Abandoned Radio Broadcast Array & Station | Rhode Island

[@ucesari]

Hi Jason. Nice work. The lower the frequency the longer the wavelength. The longer the wavelength the larger the antenna required. Due to the low frequency of AM broadcast transmitters they require massive antennas. The towers you show in this video are what is known as "excited tower". This means the tower itself is actually the antenna, unlike FM towers which are utility towers that hold the antenna(s). This is the reason for the "box" below the tower. Most AM towers come to a single pivot point at the base where they are coupled to the transmission line. This must be protected as it will kill a person if one was to come into direct contact with it. There are several towers that make up most AM stations because most AM stations have the ability to phase this array, to direct the radio energy more in one direction than others. The lower the frequency the greater the propagation or range. So they must have a way to "steer" the signals. This helps to minimize interference on other AM stations that are licensed on the same frequency in different parts of the country. Similar to the WHJJ and WPRO AM towers on the Wampanoag Trail in Riverside RI. A good way to tell if a tower is "excited" is there is usually nothing mounted on the tower itself. You'll usually see only guy lines and lights. The only exception to this is you may see a Studio To Transmitter (STL) antenna mounted with isolators on this tower. This STL antenna links the studio with the transmitter site. Jason I'm in the middle of installing the first civil emergency radio system for civil community in Rhode Island and have a few questions about this site regarding this project. I'll contact you by email if that's acceptable to you.

[@ucesari]

@Hell's favorite Salty Masshole We are building a statewide network in this state and many others are being installed all over the country. These are systems I've designed for civil public safe nationally. They are organized, professional in nature and wil soon be avaiable to civil user across the sate. CB radio although useful has a very limited use for wide area, constant communication. If this is something your interested in you may what to look at two things. One is the UCESA communication pages here: ucesa.org/communications/ and my development company that produces the hardware for these systems at www.usprparatory.com

[@ucesari]

@Hell's favorite Salty Masshole Honestly for radio enthusiasts, CB radio never stopped being used however CB is very limited as to what it can offer in a mass communications failure however since 2015 I've been working very heard on a national project that makes CB radio look like two cups and a string. It's being implemented in Rhode Island now and will spread into MA and CT in the near future. It's a wide area, multi-zone network that relies only on itself. It's backbone is radio only not Internet, 5G or any other services not controlled by the civil community. The first UHF site is up in the city of East Providence, with 4 more sites planned. The next being in Tiverton RI. I'm working with the FCC to obtain special permission for other radio bands specifically for these systems. The systems don't require a personal license for the individual but is held by the licensee. In this case the United Civil Emergency Services Agency. The systems will be made pubic soon to make the civil community aware of their capabilities This is the basic intro video for the PEG system if you're interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn2zi4tof8-gnc0 US Preparatory is the small company I created to develop the hardware, licensing and relationshisp with vendors in order to make this happen. There are quite a bit more video contact of the technical side of things as well as installations and How To videos on the KZbin channel here. kzbin.info

[@secretlab2205]

Bravo! It's refreshing to watch an 'abandoned' video from someone who understands what we're looking at. Without that context, it's just old 'stuff.'

[@KatesNana100]

Awesome!! As children we would wake up to WLKW radio! Was my mom's favorite station!

[@ghostdog221]

Lived in RI my whole life, and thanks to your channel Im learning so much about this state and all the amazing abandoned structures. Anyways, love the channel keep it up dog.

[@rif167]

My parents favorite radio station..."You're listening to WLKW, the music of your life"! Seriously, that was the tag-line. Mostly very syrupy, low-energy music. But it was a popular station.

[@ronaldtartaglia4459]

Fired up. I just found your channel. I’m going to binge!

[@arizonaalchemy7572]

Hi, Jason ! During the station's run under the WALE 990 AM handle. We had our Broadcast Studio on Westminster Street in downtown Providence. The Broadcast singnal was Microwaved to the Transmitter building at the Towers. In 1990-1991 from 10pm till Midnight, Monday through Friday. The AFTER HOURS SHOW was on air. Bob Giamarco was the Host. Myself and a Friend created Parodies that Bob would play on air. FUN TIMES, we had a Blast with the Callers. WALE during the day was Talk Radio with Call-ins from Listeners. STEVE WHITE was one of the headliners. We had regulars who would call in and play characters. Angry Old man was one of them, then their was Tony the Sportscaster. The Listeners were a part of the show with Call-ins. I did some Sound Effects and Fake Commercials. At the time we were there. AMERICAN BROADCASTING owned the Station run by Frank Batagliea. Who also owned KFYI in Phoenix, Arizona were I live now. AMERICAN BROADCASTING went bankrupt as Internet Broadcasting grew.

[@lancelane217]

Nice find. The broadcast (DJ) would not be done from the transmitter building, this site would only have been visited by the 'engineers' for checkups and issue resolution.

[@GreyRockOne]

True statement, at the most, only in an emergency would they broadcast from here.

[@jeff420sparky8]

DJS WERE IN CITY STUDIO LINKED TO TRANSMITTER SITE VIA EITHER SATELLITE OR MICROWAVE BACK IN 80S.NOT SURE HOW THEY DID IT ON 70S.I KNOW THEY HAD SOME REMOTE LINK. HAPPY DAYS IN 70S HAD AN EPISODE TV STATION AT ARNOLDS DOING REMOTE BROADCAST EARLY 70S. FICTIONAL BUT BASED ON REAL.

[@jeff420sparky8]

that underground coax? probably still good. the owner would remove equipment to sell. or someone was smart stole it.

[@peterwilson2591]

Jason: You should check out the abandoned tower of one of Rhode Island's first FM stations, WXCN on Jerimoth Hill near Foster. They were on 101.5 which is now occupied by WWBB. Played classical music and was originally part of the Concert Network (WNCN New York, WHCN Hartford, WXCN Providence and WBCN Boston). Reportedly, they relayed programs from each other by each station monitoring the closest other station from an off-the-air tuner. As far as WLKW goes, it was doomed from the start. The FCC squeezed in the 990 frequency for Providence, but the pattern assigned was so narrow and limited that the coverage area was awful, even with 50,000 watts.

[@willgilbert1969]

I don’t think they ever broadcast from there. I belt that was just the transmitter. WLKW studios were on North Main St in Providence. That building is still there and for a short time was a “massage” parlor till they were busted.

[@lucianokyson5012]

i know Im pretty randomly asking but do anybody know of a good site to watch new movies online?

[@maddenhuxley2390]

@Luciano Kyson lately I have been using flixzone. You can find it on google :)

[@jazielsage845]

@Madden Huxley Yup, been using FlixZone for since april myself :D

[@lucianokyson5012]

@Madden Huxley Thanks, I signed up and it seems to work :) I really appreciate it !

[@maddenhuxley2390]

@Luciano Kyson Glad I could help xD

[@infiniteadventure1032]

Just went here and it’s eerie goin through this place solo with all the massive towers around

[@countrypaul]

The station was 50kw daytime with a strong easterly directional pattern. It was said to come in like gangbusters in Liverpool, England. When they got nighttime authorization they could only get 250 watts, not even legal signal strength in Providence, the city of license! Incidentally, WLKW played "muzak" (actually a patented term for the kind of bland middle-road music that was "on" but not really meant to be listened to). I don't think they had the actual Muzak contract, but the aim was to be on as background in every doctor's and dentist's office in the listening area, and they were quite successful at first. They eventually got an FM license and the AM fell by the wayside. WALE - "Whale" - call letters were originally licensed to an AM (1400, I think) in Fall River.

[@Oney_BMX]

Amazing, I live right up the road from it and I love the vid

[@RLloyd]

Locations always surprise me when I randomly come up with good screenplays simply by exploring it

[@necrailvideos8227]

Love it! Rhode island is my home state too

[@Chevyguy-1984]

@Hell's favorite Salty Masshole judging by your username you're from Massatwoshits er um I mean Massachusetts so that's even worse. Sorry about your misfortune

[@borntoclimb7116]

Those abandoned towers are interesting for Lattice Climbing

[@garybrown7044]

if i'm not mistaken, the red lights on the towers have to be functional regardless, so aircraft wont fly into them.

[@arizonaalchemy7572]

Yes, RED Beacons stay lit as per the FAA.

[@Urbexy]

Nice find. Drone shots certainly add a lot to this video. I guess it makes sense to keep the masts in the event they are ever required for anything. Also cheaper to leave them rather than paying to have them removed.

[@Povilaz]

Very interesting!

[@jimw7ry]

2:28 No. The DJs were not in this building. This station's programming originated off site, just like 95% of all other AM and FM stations.

[@maryrafuse3851]

Wide bandwidth AM radios are now easier & easier to find. Some broadcasters pulled the plug on AM Radio not understanding that tone/frequency response were limited by the receiver being used. For example my Tecsun H-501x has AM frequency response to 9 Hz. Clear enough that I preference an AM Station playing music to FM picket fencing. Broadcasters in some countries still appreciate the advantages of AM & SW broadcasting.

[@matthewverrelli4819]

Saw this on reddit, fantastic video as per usual.

[@klafong1]

This site is in somewhat of a unique situation in that real estate development hasn't encroached on the transmitter site. In the U.S., there are a number of AM stations that are going off the air due to appreciation of the value of the transmitter site real estate. In some cases, the station has its towers on rented property, and the land owners do not allow for the lease to be renewed. In other cases, the station's owners decide that they are better off making quick cash by selling the land to a real estate developer than they are by trying to continue to maintain and operate a broadcast facility that is suffering from declining and aging listenership.

[@granitecarver]

I love this sort of discovery! Thanks for this. I use to listen to both of those stations years ago. Its say they are gone now. TY!

[@infiniteadventure1032]

Just climbed here and it was awesome

[@ericjarret1876]

Sick content as usual! 🤙🤙

[@UndergroundLookingUp]

Good to see you went inside :)

[@markfrazier2575]

Are the navigation beacons still flashing?

[@2eyeluvmac2]

Very interesting. Great video. I learned something new today. Thank you.

[@carlthornton3076]

Very Good!!

[@shawnsr8459]

Very cool video!

[@DouglasTroughton]

The towers are being taken down and the land subdivided for housing and a solar farm. Our ham radio club used one of the antennas for a contest. We worked European stations that had never before worked a US station on that band.

[@maxwillett1212]

Great video! Got to come to south county at some point.

[@jedigenasi]

I've been looking forever to find an abandoned radio station in the woods, come to see there's one less than two hours from me lol definitely making the trek up this weekend to check this out!

[@keithanderson6183]

Theirs another abandoned radio station in East Providence near my abandoned old shop and train tracks

[@erikmutthersbough6508]

I wonder if the tower lights still work?

[@candievermeulen9858]

Nice footage

[@explorenewengland5954]

Very cool!

[@petegodon8938]

I live very close to it. The building was never the studio. It's just the transmitter building. The towers were built for the USAF. It was linked to the Nike middle site on Pound Hill Rd. it became the towers for WLKW in 1960. But built for the USAF many years before.

[@petegodon8938]

@Nunovia Gottdamnedbizzness yup. Typo.

[@johnbass7551]

Nice job!

[@dave2676]

I'm surprised there not required to at least keep the Tower beacon's lighted for safety reasons?

[@MANINIMO]

Yeah I was wondering about that too

[@1L6E6VHF]

In most circumstances, radio towers do not need electric lighting unless they are 200 feet or higher (though there are requirements for lighting in or near airfields and airports).

[@Landscape-zw5zh]

When will this be used again

[@christopherboone9802]

Would make a great 160mtr contest site

[@Toxicstudioinc]

Great explore. Usually, you do not find these abandoned here in the states. You mostly see these in European explorations.

[@macdog8025]

Log road grew up rite down the street

[@WithWissam]

Where exactly in RI ?

[@tom-dr1ym]

all the towers the same transmitter or do they belong to different stations

[@spirithalloweenfromwinston2731]

Where is that

[@pathaze4299]

What is the name of the song in the end of the video starting at 4:03

[@WFTL14]

Ham radio operators would LOVE to operate from those towers!!!

[@brendakoldyk1647]

why is it all things broadcasting has to to to Ham operators? All you hams are the same.

[@almightyEsquilax]

@@brendakoldyk1647 because they're also broadcasters?

[@carllarsen6234]

@@almightyEsquilax , yup, you're right... KF5SPZ.

[@tonywilliams676]

Are they really abandoned? as long as the towers are there someone has to upkeep the beacon lights

[@Ciscokidcapo]

Im thinking of heading up there myself, only about a 90 min drive from me

[@borissavinkov440]

The most powerful AM station was WLW, which ran 100,000 watts, highest power authorized by FCC. .

[@garybrown7044]

decades ago, WLW ran 500,000 watts. excessive radiation forced them to cut back to 50,000 watts.

[@neveanddelaneyschannel3814]

That's my old radio station

[@AdrianMateoDrones]

Wow great and amazing video my drone brother Jason Allard. Thanks sooo much for sharing this great video with us brother. Nicely done and good job. Keep up the good work. Please keep those good videos coming. I have the Dji Spark and I absolutely love my Drone. This bird is a Beast. Love ❤️ it. 👨‍✈️👨‍✈️👨‍✈️👨‍✈️👨‍✈️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁👊👊👊👊👊👊👊🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💯💯💯💯💯💯💯🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘. You just a big like from me and a new subscriber. I would appreciate love and support in return as well brother. I am your #31 like. Happy New Years. May 2020 be a better and more productive year for all of us drone pilots. Have a great evening Captain. Thanks for all you do and please keep flying.

[@dozaarchives2225]

Sunday morning polka on WLKW.

[@lilbigmick2004]

What town is this in

[@manfredcaranci6234]

This is in the town of Burrillville, in the northwest corner of RI. WLKW 990 AM signed on in 1961, "Rhode Island's first and only 50,000-watt radio station." The studios were on Weybosset St in downtown Providence. During its WLKW years, it was a classy radio station, playing MOR (middle-of-the-road) music, much like an FM "good music" station would. The announcers had a rather dignified, only slightly conversational, sound, and operated the console, spun records, read local news/weather. The station was an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), which aired live network news on the half-hour. The studio equipment was primarily from Collins Radio, though the on-air announcer mic was the venerable RCA 77-DX. The transmitter was an RCA 50-KW Ampliphase. They operated daytime only, and had a very limited coverage area, despite the 50,000 watt output, since they were HIGHLY directional, aimed at the city of license, Providence. There were actually lucky to even be on that channel, since they had to protect not only co-channel, but adjacent channel stations as well. They did not exactly "reach the beaches", nor anywhere but Providence and vicinity. I was in my teens then, and the WLKW studios were one of the very first studios I got to see. My friends and I got friendly with on-air announcer George Allen, who later became a game show host on channel 12 in Providence. George was a gentleman. In 1969, IIRC, they got a license to operate WLKW-FM at 101.5, transmitting with a Gates FM stereo rig from Neutaconkanut Hill in Johnston. The FM was a simulcast of the AM, which, as mentioned above, was daytime only. My mother and her sisters and all their friends absolutely LOVED this station! There were some tears shed in late 1989 when the FM abruptly flipped to oldies as WWBB (now "an iHeartRadio station"). WALE and later schlock incarnations at AM 990 were abysmal failures and deservedly so. RIP, WLKW.

[@shawnready6567]

Ahh so you’re the one who I saw haha

[@Quadrille763]

Why won’t they knock this down looks dangerous

[@williamjoyal3553]

Dangerous to what? The trees?

[@uTube486]

Not the highest power... WLW in Ohio used 500KW in the 30's.

[@ethanmaliszewski9646]

Where is this located and how can I get here?

[@paull3031]

Greenville, RI - 41°57'18"N 71°35'39"W

[@TDesil5000]

@@paull3031 That is North Smithfield, RI. Greenville is a village of Smithfield over 10 miles away.

[@shawnready6567]

Log Rd Burrillville RI

[@shawnready6567]

But someone recently bought the land so don’t get shot

[@willgilbert1969]

I don’t think they ever broadcast from there. I belt that was just the transmitter. WLKW studios were on North Main St in Providence. That building is still there and for a short time was a “massage” parlor till they were busted.