WGBN and WMNY in hiding?
December 12, 2015Observant reader Dave sent us an email today saying that a recent drive past the New Kensington studios of WGBN (1360 McKeesport) and WMNY (1150 New Kensington) showed a dark building, locked up tight with “No Trespassing” signs posted.
Recently Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation applied to extend the STA to leave 1360’s night signal off the air due to various problems getting the feed to the nighttime transmitter in Liberty Boro. But it appears that the problems are deeper than that and both stations are off the air. WGBN.net is still online, but the online stream is also silent.
Renda Broadcasting donated 1360 (then WMNY) to PTDC in 2013. Renda still owns the property for 1360’s daytime tower site in Glen Hazel and has a rental agreement in place with PTDC.
Renda Should Have Donated it to the Knights Of Columbus in Bellview, They Had A Construction Permit For An FM Station in Evans City That was Never Built. Loran Mann Should Give it to them.
There’s no way the KofC would be able to afford running an AM station that has problems like this one does…. they likely didn’t build the FM signal because they couldn’t raise the money to build and operate it…. lots of these KofC groups and similar local organizations field for CPs and many expired unbuilt when they figured out just how expensive it would be to build and operate.
I’ve been wondering where they’re at, 1150 seemed to be off first, and the last thing I heard was 1360 with a dead carrier for a period of time, but both haven’t been on recently.
I’d never been able to get 1360 at night in Greentree, but 1150 would sometimes come in if interference wasn’t too bad. I think 1150 has better sound too.
Boomer
This sadly sounds like a replay of the last days of WZUM. Studio padlocked due to overdue rent.
Next thing you know the towers were coming down.
There are no ‘NO TRESPASSING’ signs up anywhere on the studio and office building. There is, however, two ‘NO PARKING’ signs posted on the front window glass, and those have been there for years. I drove by the station earlier this evening confirming this.
The offices appear to be dark. I didn’t see any lights on anywhere.
But this is the clincher, Eric. All three telephone numbers the station has give a recorded ‘cannot be completed as dialed’ message when dialed. I will call the church tomorrow morning and see if there is anything I can find out.