Can a station with a poor signal have a translator or prevent a translator?

[vchimpanzee]

I'm thinking of WGHJ 105.3 FM, licensed to Fair Bluff NC. A Myrtle Beach SC newspaper wrote about this station about a decade ago, saying the market was getting a second "beach music" station. Essentially, that means the African-American artists kids danced to when they went to the beach but couldn't hear on the radio back in the 50s, and music related to that from the 60s and 70s.

94.9 the Surf with its superior signal and a longer heritage kept this station from having any success, and it's too far from anywhere to be part of a major market. It started out as a simulcast partner of a Wilmington NC station.

A few years ago WGHJ sold out to a Christian broadcaster. Good News Network already had a translator In Myrtle Beach so WGHJ doesn't need one, but around that same time WRNN added a translator at 105.5, which pretty much keeps WGHJ from being heard. WRNN changed its letters to WWHK when it became classic country Hank FM.

But if WGHJ had tried to make it as a separate station, could they have protested the Hank translator, claiming they had a chance at being a part of the Myrtle Beach market? Or, if the station that became hank had chosen a different frequency after the protest, could WGHJ have gotten a translator--maybe the one at 105.5? I've heard AMs can't extend their range, but at least one Myrtle Beach FM had a translator at one time. Not that it needed it. The signal is really good.

 

[Ai4i]

I am unfamiliar with those particular stations, but if this helps...
An FM translator may rebroadcast an AM station only if the translator's 60 dBu (1mv/m) service contour is within the greater of
1. A 25 mile (40 km) radius circle around the AM station's transmitter site, and
2. The AM station's 2.0 mV/m contour
3. (many translators that are mounted on their parent AM station towers wind up having very similar footprints)

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I'm thinking of WGHJ 105.3 FM, licensed to Fair Bluff NC. A Myrtle Beach SC newspaper wrote about this station about a decade ago, saying the market was getting a second "beach music" station. Essentially, that means the African-American artists kids danced to when they went to the beach but couldn't hear on the radio back in the 50s, and music related to that from the 60s and 70s.

94.9 the Surf with its superior signal and a longer heritage kept this station from having any success, and it's too far from anywhere to be part of a major market. It started out as a simulcast partner of a Wilmington NC station.

A few years ago WGHJ sold out to a Christian broadcaster. Good News Network already had a translator In Myrtle Beach so WGHJ doesn't need one, but around that same time WRNN added a translator at 105.5, which pretty much keeps WGHJ from being heard. WRNN changed its letters to WWHK when it became classic country Hank FM.

But if WGHJ had tried to make it as a separate station, could they have protested the Hank translator, claiming they had a chance at being a part of the Myrtle Beach market? Or, if the station that became hank had chosen a different frequency after the protest, could WGHJ have gotten a translator--maybe the one at 105.5? I've heard AMs can't extend their range, but at least one Myrtle Beach FM had a translator at one time. Not that it needed it. The signal is really good.

They dont have to be a seperate station to complain, even know.. if WGHJ could prove they have genuine listeners in or near Myrtle Beach who cant listen because of the 105.5 translator, they could potentially force it off.. it'd then have to move frequencies or shut down entirely. The rules have changed in the last year or tow, but it's still possible to be done

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I am unfamiliar with those particular stations, but if this helps...
An FM translator may rebroadcast an AM station only if the translator's 60 dBu (1mv/m) service contour is within the greater of
1. A 25 mile (40 km) radius circle around the AM station's transmitter site, and
2. The AM station's 2.0 mV/m contour
3. (many translators that are mounted on their parent AM station towers wind up having very similar footprints)

i think those rules were relaxed, i just cant find an exact wording of them.. i know an am station in ohio that has 3 translators

 

[schmave]

I am unfamiliar with those particular stations, but if this helps...
An FM translator may rebroadcast an AM station only if the translator's 60 dBu (1mv/m) service contour is within the greater of
1. A 25 mile (40 km) radius circle around the AM station's transmitter site, and
2. The AM station's 2.0 mV/m contour
3. (many translators that are mounted on their parent AM station towers wind up having very similar footprints)

As for No. 3, why is that? I've noticed that as well with some translators here in central Ohio, that the stated directional pattern for the translator mirrors the pattern of the AM. I haven't been "behind" those patterns lately to see for myself whether that is the case, but it's something I noticed immediately looking at those stations on Radio Locator.

 

[davideduardo]

I am unfamiliar with those particular stations, but if this helps...
An FM translator may rebroadcast an AM station only if the translator's 60 dBu (1mv/m) service contour is within the greater of
1. A 25 mile (40 km) radius circle around the AM station's transmitter site, and
2. The AM station's 2.0 mV/m contour
3. (many translators that are mounted on their parent AM station towers wind up having very similar footprints)

Those rules apply to commercial stations. Non-coms have different rules and can, in fact, have translators all over the country.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Those rules apply to commercial stations. Non-coms have different rules and can, in fact, have translators all over the country.

That's the case with Good News Network.

By the way, I wasn't asking about rules for AM translators. I was asking if the 105.5 translator could have been stopped if WGHJ had not joined a network but had tried to make it as a Myrtle Beach station.

 

[Ai4i]

I know an am station in Ohio that has 3 translators

They could be translating an HD subchannel off an FM station or stations which is or are co-owned or leased for that reason only.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Here is another similar question: WZKV 90.7 in Dyersburg, TN (K-LOVE) has had a translator on 101.7 in Brownsville, about 30 miles away in a straight line. But later WTRO 1450 in Dyersburg put in a translator on the same frequency. Where I live in between at Alamo the two translators fight each other. Could K-LOVE protest WTRO's translator and request that they move to another frequency? In this case I'd rather be able to get WTRO, but K-LOVE was there first.