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89.1

drt said:
ai4i said:
Never mind, "The Ledger" article says that 103.9 will stay with 89.1.
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It has never been said, that I know of........ but according to the overlapping coverage maps on the WUSF site; it looks as though the 103.9 repeater is being moved to the main campus (north Tampa) of WUSF; which makes sense.......... now supposedly it will be on the air by the end of this month (September) and if it is on in 4 more days, it will be on the air sooner than the main signal, which was supposed to be on the air on the 15th of September. I don't know how up to date the FCC site is but the latest amended CP shows a date of 20 Sept, with a lower tower height (not good) and 55,000 watts instead of the 50,000 watts in the origianl CP (not to be confused with the temp authorization of 33,000 watts). I don't think the extra 5,000 watts will make up at all with the lower antenna height....... will have to wait and see.

drt,
st. petersburg
Click to expand...

Since they will be going from 50k to 55kw, on that antenna, that puts them in a Class all by themselves.
(yeah, pun intended, too)

This is going to get interesting.

By changing their class of license, they will have precedence set for a better signal than as a C-2 since they will be able to eventually add more height and keep the power.

Wow, a change of a class of an FM station in this day and age isn’t easy.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Now that is the attitude Classical fans need. Once it's on they can brand as "The Big 89. TODAY's Classical Variety" They should program it like a Country station promoting Classical music .
 
I sure don't get the thinking behind 89.1. It was stated in the St. Pete Times by station manager Urofsky that the Classical Music had embarrassingly small listenership levels, and presumably low listener support. However, to prevent a riot from this small group, WUSF is borrowing over a million dollars from the USF Foundation to provide a 24 hour station of just one kind of music.

I had always thought part of the Public Radio mission was to put on the air that which was not done anywhere else in a market's terrestrial options. Can we count the number of formats not served or severely underserved? Swing and Big Band. Local Talk. (Think of it, three AM talkers, and virtually no local access. In fact only WMNF's 1PM hour is the only extended local talk there is, except for weekend gardening and fishing shows, and Bucs/Rays/Lightning post games) Radio Drama. (golden age or new programming) Actual USF student run music shows. (WBUL hardly counts, as it is so low power).

I submit that WSMR will be a financial drag on WUSF, and if they can afford this boondoggle, and afford to pay back the Foundation, something needs to be exposed regarding the real finances of this taxpayer supported station. Will there be THAT many new listener/supporters to WUSF now that it carries BBC World News?
 
Tidewater Virginia has two NPR oulets owned by Hampton Roads Educational Foundation. WHRV is NPR talk and WHRO is Classical. This has been this way for decades in a smaller metro area. When WCVE in Richmond failed to obtain a second station although multiple new oulets went to AFR and other religious groups, they got critiqued for being cheap and failing to serve the public. If USF failed to put Classical music somewhere, they would be also under the microscope for that choice. This is like the Pam Iorio/WFLA post. If her priorities had been flipped, she would still be soundly taken to task, probably by the same factions.
 
We listen to hardly anything but classical and were upset when a fulltime analog classical station with a rimshot signal entered our market because an NPR station with a fully competitive signal had to drop the format from their HD-2. We really do not understand why strong devotees of the genre will whine and throw tantrems before upgrading. We through one when we lost our 80+dbu digital feed.
 
What I find curious is that by moving the classical format to 89.1 a sizeable population-that of Eastern Polk and The Highlands have been left without any classical service but with 3 NPR stations broadcasting the same talk programming..Would it not have been wiser and more in the community interest to leave 89.7 with the classical format and place the talk on 89.1 The overlap of programming with WMFE, WGCU,and now WUSF seems to be a waste of resourse not to mention that the listeners to NPR talk programming are already-possibly-hopefully-supporting the station of their choice. I have seen similar situations in other markets where there are NPR stations licensed by different entities broadcasting the same programs at the same time which absolutely does not serve the public interest and necessity.
The areas in Florida that I mention are all well beyond the HD service contour of WUSF so short of the purchase of FM translators by the WUSF/WSMR folks to keep classical on the air in those areas or the purchase of the same translators by another non comm group programming classical music since non comms can have translators anywhere (and there are translators for sale out there)-folks I have contact with out there are going to XM-Sirius.
 
broadcastamerica said:
Would it not have been wiser and more in the community interest?
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There is a lot to be said for, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes". MPR does that rightly.
 
Would someone please find out and report to us what this interferrence issue is really all about!
 
Taking bets they walk away from it and just go with HD2? Classical is a niche market like jazz and bluegrass . Bet it never happens.

Question? why can't they just put the repeater on now?
 
The repeater (103.9) was part of the deal, so if WUSF walks away from the deal, it would be strictly online listening or for people with the Hybrid Digital radios that live w/i about 12 - 15 miles of the WUSF transmitter in Riverview, they could receive the 720 watt, WUSF 89.2.

drt
 
WSJT's website promotes the HD2 along with the usual jazz events they used to sponsor. I guess that listeners who really care about niche music should get one or listen online. If I really want bluegrass in my car, I just play a CD. My next car is going to have Sirius/XM so all this will be moot for me. I tried it in rental cars and it really so much better than anything on terrestrial radio. I can get my George Jones fix and just relax to good old hardcore old time country music when country wasn't cool. The fact that the article hinted WUSF can back out and they are denying it usually means they will do just that. If I can't get Haggard and Jones on terrestrial radio, why should pointy-headed eggheads get classical ?
 
They are probably having Intermod problems. With three stations on the same tower, 89.1, 92.1 & 107.9. Mixing of the signals can create unwanted signals on other frequencies, this can be a real problem and requires high power filtering at the transmitter. The FCC normally requires measurements to be made when more than one station is on the same tower. The FCC will not allow Automatic Program Test Authority in these cases and requires these measurements be submitted to the Commission before granting Program Test Authority.

As for the translator in Tampa. The FCC will not allow that station to be turned on until its parent station is on the air.
 
MsMusicRadio said:
Taking bets they walk away from it and just go with HD2? Classical is a niche market like jazz and bluegrass . Bet it never happens.
Click to expand...
Walk away from what?

Question? why can't they just put the repeater on now?
Click to expand...

Just a guess:
The main has to be on first. Otherwise there is nothing to repeat.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Maybe they should buy an AM station like 570 . Classical worked on 570 in DC for years or maybe 1550 to be close to the old WQXR 1560. Tampa has so many people over 55 from other places like that could be a nostagia trip. Real true oldies. That is like WJQB sounding KQV which I guess goes back to Carl Marriucci's time in Pittsburgh. That's nuts. Forgive me
 
Possible intermod. If you read the application for modification of the CP that lowered the antenna and upped the power, the applicant claims that the tower crew couldnt mount the tower up high. If you look at the tower, it appears that the two main 92.1 and 107.9 antennas are one 12 bay antenna when they are mounted one over the other. I know when that site was first lit up, they had a problem with the signal getting into a lot of the neighbors TV sets. CC had to fix a lot of lousy cable TV connections and poor antenna connections. Yes the translator must wait for the main signal but if I recall correctly, they dont have to feed the translator with an off air signal because they are below 92.1 in the non comm section of the band. The rules are different for translators in the non comm section. Classical music listeners will not be happy with listening on the translator if its fed with and off air signal nor will they be happy with the low bit rate IBOC HD signal. It will have a lot of artifacts in it. What they should have done was keep the classical music on 89.7 and put the news talk on 89.1 and turn off the pilot stereo carrier. That would make the Tampa and Pinellas listening much better.
 
I have a bad feeling that this project is doomed unless Clear Channel and USF or the seller of the 89.1 invest in a new shared antenna system - a common antenna could be optimized and is feasible..done often in the Honolulu market and available from Shively Antennas.
As to Classical on AM-Kansas City is proof that it can be done and in that case is a commercial operation done profitably with an HD-2 signal at 98.1 HD2 for those close enough and with HD receivers to be able to enjoy it. There are a number of AM signals for sale in the Tampa Bay market..Confidentiality forbids me from saying which but some are well within the same price range as WSMR, have exceptional market coverage and if operated in HD would give listeners yet another option..
The 103.9 translator could always be purchased as a standalone deal and mated to WUSF-HD2..That plus an AM signal would solve this entire issue.
 
There are already at least three shared master antennas in the Tampa market. Dielectric is best, followed by ERI and only if you get desperate Shively and Jampro. Dielectric and ERI both have Master antennas in the Tampa area. American Tower will soon have a new Dielectric master FM antenna on its tower in Riverview with 6 stations, 88.5, 93.3, 94.9, 100.7, 101.5 & 103.5.
 
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