WAHR is now broadcasting in HD. It hasn't been filed yet but I'm sure thats on the way. This reopens the discussion of the new 107.5 translator move in. I still think, since this translator is married to WLOR for the forseeable future, that 98.1's parent frequency will move to 99.1 HD2 and WLOR will flip to a new format with the new frequency. The FCC has reflected 98.1's parent signal as WAHR for quite a while now anyway. I'm excited to see what the new station will be! It shouldn't be long now.
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WAHR now in HD
- Thread starter RollTide
- Start date
Rocket City Broadcasting is planning to bring "99.1 WAHR HD-2 98.1 The Beat"
online the weekend of May 11-12, 2019.
1550 WLOR (AM) aka 98.1 The Beat
98.1 W251AC (FM) Translator for WLOR (AM)
99.1 WAHR (FM) Star 99.1
99.1 WAHR HD-1 Star 99.1
99.1 WAHR HD-2 98.1 The Beat
WAHR (FM), WLOR (AM), WRTT(FM) are all owned by Rocket City Broadcasting
a subsidiary of Southern Stone Communications.
online the weekend of May 11-12, 2019.
1550 WLOR (AM) aka 98.1 The Beat
98.1 W251AC (FM) Translator for WLOR (AM)
99.1 WAHR (FM) Star 99.1
99.1 WAHR HD-1 Star 99.1
99.1 WAHR HD-2 98.1 The Beat
WAHR (FM), WLOR (AM), WRTT(FM) are all owned by Rocket City Broadcasting
a subsidiary of Southern Stone Communications.
You mean no additional subchannels. 99.1 WAHR has been broadcasting on both 91.1 FM and 99.1-1 FM HD for a while now. 99.1-1 is the same as its regular analog 99.1 FM broadcast except has better sound. I have found this to be the same on other HD stations also. It is HD2 & HD3 that are used for additional content.
I posted about "99.1 WAHR HD-2 98.1 The Beat" coming online because I was given a heads up by someone who works for the station. They must be having technical problems.
I will continue to check myself and hope they get things working soon.
I don't know if my HD radio is the same as others but if it detects a station is HD it will always start with HD1. I will never hear the regular non-HD version of the station. The exception I believe is if the station is weak and loses the HD content it may drop back to the non-HD analog version of the station. I will have to experiment to see if that is true.
BTW, my HD radio shows HD if there is only 1 sub-channel and HD+ if there are 2 or 3 sub-channels. That means that when "99.1 WAHR" shows HD+ I will know that a second sub-channel has been added.
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Yes. As I said. There are no HD subchannels yet. Still just the HD1 that simulcasts the standard analog signal of WAHR Star 99.1 as is required by the FCC. My radio works the same way as you describe yours, but I have the option of turning off the HD if I want (although I never do). I will see it immediately when I tune to 99.1 if there are additional subchannels added. Once we see the HD 2 sign on with 98.1 The Beat's format it will become the parent signal of the 98.1 translator, freeing up WLOR 1550 to begin simulcasting the new translator at 107.5. I'm excited to see what format it will be.
On another note, I still haven't seen any filing with the FCC to report that WAHR has gone digital HD. I would have thought that they would have done that by now. I wonder what the hold up is on that.
On another note, I still haven't seen any filing with the FCC to report that WAHR has gone digital HD. I would have thought that they would have done that by now. I wonder what the hold up is on that.
I hate to nitpick about this but what I said was true. WAHR is operating as a hybrid station with its original analog broadcast and is allowed up to 3 digital sub-channels. Right now along with its analog broadcast on 99.1 it is broadcasting one digital sub-channel on 99.1-1. It has yet to activate its 2nd digital sub-channel on 99.1-2.
The information I got for WAHR was on hdradio.com
Still it strange that WAHR is not listed in the FCC list Digital Radio which lists stations authorized for hybrid operation.
I could certainly be wrong about this but it's always been my understanding that the FCC no longer requires a digital notification unless the station is running higher than 1% of analog power digitally.
Also, it's strictly pedantry but I don't think the —.1 channel is considered a "subchannel" since it is merely a mirror of the main channel. On channels .2, .3 or .4 are technically subchannels. And I don't think they call it that at all, they have some other silly name for them. Multicast channels? Something like that.
Also, it's strictly pedantry but I don't think the —.1 channel is considered a "subchannel" since it is merely a mirror of the main channel. On channels .2, .3 or .4 are technically subchannels. And I don't think they call it that at all, they have some other silly name for them. Multicast channels? Something like that.
AFAIK, notification of digital operation is still required. I see several notifications filed within the past week. Digital operation of more than -14db injection requires an application.
RFB thats what I was thinking too. I don't know how long a station gets to file after they go live with digital though so maybe they're not in a hurry because they still have time.
Thanks Tom, and you are right I do believe they are called something else along those lines. The industry "slang," if you will, is "subchannel" so I've always called them that too lol. It is also widely considered in the industry that the HD 1 or ".1" is not considered a subchannel for the reason you mentioned. I'm not on here to quibble over ridiculous "nitpicks" such as this because it is a silly waist of time so I'll just move on to the point. Seeing as they waited for the last day of the construction permit to sign on the new translator (just to sign it off again) I'm not really all that surprised that they're not quick on the other stuff too but I do hope that whatever the hold up is gets resolved quickly. I'm always happy to see more choice on the radio dial in the market so I'm excited about the new start up! I'm hoping for something good!
Thanks Tom, and you are right I do believe they are called something else along those lines. The industry "slang," if you will, is "subchannel" so I've always called them that too lol. It is also widely considered in the industry that the HD 1 or ".1" is not considered a subchannel for the reason you mentioned. I'm not on here to quibble over ridiculous "nitpicks" such as this because it is a silly waist of time so I'll just move on to the point. Seeing as they waited for the last day of the construction permit to sign on the new translator (just to sign it off again) I'm not really all that surprised that they're not quick on the other stuff too but I do hope that whatever the hold up is gets resolved quickly. I'm always happy to see more choice on the radio dial in the market so I'm excited about the new start up! I'm hoping for something good!
What is a "hybrid station"?
I believe that WAHR is operating in analog on 99.1 and also has an HD-1 channel, but no other HD channels (2, 3, or 4)
Hmm. If that's the case, then there are a good handful of stations I know of just in Alabama that never filed, or it never showed up in the list of applications on RECnet or the FCC site. Which, frankly, wouldn't surprise me, ha ha.
According to the FCC "An AM or FM licensee is required to provide written notification to the FCC within 10 days of commencing digital/analog hybrid operation. ".
The other 4 HD stations I know of in the Huntsville area (WLRH,WJAB,WQRV,WDRM) are all listed in the FCC Digital Hybrid database.
main program service (MPS): HD-1
supplemental program service (SPS) (s): HD-2, HD-3, HD-4
SPS aka multicast
Is it possible that the FCC does not have to be notified if the station only has a MPS like WAHR has?
The other 4 HD stations I know of in the Huntsville area (WLRH,WJAB,WQRV,WDRM) are all listed in the FCC Digital Hybrid database.
main program service (MPS): HD-1
supplemental program service (SPS) (s): HD-2, HD-3, HD-4
SPS aka multicast
Is it possible that the FCC does not have to be notified if the station only has a MPS like WAHR has?
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I've never heard that FCC notification isn't required unless there are multicast stations on the air, but you may be right. I'd have to look into that one. Like you said Tom, maybe it just isn't showing up, which would not be too surprising, but the others listed as HD hybrids do show it in their applications list so who knows.
Other HD stations in Huntsville also include WTAK 106.1, and WHVK 103.5 "K-Love." Both of those stations also show their filing and are listed as being HD Hybrid stations in the database as well.
I've never heard that FCC notification isn't required unless there are multicast stations on the air, but you may be right. I'd have to look into that one. Like you said Tom, maybe it just isn't showing up, which would not be too surprising, but the others listed as HD hybrids do show it in their applications list so who knows.
Other HD stations in Huntsville also include WTAK 106.1, and WHVK 103.5 "K-Love." Both of those stations also show their filing and are listed as being HD Hybrid stations in the database as well.
Looking at the list of digital stations on the FCC's website, every station I could think of off the top of my head is listed there; however if I'm looking through the application history of some stations (like WMJJ in Birmingham) I don't see the digital notification listed in the app history. So I guess that's some problem with the FCC database, or what is imported by RECnet, since that is my go-to resource for this sort of thing.
Either way, after I finally found the digital list on the FCC site, I've bookmarked it since it's pretty useful.
Either way, after I finally found the digital list on the FCC site, I've bookmarked it since it's pretty useful.
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