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Great FM signals

C

charlestondxman

I have been vacationing in Asheville and Charlotte for the past few days, and have been amazed by some of the signals from South Carolina. I was just S of Asheville, and WCOS was coming in amazingly well for having to go over the mountains. That was in almost all day. WNOK was mixing in with WKQC, and 105.7 from Augusta was coming in decently.

Even the 97.1 translator of Spartanburg was coming in, mixing in with a Spanish station. 102.1 from Athens came in. AM was very good, too. 910 from Charleston came in over the much closer Johnson City at night.

WSPA, of course, came in almost everywhere, including most of the Charlotte area.

Who do you think has the best signal in the area?
 
Greenville undoubtedly has the most powerhouse FM signals in the state (WCOS is very good too, as is WKSF). 92.5, 93.7, and 98.9 are absolute flamethrowers. WSPA goes almost to Augusta, to the mountains, past Charlotte and Columbia (spotty, but you can tell it's them)...I am pretty sure theirs is the best in the state. 94.5 (WMUU) is very good too.

I'm not quite as sure of the others in the state, but this should be an interesting discussion.
 
WWDM has one of the best signals in the state as well. They show in the Florence and Charleston books. 100kw on a tall tower on Screaming Eagle Road.
 
WWDM......that signal is why its referred to as the " Big DM "...
 
carolinaradio said:
92.5, 93.7, and 98.9 are absolute flamethrowers.
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Nothing like 100KW and great antenna height to make you a flamethrower. 98.9 is on Hogback mountain at 1903' HAAT and 3333' above sea level. 92.5 and 93.7 are on Caesar's Head with 92.5 at 2001' HAAT, 4170' above sea level, and 93.7 at 1811' HAAT and 3773' above sea level. Looks like 92.5 gets the prize for being the highest.
 
Like I said in a thread last year WESC has a great signal, back when 92.5 now the box in Charleston was being moved from it's location near Greeleyville to Charleston this is when WHLZ wheels 92.5 was sold to Apex they were off the air for a good little while and WESC's signal came in here in the Elloree/Santee area usable enough that you could ride around listening to it in your car or truck without any trouble and almost no fadding to speak of at all. That is a true kick butt signal.
 
more kilowatts said:
Nothing like 100KW and great antenna height to make you a flamethrower. 98.9 is on Hogback mountain at 1903' HAAT and 3333' above sea level. 92.5 and 93.7 are on Caesar's Head with 92.5 at 2001' HAAT, 4170' above sea level, and 93.7 at 1811' HAAT and 3773' above sea level. Looks like 92.5 gets the prize for being the highest.
Click to expand...
I think the 92.5 signal is much better than the 93.7 one. 93.7 is spotty in the mountains in many areas and doesn't carry a long way to the south. I can get 92.5 just below Greenwood (that's when interference starts up), but still get 98.9 very clearly. It barely broke up in Edgefield last time I was down that way. Dial position plays a factor also I'm sure.

WSSL 100.5 puts out a pretty good signal as well.
 
WCOS has one of the best signals in the state. They came in almost all the time when I was S of Asheville, and you can hear them well W of Augusta (as far as Thomson). It often comes into downtown Charlotte, and people listen to it regularly in Rock Hill. They are the only one on the frequency in SC and most of GA (closest one is Atlanta), so they boom in.

Charleston has some amazing signals. WEZL is one of the best. I've heard them in Brunswick, GA, and all of the class Cs can be heard 75 miles out during normal conditions. 96.9 and 92.5 come in clear almost to Florence, and aren't lost until you get close to the GA line on 95.

Savannah has some huge signals. WJCL comes in about 70% of the time, unless they're overpowered by Orlando here. E-93 comes in right over WZMJ in Orangeburg on a good skip day.
 
Heading east from Greenville towards Charlotte, I'd say it's pretty close between 93.7 & 98.9.
98.9 does well in and around Charlotte itself (even a new 98.7 translator in Belmont doesn't make a huge dent in 98.9 just west of CLT airport).
I can get 93.7 & 98.9 in Uptown Charlotte and even towards the NE part of Charlotte with minimal static lots of the time.

92.5 won't go past Gastonia because of WQNC, 93.3 & 94.5 both do well up to Gastonia, 101.1, 102.5 & 106.3 make it to the NC-SC line on I-85.

I'd like to see someone move their signal to the former WAGI-FM site near Forest City so Charlotte & Greenville can be covered pretty well
 
DudeFan said:
WWDM has one of the best signals in the state as well. They show in the Florence and Charleston books. 100kw on a tall tower on Screaming Eagle Road.
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I think the Screaming Eagle Tower is WLTX-TV which I think is about 1800 ft. WMHK-FM is also on this tower and has a fantastic signal--always listenable here in the Fort MIll Area, even with WDAV/89.9 nearby. The Big DM's tower is east of US 521, way back in the woods on a dirt road and is about 1300 ft, I think. The Big DMs signal was better before they went directional towards the NE, to protect 101.3 in WIlmington, which I am sure they were paid off for. Still, a really stupid move. But sure enough they still get a 5-6 in the Florence ratings, even with some signal problems there. Back in the day, DM rocked the entire state, excluding the immediate Anderson area (this was before WROQ went 100,000 watts) as well as Augusta and Charlotte.
 
The 601 site is referred to as the Screaming Eagle site and is the main for the Big DM. It is technically off Screaming Eagle Road Extended. The AUX site is referred to as Wedgefield and is closer to Sumter.
 
DudeFan said:
The 601 site is referred to as the Screaming Eagle site and is the main for the Big DM. It is technically off Screaming Eagle Road Extended. The AUX site is referred to as Wedgefield and is closer to Sumter.
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Wow-the Wedgefield tower is still active? That was the first 100kw site for the Big DM and I think was about 600 feet. It too was VERY isolated and I thought it had to be right under the approach to Shaw AFB. It is about 10 miles south of US 376 in Sumter County and did provide very good coverage to Columbia. Prior to the Wedgefield tower, the Big DM broadcast with 3000 mono watts from just east of Sumter from one of the WFIG-AM towers. I think the development of WWDM is quite amazing and wish someone would write up a full history.
 
Wedgefield has been their AUX for years. If Screaming Eagle goes off, Wedgefield comes up and on, usually without operator intervention. Pretty great setup. John Marshall was all about making sure his facilities were the best and he had the money to do it.

John is still around. He'd be a great interview.
 
DudeFan said:
Wedgefield has been their AUX for years. If Screaming Eagle goes off, Wedgefield comes up and on, usually without operator intervention. Pretty great setup. John Marshall was all about making sure his facilities were the best and he had the money to do it.

John is still around. He'd be a great interview.
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Dudefan--is that John Marshall or John Miles? I know John Miles was the owner of WFIG-AM/FM and the resultant WWDM. Putting a black-oriented FM on the air in Sumter in the 70s was a very big deal and sadly controversial. I wouldn't mind talking to John Miles myself, maybe for an article, but maybe the John Marshall you referr to is someone else....
 
WWDM was last owned by the Marshall family. John Marshall was the last head of Gamecock City Broadcasting before selling the station to Radio Equity Partners in the mid-1990's.

John Miles owned WFIG and WWDM prior to Marshall.
 
I'm amazed by the signal of that 106.9 in Hilton Head and how it skips through there. Almost every day, it comes in pretty well in the Charleston area, and after you get toward Awendaw on 17, it comes back in. It has one of the best coastal FM signals.

I heard it one time in Daytona Beach, and has a pretty oepn frequency.
 
charlestondxman said:
I'm amazed by the signal of that 106.9 in Hilton Head and how it skips through there. Almost every day, it comes in pretty well in the Charleston area, and after you get toward Awendaw on 17, it comes back in. It has one of the best coastal FM signals.

I heard it one time in Daytona Beach, and has a pretty oepn frequency.
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What a shame they took WLOW off of it.

And then the real WLOW off 107.9.
 
vchimpanzee said:
charlestondxman said:
I'm amazed by the signal of that 106.9 in Hilton Head and how it skips through there. Almost every day, it comes in pretty well in the Charleston area, and after you get toward Awendaw on 17, it comes back in. It has one of the best coastal FM signals.

I heard it one time in Daytona Beach, and has a pretty oepn frequency.
Click to expand...
What a shame they took WLOW off of it.

And then the real WLOW off 107.9.
Click to expand...

WLOW is a station that has been on several frequencies since the '80's. I'm not 100% familiar with which stations did what but I know it has been on at least 4 different frequencies before dumping the format a few years ago.

The two class C stations are actually built well below the 981' mark for C1 protection. I think 98.7's tower is around 800' and the Adventure Radio tower (106.9/106.1/103.1/107.9) is around 820'.

Both of those stations (98.7 and 106.9) have impressive signals. Picking them up near Florence is not uncommon.

The old 99.7 signal was pretty impressive too. That super tall tower on St. Helena is still up (occasionally unlit until well after dark...bad timer?) after 8 years of abandonment and I would imagine the transmitter shack has been largely undisturbed given how remote the location is.

There's a ton of history on these Beaufort stations...there was a post on them several years ago and all of these stations (besides 98.7 and 99.7) were on a different frequency at some point.

Radio-X
 
radiodxrichmond said:
vchimpanzee said:
charlestondxman said:
I'm amazed by the signal of that 106.9 in Hilton Head and how it skips through there. Almost every day, it comes in pretty well in the Charleston area, and after you get toward Awendaw on 17, it comes back in. It has one of the best coastal FM signals.

I heard it one time in Daytona Beach, and has a pretty oepn frequency.
Click to expand...
What a shame they took WLOW off of it.

And then the real WLOW off 107.9.
Click to expand...

WLOW is a station that has been on several frequencies since the '80's. I'm not 100% familiar with which stations did what but I know it has been on at least 4 different frequencies before dumping the format a few years ago.

The two class C stations are actually built well below the 981' mark for C1 protection. I think 98.7's tower is around 800' and the Adventure Radio tower (106.9/106.1/103.1/107.9) is around 820'.

Both of those stations (98.7 and 106.9) have impressive signals. Picking them up near Florence is not uncommon.

The old 99.7 signal was pretty impressive too. That super tall tower on St. Helena is still up (occasionally unlit until well after dark...bad timer?) after 8 years of abandonment and I would imagine the transmitter shack has been largely undisturbed given how remote the location is.

There's a ton of history on these Beaufort stations...there was a post on them several years ago and all of these stations (besides 98.7 and 99.7) were on a different frequency at some point.

Radio-X
Click to expand...
I know back in 1994 WLOW was on 99.7 and it sounded GREAT. I mean musically. Then WMYB 99.5 FM in Myrtle Beach made its debut.
 
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