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kyw to fm on the first

Just a few things, v signals ......

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KYW&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

We live between Hazleton and Pottsville on this map -- in fact, just under at the capitol 'H' in Hazleton.
On a decent stationary portable with a whip antenna, I can get several FMs out of Philly ..... 104.5, 90.9, 98.1, 98.9, and 106.1. In the car, the signals are dominant but not as faithful, as they fade and mix with others up this way, with the terrain being what it is.

KYW 1060, however, is present here day and night on the car radio and the house radios with few problems. The northwest lobe is right at us.

My problem with KYW is that they seem to alternate the forecast for the Jersey Shore (where they reach) with the forecast for the Poconos (where they don't reach).

Us, they *do* reach, and of course, all those along the way between here and KYW. Sure, we may live in 'The Land Time Forgot', but the Poconos are the Land Time Never Remembered. Why KYW insists on treating the Poconos with such emphasis is beyond me. In the winter, the Poconos are always 10 degrees colder and a foot deeper than even WE get. Cop-killer Eric Frein could not have picked a more suitably camouflaged place to do his survivalist act, but it's not as though he could just walk a few blocks to a 7-11 for coffee and smokes, either. KYW may as well be giving the weather for Nome.
Even the 960 station that served the Poconos went dark.

So how about some more emphasis on specific places up this way -- Reading, Boyertown, Hamburg, Pottstown, Deer Lake, the Route 61 stretch, KYW?
You know, instead of referring to that virtual half of your coverage area merely as 'the northwest suburbs' ?
Maybe make it a New Year's resolution.
 
Steve, the places you mention are not even in the Philadelphia Metro Area (or radio market). But your point is well taken, KYW pays little attention to Delaware, Montgomery, Chester and Bucks Counties (only the latter is understandable because they put a terrible signal into Bucks), nor to Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties - all of which are in the Philly market.

They are way too Philadelphia centric and apparently don't know where most of the metro area's population lives and works today. The teletype noise reflects their out of date mind-set. They still think it's 1965. When Roy Shapiro came down from New York, the clocks stopped running at KYW. They probably have stayed on AM because they still think that's where most of the listeners are (except for a few classical music fans and dentists' offices).

The problem with broadcast radio is its one-size fits all - and it never fits well. They can't talk about Hamburg and Deer Lake without boring everybody in the Delaware Valley who couldn't care less.
 
The reason that KYW gives the forecasts for the Poconos and the Jersey Shore is not for the listeners in those places, it's for the listeners in the Philly Metro area who are going there to their mountain house or their shore house.
 
Speaking of coverage area NW

Couldn't agree more with you Bill W as to why those forecasts are there. I'm in Lehigh Co. and a lot of times feel like I live in misfit land inbetween the burbs and poconos. We are in the TV market and have been getting boosted coverage here as the far NW burbs (3,6,10) the last several years but are not part of the radio market because we are just outside the contours. Many people have a very listenable signal of all philly stations. Would be nice to get our traffic on the philly stations that included Lehigh, Northampton, and Berks Cos. Mostly 22, 78, 476, 33, 309, 222.
 
WWJ in Detroit is often a minute or two late with traffic and weather on the eights. What really bothers me is that they lie about the time.
 
If you listen on the Internet audio stream, everything - including traffic - is going to be late. If you listen in HD, it will a little bit late but not nearly as much.

They can't be as late as some of you seem to think. Traffic announcers are doing traffic for multiple stations. If a station does not hit traffic close to on-time, the traffic person has to move on to the next station. Unless of course, they are taking recorded traffic reports (which some stations do) and the traffic reports are even more useless because they are five to 10 minutes "late."
 
Is that the case with Clover, Winters, and the rest of the gang in the "Truemark Traffic Center"?

ixnay

On a "Fresh Air" segment 6 years ago, where Dave Davies interviewed John Butterworth and Sam Clover, it appeared Clover only did KYW... whereas Butterworth had 3 clients

Richard in Allentown
 
I think CBS will try a new CHR format on 96.5. CHR/Top-40 is a big winner in the PPM world. News and Talk typically are not. (Yes, there are expectations to both of those statements, but it's the general rule in most markets.)

If CBS dumps the CHR format on 96.5, they are HANDING the format over to iHeartMedia. I think they will flip to a new identity, like AMP, and try to do battle. (Just like nearby NYC - they will be competing in the CHR world.) Watch for the new station to morph more into mainstream CHR.

Then, if they go for 6-8 months or so and there is no improvement, they could go to the KYW simulcast.

As far as the null in Bucks County, if they really were concerned, they could by a small AM station or get an FM translator up there.
 
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The Lehigh Valley gets no radio respect in Philly...

I'm in Lehigh Co. and a lot of times feel like I live in misfit land inbetween the burbs and poconos. We are in the TV market and have been getting boosted coverage here as the far NW burbs (3,6,10) the last several years but are not part of the radio market because we are just outside the contours. Many people have a very listenable signal of all philly stations.

If you use Radio-Locator's contours, Allentown is within KYW's local contour, and KYW used to show up in LV radio ratings.

I regularly listen to WMGK, WIP-FM, WHYY, WOGL, and KYW up here.

I am not sure adding LV traffic to KYW would be feasible just because the extra time would have to be pulled from somewhere else. Perhaps only if there's an outright closure.

Frankly, my smartphone gives me decent traffic info via the Waze app. The app can't tell me *why* traffic is delayed, but it does a decent job altering routings incorporating traffic delays.

Richard in Allentown
 
So, what? Allentown doesn't count in the Philly book. And they don't get local ad sales from Allentown.

During morning and afternoon drive, they often don't have enough time in traffic reports to get everything in from the Philly market. And in contrast to various mobile devices with GPS, traffic reports waste your time telling you stuff that doesn't matter. The listener needs to know about his route and only about his route.
 
And in contrast to various mobile devices with GPS, traffic reports waste your time telling you stuff that doesn't matter. The listener needs to know about his route and only about his route.

And pop stations don't play only songs I want to hear.
And sports stations don't talk about only sports I want to hear.
And talk stations don't talk about only topics I want to hear.

Radio is a mass appeal format. You really expect a station with a 50,000 watt signal to tailor their report to just you?

Apps/devices with GPS are nice, but not everyone has them, and not everyone will. Not everyone can afford a GPS that includes traffic information. And not everyone likes using their phone for anything while driving. On top of that, data plans are getting limited, so people aren't going to waste all of their data on GPS/Waze etc. That leaves free radio traffic reports mostly reliably happening every 10 minutes as a great resource on figuring out which way to go.
 
I don't want to hear this jive about KYW being on target, especially with traffic, like I stated many times before. I think they are the areas fourth sports station. Every, every time I am in a traffic jam and things are backed up, I tune to them and over and over again I hear; "the Eagles did this and the Phillies did that and the Flyers are trading whomever and the Sixers, yadda, yadda, yadda", and nothing about the accident or tie up. Crying out loud, how much sports can one take in the city, is sports really that important, with the country going downhill. I am sick of it...KYW should stick to news, weather and especially traffic when there are problems. Just give the scores, or if something is really important happening in sports, which still is not big important news, then say it and move on.
 
If you listen on the Internet audio stream, everything - including traffic - is going to be late.

If you mean "a few seconds, at most, later" then you are correct.

If you listen in HD, it will a little bit late but not nearly as much.

In a properly operating station with HD, there is no delay between the analog and the digital audio and they should switch seamlessly. Even in a non-synchronized Analog / HD situation the delay on the HD is about 8 seconds... not the "minute or two" referred to in the prior post.
 
David, on the half hour, when KYW (1010 WINS and others) invite people to set their watches, I've heard the tone "late" by a minute and a half or so. This is listening on my desktop with Windows syncing the time.
 
David, on the half hour, when KYW (1010 WINS and others) invite people to set their watches, I've heard the tone "late" by a minute and a half or so. This is listening on my desktop with Windows syncing the time.

I have never hear web latency take that long, even internationally. But I guess it depends on your ISP and the latency of the system.
 
I don't want to hear this jive about KYW being on target, especially with traffic, like I stated many times before. I think they are the areas fourth sports station. Every, every time I am in a traffic jam and things are backed up, I tune to them and over and over again I hear; "the Eagles did this and the Phillies did that and the Flyers are trading whomever and the Sixers, yadda, yadda, yadda", and nothing about the accident or tie up. Crying out loud, how much sports can one take in the city, is sports really that important, with the country going downhill. I am sick of it...KYW should stick to news, weather and especially traffic when there are problems. Just give the scores, or if something is really important happening in sports, which still is not big important news, then say it and move on.

Philly is a pretty big sports town.
 
Regarding the top and bottom of the hour tones on HD, it depends on whether we're talking about AM HD or FM HD.

In my experience with KYW, the AM, both HD and non-Hd, are now consistently about eight and a half seconds late. And as noted above, the HD and non-HD are synchronous.

The FM HD on 94.1-2 varies anywhere from a half minute to a whole minute.
 
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