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W247AB-FM 97.3, status?

AMRocks

AMRocks

Does anyone know what the deal is with this translator?

I don't think has actually been on the air in many years. It's listed on Radio Locator as translating WNCW from Isothermal Community College. I know I would listen to it several years ago on my way to work. WNCW airs Morning Edition from NPR without those ETV breaks like WEPR. But it's been dead for quite some time.

The antenna can be seen on top of the building where iHeart radio is located in downtown Greenville.

I'd love to know the status of this.

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101tm said:
97.3 was one of the first, if not the first translators in the upstate to my knowledge. It was definitely around before the Paris Mountain translators like 98.5, 99.5, and 96.3 hit the air. FCCData.org shows it as licensed and on air, but it’s been dead for many years for me as well. Initial date of license was 1993!

Very odd.

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I shot a note to the station just now. I'll post any response I get back.
 
AMRocks said:
It's not great in Greenville. Paris Mountain probably blocks the signal, at least that's what it looks like using a map
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WNCW is from the same tower as superpower station WMIT on 106.9 .. albeit with a slightly lower power output & directional signal (short spaced to 88.9 WNSC in Rock Hill & 88.5 WFDD in Greensboro & His Radio 88.5 WAHP near Anderson SC).

Even so, it IS also a Class C station, 📻 it's Located Very High UP on a Mountain 🗻 and Decent Reception is common in & beyond most of their fringe contour.

Sad that the 97.3 Translator in Greenville is off (still) and unused for so long, unlike their Boone & Charlotte Translators, and their Repeater station (WSIF) in Wilkesboro. But., what about the current status of their other translator signals, in Knoxville and Asheville?

Interesting, how WMIT & WNCW, are very high up on a mountain, and close to Asheville, yet both still have a translator for full city coverage in the downtown area.
 
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I heard back from the Director of Operations at WNCW and here's the deal:

IHeart hosts their equipment and the antenna is on top of the building where IHeart is located in downtown Greenville. The building was sold and it took a while to work out an agreement with the new owners so they could access their equipment for maintenance and repairs.

Then, IHeart told WNCW that corporate was requiring them to install monitoring equipment on the cluster that would feed their national operations center. The translator frequency was interfering with that equipment so a special filter was needed to be manufactured to correct that issue. Without informing WNCW or IHeart management, an engineer shut off the translator and never told anyone! WNCW only learned of this when the OD happened to be in Greenville a couple of weeks ago and he found it to be off.

So now, they are trying to get a tower crew scheduled to come out and make necessary repairs and get that filter installed. He said he wants them to go over EVERYTHING with that system. Remember, the translator has to pick up the originating station over the air and retransmit it, so there's a lot to go over.

And that's the story! They hope it's back on in a few weeks.

Side notes: I didn't realize that WNCW also had a 1kw FM station in Wilkesboro NC, WSIF-FM that simulcasts the main station. They also operate translators in Boone NC, Charlotte, Asheville and Knoxville TN.
 
Yikes, but thanks for sharing! I doubt they’ll have the reach they used to get out of that translator with the adjacent, much more powerful translators at 97.1 (The Fan) and 97.5 (The Roar) now, both of which happen to be in Spartanburg but fringe in to Greenville fairly well.
 
Good to hear that the Greenville translator is being worked on. The Knoxville WNCW translator has been gone for a number of years, but there is WDVX on 89.9 Clinton and 102.9 Knoxville with an Americana format.
 
101tm said:
Yikes, but thanks for sharing! I doubt they’ll have the reach they used to get out of that translator with the adjacent, much more powerful translators at 97.1 (The Fan) and 97.5 (The Roar) now, both of which happen to be in Spartanburg but fringe in to Greenville fairly well.
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I believe their thinking is that it will help the 88.7 signal to penetrate buildings downtown, not really be better for car listening. So, in that case, it should work great.

I'm actually confused as to why they need a translator in Asheville, but if it's in downtown Asheville, it's likely for the same reason
 
The 88.7 signal in Asheville proper is good, but not great. 106.9 also has an Asheville translator broadcasting on 106.3.
I don't think the WNCW Asheville translator has made it on air yet. If it has, they are not promoting it on-air.

If there is a new Knoxville translator that is news to me. They lost that translator 20+ years ago. There used to be a Beech Mountain translator as well that filled in a gap created by Grandfather Mountain.

Paris Mountain blocks the 88.7 signal from blanketing Greenville. The signal is spectacular in Spartanburg though.
 


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