Just over a week ago I had an appointment in Central Jersey, and, without knowing about the switch, managed to catch one of the last days of WCTC's oldies format. I don't spend much time in that area anymore, and what struck me was the amount of electrical interference with CTC's signal. It can really make it hard to listen, especially when you can easily switch to FM and avoid it completely, or catch one of the 50-kw signals down the dial on AM.
It seems that in recent years the utilities have had to increase the amount of power running along highways and main roads.
Along Route-206 from Somerville to Princeton CTC had a fine daytime signal in the 70s, but for the last decade it has been buzzed, clicked and popped out of listening contention. You can see the noisy high voltage wires just a few feet from the car antennas.
Last week, I stopped by in the Oak Tree Road area of Edison which is the center of the Indian community there, and the CTC signal was good. Indian listeners there have put up with listening to fringe signals coming to them from near Trenton, Somerville, and Hazlet for years, just to hear programming directed at them. CTC would be the best solution for that ethnic market, if they could afford the asking price. You also have to admire the Indian community for being law abiding and not setting up pirate stations, like other immigrant groups elsewhere in the state.
By the way, WCTC isn't the only 1-kw Jersey station with that electrical interference problem, unfortunately I run into the same situation when I try to catch a really great station, WGHT in North Jersey. Except within a few miles of the transmitter it takes effort and determination to listen. And when I am in the Hackettstown area, I usually catch WRNJ on one of their FM translators, because it is both easier and the audio is that much cleaner on FM. Both GHT and RNJ offer real local reasons to tune in with good local news coverage, and music you don't hear many other places. Hopefully, they continue to offer enough unique programming that enough locals will continue to listen, and local advertisers will continue to want to reach those listeners. But unless some way can be found to improve those 1-kw signals and the audio they carry its always going to be an increasingly harder uphill fight for those 1-kw AM stations.
