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What is WBT talking about?

C

CharlotteListener

They've been running a spot saying new FCC rules are about to render their nighttime signal useless to basically DX users and to sign a petition to the FCC to stop this.
http://wbt.com/help-save-am-radio/

Help Save WBT's Nighttime Signal

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to its rules that will cause our nighttime listeners that currently listen to WBT up and down the east coast to experience increased interference and likely lose their ability to listen to WBT all together, thus ending a 94 year tradition of great public service to our significant wide area audience.

WBT's commitment to news, weather, sports, entertainment and public service is important in good times and critical in times of emergency.

Few stations nationwide have the resources and reach that WBT proudly makes available for free to its listeners in good times and, especially, in times when the dissemination of emergency information from a dependable news department is vital.

If the potential loss of our wide area nighttime service is important to you, we need to hear from you right now to convince the FCC not to proceed with the proposed changes to its rules.

Sign our petition below and tell us why WBT’s wide area service is valuable to you as a listener.

If we work together, we can keep the exceptional WBT wide area service available to you and all of our loyal listeners stretching "from Maine to Miami" for another 94 years.

Thank you for listening to Charlotte’s News Talk 1110 WBT.



1-They won't explain the rules and what they'd mean to their signal.
2-If you're going to have people sign this, why not explain in detail why they are supposed to?
3-Do they even base ad sales at night taking into account the supposed other states they reach?
 
Here's some information for you.

As two Class A heritage AMs launch online petitions to protect their skywave coverage, the issue of whether such protection should be retained, relaxed or eliminated altogether is rearing its head at the FCC and beyond.

In its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on AM revitalization, the commission proposed changing the formulas for protecting nighttime and critical hours protections to Class As in order to allow more stations to remain on the air at night or increase their power.

Read more at http://rbr.com/skywave-time-to-stay-or-go/#5IQOxDhAXPWRedm4.99
 
As part of FM revitalization, the FCC is proposing eliminating skywave protection for 50KWs like WBT. The rule hasn't changed yet, but that's one of the proposals. Here are a few links to read. It's being discussed on other boards regarding other stations:

http://radioink.com/2016/02/29/fcc-just-making-a-bad-thing-worse/

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?690438-FCC-proposes-ending-AM-skywave-protection

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...e-petition-by-iheartmedia-opposes-am-revitali

With regards to your last question, the answer is "it depends." Certainly some national sponsors like the reach provided by the skywave. Local sponsors not so much. But the point is that the skywave is one of the few remaining advantages of AM, and the government thinks eliminating it will revitalize AM. Seems counterproductive to me.
 
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Yet another threat to fringe radio reception by the FCC. Very aggravating. And WBT has always promoted their long distant signal at night, from Canada to Cuba. I remember when the old Hello Henry talk show at night always had callers up and down the East coast. Hopefully this proposal will be overturned.

But at my location in Greenville, SC, WBT blocks their signal to the west, so I listen to WBT on 99.3 or 107.9-HD2, on my home receiver. But now there is another infuriating problem, with interference due to newly emerging LPFM and translator signals. Car reception of 99.3, 107.9, and 102.9 has now been basically wiped out past Spartanburg. Very annoying, as full power Charlotte signals used to be strong and clear. These LPFMs should have been restricted to Anderson County, where Charlotte stations began to drop off. And 96.1-HD will no longer lock in, and 95.1-HD now drops in and out. All due to adjacent channel interference on 94.9, 95.9, and 96.3 translators.

Unfortunately fringe reception is no longer protected by the FCC. But I guess most of the public is too ignorant to care, as they are just satisfied to listen to the radio on their cell phone, tablet, or computer. Very sad.
 
WBT has never had much night signal to the west. They share the 1110 clear channel with KFAB in Omaha. Each station has a directional null towards the other. Many years ago WBT had an on-channel repeater at Shelby to augment the signal. 99.3 sort of serves the same purpose.
 
ngriffin said:
Many years ago WBT had an on-channel repeater at Shelby to augment the signal. 99.3 sort of serves the same purpose.
Click to expand...

Still, the FCC is claiming it is trying to "revitalize AM." Those are their words. Moving AM stations to FM is not going to revitalize AM. It's like claiming you're doing urban renewal by moving poor people to the suburbs.
 
ngriffin said:
WBT has never had much night signal to the west. They share the 1110 clear channel with KFAB in Omaha. Each station has a directional null towards the other. Many years ago WBT had an on-channel repeater at Shelby to augment the signal. 99.3 sort of serves the same purpose.
Click to expand...

I can get 99.3 fine on my home radio with rabbit ears, and the HD will also lock in. I am just north of Laurens Rd. near Mauldin in Greenville County. However, car reception is problematic until Spartanburg because there is a station on the same frequency in Georgia. I can also get WBT on WLNK-HD2 on my home radio, but lose it in the car due to a LPFM station on the same 107.9 frequency. WLNK used to be clear in Greenville County before WXRU-LP signed on. Should not have been allowed past Anderson. There are too many LPFM and translator signals emerging that interfere with distant reception of the full power stations.
 
tylerSC said:
Yet another threat to fringe radio reception by the FCC. Very aggravating. And WBT has always promoted their long distant signal at night, from Canada to Cuba. I remember when the old Hello Henry talk show at night always had callers up and down the East coast. Hopefully this proposal will be overturned.

But at my location in Greenville, SC, WBT blocks their signal to the west, so I listen to WBT on 99.3 or 107.9-HD2, on my home receiver. But now there is another infuriating problem, with interference due to newly emerging LPFM and translator signals. Car reception of 99.3, 107.9, and 102.9 has now been basically wiped out past Spartanburg. Very annoying, as full power Charlotte signals used to be strong and clear. These LPFMs should have been restricted to Anderson County, where Charlotte stations began to drop off. And 96.1-HD will no longer lock in, and 95.1-HD now drops in and out. All due to adjacent channel interference on 94.9, 95.9, and 96.3 translators.

Unfortunately fringe reception is no longer protected by the FCC. But I guess most of the public is too ignorant to care, as they are just satisfied to listen to the radio on their cell phone, tablet, or computer. Very sad.
Click to expand...

The public, in general, wants to listen to a strong signal playing music it likes. Are Charlotte CHR, urban, country and AC stations playing anything that Greenville listeners can't hear on locals? If not, what's the point of listening to them from your area at all, unless you have ties to Charlotte and miss your hometown radio?
 
WBT actually did serve a distant audience after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. People in Savannah who didn't have power could hear it and got important information.
 
CTListener said:
The public, in general, wants to listen to a strong signal playing music it likes. Are Charlotte CHR, urban, country and AC stations playing anything that Greenville listeners can't hear on locals? If not, what's the point of listening to them from your area at all, unless you have ties to Charlotte and miss your hometown radio?
Click to expand...

Overall 95.1 and 96.1 have a better playlist and CHR format than 93.7. But even if you prefer 93.7, it is still nice to have variety. And WLNK is a good AC station that still has popular nationally syndicated personalities such as Matt and Ramona and Bob and Sheri. The AC stations in GSP are tired and stale. But overall I just prefer to have more choices and variety from distant signals, rather than some of these low power stations with limited reach. And I still like Hancock and Larson on WBT.
 
Since WBT is concerned about possible limitations to their distant nighttime signal, they should also be concerned about 99.3. Because back in December, WCON in Cornelia, Ga. increased power from 50,000 watts to 100,000 watts. So now car reception of WBT is wiped out on 99.3 in Greenville County, and the interference lasts into Spartanburg. You could previously get 99.3-HD in Spartanburg and parts of Greenville. No more. Looks like WCON should have been required to adopt a directional pattern away from SC since they doubled their power. Or they should let WBT increase their power on 99.3. But I can still get WBT on 99.3 including HD when the rabbit ears are pointed the right way on my home receiver.

But it is just continually aggravating that just about every month some new bogus signal is allowed on the air that disrupts the longtime distant stations.
 
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