I used to listen to WCBS and with them gone WINS is the only all news station left. I am concerned that the broadcasting power of WINS is not as good.

[XCountry285]

You double posted this, but the answer is the same. WINS and WCBS have the same power, 50 kw, which is the U.S. maximum.

To a New York City station, "tristate" means the New York Metro Survey Area, which is NE New Jersey, NYC, Long Island and the boroughs, a few counties up the Hudson up to Putnam, and a tiny piece of a county in CT. Anything outside that really does not matter to them.

Here is a map. The upper red zone is the New York City radio market per Nielsen.

View attachment 9144

Interestingly I live in Hopatcong in Sussex County yet I get NYC stations clearly. Putnam County doesn't get nyc stations.

 

[CentralFL]

Interestingly I live in Hopatcong in Sussex County yet I get NYC stations clearly. Putnam County doesn't get nyc stations.

Surprised that Sussex isn't in the NYC market. If memory serves, the FMs make it up to Vernon Valley Great Gorge ski area? The FM stations from the City are definitely on their last legs by the time you get up to Putnam County, although he big AMs are still strong in Putnam.

 

[CentralFL]

Directional WINS definitely has lesser coverage to the northwest, west, and south notably including Philadelphia, compared with non-directional former WCBS.

Meanwhile, at night, WINS comes into Boston so well I often land on it by accident when I wanted (Boston's) 1030 WBZ.

Most of the "New York" AMs must be directional eastword (and/or north or south) so transmitter sites in eastern New Jersey make sense to cover NYC and at least a portion of NJ. WCBS and WABC, being nondirectional, don't need to transmit from west of "the city."

Do you mean 660 WNBC/WFAN? WABC is in Lodi, N.J. to the west of the City and west of 570, 710, 970, 1010, 1130, etc.

 

[ajaynejr]

Oops, I did mean WNBC/WFAN together with WCBS/WHSQ, 50 KW non-directionals.

 

[XCountry285]

Surprised that Sussex isn't in the NYC market. If memory serves, the FMs make it up to Vernon Valley Great Gorge ski area? The FM stations from the City are definitely on their last legs by the time you get up to Putnam County, although he big AMs are still strong in Putnam.

Hopatcong gets all the FMs including Z100 despite being cut out once I hit Byram or Roxbury. Vernon gets them fine. The rest of Sussex is a no.

 

[Yabadabado1]

You could ask me right now what the new call letters are and I honestly have no idea.

I would say their new call letters should be WSUK.
Every once in a while WINS will come in like WCBS of old here in NE Ohio. But it's few and far between nowadays.

 

[radiofan2023]

Hopatcong gets all the FMs including Z100 despite being cut out once I hit Byram or Roxbury. Vernon gets them fine. The rest of Sussex is a no.

Isn’t Hopatcong Cassidy on 103.1 The Wolf?

 

[davideduardo]

Surprised that Sussex isn't in the NYC market. If memory serves, the FMs make it up to Vernon Valley Great Gorge ski area? The FM stations from the City are definitely on their last legs by the time you get up to Putnam County, although he big AMs are still strong in Putnam.

Markets are defined by Nielsen (and previously by Arbitron) based on a combination of what "core market" stations are listened to and, secondarily, the commute patterns.

Most markets were defined well before FM became a major factor. And a revision that affects other markets requires subscribed stations in both markets to be consulted. In the case of Sussex, it is not part of another market but back when the NYC Metro Survey Area was defined, most AM stations did not have a good signal there because those located in the Meadowlands were directional away from NW New Jersey. And when the market was first defined, FM had very little listening anywhere.

If you look at the "usable" 60 dB/u signal of ESB FMs, it does not cover that country. And few of the AMs have a 10 mV(m signal out there, even in the easternmost part of the county.

 

[Ken Ellis]

Hopatcong gets all the FMs including Z100 despite being cut out once I hit Byram or Roxbury. Vernon gets them fine. The rest of Sussex is a no.

Indeed, most of Eastern Sussex is on a ridge line, which helps with line of sight to NYC. I find NW NJ to be particularly annoying for radio reception given all of the ridges and valleys. Having said that, I haven't been in quite a while, but I enjoy going to High Point State Park and going up and down the dial. On the FM side, there's a listenable station on just about every frequency given your elevation. Even AM wasn't too bad given the lack of interference.

 

[XCountry285]

Isn’t Hopatcong Cassidy on 103.1 The Wolf?

I'm confused. Hopatcong is a town in Sussex County which isn't in Long Island.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I'm confused. Hopatcong is a town in Sussex County which isn't in Long Island.

i think its a joke about all the frog themed DJ names that other stations, namely named Frogg (frequency) have on air

 

[radiofan2023]

i think its a joke about all the frog themed DJ names that other stations, namely named Frogg (frequency) have on air

It's just a joke about Hopalong Cassidy.

 

[XCountry285]

i think its a joke about all the frog themed DJ names that other stations, namely named Frogg (frequency) have on air

Oh ok

 

[XCountry285]

It's just a joke about Hopalong Cassidy.

This thread isn't about long island

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not only is the joke falling flat, the explanation is falling flatter.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Was listening this morning, an hour before sunup, for some DX. WINS was quite loud for spells, me 100 miles west of Times Square.
Hazleton is on the map, with a mild, sort of indifferent west bubble of WINS signal aimed west. We're underneath the 'z' in Hazleton.

WINS-AM Radio Station Coverage Map

radio-locator.com

It was 'sort of' sunrise propagation, within that twilight window, but WINS is generally atop 1010 all the time here. It's never solid; more like default. At sunset it's WINS, New Hampshire and CFRB bouncing around and taking turns. But CFRB is the tougher nighttime one to pull out here. WINS is 'it', by default, skywave, groundwave, permanent, stadium, tidal or otherwise.

 

[Weiserguy]

Not only is the joke falling flat, the explanation is falling flatter.

You'd have gotten it if you were just a l-i-t-t-l-e bit older. (Those of us who remember the Fifties do.)

 

[K.M. Richards]

You'd have gotten it if you were just a l-i-t-t-l-e bit older. (Those of us who remember the Fifties do.)

I am not so young that I don't remember Hopalong Cassidy. Channel 5 used to run his movies on Saturday mornings when I was a kid.

But the joke based on his name just ain't a-workin'.

 

[boombox4]

To the OP. If you are listening from home, and can't receive WINS as strongly as you wish, get a tunable external loop antenna to set next to your AM radio. A lot of MW long distance listeners use them at night to hear stations from far away. The loop will boost the signal.

 

[semoochie]

I am not so young that I don't remember Hopalong Cassidy. Channel 5 used to run his movies on Saturday mornings when I was a kid.

But the joke based on his name just ain't a-workin'.

Hopalong Cassidy aka William Boyd was married to actress Grace Bradley, who was born the same year as my mother, also named Grace Bradley! I discovered this when they were both 94 and kidded my mother about being a famous actress without telling anyone about it.