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KOOL 990/96.1 WNTY shows up in the ratings
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
I'd imagine most of the listeners are on 96.1, except for outliers who are out of range of the FM translator but can still get the AM and don't mind the low-fi music. Maybe not as great a percentage as the WMRQ-HD2 numbers, which must reflect almost totally listening to analog 97.1, not the 104.1 HD stream, but probably pretty close.
Well. That will probably be the last time this station shows up in the ratings. Both the FM and the AM have been off the air since before 7PM last night and are still off the air as of 10:45AM this morning. When I checked after 11PM last night the FM popped on for a few seconds and popped off again for a few seconds. This happened a few times before going off completely again. These are phone numbers I know of for Full Power Radio aka Red Wolf Broadcasting.
860-464-1132 is the number they gave out when KOOL gave away tix to Jersey Boys last week and Aretha the week before.
860-621-1754 is their number in Southington, but don't expect it to get answered unless they're working on the problems in Southington. There is rarely someone at the Old Turnpike Road building.
860-657-1041 is listed as both the WMRQ Contest/Request line and the WMRQ office number. That's for their studios/offices in Glastonbury.
860-464-1132 is the number they gave out when KOOL gave away tix to Jersey Boys last week and Aretha the week before.
860-621-1754 is their number in Southington, but don't expect it to get answered unless they're working on the problems in Southington. There is rarely someone at the Old Turnpike Road building.
860-657-1041 is listed as both the WMRQ Contest/Request line and the WMRQ office number. That's for their studios/offices in Glastonbury.
My Mom said they came back on sometime after 11:30AM this morning. I wasn't home so I can't verify the time. She was out running errands and was listening to the Springfield affiliate WACM 1270. When she got home before she turned off the car she put the radio on 96.1 and they were back on and then she turned the radio off.
I heard the FM around noon today, didn't check the AM. Yesterday afternoon, though, I heard crackling, spotty audio, right channel only, on FM, while the AM was transmitting dead air. Just before midnight, the FM was still at it with bits of songs coming through on FM, nothing on AM.
By the way, did you notice that the RDS now only shows "WNTY" in a static display rather than a scrolling "Kool 96.1," song and artist?
For hating the station so much Marc, you know quite a bit about every little thing that's done there. You must have friends that work in Springfield or something - after all, that's where all the programming comes from, right?
Actually it doesn't. Since May or June 2016 the 3 stations are programmed separately. 990 has a computer in Southington. 96.1 has a computer in Glastonbury I think. (Or maybe it's on Meriden Mountain where their antenna is). That's how 96.1 can remain on the air when there's no power on Old Turnpike Road in Southington. This is also how every so often due to a glitch the Italian Show and Lutheran Church mass only airs on 990 and regular Kool Radio programming airs on 96.1 FM or sometimes dead air. The computers for 990 and 96.1 are synced together really well though. There is zero delay between 990 and 96.1 FM.
I also never said I hate the station.
That survey also shows WFCR, an out-of-market public station, to have roughly twice as many listeners as WDRC (AM). Incidentally, does anyone know why WFCR was not listed in the
most recent Springfield book?
Noncommercial stations don't appear in the publicly released ratings in diary markets. Hartford measures audience through "people meters," but the smaller Springfield market still depends on diaries.
(860) 464-1066 is their # in Hope Valley RI
I am surprised the FCC would assign this translator the 96.1 frequency. The powerful WSRS station in Worcester is 16,500 watt station and its signal used to end near Hartford. Now WSRS's signal has been cut short. Despite KOOL's translator's 250 watts, the signals starts overlap once you get to the Vernon-Tolland area. I am surprised KOOL's translator has the ability to drift that far to the northeast.
Vernon/Tolland is in the Hartford market. WSRS's format is duplicated in-market so the only people who'd possibly want to listen to a Worcester station there are transplants and DXers, neither of which matter to the FCC when it comes to frequency assignments.
990 has been had a skipping sound since Sunday afternoon. When I'm in the house I don't care because we listen to 96.1, but when I go for a walk I can't get 96.1 on my Walkman so I listen to 990. (My cell phone is turned off at the moment so I can't listen on my phone). A lot of times Red Wolf does a good job with their stations because let's face it in the past several months the 80 watt night signal on 990 seems to be getting out a lot better than it used to. Then other times Red Wolf is sloppy. There was a time several years ago where BOMBA in Meriden back when it was still on 99.5 (it's on 98.5 now and 99.5 is in Waterbury) and they were off the air for over 5 days.
990 is still messed up more than 51 hours since I first observed it Sunday afternoon. It was okay for at least an hour last night, but then it was messed up again when I woke up at 5:30 this morning. I had to listen to The River when I went for my afternoon walk. Meanwhile BOMBA 98.5 was off the air (or dead air whatever) for many hours. I observed them off the air after 10PM last night. They were still off at 530AM. They were back on before 8AM this morning. I don't know if the other Bomba stations were off too. I can only pick up 98.5 from Meriden on my Walkman and on the Kitchen Radio.
I'm not an engineer and I don't play one on TV. I'm going to guess the skipping sound on AM 990 is some kind of issue with their antenna system. Now where I live I can pick up WNTY 24 hours a day. While 990 was still having skipping problems when I tuned in at 6PM Tuesday, there was no skipping problem when I tuned in after 9PM which is when they are on Night Pattern/Power. Now once again when I was out running errands today with Mom there was the skipping problem again on 990. They are on Day Pattern/Power at Noon.
I had to drive to Hartford over the weekend, the 96.1 signal dropped in spots in Rocky Hill on I-91, and that didn't happen before. Is there a change in the translator's signal, or was it because of weather and atmosphere conditions.
Is it possible that the people complaining to the FCC are sock puppets of WKSS and WTIC-FM management rather than honestly aggrieved listeners? I can't imagine the WNTY translator causing any listener to a second-adjacent any trouble unless the listener lived practically in the shadow of the transmitter site and was using an ultra-cheap, single-conversion Hong Kong-made, 1970s transistor mini-portable.
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Looks like they have applied for a pattern change along with the power reduction. They are sending more south and east towards Wallingford and Middletown. Don't know how much they send can send south without butting up against WJVC from Long Island. 96.1 is looking like it's really not the best place for them.
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