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Entercom HDs (WEEI on WKAF HD2)

dumber than a box of hair said:
Jimmy128 said:
Entercom could have done the same with WAAF/WKAF...

Why would they blow up a station that makes money?

IF WAAF is doing good in the ratings then of course they should keep it. I guess the only option is to go to HD2/3 especially that they are stuck with two big AM's.
 
raccoonradio said:
Note the following comment to a post on Boston Sports Media Watch:

ORIG POST: http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2011/07/guest-column-the-big-drop-part-ii#idc-container

COMMENT, written by "TTFK":
>>WEEI needs more than just an FM signal in Boston; they need a more consistent signal along the Pike. Nothing is more annoying that having to fumble around between AM and FM several times as I'm driving across the state just because they can't get a decent signal into central MA. Many days, I just flip over to 98.5 somewhere around Brimfield and leave it there all the way to New Bedford and back around to Providence. Why bother fumbling back and forth with 105.5, 1440, 96.3 and 103.7?

So a "radio nerd" (I assume we all are) has a hard time going from 850 to 1440 then to 105.5?

Yeah, really really hard work there.

98.5 doesn't go nearly as far as those others do.

I love the fact that between 1440, 105.5, and 103.7 more than 1/2 my drive to NYC can be in local sports talk territory before finally giving in to 660 or 1510.

It's a bit nitpicky to say that it's too hard to change station 2-3 times in a several hour drive. And the areas where they may barely bleed over each other aren't big metro areas with tons of people.
 
Maybe the battery was low, maybe I dropped my portable a couple times, but last night in the breakroom at work I tried recep on WMKK, WKAF, and WAAF on the HD portable (we're talking N.
Reading); WMKK of course came in excellent as did its HD2 Funkytown but I could barely get the other 2 in. Of course the HD wouldn't come in _there_; if recep is spotty on the main station, how could they expect people to even pick up the HDs at all? Again, prob low battery, or where I was.
I charged it a bit and last night noted (here at home) that I could pick up some FMs from ME,
the Cape, etc. (again, pretty good FM reception) and some HDs too. WEEI's 96.3 signal from
the Cape came in. I was getting Frank FM from the Maine coast, 107.5...and someone who sounded like Harold Camping (most likely recorded) was on an 88.7 somewhere.

Trying again, at home...high floor, near coast (in case of WKAF, it goes from Great Blue Hill across a bit of land south of Boston and then it's all water to my home
WKAF: Main signal comes in but can't pick up the HD 2
WAAF: Main signal barely came in, had to move the radio around, hold up high. No HD 2
WMKK: Well no surprise, great main signal plus Funkytown on HD 2. No HD3

Now trying 98.5 for heck of it. Main signal fine. Last night the HD2 and HD3 came in. Not now.
100.7: Main signal comes in, the HD 2 (all blues) too but move the radio a little and you lose it.

Could be the earplugs, low battery (no wait it's 2 bars out of 3 now)...but let's just say with the portable HD expect spotty reception. I don't have a car HD or a component HD (with antenna)
so I don't know about that. Who knows, maybe Ent. turned off the HD2s again.

Let's just say:
HD RADIO IS WONDERFUL! :) (/ sarcasm)
 
On the portable, does the earphone wire serve as the antenna, or is there a whip antenna that you extend? I used to have a walkman where the earphone wire was the antenna and that was so directional that I would have to keep moving the wire to listen to a station while walking.

On my Sony XDR-S3HD radios at home I have great HD reception from all FM stations except WXKS-FM with a folded dipole thumbtacked to the wall. I have no idea why only WXKS-FM does not come in in HD (when stations farther away using less power come in fine).
 
It's the earphone wire, as with any walkman.
It would be interesting to see if there were, or would be, some small portable radios with a whip antenna which could also get HD. I have a Sony ICF-36 which has AM, FM, and (useless now)
audio from _analog_ TV Ch 2-13. The radio is 2.5" x 8.5" x 5" or so, a nice little portable.

Now if the same radio, which does have a whip antenna, had HD as well maybe it would get some
good recep of that.
 
Did Entercomm increase 97.7 Digital power? Got the HD2 last night on Sony Table HD Radio. About 15 mikes south of BLue Hills. HAd WEEI, but well within range of analog 103.7 FM
 
Here in Beverly: 97.7 main signal comes in on the HD portable; an HD2 shows up but all you hear is a split second and it ends, and the display says "Channel No Longer Available"...?

WMKK, as before, very strong on main signal and on the HD 2 Funkytown. No HD 3

HD Radio..."it's time to upgrade"...YOUR SIGNALS...
 
I'm sitting here (Framingham) listening to WAAF's HD2 on a Sony, and the audio sounds absolutely atrocious. 850 sounds a heck of a lot better. Is Entercom using a very low bit rate on their HD2?

Also, from a practical point of view, is there anyone who can get WAAF's HD2 channel who could not pick up 850's signal? Wouldn't simulcasting 680 on WAAF's HD2 channel make a heck of a lot more sense, especially towards winter time?
 
I wonder if this is temporary, when or if they have another bad book, think of it weei 97.7/107.3 with hill man inthe morning. And move the music to the hd 2s even if its just one they.could still do it!!
 
raccoonradio said:
HD Radio..."it's time to upgrade"...YOUR SIGNALS...

Don't hold your breath. They on the bleeding edge of interfering with the analog signals now as it is, and lest we forget, analog is where radio companies still make their money.
 
That's what I figured, on FM and especially AM (where Bob Bittner has referred to it as "In Band, OFF Channel" and others have called it I-BLOCK). Analog indeed is where the money is, though it sounds funny to say that what with TV converted to digital. Radio, digital is on the back burner
and sub signals. "It's time to upgrade" was one of their slogans. The HD radio site currently highlights the fact that there are extra signals: "More relaxing on HD. More issues (pic of the Capitol) on HD. More riffs on HD." etc

http://www.hdradio.com/stations/Massachusetts-MA/Boston-11
List of Boston stations: how accurate? 93.7 does just list the main sig & rhythmic AC
97.7 lists "blues" as the HD2--what? (There is a blues HD2 on WZLX, Radio Mojo)
107.3 they list comedy as the HD 2 (what?)
107.9 they correctly list WXKS (AM) as the HD2
 
Since we're dealing with sports here (albeit simulcasts on HD2s), in Minn. we have yet another sports station moving to FM
http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2011/08/05/30572/kfan_to_become_fm_station_ktlk_goes_am

KFAN sports to FM
WTLK-FM conservative talk (a kind of Rush Radio lineup) to AM
Younger people or adults in general not really touching the AM dial...
Sports biling well $$$ on FM

Note one line near the end: Music is moving to Ipods...spoken word to FM...
Apparently there will still be an FM presence for the conservative talk, the article says, with
4 translators being assembled, one already on, to simulcast what will be talk on 1130.

What would this be like in Boston? Suppose Entercom owned 96.9 and ran talk. It would be like them flipping the talk to AM (850) and the sports to FM (96.9). Again, this is not true, but it would mean you'd get E&B, Graham, Meehan etc on an AM 850 while Mut and Merloni, Big Show, D&C etc would wind up on a 96.9. Just doing an example.

Sports radio billing better.
 
folks know or care enough about it to have bought one.
Yes you don't hear anyone talking about it even though the spot is constantly on.
I've got to get one: sometime between now and Jan 1. People I know have been unsatisfied. I'll talk to a blog-guy I know and see if there's anything recommended.
 
raccoonradio said:
Note one line near the end: Music is moving to Ipods...spoken word to FM...

How does one hear a new song or a new act on the iPod? One has to download it, right? But if music disappears from commercial radio, how are enough iPod owners going to download enough of the same song or same act to make financial sense for anyone to produce and distribute the music? Most of the downloading would be catalog product or fringe acts heard in some club or on college radio.

Hate on the labels all you want, but if there's no corporate presence out there pushing new music and getting it played in saturation rotation on radio, then nobody makes money. Maybe that keeps the Justin Biebers and Katy Perrys unknowns instead of superstars, but the prospect of trying to pitch songs to an all-iPod and Internet audience gives no one any financial incentive to make music a career.
 
I guess it makes sense to put RKO on the WAAF HD 3 since they (like WEEI) have a problem to
the west after sunset. Well, here in Bev. I can barely pick up WAAF's main signal on the FM/HD
radio. No HD 2, No HD 3 at all.

(The one I'm nearest to is WMKK, among Ent. properties--that has Funkytown on HD2, no HD3.
At least not picked up here.)
 
Did you try WKAF-HD2 87.7-HD2? Thats coming from the Blue Hills and does have WEEI on it.

raccoonradio said:
I guess it makes sense to put RKO on the WAAF HD 3 since they (like WEEI) have a problem to
the west after sunset. Well, here in Bev. I can barely pick up WAAF's main signal on the FM/HD
radio. No HD 2, No HD 3 at all.

(The one I'm nearest to is WMKK, among Ent. properties--that has Funkytown on HD2, no HD3.
At least not picked up here.)
 
Yes I can pick that up, and mentioned it in another thread. I was trying to pick up the WRKO on the WAAF HD 3 but I couldn't even pick up the 107.3's HD 2 (barely could pick up the reg signal).
Here in Beverly, of the Entercom stations, I can pick up:

WMKK (1) Mike 93.
WMKK-HD 2 Funkytown
No HD3

WKAF (1) // WAAF
WKAF-HD 2 // WEEI --sometimes goes on for a second then off
No HD 3

WAAF (1) Rock
Can't pick up the HD2 or 3, can barely pick up the main sig
 
in my area i can pick up wkaf and waaf in hd riding around in my car it can be spotty at times,but at my house with a radio shack antenna attached to my hd radio i have no issues,btw im in se mass!
 
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