I didn't have issues yet losing WPLM to a tropo/DX. Maybe if I lived a town or two north from where I do I would (the 99.1 signal drops off sharply just north of where I am), however WPLM has at least moderate reception within my entire town.
I didn't check the morning of 9/5 however.
I have 3 radios I use (yes they are cheaper models, so not the best for amazing results), my worst radio is so bad it's limited to Newton-Needham transmitter stations and 89.7 for reception. I haven't used this one in 2-3 years and it's probably heading to the trash pile soon. Of course, 5 minutes away from the Newton-Needham towers those stations should be very well received.
My second radio does well with all major Boston stations (the above mentioned stations, as well as Prudential Tower and other major Boston area stations), also it picks up 96.1/104.5/107.3 from Worcester, 92.3/93.3/94.1/95.5/105.1/106.3 from Providence, and WPLM good, however it doesn't do well with splatter on other channels, and it doesn't do well with a Tropo, unless the signal is as strong as a local.
My best radio does the above local stations, however no splatter, and it's the best one for giving DX a try. My best radio also does well with getting reception of 97.3/98.1 New Bedford/103.7/101.5/99.7 RI and 95.7 NH as well quite usually. 97.3 reception on my other two radios, is splatter from 103.3, quite unusually strong, I wonder why? I always find it confusing which station I am receiving with splatter from 102.5 happening on 98.1 as well, especially on my second radio, given the same format of both stations.
Last night, no luck, other than WPLM was stronger than usual for reception being roughly 40 miles away from the transmitter, second radio was used since I was nearby that one.
WMRC's 101.3 translator is strong other than 1 area where it has a very noticeable weak spot every time I try reception on that. One night in that "weak spot" I was able to get WKCI in, although with rather weak 2/5 reception. Other times in that weak spot, it's a ton of interference that makes the station absolutely unlistenable. One night I thought the station was having transmitter issues when I left the radio in that location, until I moved the radio around and it came in.
99.3 seems to be a tropo favorite, even though the signal shouldn't be very strong outside far Southern Rhode Island.
98.9 (assuming this is Worcester) has improved with reception a good amount a few years back as well. Yes, sometimes the station comes in terrible, other times it's a nice distant listening signal, on parity with the other Worcester/Providence stations in the area.