greentree, it always was in there with another station, and I could hear one station or another by turning the radio a certain way.
Now with a SDR radio setup, I can get a weak but clear signal from WHBC Canton, 15 kw. On their signal map, Pittsburgh shows as well past their fringe, yet it still comes in.
Thanks again Ken.
Boomer