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God works things out when we trust Him, someone had called up and
canceled a reservation a matter of seconds before I reached the
ticket office, and so we got reservations for the very next
morning! I was up until after midnight making transcriptions for
Sunday broadcasts so we could catch that train!
Things didn't work out at Shreveport, or Chicago. Both
stations liked the program, and found it acceptable. KWKH offered
me the very excellent time of 8 to 8:30 P.M. It was TOO excellent,
because at that hour the price is $165.00 per broadcast. We
couldn't afford it. I had hoped to secure a low-cost LATE night
time, and at the local rate, (one-half the national rate), through
one of the local merchants. But they would not give us this rate,
and had no time open but 8:00 P.M. In Chicago, WJJD has a rate of
$48.00 prior to 9:00 A.M. Sunday mornings, but this time was all
contracted a year ahead. They offered me 9:00 to 9:30, but the
price was nearly $90.00.
Station KWKH is not a nationally-cleared-channel station.
It is what is called by radio men a clear-channel station (50,000
watts), but it is actually a cleared REGIONAL channel, only. By
that I mean its channel is cleared for its region, but there are
also stations in Vancouver, B.C., Pontiac, Michigan, Minneapolis,
and in New York City also on its channel. Its channel is clear
through the South only, and therefore its transmitter is
DIRECTIONAL---that is, directs its power east and west through the
South. Thus it does not reach into the North, or the East or Mid-
west or Pacific Northwest with much power.
But station WHO has a nationally-cleared channel. By that
I mean there is no other station ANYWHERE on its channel. Its
50,000 watts are beamed out in ALL directions. And in every state
it can be gotten without interference from any other station.
There are MANY super-power 50,000 watt stations in the United
States. Some of them are KNX, KFI, KPO, and KIRO on the Coast, and
also stations such as KSL, Salt Lake, and KOA, Denver. But,
powerful as we think of these stations being, NONE OF THEM HAS A
NATIONALLY-CLEARED CHANNEL---and therefore none of these stations,
powerful as we think of them on the Coast, reaches out with ANY-
THING like the power or distance of a station like WHO. I wonder
if our brethren have realized just HOW powerful a station WHO
really is. There are only eleven of these exclusively clear
channels in all the United States! All the other 50,000 watt
super-power stations have interference from other stations on their
channel.
We arrived at Des Moines with NOTHING to take the place of
WHO. I went to the station, but the sales manager was not in. I
waited an hour, but they then informed me he was not coming back
that day. Had I seen him, all would have been definitely lost!
Next morning, the general MANAGER of the station called up by
telephone at the hotel, asking me to come and see him. I found him
very friendly, and gathered that he personally liked our broadcast.
After going into it with him, showing him what an injustice it
would work on us, he agreed to let us continue. He called up the
sales-manager who had written the cancellation letter, at his home,
told him of our agreement and told him he would like his approval