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Best/worst signals in Nashville

C

charlestondxman

I am from Charleston, SC, and I have traveled several times over to the Nashville area for competitions.

One time, two or three summers ago, when I was on vacation in Gatlinburg (in my hotel room), I picked up 92.9, 95.5, and surprisingly, even 97.1 from Nashville, with good signals (on my Grundig S350).

Of course, I can hear WSM and WLAC almost every night very well, like most people around the Southeast, but I wonder how their daytime signals are.

Also, one time, I picked up WLW in downtown Nashville at about 4:30 in the afternoon with a good signal.

I've heard there are also several bad signals in the area, like 100.1, 93.7, and some of the smaller FMs, and I wonder how their signals are.

What are the best and worst signals in Nashville?
 
Nashville has several terrain features that cause problems for just about every station somewhere. But on the whole, any of the class “C” signals that transmit from the hills south of town in Brentwood (Seven hills area) exhibit the best coverage of the market overall. They include 90.3, 103.3, 105.9 and 97.9, those antennas can see more ground than any other’s in the area. 95.5 is located in Nashville’s near west side and would be considered almost comparable along with 92.9 who’s transmitter is on a ridge in the far west side of Davidson County. 96.3, 107.5 and 104.5 all originate from the ridge of hills north of town and exhibit terrain blocking to some degree in the high$ Williamson County Zip codes to the south of Nashville. 102.9 transmits from McCord Knob in western Williamson County but has terrain blocking back towards the western suburbs as does 99.7 to some degree. 102.5 transmits from a site in northern Dickson County to the far west of the city and suffers from no line of sight across Nashville. 97.1 comes from a relatively short tower on a hill in far north Nashville, Campbell Road, and suffers greatly to the south. 101.1 site is way north almost to Ky and has problems to the south. 92.1, 106.7 and 100.1 all class “A” facilities with varying heights and none are solid across the entire area.

The only AM that blankets the whole metro day and night would be 650, second and distant would be 1510 but it suffers from high end of the dial, poor soil conductivity and deep selective fades at night due to interaction of the sky-wave and ground-wave signals. This condition is exacerbated by the self-interference of their IBOC signal. Daytime 1160 is slightly better than 1510 due to frequency.

w/
 
Correction: 102.9 transmitter is located in EASTERN Williamson County rather than western, becoming directionally challenged as I advance in years.
w/
 
Watt Hairston said:
Correction: 102.9 transmitter is located in EASTERN Williamson County rather than western, becoming directionally challenged as I advance in years.
w/


WMOT has been at 100KW for about 12 years. I always had problems here in Hendersonville picking them up until about 3 years ago. Have they changed something in the last 3 years? Are they still on the tower with 96.3?
Click to expand...
 
PaulO said:
Watt Hairston said:
Correction: 102.9 transmitter is located in EASTERN Williamson County rather than western, becoming directionally challenged as I advance in years.
w/


WMOT has been at 100KW for about 12 years. I always had problems here in Hendersonville picking them up until about 3 years ago. Have they changed something in the last 3 years? Are they still on the tower with 96.3?
Click to expand...

If i am not mistaking, MOT is on the old 107.5 tower off 840 close to the Wilson / Rutherford county line. ( a place Tibbs will never see)

Nock
Click to expand...
 
WMOT is located at the old 96.3/107.5 site near Gladeville just west of I-840 some 18 miles east of downtown Nashville. Employs a very directional antenna and coverage to west and northwest not too good at all.

w/
 
i lose wlac about 8 miles south of lebanon heading toward watertown and alaxandria..has static and unlistenable between those two towns..i guess this is about 20 miles more or less as the crow files from nashville..maybe it's a lousy am reciever in my car..but 50k ought to get out more than that i would think..but i'm no engineer and don't play one on the radio..but then i don't get out as much as i used to either.. ;)
 
deltas69 said:
i lose wlac about 8 miles south of lebanon heading toward watertown and alaxandria..has static and unlistenable between those two towns..i guess this is about 20 miles more or less as the crow files from nashville..maybe it's a lousy am reciever in my car..but 50k ought to get out more than that i would think..but i'm no engineer and don't play one on the radio..but then i don't get out as much as i used to either.. ;)
Click to expand...


WLAC doesnt come in too well in Clarksville during the day and doesnt come in at all there @ night. In certain parts of the midstate, WLAC's signal isnt the best in the world.
 
Poor ground conductivity and high dial position trump 50kw. WLAC has a reasonably good daytime signal for about 40 miles or so under most conditions. With a really good car radio and in areas where noise levels are low, its audible in the daytime for 100 miles or so. Not bad under the circumstances.
 
i bet the radio in my 64 GTO would grab WLAC like i was in the parking lot..it would bring WLS in at night like a local station...but i sold it 38 years ago... :'(
 
If i am not mistaking, MOT is on the old 107.5 tower off 840 close to the Wilson / Rutherford county line. ( a place Tibbs will never see)

Nock
[/quote]

Dang rite, Nock, I'm scared to go out thar...

Just because Rick Marino lives out in the sticks near you doesn't mean you
can come into MY cities' board, with your high fallutin
jazzed-up attitude, and tell us where your favorite non-comm stick is.


FTR, ALL stations come in perfectly in trendy and terrific Green Hills because they all want to.

So There. That's it. I am calling Bill Buntin on YOU Nock! :p :p :p
 
Tibbs, you should be scared to go out thar tower is located in a community called Gladeville, where the men are men and so are the women.
 
I saw on Radio-Locator that 102.5 goes with some sort of signal almost to Paducah, and that most of the big Nashville FM's still have a signal north of Bowling Green.

Also, I wonder how far WSM's daytime signal goes, with those 50,000 watts.

Who do you think has the best FM signal all around Middle Tennessee?
 
From 1987 to 1991, I had a job (retail inventory) that had me frequently driving from Nashville to Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham or Louisville.

In those days, I always thought 103.3 had the best all around FM signal followed by 95.5, 97.9 and 105.9.

Before 640 signed on with 50,000 watts in Collierville, WSM did much better to the west. These days, they don't really become clear to about the Tennessee River if you are driving on I-40. I wonder if they protested 640 coming on the air?
 
briancraig said:
From 1987 to 1991, I had a job (retail inventory) that had me frequently driving from Nashville to Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham or Louisville.

In those days, I always thought 103.3 had the best all around FM signal followed by 95.5, 97.9 and 105.9.

Before 640 signed on with 50,000 watts in Collierville, WSM did much better to the west. These days, they don't really become clear to about the Tennessee River if you are driving on I-40. I wonder if they protested 640 coming on the air?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure on the date, but I used to listen to WSM up here in Louisville back in the 90's during the middays, but can't pick it up much here anymore. I do remember listening to WSM when there was the debate about switching formats away from country music. I even listened to the news conference that afternoon when Gaylord said they would stay with music. Today 650 is usually silent during the day in my 2001 Sebring, and I find that strange for a 50kw even during the day. I can receive WLW fine and listen to Willie as an alternative to Rush. I can receive WLAC some at night, but I don't care for their programming. I'd like to get WSM cause I used to listen to Bill Cody when he was on WHAS back in the 80's.
 
briancraig said:
Before 640 signed on with 50,000 watts in Collierville, WSM did much better to the west. These days, they don't really become clear to about the Tennessee River if you are driving on I-40. I wonder if they protested 640 coming on the air?
Click to expand...

Until I saw this post, I never knew there was another 50kw station adjacent to WSM on the dial and so geographically close. This might be why I no longer get WSM here in Louisville as easily as in years past. When did this happen, and who at the FCC opened the airwaves to so many of these "religious" frequencies? I know on the FM side there are so many little translator stations that are popping up. They are really nulling out stations I used to listen to (thank you K-LOVE). Translators are to DXers what holes are to Swiss cheese!
 
charlestondxman said:
Who do you think has the best FM signal all around Middle Tennessee?
Click to expand...

I used to be able to get WZEZ 92.9 when I went to college at Memphis State. That was my only regular Nashville catch, and it was pretty much always there. The only exceptions were when WTUG from Tuscaloosa or KBEZ from Tulsa would duct or skip into town. So, 92.9 gets my vote. Of course, that was before 92.9 in Bartlett signed on, and it probably helped that I was almost on the next to top floor of Richardson Towers!
 
Well, 640 WCRV has been there for many years, and it brings a huge signal throughout all of West Tennessee. If only someone else had picked up that frequency, as even the 480 watt night signal is good through most of Shelby County and the fast growing MS suburbs like Southaven and Horn Lake.

However, the day signal can be heard in St. Louis and south of Jackson, MS.

Yep, WLW does have a huge signal during the daytime, even down into Tennessee sometimes. One time, during a hot summer day, I heard it at the I-40/I-81 junction NE of Knoxville, weakly, but it could be heard.

Strangely, I can pick up Memphis's sports station at 730 at night, even with only 1000 watts, since my local at 730 is off the air.

On the Monteagle grade on I-24, you can often pick up Atlanta FM signals.
 
I have picked up WSIX in Nashville as I was traveling on I-64 here in Southern Indiana during the summer between exit 92 (Carefree) and Jasper-Huntingburg exit 63.
 
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