• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

97.1 on air in Pensacola today

tomservo

tomservo

I was dragged to Pensacola by visiting family today and was able to do a bandscan from around the Cordova Mall area. I heard W246BN loud and clear on 97.1 MHz relaying The Ticket Sports Network out of Fort Walton Beach.

I checked to see if the AM in Milton might be back on the air but didn't hear anything on my poor deaf little receiver. I stayed on it around the 6 pm hour but never heard any kind of legal ID or mention of the translator. It appears to be operating on an STA from the WDWR-1230 tower near I-110. The STA says something about a delay in building a 400 foot tower, but the CP they have is for the same spot. If WDWR is building a 400 foot tower there, it's the first I've heard about it and seems like overkill for a high channel AM.

Of course, on the CP and STA the parent station is listed as WPNN, but it was doing completely different programming when I checked it.

???
 
Zach said:
I was dragged to Pensacola by visiting family today and was able to do a bandscan from around the Cordova Mall area. I heard W246BN loud and clear on 97.1 MHz relaying The Ticket Sports Network out of Fort Walton Beach.

I checked to see if the AM in Milton might be back on the air but didn't hear anything on my poor deaf little receiver. I stayed on it around the 6 pm hour but never heard any kind of legal ID or mention of the translator. It appears to be operating on an STA from the WDWR-1230 tower near I-110. The STA says something about a delay in building a 400 foot tower, but the CP they have is for the same spot. If WDWR is building a 400 foot tower there, it's the first I've heard about it and seems like overkill for a high channel AM.

Of course, on the CP and STA the parent station is listed as WPNN, but it was doing completely different programming when I checked it.

???
Click to expand...

The tower isnt for 1230AM.. at 400 feet, that would be almost twice as tall as needed for 1230, making the tower overly efficent.. and causing 1230 to have to go with less then 1KW.. no app or CP exists for that.

I bet their building it hoping to get some rental income.
 
I started giving a damn for some reason today and tuned to 97.1. Nothing. 1490 in Milton isn't on the air. Papa Don's still kick in' it on 790.

Is it possible the 97.1 translator will be run as a "fill-in" rebroadcasting 100.3 with just a few watts? Unless there's an HD2 or HD3 carrying The Ticket I can't find anything to feed a full power translator in Pensacola.
 
97.1 not on the air today either...

Hey Zach, I need a new HD radio. Anything I should look at or avoid?
 
poledo said:
97.1 not on the air today either...

Hey Zach, I need a new HD radio. Anything I should look at or avoid?
Click to expand...

Well, you really don't have much choice these days. There's the Insignia portable ($51.99) that was recently restyled but with the same old crap internals… or the tabletop HD radio that has… the same internals as the portable.

I still see a few aftermarket car stereos with HD capability at Worst Buy, but they were low end models. Other than that, I got nothing.

I did check the FM band and there's no new HD subchannels that I could find. TK 101's HD is off again and the only HD addition we've had in some time is WMXC added smooth jazz, same as 107.3-2 only with the volume turned way down.

If 97.1 is off now, I must have heard some sort of signal testing. Oh well, maybe it'll be back on again soon with whatever permanent programming they were supposed to have. I'd hate it if somehow it wound up being The Ticket. Yuck.
 
poledo said:
I started giving a damn for some reason today and tuned to 97.1. Nothing. 1490 in Milton isn't on the air. Papa Don's still kick in' it on 790.

Is it possible the 97.1 translator will be run as a "fill-in" rebroadcasting 100.3 with just a few watts? Unless there's an HD2 or HD3 carrying The Ticket I can't find anything to feed a full power translator in Pensacola.
Click to expand...

Isn't the 610 tower over there, somewhere, in West Pensacola?
 
amfmxm said:
Isn't the 610 tower over there, somewhere, in West Pensacola?
Click to expand...

You got me. I didn't know where the 610 tower was. I know where the offices are (near the 1230 and 1620 towers) but according to radio-locator, the reason I didn't know where the 610 tower was is because it's sharing tower space with 790. I never knew that. That makes a potential move of WPNN to Garcon Point a little more complicated. It may also explain why 610 has had the crappiest AM signal in town for a couple decades at least.

The CP for 97.1 puts it on the 1230 tower. The FM antenna now on the 1230 tower for 103.3 is only 2/3 of the way up. The 1230 tower is built in a hole. How tall should it be?

Oh, if you know Papa Don, I spoke with him on Monday. He's not doing well.
 
So I caught 97.1 on the air this afternoon broadcasting "The Ticket" in Pensacola. The station was not a simulcast of a local AM signal as 1490 is still dark and 790 was still talk. I heard two commercials for businesses in Panama City. The signal for 97.1 sucks. B97.1 from New Orleans used to be an easy catch here... I don't know if it was interference or perhaps they are just running a few watts on the 97.1 signal in Pens. Any idea how they plan to legally feed The Ticket to 97.1?
 
Probably relaying an HD-2 channel, not an AM. It's being done all over, but ordinarily the content is something other than that of the FM main channel.
 
amfmxm said:
Probably relaying an HD-2 channel, not an AM. It's being done all over, but ordinarily the content is something other than that of the FM main channel.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm assuming Hale's plan is but is it practical to lease an HD2 on one of Clear Channel's class C stations to feed the Ticket to 97.1 with a signal not much better than DXing WTKE 100.3 from FWB? How long could be get away with claiming 1490 was the source while the AM remains dark?
 
Well, I gave the new 97.1 translator 15 minutes of my time this afternoon and heard a few interesting tidbits.

1) They will announce the location of The Ticket's new studios/office soon but it won't be located inside the Destin Hooters. The host threatened to quit.

2) The TOH ID includes WTKE 100.3, WTKP 93.5, and W246BN 97.1. No HD2 or AM included to feed 97.1... so the implication is 97.1 is simulcasting WTKE I assume?

3) The signal on 97.1 sucks in the Pensacola city limits. 100.3 has a noticeably stronger, cleaner and a much louder signal than 97.1 even though 97.1 was one of the three clearest empty channels on the Pensacola dial before the translators came along.

So, is it possible that Hale is just using 97.1 to extend the range of 100.3? I thought we determined years ago that there was no way to squeeze a fill-in translator into the Pensacola dial.
 
poledo said:
Well, I gave the new 97.1 translator 15 minutes of my time this afternoon and heard a few interesting tidbits.

1) They will announce the location of The Ticket's new studios/office soon but it won't be located inside the Destin Hooters. The host threatened to quit.

2) The TOH ID includes WTKE 100.3, WTKP 93.5, and W246BN 97.1. No HD2 or AM included to feed 97.1... so the implication is 97.1 is simulcasting WTKE I assume?

3) The signal on 97.1 sucks in the Pensacola city limits. 100.3 has a noticeably stronger, cleaner and a much louder signal than 97.1 even though 97.1 was one of the three clearest empty channels on the Pensacola dial before the translators came along.

So, is it possible that Hale is just using 97.1 to extend the range of 100.3? I thought we determined years ago that there was no way to squeeze a fill-in translator into the Pensacola dial.
Click to expand...

The translator, in theory, could simulcasting an AM station.... and fed by a microwave STL.
 
The translator, in theory, could simulcasting an AM station.... and fed by a microwave STL.
Click to expand...

The translator must broadcast the original on air signal unless the station is non commercial.
 
Could Hale be using a LD or CA DTV station to feed the 97.1 translator? If he's using 100.3, how many watts can he run?
 
Tibbs2 said:
So this 97.1 translator doesn't have to rebroadcast an AM station? Can it originate it's own programming?
Click to expand...

They're running Panama City and FWB commercials on the Pensacola translator, no indication it's running original programming.

Just can't figure out what rule they are operating under with no apparent local host station.
 
Tibbs2 said:
So this 97.1 translator doesn't have to rebroadcast an AM station? Can it originate it's own programming?
Click to expand...

Translators cant originate their own programming except in the case of an AM Daytimer that signs off at sunset.
 
We all seem to know the rules. We just can't figure out what rules this translator is operating under. Definatly different rules than the 101.1, 103.3, & 106.9 Pensacola translators.
 
poledo said:
We all seem to know the rules. We just can't figure out what rules this translator is operating under. Definatly different rules than the 101.1, 103.3, & 106.9 Pensacola translators.
Click to expand...

From what i can see, 101.1, 103.3 and 106.9 are all relaying Am stations.. likely fed by the Am station's STL.

Seems the crux of the issue here is WHAT is feeding this translator, as the application states a station .. but thats not what is carrying.. and 1490 is off the air, isnt it? THought thats what i read
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom