There's already too many stations moving from smaller markets to larger ones. The large markets are already being served well enough. 97.1 should stay where it's at and focus on the Ashtabula area. And Cleveland especially doesn't need another pop station to add to the dial. No need to move 97.1.
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Mix 97.1 and Cougar 93.7
- Thread starter CleveFan
- Start date
Andrew K said:
I totally agree. I have never cared for the the idea of moving stations out of the communities that they have always served just to get them into a larger market. Who does that serve? No one but the owners and certainly not the communities that are being abandon.
97.1/WREO is a heritage station in Ashtabula along with it's AM sister WFUN/970 which use to be WREO AM. Those two stations have served the Ashtabula area for many decades. This whole process started when Clear Channel bought the two stations from local owners. I have always believed that their intent from the beginning was to move 97.1 with it's big signal either toward Lake County/Cleveland or south to the Youngstown area. I believe that is why they started up the two other FM's in Ashtabula (WFXJ & WYBL) so they could justify moving 97.1 out of Ashtabula and still claim that the community was being served by by the other stations and it would not take anything away by moving 97.1 to a larger market. Where have we head that before.
It appears that 97.1 will remain physically where it is with their COL as Ashtabula because they are really not able to move it west to any extent. However a look at their website shows that they are marketing it as a "Mentor/Cleveland/Erie and you" As the kids say, whatever.
swfl said:
This totally reminds me of when Clear Channel bought 101.7 WJER in New Philadelphia and moved 101.7 to North Canton and made it another cookie cutter station. At least WJER still retained 1450 AM, but WJER is a great local station that serves the area in a way that Clear Channel stations don't do well.
The least they can do is keep the stations in the communities they serve. There are many people who live in or drive through Ashtabula and Lake Counties and are served well by the 97.1 signal.
A "Cougar" sighting in Parma!
I was able to pick up WQGR in the southeast corner of Parma (just east of the WJW tower site). It had another FM interfering that I could not ID (I heard the phrase "Ohio's Superstation", it had a "Mix" type of format). I definitely heard a female voice say "cougar' when I was at the high point ~1200' above sea level, the other station started coming in as I went downhill to the west on Pleasant Valley Rd.
I was able to pick up WQGR in the southeast corner of Parma (just east of the WJW tower site). It had another FM interfering that I could not ID (I heard the phrase "Ohio's Superstation", it had a "Mix" type of format). I definitely heard a female voice say "cougar' when I was at the high point ~1200' above sea level, the other station started coming in as I went downhill to the west on Pleasant Valley Rd.
MichaelP said:
That would be WQIO of Mount Vernon, OH 'Ohio's Superstation, the new Super Q' Here in Vermilion that station usually dominates 93.7 but I can also hear WQGR mixing in and even on top at times. Heard the 'Lake County's hit music station' or something close.
The map I saw kept WREO as a full-power class B. A DA toward Detroit over the lake may have been involved. There was a small window in the vicinity of North Perry.
I'm looking at it again, and here's what I'm seeing: A spot about 4 km east of Perry is indeed just barely far enough from the relocated WAKS (and, for that matter, from the original 96.5 site in Cuyahoga Falls) to be able to squeeze in a relocated 97.1B.
The hitch is WXYT. Under the rules of 73.213, stations that have been continuously grandfathered since 1964 (as is the case for these two stations) don't have to obey the current spacing rules, which is good, because they're already only 214 km apart and the current rules require 241 km of spacing. The minimum allowed by the 73.215 short-spacing rules is 211 km.
Our hypothetical spot east of Perry, however, is only 192 km away from WXYT. And the problem with 73.213 is that it requires short-spaced stations wanting to move closer to each other to show that there will be no net increase in the area or population receiving interference between the two stations. Interference, in this case, is defined as the relocated WREO's 34 dBu contour against WXYT-FM's 54, and vice versa. Any new signal toward Cleveland would be almost guaranteed to increase predicted interference between the two stations. It's hard to imagine a DA notch deep enough to fix that, though having the lake in play certainly helps.
And even without our theoretical DA, a hypothetical 97.1B at Perry Township barely puts more than 40 dBu into downtown Cleveland.
The hitch is WXYT. Under the rules of 73.213, stations that have been continuously grandfathered since 1964 (as is the case for these two stations) don't have to obey the current spacing rules, which is good, because they're already only 214 km apart and the current rules require 241 km of spacing. The minimum allowed by the 73.215 short-spacing rules is 211 km.
Our hypothetical spot east of Perry, however, is only 192 km away from WXYT. And the problem with 73.213 is that it requires short-spaced stations wanting to move closer to each other to show that there will be no net increase in the area or population receiving interference between the two stations. Interference, in this case, is defined as the relocated WREO's 34 dBu contour against WXYT-FM's 54, and vice versa. Any new signal toward Cleveland would be almost guaranteed to increase predicted interference between the two stations. It's hard to imagine a DA notch deep enough to fix that, though having the lake in play certainly helps.
And even without our theoretical DA, a hypothetical 97.1B at Perry Township barely puts more than 40 dBu into downtown Cleveland.
While driving out to work in Mentor, I heard 97.1 playing a weird mix of Alternative (not songs I've heard before) with some Modern AC thrown in there. Does 97.1 play (non Hot AC) Alternative tracks? Did they change format? Or is there some type of pirate that's playing this music?
P.S. I've spent some time listening to 93.7. It sounds much more like Adult Hits than Adult CHR. I thought I had The Lake on.
P.S. I've spent some time listening to 93.7. It sounds much more like Adult Hits than Adult CHR. I thought I had The Lake on.
After I posted my previous comment I went to the FCC site to see who was on 93.7 in Ohio. I found WQIO and went to their web page. Sure enough I saw the "Ohio's Superstation" and "Super Q".Buckeyes2001 said:
I wonder if WQGR can be heard clearly throughout Lake County, despite the map I posted above? Before they moved to 104.7 WKKY would duke it out with the station then known as WZLE on E.250th St. in Euclid. If a 6 kw Geneva signal could reach beyond the Western border of Lake County WQGR is probably getting out there too.
Does anybody here live or work around there that can post a reception report?
MichaelP said:
Actually if you check the maps both WKKY and the new 93.7 have almost identical coverage areas. Both are 6,000 watts and their transmitters are only a few short miles apart in Perry. Both appear to cover the ground between Willoughby and Ashtabula with a 60dBu. It would be interesting to hear from those in that area just what the coverage of 93.7 is compared to 104.7.
I have heard WKKY fighting with WIOT/Toledo as far west as Lorain when WCLV 104.9 has their I-BLOCK off so I guess it makes sense for me to hear WQGR fighting with WQIO in Lorain and even Vermilion but I too would be interested to hear other reception reports.
You probably have a better shot at WQGR in Lorain seeing how thee is no ground clutter between Perry and Lorain. Here in Parma we are a little bit closer to Mt. Vernon, being on top of the hill we get signals from all around. Going eastward (and slightly downhill from the 1200' peak) favors WQGR due to the terrain blocking "Super Q".Buckeyes2001 said:
Listened to Cougar FM on and off this weekend visiting my girlfriend's family in Conneaut. It's a solid signal from around 271 and 480 to Ashtabula itself, but gets pretty spotty up toward North Kingsville and Conneaut. The g/f and I went to Erie yesterday and carried it to the outskirts before it was covered in static and some other signal we didn't stick around to identify.
I can't see any way this station is broadcasting with 6,000 watts from the tower location shown on Radio-Locator.com.
As for the programming, that was a big reason we listened. The same hour was on repeat all weekend. We listened between 7 and 8 p.m. Friday, and a few hours later chuckled at hearing the same song again. By yesterday afternoon, we were calling songs and the morning show bumpers 10-15 minutes ahead of time, and never being disappointed. We couldn't be the only ones who noticed.
I can't see any way this station is broadcasting with 6,000 watts from the tower location shown on Radio-Locator.com.
As for the programming, that was a big reason we listened. The same hour was on repeat all weekend. We listened between 7 and 8 p.m. Friday, and a few hours later chuckled at hearing the same song again. By yesterday afternoon, we were calling songs and the morning show bumpers 10-15 minutes ahead of time, and never being disappointed. We couldn't be the only ones who noticed.
schmave said:
I've noticed that too than when I do get WQGR it's the same songs I keep hearing including that 1991 song from Right Said Fred "I'm Too Sexy" lol and I thought WDOK was a bit ridiculous when it came to repeating the same songs in the same order. In Erie, you were probably starting to get Buffalo and Pittsburgh's 93.7s not to mention WTWF 93.9/Fairview, PA (just outside of Erie)
Did they hire a consultant who said that this kind of music is popular in Lake County? It's a very narrow format, unless they are still "stunting". Not just the same songs but the same style. All uptempo, but no metal and no ballads.CleveFan said:
Ironically the station from Mt. Vernon that is "doing battle" over the air in Parma is called "Super Q". I recall another station that called itself "Super Q" in the late 70's in Western Michigan (Muskegon area). I was on vacation at a "dude ranch" there and this station had a playlist that seemed like only 8 songs ("Summer" by War was one of the songs - they used it in their "Keep it on Super Q" promos). I made friends with one of the locals who ended up moving down here (he married a girl from Painesville that he met at the ranch). He told me someone blew up the station, literally!
My advise to "Cougar 93.7": More variety, please!
MichaelP said:
As a rule, consultants don't determine what "kind" of music is popular in a particular area. That's done by doing some kind of format search research or music testing.
In a market where ratings are singularly unimportant, it is more likely that a format would be selected based on its sales appeal than based on any real market study.
It's also unlikely that a station in such a small market would be out hiring consultants for any purpose except engineering.
MichaelP said:
That station is now a country station as B93 WBCT/Grand Rapids, MI which does show up from time to time even here in Vermilion if I leave it on 93.7 long enough. I can figure it's them when I start hearing country on that frequency unless it's E-skip.
As for Cougar's format, I hope they're still experimenting or stunting and haven't launched their official format yet. This is Cleveland's 3rd new station within the past year or so btw.
Their website is up and running now - http://www.cougar937.com - and they sound like they've expanded their playlist.
That's not the same station. It was in Whitehall, MI, not Grand Rapids. I don't recall the frequency. A search of the FCC database shows 2 class A FM's and one LP/repeater station. One was owned by a University, the other went on the air initially in 1991. The "Super Q" that got blown up was on the air in 1977.Buckeyes2001 said:
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