• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

500,000 Watt Transmitter


WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio, was the first United States commercial 50 KW station and the only standard broadcast station to ever broadcast at a power of 500KW from 1934 to 1939! It was also the first to make use of a directional antenna system for skywave radiation control. (WSUN and WFLA, St. Petersburg, FL. shared the first directional antenna system.)
It was called
The Nation's Station and was started by Powel Crosley, a grand innovator of products and services from radios to automobiles.

  • Early 1933- WLW began construction of a new, first-of-its-kind 500,000 watt facility at Mason, Ohio with the approval of the FRC. A new $400,000 RCA 500 KW transmitter was installed at the site and a new 831 foot, 136 ton, half wave, Blaw-Knox double diamond-shaped vertical antenna was erected for $46,000. A 75 feet square, concrete lined pond was built in front of the building for transmitter cooling. Water was pumped through specially designed, water cooled tubes, then out through fountains which sprayed the water into the air and into the pond.
  • January 1, 1934- The FRC authorized WLW to use 500,000 watts on an experimental basis using the call W8XO.
  • April 17, 1934- The FRC issued a license to operate at 500,000 watts during regular hours under the WLW call letters.
  • Wednesday, May 2, 1934- WLW began experimental 500 KW broadcasting as Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt threw the switch at the White House desk in Washington D. C. Some saw the WLW call letters as signifying "Whatta Lotta Watts".
February 28, 1939- WLW reverted back to 50,000 watts of power, ending the superpower experiments, except for the W8XO experimental license, allowing 500 KW operation between 12 midnight until 1:00 AM, which remained in effect until December 29, 1942.

The tower height was decreased from its original 831 feet to 747 feet. The original height produced a groundwave/skywave cancellation ring which went through Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington and Louisville. Lowering the mast pushed this ring out farther, away from those population centers. Also, back around 1934, two directional "suppressor" towers were constructed across Tylersville Rd. to the south-southwest to reduce skywave radiation toward the Canadian border. CFRB(Canada) was complaining of interference, so WLW reduced its power to 50KW until the "suppressor" towers were in place. As previously stated, this was the first use of skywave directional control for broadcasting.
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Tucker442 has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    LIVE 10:00 AM EST :cool:
  • @ Charles Edwards:
    I'm looking for factory settings 1 through 59 for a AT 5555 n2 or AT500 M2 I only wrote down half the values feel like a idiot I need help will be appreciated