Why are/were some FM frequencies used more than others?

[JackindaBox]

Seattle-Tacomas Air 1 is on 88.1 and has been for years even before KLOVE came into the market on 104.5 and later 98.5 in the South Sound.

 

[ksradiogeek]

Seattle-Tacomas Air 1 is on 88.1 and has been for years even before KLOVE came into the market on 104.5 and later 98.5 in the South Sound.

What does this have to do with the actual title of the thread?

 

[nd2023]

You also have to factor in power/HAAT/population/etc to get the most for your coverage area. For example, NYC stations cover a lot of population with lower powered stations than most of the rest of the country. The spacing of NYC stations seems to be the shortest allowed at the time, also.
Makes sense; take a map of the U.S. How many 100kw stations would it take to cover it? How many 3kw stations would it take to cover it? Mix all that up with growth patterns and predictions, and you really begin to have fun.
It's almost like the "solution" to all this would be to sandwich in a bunch of translators. Wow - what a concept.

A pirate station in Manhattan, NY can cover more people than a full class C in Manhattan, Kansas. The dial in NYC is jam packed with full powers, suburban rimshots, translators, LPFMs, and pirates on every frequency

 

[101tm]

The population distribution of the USA was way different back then. Florida had roughly 1/3 the population of Illinois, or Ohio and 1/4 that of Pennsylvania in 1950.

I guess there isn’t much point considering it’s worked for decades, and the signals cover the markets generally since they haven’t had the sprawl of the SE - but I wonder if the FCC has ever considered relaxing the restrictions in certain areas (especially much of PA, OH, IN, IL, etc)? Honestly could have been decades ago.

 

[radiofan2023]

I guess there isn’t much point considering it’s worked for decades, and the signals cover the markets generally since they haven’t had the sprawl of the SE - but I wonder if the FCC has ever considered relaxing the restrictions in certain areas (especially much of PA, OH, IN, IL, etc)? Honestly could have been decades ago.

They can't relax restrictions in only certain states, their rules apply nationwide.

 

[Kent]

They can't relax restrictions in only certain states, their rules apply nationwide.

I think what he's suggesting is making those states Class C territory instead of Class B. I wouldn't think that would be possible since so many stations have been dropped into those areas under the current rules.

Class B is similar to Class C2, though a full Class B is afforded a few more miles of protection, at least from adjacent and second adjacent stations. Height requirements are the same. If IL, IN, OH, and PA were moved to Class C territory, I doubt much of any station would be able to be anything other than a C2, though some might be able to move a few miles closer to larger metro areas they already rimshot.