FYBUSH: WPKX 97.9 from Springfield to Hartford?

[MarcB]

From NERW:

WPKX 97.9 (Enfield) has applied to move its tower from the WWLP tower in Agawam, Mass to the top of City Place in Downtonw Hartford. Fybush wonders if it will be for Rush Radio and also wonders about the ownership limit, which is what caused CC to sell 104.1 last year.

http://fybush.com/nerw.html

I personally think this is bad. Springfield will lose its Country station unless CC decides to blow up WRNX. KIX 97.9 is a better Country Station than WWYZ. Who wants Rush Radio in Hartford anyway?

 

[CTListener]

From NERW:

WPKX 97.9 (Enfield) has applied to move its tower from the WWLP tower in Agawam, Mass to the top of City Place in Downtonw Hartford. Fybush wonders if it will be for Rush Radio and also wonders about the ownership limit, which is what caused CC to sell 104.1 last year.

http://fybush.com/nerw.html

I personally think this is bad. Springfield will lose its Country station unless CC decides to blow up WRNX. KIX 97.9 is a better Country Station than WWYZ. Who wants Rush Radio in Hartford anyway?

Limbaugh does well on 'TIC. Why wouldn't a conservative lineup work in Hartford? This isn't Berkeley, you know.

If this happens, I hope the Americana format stays on WPKX's HD-2. I don't get a strong enough signal from the Agawam tower here in Meriden to hear the HD-2, but a Hartford relocation ought to bring it in.

 

[GlennO]

It's hard to imagine 97.9 from City Place not cutting into 97.7 WCTY's protected contour around Colchester... even 98.3 WILI-FM seems like a tight squeeze.

 

[BRNout]

Clear could also go urban AC with it or Spanish tropical. They've really been pushing the Spanish formats nationally, even though I think urban might actually do better (based on how WYBC's very weak signal still gets numbers in the Hartford book).

Not saying that the conjecture about conservative talk is wrong, I'm just tossing out a suggestion that there are other formats that could also be under consideration. What's a bad sign for Springfield is that Clear Channel took a look at each market and elected to go with the bigger one that has some growth rather than to stay in Springfield, which is stagnant.

 

[MarcB]

Clear could also go urban AC with it or Spanish tropical. They've really been pushing the Spanish formats nationally, even though I think urban might actually do better (based on how WYBC's very weak signal still gets numbers in the Hartford book).

People were saying that in back in '03 when they flipped 104.1 from Modern Rock to that half-@$$ed Hip-hop format. They had bad talk shows in two dayparts - Steve Harvey in the Morning (he's even stated he hates hip-hop) and Wendy Williams in the afternoon. Plus they weren't smart enough to counter program HOT 93.7 - Power and Hot had Slow Jam type shows on at the same time during the week. They both played Old School, Regaeeton, and Caribbean Music at the same time on Sundays.

Tropical might work but only if they didn't program it on the cheap. I was talking to Mr. Fybush on Facebook and he said W248AB 97.5 La Bomba in Bolton might have to move to a new frequency or sign off if they approve the move of 97.9 to Hartford.

 

[rickkelly]

What is particularly surprising is that CC would give up such a high rated station in the Springfield market. County was does well in Springfield. I have to wonder if they will perhaps move the country format to 100.9, WRNX.

-Rick Kelly
northeastairchecks.com

 

[KML0224]

Until 1990, WFCS-FM of New Britain's Central Connecticut State University was at 97.9 FM. However, they only had a puny 36 watt horizontal signal which never really got past Hartford, let alone the south end of New Britain. WPKX-FM was the reason they moved to begin with.

 

[kms575]

Rush Radio? God help us!!!

 

[necrat123]

It's hard to imagine 97.9 from City Place not cutting into 97.7 WCTY's protected contour around Colchester... even 98.3 WILI-FM seems like a tight squeeze.

97.9's app has a very deep null protecting WCTY. It will not overlap it much.
It also has a smaller null protecting New York City.

It is close but clear spaced of the two 98.3's.

And my money is on a conservative talker FM, which would probably do fairly well there.

W248AB in Bolton on 97.5 might be displaced by this application, however, if interference can be proved.
Same with WQAQ on 98.1, which is also a class D secondary service FM.

 

[MarcB]

Just curious. Does the move open up any adjacent frequencies to use in Western Mass whether full power or LPFM?

 

[BRNout]

97.9's app has a very deep null protecting WCTY. It will not overlap it much.
It also has a smaller null protecting New York City.

It is close but clear spaced of the two 98.3's.

And my money is on a conservative talker FM, which would probably do fairly well there.

W248AB in Bolton on 97.5 might be displaced by this application, however, if interference can be proved.
Same with WQAQ on 98.1, which is also a class D secondary service FM.

Good info - basically, it sounds like the signal should cover the entire Hartford market with perhaps some fading in parts of Tolland County. Based on this, I'd think that the signal would be best in Hartford and it's immediate neighbors, particularly north of town (Windsor, Bloomfield, etc.).

On formatting, conservative talk is probably the most likely format. But, don't count out the urban and Spanish tropical formats just yet. You have 10% black population and 10.4% Hispanic. Neither group is very well served and both are demographically young. This signal's footprint would go well with either one.

Let's look at it another way: one of the best analogues for Hartford that I can find is Milwaukee. Reasonably similar in size and ethnic breakdown, although Milwaukee is a little bigger. In Milwaukee, CC runs an AM conservative talker (WISN), country (WMIL-FM), urban contemporary (WKKV "V100.7"), oldies/classic hits (WRIT), classic rock hits (WQBW "The Brew"), and a classic country AM (WOKY). Others in the market offer urban AC (WJMR) and Regional Mexican (WDDW), blocking CC from those formats. If Bustos Media didn't run WDDW, Clear would probably flip something to Spanish as they just did in Chicago and elsewhere.

If you look at how this owner programs markets that are similar to Hartford, the obvious holes would be conservative talk, urban and Spanish. I'd be shocked if it wasn't one of those three.

 

[KML0224]

An urban contemporary station along the lines of WYBC-FM 94.3 in New Haven would be wonderful! I'm in the south end of New Britain and I always have problems with their signal. As for placing the transmitter atop City Place, presently the tallest building in Hartford, is there an idea of what the ERP of the station would be? Is it too early to ask if they'd be running an HD signal, too?

 

[necrat123]

it too early to ask if they'd be running an HD signal, too?

I can say with about 95% certanty that the site will be in HD digital.

 

[reelyreal]

So if Fuller's $100,000 translator on 97.5 causes interference, where could it go? Is there any obvious move where they could get similar coverage?

 

[MarcB]

So if Fuller's $100,000 translator on 97.5 causes interference, where could it go? Is there any obvious move where they could get similar coverage?

Perhaps they can buy 99.5 in Storrs from Connecticut Public Radio, boost the signal, and move it to Bolton. I don't know. I'm just throwing out random ideas. There's a 1 watt WMNR Translator on 91.9 in Southington that is currently dark. Don't know if they can buy it, boost the signal, move it to Bolton, and move it to a new frequency. Up one notch to 92.1 is probably too close to WWYZ. Right now that 91.9 is on Meriden Mountain. Moving it to 92.1 from Meriden Mountain certainly won't work even with a signal boost since YZ's tower is on Meriden Mountain. Could 105.3 work? That was the frequency of a hi-powered pirate station in Bloomfield in the 90s. Again I'm just throwing out random ideas.

 

[necrat123]

All right, allow me to tackle this one piece by piece.

Perhaps they can buy 99.5 in Storrs from Connecticut Public Radio, boost the signal, and move it to Bolton.

Not likely. Would cause interference to WPLR on 99.1 and could even encroach on 99.9 out of WEZN, unless it was at really low power.

Up one notch to 92.1 is probably too close to WWYZ. Right now that 91.9 is on Meriden Mountain. Moving it to 92.1 from Meriden Mountain certainly won't work even with a signal boost since YZ's tower is on Meriden Mountain.

Seeing that there is a 91.9 all ready on West Peak, not likely.

Could 105.3 work?

Nope, WIHS would receive too much interference from that.

The best thing they could do would be to co-locate the 97.5 with Rush Radio 97.9, to satisfy the FCC's minimum interference ratio for 2nd and 3rd adjacent translators to the roof of the building.

 

[Radiowomen]

The station will hurt WCTY...similarly as the the 105.5 in Springfield did to Q-105. Not to mention Springfield will lose a station, because of Clear Channels greed to serve Hartford the larger market.
We can stop this, by a simple "petition to deny". Which can be filed by anyone. A techinical showing, insider information acking improperly breaking FCC rules ect are all valid grounds. Addressed to the FCC with the application number of the WPKX.

You have less than 30 days... let the petitions begin.

 

[MarcB]

The station will hurt WCTY...similarly as the the 105.5 in Springfield did to Q-105.

Different situation. WVEI-FM and WQGN are both on the 105.5 frequencies. WCTY is on 97.7 and WPKX is on 97.9. Plus Q is still loud and clear where it supposed to be - it's home market. Q is a shell of its former self anyway and next time it rains down there I hope there tower gets washed away. Additionally there's also KICKS 105.5 WDBY Paterson-Danbury on the same frequency as Q.

Not to mention Springfield will lose a station

As for losing a signal in Springfield? So what? They've gained 2 in the last 10 years - 106.3 and 105.5.


Yes they are over they will be over the ownership cap, but who's to say they won't sell it once it's relocated or one of their other stations? Furthermore the only loser in this deal appears to be John Fuller and his La Bomba 97.5 W248AB. And I hope he sues the pants off of Clear Channel.

Also who's to say even if approved this will ever get done. Look at 96.7 WCTZ in Stamford and 103.9 WFAS in West Chester County. Both of them got approvals to move several years ago and they haven't yet.