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WTM-2 FM signals likely down today
- Thread starter valvashon
- Start date
I assume the two FM's will be on their backups from Cougar, so nobody here will start hyperventilating.
Exactly. If the stations are on the air from Cougar nobody notices and B-Hole is out of the market anyway.
Installing a new STL dish. All TV stations signed back on between 12:30 and 1:00.
Back in the day, we'd insist on that sort of work being done on a weekend morning, not weekday.
Well, if I remember, a few years ago KPUG's translator was bumped from 97.3 to 97.9 because of KIRO listeners there in "B-Hole".
Like everything off WTM, All I heard on 97.3 were indiscernible voices behind a wall of static and near pure white noise. Like trying to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation in a Category 5 hurricane.....
Doesn't matter in the scheme of things. B-Hole is too small and out of the market anyway. Any listeners there amount to less than a rounding error.
Well somehow, whether KIRO cares or not about it's Bellingham audience (at least for their hearing), there were actually enough of them to get KPUG to move up to 97.9. And I agree, this is not KIRO's home turf, not their circus, not their monkeys. Just bonus Whatever. But these creatures do exist. Maybe not enough to evenly split a pizza with. But here they are.
I don't know why in these days of ubiquitous smartphones, streaming and unlimited data everywhere why they couldn't just use their phones and a Bluetooth speaker instead of trying to glean anything under all that noise. But I guess some folks are troopers....
Bellingham is a strange area...everyone watches Seattle TV (or Vancouver), but very few Seattle FMs put a decent signal into Whatcom County. The KIRO-FM listener may have been up above Bellingham itself, maybe Lakeway or the South Hill. I have never been to Whatcom County, but I know they are very multipathed and noisy in Mount Vernon, Burlington, and Bayview, nearby in Skagit County.
Many of the class C Seattle FMs come in quite well N and W of downtown. Multipath is less of an issue there, as you clear the line of sight to the S from the Chuckanut mountains and their FM shadow. The KIRO-FM listener or listeners who raised heck about the co-channel translator likely live in these areas. Areas which are fairly rural, and largely conservative (at least judging by election results.)
I’ll echo what others have said. Many of the Seattle FMs sound rough in Bellingham itself. But that’s not the case in other parts of the area. Even up near Blaine, KIRO is arguably one of the stronger FM stations coming from Seattle. It’s out of the market, but I can see why KIRO fought back on the FM translator situation.
If a similar situation was happening to KZOK (for example), there would have been no point at all in fighting back. 102.7 from Vancouver is too strong.
If a similar situation was happening to KZOK (for example), there would have been no point at all in fighting back. 102.7 from Vancouver is too strong.
It doesn't matter anyway. 102.7 Vancouver is an HD station, so the IBOC hash is prevalent on 102.5 north of Bellingham.
For a distance of 85-90 miles, that's not too shabby at all for distant FM reception. But most Whatcom County FM listeners are on KAFE, KISM, KZAZ, or a pick of a few Vancouver stations.
For a distance of 85-90 miles, that's not too shabby at all for distant FM reception. But most Whatcom County FM listeners are on KAFE, KISM, KZAZ, or a pick of a few Vancouver stations.
I counted 18-FM's including full-class, LP's and translators and 3-AM stations all licensed to Bellingham. Then you have the other stations licensed to Ferndale, Oak Harbor, Everett, Lynden, plus all the Vancouver BC stations.
Fail to see the requirement to hear Seattle stations there too.
I think KIRO might be a special case, as the programming has pretty broad appeal to people living in all corners of Western Washington. Bellingham is technically out of market, but I can imagine that there are listeners there too. There are plenty of streaming options, but they may not feel compelled to seek them out when KIRO may arguably come in decently well in much of Whatcom county. For that reason, it's not surprising that Bonneville fought to keep the frequency as clear as possible. Even further to the north in the Lower Mainland, KIRO still comes in and is listenable (if you really wanted to hear the programming). The other Seattle FMs don't make it.
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