For anyone who cares, I got some good background/history on WKBI-FM originally licensed to Ridgway on 94.3 FM and later moving to 93.9 and relicensing itself to Saint Marys. WKBI-FM went on the air in August, 1966, from a tower on Bootjack Mountain, not near the present 400 foot tower, but over along Route 219, just down from the intersection of 219 and the road from Kersey. It was a Class A station, with 3 kW power, and was programmed separately from WKBI-AM. Studios were upstairs in the Bank Building on the corner of Main and Broad Streets. Rick Porter would remember that location as he was there when the station was Tom Mix Radio WTMX. When Bob Stevens Bayko put 97.5 on the air, we felt that we needed better coverage of St. Marys than was provided from Boot Jack, 9 miles away, so the station was relicensed to St. Marys. WKBI-AMs 160 foot tower was replaced by a 326 foot tower, and the FM antenna was mounted from the top down 20 feet. Hey Joe Portelli, I guess this explains why the AM tower is alot taller then need be for 1400 Khz.. I had no idea the FM antennas had been up there at one point At that point, we needed to fill in the lost coverage in downtown Ridgway, so we secured authorization for a synchronous booster to operate from the old towe, with antennas pointed down into Ridgway. We also were working hard to secure a power increase from Class A (3 kW) on 94.3 to Class B-1) 25 kW on 93.9, to be better able to compete with 97.5, whose tower was located up near the East Branch Dam. When this was approved, the site that would fit in the hole between other 93.9 stations, was at Boot Jack, not at St. Marys. So, the idea of a booster was abandoned, and instead WKBI-FM moved to Boot Jack and increased power. The Ridgway studio was closed and all programming came from St. Marys. And now folks, you know.. the rest of the story.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:36:50 +0000
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