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Cable systems that still carry radio stations

Mr Tony

Mr Tony

I know years ago there were cable systems who either carried radio stations on cable channels or did the "cable fm" where you hooked the cable up to your radio and got stations on empty fm slots

Any around you that still do this? I know in Canada its still big but not really done in the US
 
2 that I know of

Paul Bunyan has the Bemidji, MN area stations on cable in the high 1000's
http://www.paulbunyan.net/television/channels/music.html

Nu-Tel in Hutchinson, MN and Litchfield, MN carries the 2 local Hutch stations (KDUZ 1260 and KARP 106.9) and Litchfield's KLFD 1410. This goes back to when it was the Hutchinson Phone Company. No other Nu-Tel markets do this
http://www.nutelecom.net/wp-content/uploads/hutchinson_channel_lineup.pdf
http://www.nutelecom.net/wp-content/uploads/litchfield_channel_lineup.pdf
 
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According to the official World Wide Web site for a utilities company in southwest Alabama named Riviera Utilities, their cable TV system was still set to have audio of a radio station in the area named WHEP-AM in recent times.
 
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That one looks like its background audio for a bulletin board channel/public access type which is more of a technicality as that is done lots of areas.

I was more referring to just 24/7 radio station feeds (usually with nothing in the background or possibly a floating graphic)
 
Last I checked Comcast in Seattle had a bunch of local-ish FMs after the Music Choice channels. But I don't live there anymore and haven't thought to look when I've been there for Christmas. Pretty sure they still have them though.
 
unclehonkey said:
That one looks like its background audio for a bulletin board channel/public access type which is more of a technicality as that is done lots of areas.

I was more referring to just 24/7 radio station feeds (usually with nothing in the background or possibly a floating graphic)
Click to expand...

Comcast in Western Washington (they basically rule this swath of land) has about 20 or so FM stations on all their cable packages in the upper 900's. Mind you, Western WA is awfully hilly and in many parts, pretty far removed from either Seattle metro or Portland metro, so if you want big city radio and you live on the Pacific coast, this is pretty much your only option short of streaming.

Also, not all of these are Seattle stations...The rimshot signals from Bellingham and Olympia are available, plus two far-away college stations and Rock101 out of Vancouver, BC (why only that BC station, I don't know). Also, doesn't matter where you're at in Western WA, the stations do not vary based on your geographical location

All of them show an empty background for video.

Current Line-Up:

964 KQMVFM
965 KMPSFM
966 KPLUFM
967 KPWK-FM (Shows still as KUBEFM)
968 KUOWFM
969 KVRQFM
970 KCMSFM
971 KISWFM
972 KHTPFM
973 KPLZFM
974 KZOKFM
975 KNDDFM
976 KJAQFM
977 KJRFM
978 KRWMFM
979 CFMIFM
980 KUGSFM
981 KAFEFM
982 KAOSFM
983 KISMFM
984 KXXOFM
985 KIROFM
986 KINGFM

Radio-X
 
Do cable companies pay retransmission consent fees to radio stations?
 
I would have thought that FM on cable systems would have phased out with streaming. I vaguely remember Cable One in Dyersburg, TN having a block of FM stations in the 80's but I didn't have cable access at that time, and I don't remember seeing it on the lineup my grandmother had at the time.
 
mvcg66b3r said:
Do cable companies pay retransmission consent fees to radio stations?
Click to expand...
They probably get them for free (just like some TV stations)

It gives the radio stations better coverage (for the AM stations as example) and the FM possibly greater coverage. The Bemidji example I gave above also covers Grand Rapids which is on the fringe of the Bemidji radio stations. So they get more listeners

The 2 AM stations that are carried on Nu-Tel (Hutch Tel) broadcast at 64 (KDUZ) and 45 (KLFD) watts at night. When I lived in Hutch I had issues with KDUZ at night on most radios.
 
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anotherguy said:
I would have thought that FM on cable systems would have phased out with streaming.
Click to expand...

The Nu-Tel example (Hutch and Litchfield, MN) those stations have been on that system for over 10 years now dating back to when it was the Hutchinson Telephone Company.
 
Time Warner Cable in the West San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles still carries FM stations just above the Music Choice channels in the 1900 block.
 
mvcg66b3r said:
Do cable companies pay retransmission consent fees to radio stations?
Click to expand...

They might, yes. From the FCC's page about cable television:

Radio Programming

While the 1992 Cable Act's must-carry provisions only apply to local commercial and noncommercial educational television stations, the Act's retransmission consent provisions apply to all commercial broadcast stations. Many cable systems carry radio stations as an "all-band" offering, meaning that as with any standard radio receiver, all stations which deliver a signal to the antenna are carried on the system. The Commission only requires consent from those radio stations within 57 miles of the cable system's receiving antenna. Thus, even though a cable operator's antenna may pick up a station's signal, operators are not required to obtain the consent of stations outside of the 57 mile zone unless the station affirmatively seeks retransmission consent.

Cable systems broadcasting radio stations are also subject to paying royalties for carrying the stations.
 
Comcast San Francisco does the cable FM thing too. They carry SF stations only, from what I can tell.
 
I don't know which cable system this was, but my father and I visited some people in Asheville, NC in the late 80s and they had the area FM stations on their cable system. One of the AM stations was even on 92.1, whatever that means. Translators for AM stations didn't exist back then. I don't know if this was related to being in the mountains, but in some areas reception of FM radio wasn't very good.
 
crainbebo said:
Comcast San Francisco does the cable FM thing too. They carry SF stations only, from what I can tell.
Click to expand...

Our "Comcast" system here in Springfield doesn't (it's one of those Midwest systems that Insight spun off to Comcast in 2008), but it would make sense for them to do that alongside the Music Choice stations. Not just our immediate area FM's, but the three AM stations, NOAA weather radio, HD radio feeds offered by our local public radio affiliate (WUIS-91.9 Springfield), and some Internet-only stations that exist in the Springfield area. I know of two that exist in Springfield: "Smooth Jazz Expressions" (http://smoothjazzexpressions.com/playing.html) and the Internet-only campus radio station at University of Illinois-Springfield campus (http://www.uis.edu/campusradio/). All those stations could make a fairly decent FM radio lineup that Comcast could carry (either alongside Music Choice, or perhaps something where you could connect your cable to a HD radio).
 
Mario500 said:
According to the official World Wide Web site for a utilities company in southwest Alabama named Riviera Utilities, their cable TV system was still set to have audio of a radio station in the area named WHEP-AM in recent times.
Click to expand...

Yes, they still carry WHEP AM With local weather conditions for the visual.
 
Time Warner in Stanly County NC has a Stanly Community College channel. This airs in the lobby of the building where the college's library is. Most of the time the audio is local oldies station WZKY. It used to be the case that just about every market had a community announcements channel or something which also had the local radio station.
 
Locally, I know my city and school district channels carry the local high school radio station as audio when they're off the air in BBS mode. And I know WRME in Chicago (the Franken-TV/FM playing MeTV's radio station) promotes their availability as an audio channel on Comcast near the Music Choice tier.
 
Music Choice on Internet Radio?

Question: is it possible to get backdoor links to listen to "Music Choice" online or thru a dedicated Internet Radio?
 
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