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Frank StantonFrank Stanton
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Session:         Page of 755

had WABC which later became WCBS -- an entirely different story -- and that was at 880. There was another fifty kilowatt station in New York City at that time: WINS, I believe, and it was at 1010. And 880 was far superior to 1010, and 680 was better than 880, which was WCBS later.

So that in Dallas and in San Antonio NBC had the same power but much lower in frequency, therefore, their signal went out better and was more adequate in terms of receivability if there is such a word. Another factor in coverage, in addition to power and frequency, is whether it is a clear channel, or whether it is a shared channel. Many of the high-powered stations that NBC had were clear channels. That only means that there was no other station in the United States on that same frequency. There was a second-class fifty kilowatt station that had the power, but it had four or five other stations strategically, located geographically, to minimize interference. Nevertheless, there was interference and at night, the signal from a shared channel was interfered with by another station on that same frequency. A clear channel was a clear channel and you could hear it almost to the limits of the boundaries of the United States.

Q:

And how did one obtain a clear channel?

Stanton:

By getting there first. And NBC had all the clear channels. And we had some fifty kilowatts that were not clear channels. And we had a lot of regional channels which were very low -- much lower power -- and there might be fifteen or twenty on a regional channel. So they got to the end of the city limits, and that was about as far as they got. And then there was still a third category called local stations, which were five hundred-watt power stations where it had to be a windy day before the signal got out to the county line. But





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