From: wws@craywr.cray.com (Walter Spector)
Subject: WOC radio (Was Re: MW station names)
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 23 Nov 92 18:07:17 CST

In article <etxtsg.722511679@solsta-c>, etxtsg@solsta.ericsson.se (Thomas Grennefors  TX/DKF) writes:
|> Im looking for interesting  US MW stations calls.
|> I read yesterday about two stations that has an interesting 
|> explanation of their calls.
|> 
|> WGN = Worlds greatest Newspaper

WGN is in Chicago.  It is a clear channel 50 kw station which is very
well known in the midwest.  I'll let someone else talk about it.

|> WOC = Word of Chiropractors

I know quite a bit about WOC -  having been born less than
2 miles from the studio, driven by it 300K times, worked in a
store next to it, and was even on the air a couple of times as
a child.

WOC is located in Davenport, Iowa and is one of the oldest
AM broadcasters in the United States.  It was started around
1918 by the founder of the Palmer College of Chiropractics
(who was also a ham).  The studio (and original transmitter
site) were on the college campus.  I think his intent was to
tell the world how great chiropractic medicine is.  Today it
is primarily a news station.  It is a 5 kw station on 1430 kc.

Yes, WOC is one of those few stations which has a W-- call and
is west of the Mississippi River.  (Though it is really kind of
*north* of the river, because the river runs east-west at that
point.)  And obviously WOC sports a rare 3-letter call sign.
The college campus (and the studio for many years,) overlooks
the river from a bluff about a mile away.

I think WOC was one of the first, if not the first, US broadcast
station heard in Russia and verified.  (This according to a
comment I collected in a magazine describing a Russian radio DX
contest.)  The station has received QSLs from people all over the
world.

The transmitter site was moved to it's present location, north
of Bettendorf, Iowa in 1938.  The transmitter site is now shared with
a bunch of other FM stations and a couple of TV stations.  

There were both TV and FM broadcasts from WOC.  5 year old baby
boomer Walter Spector made his TV debut on 'Granpa Happy' - a
late '50s live kids show.  (Asked studio guys if they would show
him around - they looked at him like he was from Mars. :-(  ).
A few years later, baby boomer Walter Spector made his second TV
appearance on 'Uncle Ernie' another kid's show in the early
sixties (love them kids shows.)  Asks studio guy for a tour,
gets the same reply. :-(

BTW, Granpa Happy even supported a Mousekateers club.

A few years ago, the TV was sold off and is now KWQC.  The radio
studio was moved.  And the FM was changed years ago first to KIIK,
and now is KUUL (both rock format).

A cub sports reporter named Ronald Reagan cut his broadcasting
teeth at WOC.  Many years later, President of the United States
Ronald Reagan returned to the area during a campaign visit.
He did a promo for KWQC while he was in town.  Studio guys set up
old time equipment so Reagan can still operate it.  (Just joking.)

A few months ago I was in town and decided to go visit the station
unannounced.  I first went to KWQC - they said it was saturday, and
they had new owners, and this and that - no tour (just like when
I was 5).  So I drove out to the transmitter site.  I met a nice
man out there who had been working for WOC for about 40 years.
I spent a very pleasant couple of hours with him and we toured
around the antenna farm, the transmitters, the shack, etc.
Finally got my wish.  :-)

Interestingly, their antenna radiation pattern is largely north,
even though their market is south of the transmitter.  He said that
most AM stations do this to reduce interference, and also explains
why those guys in Scandanavia can DX so many US stations.  (Can
someone confirm?  I was surprised by his comment.)

Oh yes, Empire of the Air mentioned the Palmer College and got the
call sign wrong.  I was also very surprised that EOTA did not pick
up on the Ronald Reagan connection at all.

Walt
----
Walt Spector
(wws@renaissance.cray.com)
Sunnyvale, California
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