History of 94.3/Asbury Park?

[JerseyShor]

Can someone explain to me the creative allocation of 94.3 to Asbury Park?

This has to be one of the worst allocations in the North-East.

50,000 watt 93.9 in New York City - 36 miles away
50,000 watt 94.1 in Philadelphia - 66 miles away
3,000 watt 94.3 in Smithtown NY - 55 miles away
50,000 watt 94.5 in Trenton - 44 miles away
50,000 watt 94.7 in Newark - 41 miles away

 

[PirateJim]

> Can someone explain to me the creative allocation of 94.3 to
> Asbury Park?
>
> This has to be one of the worst allocations in the
> North-East.
>
> 50,000 watt 93.9 in New York City - 36 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.1 in Philadelphia - 66 miles away
> 3,000 watt 94.3 in Smithtown NY - 55 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.5 in Trenton - 44 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.7 in Newark - 41 miles away
>

94.3 went on the air in 1947 ...
Some of the above stations you mentioned weren't even on the air yet at that time ...
In fact, WJLK was one of the first licensed stations in NJ ...
The station was originally intended for 104.7 - why 94.3 was ultimately picked, I don't know ...
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[tom]

Like Jim said ... WJLK-FM was there first, the
other stations came on later, and they all met
the rules (of the day) for their specific class
and situation. Almost ALL of the Class B's
along the East Coast have some kind of mutual
agreement with other stations on the same and
adjacent frequencies, drawn up back in the
60's or 70's. Keep in mind that *most* stations
don't really care what the signal sounds like
over about 30 miles from the transmitter.
DXers are the only ones who care, or people
trying to pull in a unique format, ie: Cat Country 107.3,
Local penetration is what matters - getting into
offices and cheap radios in the target market.
Of course there are exceptions. One thing many people
on this board don't understand is, that the FCC
doesn't grant anything that will break the
"rules dujour" the problem is - the rules have
changed often over the years, and situations that
people now regret have been created, but if everyone
met today's rules, you'd have about 1/2 as many
stations on the air. Yeah, good for DXers - but not
really good for the locals. My 2 cents worth.

> Can someone explain to me the creative allocation of 94.3 to
> Asbury Park?
>
> This has to be one of the worst allocations in the
> North-East.
>
> 50,000 watt 93.9 in New York City - 36 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.1 in Philadelphia - 66 miles away
> 3,000 watt 94.3 in Smithtown NY - 55 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.5 in Trenton - 44 miles away
> 50,000 watt 94.7 in Newark - 41 miles away
>

 

[PhoenixPark]

Re: History is the key!

Well said, Pirate Jim. Faced as we are with the state of terrestrial radio some 71 years after FM was invented by NJ's own Major Edwin Armstrong, it's easy to overlook the fact that when FM allocations were set, it was a gamble as to whether or not the new medium would go anywhere, literally and figuratively.

There were no practical FM car radios for years and years, so the reality of destructive interference from co-channels in NY and Philadelphia could not be gauged by a quick spin into the Watchung mountains or elsewhere. Of course, this is not to mention adjacent and second adjacent FMs that were impossible to separate without highly directional antennas and top-of-the-line tuners until the '60s and solid state technology.

The Commission's original allocations, it must be remembered, were not only keyed to the population centres of the time but politics and areas where commerce would conceivably support a radio station. Also remember, as recently confirmed in Alpine, NJ and the Armstrong "anniversary," that another FM band came before 88-108, and the handful of stations using that band, pre-war had the inside track on new allocations, post-war.

So, all these years on, we live with things like short-spacing and destructive interference between the likes of CBS-FM (whatever the format) and B101. There remain NO SIMPLE ANSWERS.

Rock On!

Rich Phoenix, President
N J R M

 

[KC2LDY]

Re: History is the key!

And one other thing to consider: Class A FM's, back when these stations were first authorized in the 1940's and 50's, had ERP's of 1000 watts - not the 3000 or 6000 watts used on many of these channels today. Class A's were meant to be local services - much like 500-watt or 1000-watt AM's. The signals were also all mono, not stereo. All this made things a lot more simple. And, as others have noted, WJLK was on the air long befoe many of the other stations listed.

Steve
KC2LDY

 

[JerseyShor]

> Keep in mind that *most* stations
> don't really care what the signal sounds like
> over about 30 miles from the transmitter.
> DXers are the only ones who care, or people
> trying to pull in a unique format

I wouldn't say that.

On the air WJLK specifically targets both Monmouth & Ocean Counties. Over 1/4 of Ocean County's population lives more then 30 miles from WJLK.

On the other hand, about 100,000 Ocean County residents live less then 25 miles from WAYV and WAYV completely ignores them.

 

[westlife]

94.3 WJLK-FM beyond Monmouth/Ocean

> On the air WJLK specifically targets both Monmouth & Ocean
> Counties. Over 1/4 of Ocean County's population lives more
> then 30 miles from WJLK.

It's a bit funny to hear 94.3 focus so specifically on "Monmouth and Ocean Counties" when I'm all the way up in Morris or Essex County and their signal is coming in just fine on my car radio. I'm sure if you are on the southward-facing side of a hill with high enough elevation, you can even pick up WJLK-FM in Sussex or Passaic County.

It's all thanks to northern New Jersey's hilly terrain that this kind of DX-ish FM reception is possible -- although it tends to be rather spotty. For example, you can hear "Magic 98.3" WMGQ all the way down in Cherry Hill or up in Allentown, PA on a good car radio, but practically next door to them in Union County their signal gets all torn up by co-channel intereference from Long Island's "K-Joy" 98.3 WKJY.

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[dab1100]

Re: History is the key!

The reason is that prior to 1962, FM allocations were more or less a free-for-all. You'd do an engineering study, convince the FCC that you weren't going to interfere with anyone and hopefully, you'd get a construction permit. Since WJLK-FM went on the air in 1947 it was not subject to the spacing requirements that exist today. That also explains many of the short-spacing situations that exist (e.g. WCBS-FM vs. WBEB) as well as Class B FM stations operating with 80kw, 175kw, or even 500kw instead of the current 50kw limit. The table of allocations went into effect in 1962, but previous allocations were grandfathered. In 1989, the rules were altered to include additional classes of stations, including B-1, C-1, C-2, and C-3 (and recently class C-0) was added, as well as permit most Class A stations to operate with up to 6kw at 352 ft., instead of the previous 3kw @ 300 ft.