Columbia FM's

[ThePowerCow]

Did Columbia draw the short straw when the FCC passed out allocations. WCOS (started on 97.9) and WNOK are the only class C's (commercial) licensed to Columbia. Both were and still dealing with co-channels in Charlotte. The rest of the dial is move-ins and a lot of class A's.

 

[KyleSmith1988]

Besides 97.5 and 104.7, There's other big signals in town such as 101.3, 106.7, 107.5, and to a lesser extent 96.7 and if you wanna count 92.1 and 89.7 as well, each of these cover most if not all of the Columbia market.

I agree Columbia is surrounded on all sides by adjacent markets, (Myrtle Beach/Florence, Greenville/Spartanburg, Charleston, Augusta, AND Charlotte) which makes it tougher for additional big signals.

Most of the adjacent markets have as many or more big signals, but if one of them moves, then a new allocation could open up.

My favorite station in Columbia is WXRY which is on a very small LP signal (99.3) but sounds great within Downtown Columbia. It suffers much interference from Co-Channel WBT in Chester.
I think this station got a recent "repeater" of sorts, WXNW on 99.1 serving some of the area bewteen Irmo and Chapin, but it sounds horrible, need to fix the audio.

 

[radiolives]

Here's a good one Myrtle Beach, Florence, and Columbia all use the 98.5 frequency. You would think just one of those markets would use 98.5 to have a class C.

Myrtle Beach is another market with not many strong signals. With just 92.1, 97.7, 104.1, and 107.9
can also count 96.1 and maybe 106.5

 

[Gregg.]

It is odd that a state capital only got two Class C stations in the commercial band, 97.5 WCOS-FM and 104.7 WNOK. And 104.7 is only 92 miles from another Class C, 104.7 in Charlotte. Other Class Cs were able to move into the Columbia market from smaller towns nearby, 101.3 WWDM Sumter, 106.7 WTCB Orangeburg and 107.5 WNKT Eastover (originally St. George). And there are two 100,000 watt stations in the non-commercial band, NPR affiliate 91.3 WLTR and K-Love outlet 89.7 WMHK.

Was someone at the FCC mad at Columbia? But because Columbia is less than 100 miles from several other markets, Charlotte, Charleston, Greensville-Spartanburg and Augusta, that's likely the reason.

In terms of TV, Columbia only got one VHF station, Channel 10 WIS-TV. All its other stations were on the UHF band. Charleston got four VHFs, Greenville-Spartanburg got three, and Charlotte and Augusta each got two.

Maybe Charlotte feels slighted by the FCC with only two VHF channels! I'm pretty sure that's the smallest number for what is today a major U.S. city. Of course, with digital television, UHF is now the preferred television band.

 

[genius]

It is odd that a state capital only got two Class C stations in the commercial band, 97.5 WCOS-FM and 104.7 WNOK. And 104.7 is only 92 miles from another Class C, 104.7 in Charlotte. Other Class Cs were able to move into the Columbia market from smaller towns nearby, 101.3 WWDM Sumter, 106.7 WTCB Orangeburg and 107.5 WNKT Eastover (originally St. George). And there are two 100,000 watt stations in the non-commercial band, NPR affiliate 91.3 WLTR and K-Love outlet 89.7 WMHK.

Was someone at the FCC mad at Columbia? But because Columbia is less than 100 miles from several other markets, Charlotte, Charleston, Greensville-Spartanburg and Augusta, that's likely the reason.

In terms of TV, Columbia only got one VHF station, Channel 10 WIS-TV. All its other stations were on the UHF band. Charleston got four VHFs, Greenville-Spartanburg got three, and Charlotte and Augusta each got two.

Maybe Charlotte feels slighted by the FCC with only two VHF channels! I'm pretty sure that's the smallest number for what is today a major U.S. city. Of course, with digital television, UHF is now the preferred television band.

Its’s similar situation as the Harrisburg-Lancaster market where there was only one VHF and the rest was UHF. As for Charlotte oh no that award actually goes to San Diego lol.

 

[CTListener]

Its’s similar situation as the Harrisburg-Lancaster market where there was only one VHF and the rest was UHF. As for Charlotte oh no that award actually goes to San Diego lol.

Springfield, MA, got stuck with 22, 40 and 57, no VHFs at all.

 

[ThePowerCow]

WCOS started on 97.9 that was also bumping against Charlotte.

 

[Gregg.]

>>>As for Charlotte oh no that award actually goes to San Diego lol.<<<

That's right. San Diego only has Channels 8 and 10. Although Tijuana also has two VHFs, Channels 6 and 12. The two cities border each other, so maybe that's one market even though it's two countries.

 

[101tm]

Both WOMG and WLTY continue to beat B106.7 who remains stuck around the 2’s 12+. WARQ isn’t far behind, but I’d honestly say comparing the signals that WARQ is probably doing better than WTCB.

I’m at a loss as to what WTCB could be blown up for that would do any better than AC. 93.5 hasn’t gained any traction against WNOK. The Dude gets around a 2 share up against WCOS so I don’t think there’s room there. Urban is covered well.

I do still hold to my opinion that WOMG should be put on a better signal (it really should have just been left on 103.1). 98.5 starts to show signs of croaking on Two Notch before you get to Sandhill

 

[vchimpanzee]

Both WOMG and WLTY continue to beat B106.7 who remains stuck around the 2’s 12+. WARQ isn’t far behind, but I’d honestly say comparing the signals that WARQ is probably doing better than WTCB.

I’m at a loss as to what WTCB could be blown up for that would do any better than AC. 93.5 hasn’t gained any traction against WNOK. The Dude gets around a 2 share up against WCOS so I don’t think there’s room there. Urban is covered well.

I do still hold to my opinion that WOMG should be put on a better signal (it really should have just been left on 103.1). 98.5 starts to show signs of croaking on Two Notch before you get to Sandhill

I don't know where these places are, but there's a 98.5 licensed to Hartsville so I imagine that's what's causing the problem.