Been ages since WNCI took the number one spot in the ratings. I don’t listen, so what tweeks did they make to reach the top?
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WNCI Takes #1 Position
- Thread starter delgriffith
- Start date
This is the first time in quite a few months where WXXL XL1067 in Orlando isn't the highest 6+ share for CHR in the Top 50. They still had a good book, but it's nice to see another heritage CHR with such a solid showing jump ahead of them, and it's also nice to see many CHRs inching out of the doldrum they've been in for a while now.
I know it's whataboutism -- and maybe not too relevant anymore -- but Columbus is one of the largest markets that has never had a 50,000 watt AM.
Fun trivia… What are the others? Austin, TX. Anything else in the top 50?
Going through the list of Nielsen top 50, my guesses were Tampa (wrong), Riverside CA (wrong), Providence and Greensboro.
As far as WNCI, that 175K signal is great but it's not all that tall, so it doesn't have much if any advantage over the other big signals from the WCMH/WBNS tower or 93.3. At 60-65 miles out, it's fading as much as the rest, especially now with more traffic on the air. I think their power advantage is most noticeable around 40-50 miles out in places like Springfield and Zanesville, but it doesn't have the reach of the big signals west of the Mississippi.
As far as WNCI, that 175K signal is great but it's not all that tall, so it doesn't have much if any advantage over the other big signals from the WCMH/WBNS tower or 93.3. At 60-65 miles out, it's fading as much as the rest, especially now with more traffic on the air. I think their power advantage is most noticeable around 40-50 miles out in places like Springfield and Zanesville, but it doesn't have the reach of the big signals west of the Mississippi.
Memphis used to be Top 50, IIRC. No 50 kw stations there.
WNCI is also directional. They gave up some coverage when they moved downtown. The original site was just west of the Polaris shopping area. They had 185,000 watts non-directional and a height of about 560 feet. They shared the tower with WRFD. I think they were originally WRFD-FM.
I guess that null, such as it is, is toward Detroit. I don't remember ever having issues with WNCI going north. It usually lasts until around Upper Sandusky but fades at right about the same time as the other big Columbus FMs.
@NoWayNoCC, yes they do seem to struggle going right through Zanesville before picking up again. Not sure if the elevation creates difficulty around downtown. When my now-wife lived in Zanesville, I noticed they struggled going up and down Maple Avenue. By the time you hit her place near the mall, they came in very well again.
@NoWayNoCC, yes they do seem to struggle going right through Zanesville before picking up again. Not sure if the elevation creates difficulty around downtown. When my now-wife lived in Zanesville, I noticed they struggled going up and down Maple Avenue. By the time you hit her place near the mall, they came in very well again.
Indianapolis? I always found it a little curious that Fort Wayne had a 50,000 watt station (WOWO), but not larger Indy.
One has to look at what "50,000 watts" means.
Phoenix had a 50 kw station at 1580, but it was so directional that it missed much of the market at night and so high on the dial that it did not cover it all in the daytime.
Buffalo has a 50 kw station, but, again, high on the dial and not really a regional voice in the daytime.
Look at markets like Norfolk/Newport News, Roanoke, Jackson MS, Bakersfield, Charleston WV, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Madison WI, Mobile, Montgomery, Baton Rouge, El Paso, Athens and Augusta GA, Columbia and Charleston SC and many more. Some had 50 kw daytimers with horrible night signals, some with 50 kw stations were so directional that they missed important areas, some had 50 kw stations too high on the dial to cover the metro.
Indy had 1070, although it is now "gone" and reduced power at night.
96.9 in Troy and 98.1 in Defiance cut WNCI a lot to the west and northwest. Sometimes the co-channel Anderson, IN will pop-in too
Similar story for DC. It's lone fulltime 50K is at 1500 and it's directional at night. 980 is only 50K during the day.
Putting importance on "50 kW" as a measuring stick is how you ended up with what were called "letterhead 50s" - stations that put in lousy DAs or made other compromises just so they could put "50,000 watts" in their advertising, even when it resulted in signals that didn't come close to full-market coverage. One great example is WMEX/WITS 1510 in Boston, which gave up a 5,000-watt facility with decent (if not spectacular) coverage of most of the core of the market and built four towers for "50,000 watts" that was unusable in a lot of the market at night, and also came with a high rent that ended up dooming several would-be owners.
"50,000 watts" is even more meaningless on FM, where height is so much more important than ERP in most scenarios.
"50,000 watts" is even more meaningless on FM, where height is so much more important than ERP in most scenarios.
And the largest daytime land coverage of any AM in North America? KFYR. 5kW.
Followed by WNAX and the 600 AM in Jamestown. There are a bunch of those 5 kw stations below 700 kHz in the upper Plains that are amazing. Then look at a real 50kw, CBK in Watrous, Saskatchewan, on 540.
One of the best examples of what Scott Fybush described was WOKJ, 1550 Jackson Miss.