Metro Areas With More Stations Than Expected For Their Size

[Schroedingers Cat]

Class B1 Class C3 Equivalent. Normally in mountains, and with considerable variation in HAAT of specific radials, often below average terrain in many directions.

25 kW 100 meters 328 feet

0.25 kW 841 meters 2759 feet

 

[Smittian]

Victoria, TX has 22 FM and 2 AM signals in a town of 60,000

 

[icybluelake]

Juneau, Alaska, with many translators needed thanks to the terrain, is one of those that gives the impression of a crowded dial, even if it isn't really all that much original content.

Fairbanks, however, always surprised me, as having had many more FM outlets than I'd have expected.

I always thought Anchorage had a crazy number of FMs and even a lot of AMs for its size.

 

[AKDXer]

Anchorage is really up there for sure...

 

[davideduardo]

Anchorage is really up there for sure...

The stations vs. population would have St. Coix, USVI and Key West, Conch Republic, as near or at the top.

 

[ZantennaG1]

I've heard that the Rogers/Fort Smith market was pretty full. Anyways, my market is plastered with Denver and Fort Collins stations in between locals, giving the impression that we have more than we actually do. On the Wyoming side of tbe border, there's only about 25 FM stations, however there are over 60 when including Denver.

 

[icybluelake]

Duluth, MN seems like another one. Key West definitely also!

 

[cyberdad]

The stations vs. population would have St. Coix, USVI and Key West, Conch Republic, as near or at the top.

I'll vouch for Key West, a small island surrounded by ocean with loads of local and tropo signals on FM. Along with a saltwater path from Cuba, Miami. and various points from the west side of the Florida Peninsula....primarily Tampa-Saint Pete and points south. Hard to find a vacant channel of any sort.

Then, there's Italy. I spent ten days there in or near Florence in 2016. I remember, David, that you described it perfectly as "The Wild West" of unregulated broadcasting. The AM band is all but abandoned. But I got a clue of what I was in for on FM when my rental car scan button not only stopped in increments of one-tenth mhz, but every FIVE HUNDREDTH. In other words, 92.1, 92.15, 92.2, etc., etc.! And most of these were occupied. Apparently, anyone who wants to set up shop and start broadcasting can do so. Unfettered. The local regulators have pretty much given up on trying to police things.

On FM, I think you could have eaten a sandwich in the time the scan cycle took to complete. On AM, it made a grand total of TWO stops.

 

[radioman148]

Then, there's Italy. I spent ten days there in or near Florence in 2016. I remember, David, that you described it perfectly as "The Wild West" of unregulated broadcasting. The AM band is all but abandoned. But I got a clue of what I was in for on FM when my rental car scan button not only stopped in increments of one-tenth mhz, but every FIVE HUNDREDTH. In other words, 92.1, 92.15, 92.2, etc., etc.! And most of these were occupied. Apparently, anyone who wants to set up shop and start broadcasting can do so. Unfettered. The local regulators have pretty much given up on trying to police things.

On FM, I think you could have eaten a sandwich in the time the scan cycle took to complete. On AM, it made a grand total of TWO stops.

That is amazing!

 

[ZantennaG1]

Italy sounds insanely packed! By the way, apparently New Zealand will allow you to have a free license for a 1 watt low power station on certain frequencies, which is neat. Might be worth a thread for "Most/Least Permissive Countries for citizen/pirate radio"

 

[JBraddock]

The Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Burlington VT markets also seem to be radioed well in excess of what their (fulltime) populations can support.

 

[cyberdad]

The Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Burlington VT markets also seem to be radioed well in excess of what their (fulltime) populations can support.

Let me guess, Outer Banks....saltwater paths (for AM) from lots of coastal cities with big signals. Tropo and obstruction free paths for FM signals. Burlington....AM signals from Montreal, upstate New York and elsewhere in New England. More of the same on FM.

 

[cyberdad]

Italy sounds insanely packed! By the way, apparently New Zealand will allow you to have a free license for a 1 watt low power station on certain frequencies, which is neat. Might be worth a thread for "Most/Least Permissive Countries for citizen/pirate radio"

Italy seems to actually work. At least at the location where we spent most of our time. Which was about 30 miles south of Florence just outside a small town. The signals weren't stepping on each other as much as I would have expected. Although the formats seemed to be "cookie cutter". One thing I noticed was that RAI, the state broadcaster, had a megahertz or two in the center of the dial reserved for itself. I got the impression that this chunk of spectrum space is off limits to the Italian "wild west cowboys".

BTW, I think New Zealand idea of one-watt stations sounds very cool, and might even be worth a look here.

 

[crainbebo]

Tri-Cities WA has a ridiculous number of stations for its size. Translators all over the place, as well as LPFMs, that blot out Yakima stations from 70 miles away (and they shoehorned a 98.7 translator into town, which took out KMNA Mabton, just 40 miles away). Out of all these stations, there are ZERO classic hits stations serving Tri-Cities (one rimshot in Pendleton OR 40 mi away which has a variable signal throughout the Cities) and ZERO adult contemporary stations (105.3 may be considered 'AC' but really it sounds like CHR-Lite with no music from before the mid to late '90s and lots of rhythmic stuff, 106.1 is Hot AC). But Spanish stations are a dime a dozen, along with country.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

. Out of all these stations, there are ZERO classic hits stations serving Tri-Cities (one rimshot in Pendleton OR 40 mi away which has a variable signal throughout the Cities) and ZERO adult contemporary stations (105.3 may be considered 'AC' but really it sounds like CHR-Lite with no music from before the mid to late '90s and lots of rhythmic stuff, 106.1 is Hot AC). But Spanish stations are a dime a dozen, along with country.

Theres a reason, its business... and what they have is obviously doing well or someone would take up a classic hits or AC format

 

[crainbebo]

It's strange, since Tri-Cities and Yakima have similar minority (Hispanic) populations...and Yakima is the market with TWO classic hits stations. Not sure why they do so well in Yakima and yet not in the neighboring market that also has a pretty high Hispanic population.