Good News on the Radio

If you've followed this blog for a while, you've seen me complain about the Chicago Air America station (though not lately--the last was almost two years ago to the day). My main complaint is that the station, WCPT, isn't able to come up with a 24-hour signal in the third largest U.S. radio market. They claim that "few" AM stations in Chicago broadcast 24/7, and as I don't have actual figures, I'll take them at their word. Furthermore, those "few" stations are owned by various giant radio conglomerates who'd never sell to a little-old liberal station, so there's nothing they can do. Maybe so. I'm not as prepared to believe it's as impossible as they seem to think, but I'll admit that they've got better access to the actual figures, so I won't keep flogging the same horse. I will bring up the question of what's so important about staying on AM (and the corresponding what's wrong with FM), but I'm sure they've got a ready answer for that, too.

Hey, wait a minute! Didn't the headline say there was actual good news in this post? Yes, there is. WCPT hasn't extended their broadcast day, but they have strengthened their broadcast signal. To do that, they moved three notches down the AM dial, from 850 to 820, and boosted it up from 2,500 watts to 5,000 watts (which they claim is "the best signal of any major AM station in Chicago"; I'm not sure how that squares with the 50,000-watt signals of WGN, WLS, WBBM, WSCR, WMVP, or any others I'm not aware of). The signal is noticeably better. You can hear them in more places around the Chicagoland area, so that has to count for something. This just happened yesterday, so I've listened in my car, but I haven't checked them out at the house (because I don't get home until after dark, and they can't broadcast later than--never mind).

The current WCPT lineup is a mix of Air America and other progressive shows, so it makes pretty good listening, at least when I'm in the car. Congratulations on the better signal, folks. Now we just have to work on keeping it on the air to 6:00 PM and beyond.