When trumpeter Hugh Masekela recorded the 1968 instrumental hit “Grazing in the Grass,” perhaps this is what he had in mind.
On a warm, windy Thursday afternoon in the New Jersey Meadowlands, the Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 15 held its annual summer barbecue.
The Meadowlands is one of the more radio-rich sites around, and the perfect place for such a gathering. Within view at 1010 WINS(AM)’s broadcast facilities in Lyndhurst just to our southeast were 1190 WLIB(AM)’s towers, using three during the day and four at night, and 710 WOR(AM)’s three-tower site. Also within sight is the FM broadcast tower for 94.7 WXBK(FM).
About three dozen members of the New York City engineering community and beyond gathered for a full tour of the facilities on Polito Avenue in Lyndhurst, N.J. Chapter chair Bud Williamson and vice chair Andy Gladding hosted the festivities.
The chapter honored Jeff Schick of Sprite Media, who was named SBE 15 Engineer of the Year.
Three Audacy New York City engineers — Joe Stack, Dennis Graiani and Mindy Hoffman — generously provided a tour of the transmitting facility for 1010 WINS(AM). The site houses the station’s primary transmitter, two auxiliary transmitters and a backup transmitter for sister station 102.7 WNEW(FM).
Stack led the group out into the Meadowlands to inspect each of the four towers. He explained how the station coordinates its daytime and nighttime patterns from the array, adjusting the power field ratios and timing phases between the towers to morph the signal shape after sunset.
WINS(AM) operates from a four-tower array that has stood since 1995. But visitors can easily see remnants of the original four towers just to the east, where they stood from 1943 until the mid-90s rebuild.
As Scott Fybush noted, then-owner Westinghouse began addressing WINS signal issues in 1995 due to same-channel protections for CFRB(AM) in Toronto. As part of that effort, Westinghouse bought KSYG in Little Rock — which also broadcast on 1010 — and took it off the air, as recounted in the M Street Journal.
The 1995 engineering overhaul allowed WINS and Toronto’s CFRB to direct more signal toward one another while maintaining required protections.
Of course, WINS added a simulcast on 92.3 FM in 2022, but the redundancy and care on display in Lyndhurst are evidence that the station’s AM presence isn’t going away anytime soon.
Stack noted that he is at the site at least once a week performing inspections.
The gathering blended the tried and true with the new, as several students, including from Gladding’s work at Hofstra University, were in attendance.
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