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Connecticut Translator News

MarcB

MarcB

The other board released the applicants for new translators.

610 WSNG Torrington wants 104.5 FM.
1470 WMMW Meriden wants 102.5 FM.
1360 WDRC Hartford wants 103.3 FM.
1320 WATR Waterbury wants 97.7 FM.
1420 WLIS Old Saybrook wants 97.3 FM.
1310 WICH Norwich wants 96.1 FM.
1350 WNLK Norwalk wants 103.9 FM.
960 WELI New Haven wants 96.9 FM.
1380 WFNW Naugatuck wants 104.5 FM.
600 WICC Bridgeport wants 107.3 FM.

Out of all of these I want to see Full Power Radio get 103.3 FM in Hartford for WDRC. It will force that Caribbean pirate station off the air. I also hope once FPR takes over operations of The Talk of Connecticut they improve their programming.
 
Where would the xmtr be located for a 103.3 WDRC-AM translator? The translator for WNTY is on Meridan MT and its coverage in the southern part of Hartford is spotty. They would have to have the WDRC translator located nearer to Hartford to get the coverage of the city and surrounding areas.

I would bet that they move the KOOL oldies format on to the current Talk of CT stations once the sale goes through.
 
That seems to make perfect sense! Seeing as they already have 990 AM/96.1 FM Southington covering part of the area. Could that be why WWCO-AM 1240 Waterbury wasn't included in the recent sale?
 
What would be the point of the WMMW translator at 102.5 carrying the same format as the WNTY translator at 96.1? Is there a coverage gap from Southington that a Meriden signal would fill?
 
Aren't these applications a decade too late?

Maybe the bigger question is, should these AMs just wait a few more years for Android-Connect, etc. in cars to become commonplace, then turn off the transmitters and go Internet-only?

The AM band is practically unlistenable in Southern Connecticut and FM reception certainly won't benefit from more translators.

"Radios" are already becoming obsolete. I recently looked for a clock radio with an earphone jack and found exactly one - available only online. Walk into a Best Buy and look at the tiny space devoted to "radios." Sad but it's the reality.
 
There would be no point having 102.5 and 96.1 running the same programming. Maybe they'll keep the format of "The Talk of Connecticut" in place minus "The Big D" with Rob Ray of course. (That would compete with Kool Radio). Keep in mind FPR owns a talk station in the New London Market - "94.9 News Now" WJJF Montauck. While 94.9 runs CBS news, "The Talk of Connecticut" wouldn't be able to since WTIC has the CBS News contract in Hartford. That's also why 96.1/990 runs the undbranded Westwood One News hourly, while the "Kool Radio" affiliates in Springfield (100.1/1270) and Westerly (104.3/1180) runs CBS News.

Personally I'd think a Country format focusing on the music from the 80s-Today would be a good format for them to try. FPR owns a Country Station in the New London Market "US Country 99.5" which is WBMW HD2.

Maybe 1360's translator will be on their antenna on Blue Hills Avenue in Bloomfield. Seems to me the most logical place for 1470's translator would be Meriden Mountain.
 
wadio said:
Aren't these applications a decade too late?

Maybe the bigger question is, should these AMs just wait a few more years for Android-Connect, etc. in cars to become commonplace, then turn off the transmitters and go Internet-only?

The AM band is practically unlistenable in Southern Connecticut and FM reception certainly won't benefit from more translators.

"Radios" are already becoming obsolete. I recently looked for a clock radio with an earphone jack and found exactly one - available only online. Walk into a Best Buy and look at the tiny space devoted to "radios." Sad but it's the reality.
Click to expand...

The problem with waiting for cars to catch up with technology is that people are driving their cars longer and longer these days, and it will take quite a few years for even half of the cars on the road to be equipped with the technology to make listening to online-only stations doable without losing most of your audience. In fact, without total geofencing, which would make streaming audio strictly a local thing worldwide, there will always be far more options over the internet than over the air -- so who's to say whether, say, WELI's listeners follow that station over to the internet or whether a good portion of them decide they like news/talk from Boston, or Chicago, or London better and start listening to out-of-market and out-of-country streams instead?

You're right about finding radios in stores. But with shopping moving increasingly online, there are still plenty to be easily found and bought. Of course, all the profit goes to Amazon and the like and your local folks lose their jobs.
 
I agree that there would be no point in duplicating the 96.1 signal from Meriden Mt. With the purchase of WDRC-AM, FPR might unload WNTY and the 96.1 translator. If someone were to purchase WNTY and 96.1 they should look into lifting that directional pattern on the AM since they no longer have to protect the now defunct Providence station.
 
GreatCallofTheNorthEast said:
I agree that there would be no point in duplicating the 96.1 signal from Meriden Mt. With the purchase of WDRC-AM, FPR might unload WNTY and the 96.1 translator. If someone were to purchase WNTY and 96.1 they should look into lifting that directional pattern on the AM since they no longer have to protect the now defunct Providence station.
Click to expand...

Nobody within its current pattern is listening to the AM because the station has a musical format and music listeners just don't listen to AM anymore no matter how strong the signal is. If a hypothetical new owner buys the WNTY/W241CG combo and keeps the format some kind of music, what's the point of improving the AM signal's coverage? Yes, the suspicious "complaints" from alleged WTIC-FM listeners (who may very well have been sock puppets of TIC-FM management) forced Red Wolf/FullPower/whatever to limit the 96.1 signal to the north, but throwing a better 990 signal into Hartford isnt going to get those lost listeners back.

Also, is it official, as in FCC official, that they no longer have to protect Porvidence? I thought that, as long as the allocation remains in Providence, then WNTY must limit its signal that way on the possibility, however remote, that someone decides to put a station there again.

One more thing: Everyone here is assuming that Fuller wants translators because he wants to flip those Angry Old White Guy Talk of Connecticut stations to some sort of music. Is it possible that he just wants to put Brad Davis and company on FM, where most of the ears are?
 
I'm probably one of only a handful listening on 990. Where I live in Southington there is too much overload on my Walkman to pick up 96.1 FM. I walk 35-40 mins twice a day. Also due to overload I also cannot get WUCS 97.9, Bomba 98.5, or La Mega 101.7 FM. All these come in just fine on the radio in my Mom's Honda Civic, which I'm not allowed to drive. And except for WUCS I can get the 96.1, 98.5, and 101.7 on the clock radio in the kitchen. I just have to adjust the wire that serves as an antenna.
 
CTListener said:
Also, is it official, as in FCC official, that they no longer have to protect Providence? I thought that, as long as the allocation remains in Providence, then WNTY must limit its signal that way on the possibility, however remote, that someone decides to put a station there again.
Click to expand...

Do AM frequencies get allocated like FM? I'm not certain that they do. I haven't been in touch with recent changes but back in the "old" days if you could find a way to shoe-horn a station into the spectrum without interfering with adjacent and second-adjacent frequencies you could apply for a license.
 
GreatCallofTheNorthEast said:
Do AM frequencies get allocated like FM? I'm not certain that they do. I haven't been in touch with recent changes but back in the "old" days if you could find a way to shoe-horn a station into the spectrum without interfering with adjacent and second-adjacent frequencies you could apply for a license.
Click to expand...

Your "shoe horn" analogy is still basically correct. There are a few things that have changed, such as creating new daytimers being essentially impossible, and some changed protection requirements. But, unlike FM where channels were assigned to communities, allowing interested parties to apply for them, on AM you have to show no interference and, meeting certain other requirements, you get a station.

(That's a very simplified answer, but it generally answers the question.)
 
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