Classic Rock Making a Comeback in Birmingham

[Charles35080]

Looks like Clear Channel is putting another translator on the air in Birmingham:

http://ccaccess.com/view/mail?iID=PDYRGMP2VS254X3KCGUS

 

[R.D.P.]

I loved the promo.

It was very catchy.

Rock on 94.9 FM.

Hope you do well.

Dan <><

 

[mrjay]

interesting....whats the plan here? To air this promo on other clear channels stations so maybe they'll lose listeners? Lol

 

[Charles35080]

There may be a niche here. Right now, the only alternatives are the Vulcan, which has a limited coverage area, and the Eagle. which essentially drove 99.5 to go to CHR. No telling what this means for the Birmingham market.

 

[tomservo]

You think the Vulcan has a limited coverage area, well this translator is running just 13 watts. Height be damned, that won't get you much of anywhere useful. Bessemer, Hueytown, Leeds, Pelham, Alabaster are all outside the 60 dBu, and even in that contour I doubt they make it into any of the buildings in downtown or Homewood.

There was an app to boost power to something like 60 watts. but it was canceled, so I don't know what they can do with this little flea power allocation. The parent station appears to be WDXB-HD2, but since HD works so poorly in Birmingham (in my experience) I doubt it will be that helpful.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

You think the Vulcan has a limited coverage area, well this translator is running just 13 watts. Height be damned, that won't get you much of anywhere useful. Bessemer, Hueytown, Leeds, Pelham, Alabaster are all outside the 60 dBu, and even in that contour I doubt they make it into any of the buildings in downtown or Homewood.

There was an app to boost power to something like 60 watts. but it was canceled, so I don't know what they can do with this little flea power allocation. The parent station appears to be WDXB-HD2, but since HD works so poorly in Birmingham (in my experience) I doubt it will be that helpful.

I have had good experience with HD in Birmingham myself and even if the 94.9 translator has a limited coverage area like the Vulcan 103.1 translator the 102.5 HD signal(makes it to Falkville) beats the 103.7 HD signal(makes it to just north of cullman). I guess Classic Rock 94.9 will replace foggy mountain on 102.5 HD2 ?

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

You think the Vulcan has a limited coverage area, well this translator is running just 13 watts. Height be damned, that won't get you much of anywhere useful. Bessemer, Hueytown, Leeds, Pelham, Alabaster are all outside the 60 dBu, and even in that contour I doubt they make it into any of the buildings in downtown or Homewood.

There was an app to boost power to something like 60 watts. but it was canceled, so I don't know what they can do with this little flea power allocation. The parent station appears to be WDXB-HD2, but since HD works so poorly in Birmingham (in my experience) I doubt it will be that helpful.

I checked the FCC website and this translator is only running 7 watts tomservo.

 

[passtheword]

Must be more to all of it than what "meets the eye"...maybe an application is forthcoming to increase power/height on the translator? According to the record for W235BS on recnet.com, there isn't anything pending as far as apps go, but that all might change in a few days...

Update: Have y'all noticed? the link to the video above has now disappeared. Hmmm....
lol

 

[tomservo]

Maybe that video was just a bluff to get the folks at the Eagle in a dander.

I would be surprised if CC could pull together all the Rock 99 jocks, who had worked for Cumulus. But then again, maybe they were all sitting out non-competes while waiting on CC to get the translator up and running? I would have thought they all moved on by now.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a pending app to increase power on the translator, but it got mysteriously dropped. The 13 watts was the the only app on the FCC site yesterday. But a search today shows it matching what RECnet has. 70 watts, really directional. That's a lot better than 13 watts, but it's still going to severely neglect the over the mountain and eastern suburbs.

EDIT TO ADD: I'm a doofus. I just figured out what is going on. The dismissed app had an error in overlapping with another station which is why the Commission rejected it. This 94.9 is being hemmed in by a co-channel translator in Pell City that's rebroadcasting 1430 WFHK, and an unbuilt LPFM license to Chelsea. The directional pattern in the current CP is to prevent overlap… which to me makes this one of the more compromised translator signals in town. FWIW the Pell City translator is a little monster with good coverage of Trussville and Leeds; maybe CC will strong arm the new owners of WFHK into selling it and letting both relay the same signal, for a much wider coverage area?

A note in the amended application says they are ready to put the signal on as soon as the FCC approves it, so it shouldn't be too long before it's on air.

 

[R.D.P.]

Believe it or not, the Montgomery area translators, can be heard in west Selma. I've been able to get them all, with the exception of WAY FM, Lite 100.5 FM and The River 101.5 FM, from the parking lot of my home Church.

Dan <><

P.S. Just because a translator isn't a big boy, don't count them out. They can be heard in places well outside their main coverage area. (Examples include: The Birmingham and Selma area ones can be heard in Maplesville. The one in Marion, can be heard like a local, on most days in Selma.)

 

[passtheword]

Maybe that video was just a bluff to get the folks at the Eagle in a dander.

I would be surprised if CC could pull together all the Rock 99 jocks, who had worked for Cumulus. But then again, maybe they were all sitting out non-competes while waiting on CC to get the translator up and running? I would have thought they all moved on by now.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a pending app to increase power on the translator, but it got mysteriously dropped. The 13 watts was the the only app on the FCC site yesterday. But a search today shows it matching what RECnet has. 70 watts, really directional. That's a lot better than 13 watts, but it's still going to severely neglect the over the mountain and eastern suburbs.

EDIT TO ADD: I'm a doofus. I just figured out what is going on. The dismissed app had an error in overlapping with another station which is why the Commission rejected it. This 94.9 is being hemmed in by a co-channel translator in Pell City that's rebroadcasting 1430 WFHK, and an unbuilt LPFM license to Chelsea. The directional pattern in the current CP is to prevent overlap… which to me makes this one of the more compromised translator signals in town. FWIW the Pell City translator is a little monster with good coverage of Trussville and Leeds; maybe CC will strong arm the new owners of WFHK into selling it and letting both relay the same signal, for a much wider coverage area?

A note in the amended application says they are ready to put the signal on as soon as the FCC approves it, so it shouldn't be too long before it's on air.

Here's another app for the translator I just found..this one is for 90 watts @330 meters (~1082 ft).

oh never mind..I see it's superseded.

http://cdbs.recnet.net:8080/fmq.php?appid=1638093&facid=158047

 

[passtheword]

btw, the video that suddenly disappeared about "Rock 94.9"...hath reappearth once again.

 

[ThePowerCow]

Call it "95 Rock"!

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

You think the Vulcan has a limited coverage area, well this translator is running just 13 watts. Height be damned, that won't get you much of anywhere useful. Bessemer, Hueytown, Leeds, Pelham, Alabaster are all outside the 60 dBu, and even in that contour I doubt they make it into any of the buildings in downtown or Homewood.

There was an app to boost power to something like 60 watts. but it was canceled, so I don't know what they can do with this little flea power allocation. The parent station appears to be WDXB-HD2, but since HD works so poorly in Birmingham (in my experience) I doubt it will be that helpful.

You are right tomservo the 94.9 translator will be running 70 watts(I misread the fcc website) with the tower placement between Bessemer and west Birmingham, you should be able to get a good signal there and pretty good in Homewood, Hoover, Helena, Fultondale, and ok in Irondale, Gardendale, and Alabaster. Montevallo, Warrior, Trussville, Brookwood, and Dora are in the fringe coverage area so you might pick it up in these places but the signal would have some static.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

Looks like Clear Channel is putting another translator on the air in Birmingham:

http://ccaccess.com/view/mail?iID=PDYRGMP2VS254X3KCGUS

The domain http://rock949.com was registered by clear channel radioinsight has an article on this http://radioinsight.com/blog/headli...hannel-to-resurrect-defunct-birmingham-brand/

 

[passtheword]

You are right tomservo the 94.9 translator will be running 70 watts(I misread the fcc website) with the tower placement between Bessemer and west Birmingham, you should be able to get a good signal there and pretty good in Homewood, Hoover, Helena, Fultondale, and ok in Irondale, Gardendale, and Alabaster. Montevallo, Warrior, Trussville, Brookwood, and Dora are in the fringe coverage area so you might pick it up in these places but the signal would have some static.

I thought that was strange when I checked rock949.com yesterday and saw where the domain had not yet been registered. Wonder why Clear Channel waited to the last sec to register it?

I should have checked 94.9 FM when I was up in Hoover earlier today, but now I'm back home in south Shelby county, outside the translator's service area. Anybody in Jefferson county within the translator's 60 dBu contour and can verify if it's on the air yet?

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

I thought that was strange when I checked rock949.com yesterday and saw where the domain had not yet been registered. Wonder why Clear Channel waited to the last sec to register it?

I should have checked 94.9 FM when I was up in Hoover earlier today, but now I'm back home in south Shelby county, outside the translator's service area. Anybody in Jefferson county within the translator's 60 dBu contour and can verify if it's on the air yet?

Have you thought to check 102.5 WDXB HD2? This will be the 94.9 Translators parent station. 102.5 HD2 is or at least was broadcasting foggy mountain programing but this should end shortly, or maybe it already has?

 

[tomservo]

You are right tomservo the 94.9 translator will be running 70 watts(I misread the fcc website) with the tower placement between Bessemer and west Birmingham, you should be able to get a good signal there and pretty good in Homewood, Hoover, Helena, Fultondale, and ok in Irondale, Gardendale, and Alabaster. Montevallo, Warrior, Trussville, Brookwood, and Dora are in the fringe coverage area so you might pick it up in these places but the signal would have some static.

If the owner of W235BQ in Pell City ever builds out their CP, you're going to lose all the eastern suburbs because it'll be running 250 watts from Bald Rock Mountain or whatever it's called (where WJSU-DT transmits from, I think.) The 60 dBu from that facility would encompass Irondale and probably Trussville, too, so it would be a real mess on the frequency at best. Right now I believe W235BQ in Pell City is running low power from a site in town on an STA; unrelated to anything else but I hear WFHK's tower is still down and they're running off a long wire with no real plans to change.

Edit to add: If and when the WSYP-LP station comes on in Center Point, that's on 95.1 so that will further degrade the signal for Rock 94.9 on the east side of town.

Have you thought to check 102.5 WDXB HD2? This will be the 94.9 Translators parent station. 102.5 HD2 is or at least was broadcasting foggy mountain programing but this should end shortly, or maybe it already has?

I'll be interested to see if they add the classic rock as an HD3 or actually replace Foggy Mountain. I kind of get the impression that Foggy is one of the "high priority formats" for HD subchannels for Clear Channel. (The other is smooth jazz.) Down here in Darwin's Waiting Room a/k/a the Mobile market, Foggy is the on WKSJ, the only higher power commercial HD signal, and it's by far the most reliable HD signal in town. The others seem to go off air with alarming regularity, but WKSJ's HD is always there and always strong.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

If the owner of W235BQ in Pell City ever builds out their CP, you're going to lose all the eastern suburbs because it'll be running 250 watts from Bald Rock Mountain or whatever it's called (where WJSU-DT transmits from, I think.) The 60 dBu from that facility would encompass Irondale and probably Trussville, too, so it would be a real mess on the frequency at best. Right now I believe W235BQ in Pell City is running low power from a site in town on an STA; unrelated to anything else but I hear WFHK's tower is still down and they're running off a long wire with no real plans to change.



I'll be interested to see if they add the classic rock as an HD3 or actually replace Foggy Mountain. I kind of get the impression that Foggy is one of the "high priority formats" for HD subchannels for Clear Channel. (The other is smooth jazz.) Down here in Darwin's Waiting Room a/k/a the Mobile market, Foggy is the on WKSJ, the only higher power commercial HD signal, and it's by far the most reliable HD signal in town. The others seem to go off air with alarming regularity, but WKSJ's HD is always there and always strong.

I don't think they would add classic rock as and HD3 Because the HD2 is a little bit better signal and all the other translators are relaying HD2 Channels except K-Love 96.1 Gorgas relaying 105.5 HD3.
If they Decide to keep foggy mountain it would go to the HD3 and the classic rock on HD2 but I really don't think they would keep it being the only channel without a translator feeding it.

 

[tomservo]

Sorry to be Pauly Post-a-lot on this thread but another puzzle piece just fell into place. The Pell City translator CP for 250 watts atop the mountain has been dropped for the current STA which is 30 watts from the hill with the water towers overlooking downtown Pell City.

That's one impediment to Rock 94.9's coverage issue; how long until Clear Channel makes the Sankofa Youth people an offer they can't refuse to move their LPFM off 95.1?