830 WCCO(AM) is applying to move from its historic transmitter site in Coon Rapids, Minn.
Audacy’s 50 kW clear-channel AM has been transmitting from there since 1925, when the Washburn Crosby Company, after which its call letters are named, moved its signal there from downtown Minneapolis, according to a profile on WCCO’s website.
The transmitter is 18 miles north of the Twin Cities. Its iconic vertical radiator antenna was built in 1939 and has been in service 24-hours a day ever since.
This is the WCCO AM 830 transmitter. It’s a 50,000-watt clear channel station transmitting on 830 kHz from the Twin Cities. WCCO radio is celebrating 100 years on the air this year. It’s a fixture in broadcast history here in the Midwest. 1/4 | #HamRadio pic.twitter.com/7Zex5mnQVC
— Matt — KØLWC (@K0LWC) September 25, 2024
Now, Audacy is proposing to move WCCO to its auxiliary site along Bunker Lake Blvd. in Ramsey, about four miles to the northwest of its current transmitter site. The station will continue to run 50 kW daytime.
At night, Audacy proposes to reduce its power to 45 kW. The auxiliary antenna, like the current one, consists of a single non-directional tower; however, the auxiliary antenna has a height of 419 ft., compared to the 639-foot antenna at the Coon Rapids site.
The engineering report in WCCO’s FCC application indicates the nighttime operation will reduce the root-sum-square (RSS) calculation to co-channel and adjacent stations, slightly diminishing the station’s skywave coverage from the Ramsey site.
In 2022, Audacy changed the owner of both WCCO transmitter sites to Audacy Atlas, LLC, a holding company created as part of its strategy to transfer assets to reduce debt, according to reporting from RadioInsight. Audacy is similarly relocating its pair of clear-channel AMs in Chicago — 670 WSCR(AM) and 780 WBBM(AM) — and it has also listed the site of its Bloomingdale, Ill., transmitter for sale. It’s expected that the Coon Rapids site will also be sold.
Audacy is on the road to recovery after filing for bankruptcy in January of this year. As part of its restructuring efforts, in October Audacy said it implemented a “fully consensual, deleveraging transaction that equitized approximately $1.6 billion of funded debt, a reduction of 80% from approximately $1.9 billion to $350 million.”
Its successful financial reorganization, according to observers, may mark a new beginning, but the media company continues to face a challenging economic environment.
[Related: “Audacy Makes It All the Way Back“]
