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Mobile - WNTM News/Talk finally on FM

P

Poledo

Okay, I know the title is a little misleading.

This morning I pushed an extra button on my car radio and wound up on 96.1-HD2. The station was in a commercial break and then went to the Glen Beck show instead of John Boy and Billy! I listened a little while longer and realized that CC is simulcasting WNTM 710 on WRKH 96.1-HD2.
I never thought that would happen. I know it's just an HD sub channel, but Clear Channel is now carrying Rush and other shows on FM over the entire coverage area of Cumulus' WCOA-AM in Pensacola.
Anyone know when they started the HD simulcast of WNTM? Are they using it to feed an FM translator somewhere? Would anyone expect Cumulus to complain about Clear Channel encroaching on the Pensacola talk radio market?

Also, "Foggy Mountain" appears gone from WKSJ 94.9-HD2 and TK101 is no longer carrying "The Alternative" on HD-2. I can't get the HD signal from 107.3 in Pensacola, so I don't know if sports is still on their HD-2. I think they still had Jazz on 99.9-HD2, not positive though.

While I'm covering all the HD-2's, WUWF has added so much BBC and talk programming to their HD-2 that Exponential Radio's AAA music seems to be back to nights only. That sucks. I wonder why they don't just add a low bit rate HD-3 for BBC type programing like most other NPR stations?
 
Are KSJ and TK101's HD-2 channels gone completely or just dead air?

Edit to add: I'm surprised there hasn't been more translator uptake in the area, since there seems to be quite a few religious ones either relaying local FM signals or off the air. Only little WHEP in Foley has gotten on the bandwagon so far, as far as I know.
 
KSJ and TK have no HD-2 channels at all right now, but they are still broadcasting in HD.
107.3 doesn't appear to be broadcasting in HD right now.
99.9HD-2 is still Jazz.
Today 96.1-HD2 has added the RDS info: Album = "Test" Song = "WNTM News Talk 710 in HD", yesterday there wasn't any RDS info.

I wonder what Clear Channel is up to?
 
Dunno. They're usually big pushers of HD technology. I was hoping to have a lot to listen to if I could ever escape the clutches of Mississippi for the sunny coast, but it looks like all the options are drying up.

Didn't the Mobile Bay Bears put something out about how they were gonna have all the games on 107.3's HD-2 channel? Wonder what happened with that?
 
Things are changing. Today Foggy Mountain is back on KSJ and the RDS from WNTM 96.1 HD2 is "not available". I guess CC is working with all their Mobile HD channels... maybe they'll get improved Pensacola coverage before they finish. Nah.
 
poledo said:
Things are changing. Today Foggy Mountain is back on KSJ and the RDS from WNTM 96.1 HD2 is "not available". I guess CC is working with all their Mobile HD channels... maybe they'll get improved Pensacola coverage before they finish. Nah.
Click to expand...

How IS reception of the HD signals in Pensacola and Mobile, anyway? Even though it's a pretty flat area, I imagine distance alone makes HD challenging in places like Milton and out by the Mobile airport.
 
To answer my own question, I had trouble locking HD in all kinds of places, even in north-central Baldwin County!

I noticed that TK 101's HD song/artist info said the same thing the whole week I was down there. Same for 107.3 if I remember correctly. They are running HD but it wouldn't lock anywhere but around Lillian.

WUWF 88.1's HD was detected as far out as Foley, but I couldn't get a lock anywhere, not even when I rode by the stick off 98. ???

Looks like Jack-FM is the HD winner, it seemed to lock everywhere. I even got some decent decoding up around Citronelle. 96.1's was much harder to keep while moving, yet worked relatively well inside and on the low floor of a concrete condo on the beach. HD certainly came in handy there, eliminating all the noise in static that made the analogs all suffer tremendously.

I doubt anyone at WCOA really cares about WNTM being on FM now since so few still have HD radios. I certainly couldn't listen for any length of time while on the move in Pensacola, or down on the beaches of Baldwin County for that matter. It probably won't affect them too much. I personally will listen since it brings nighttime programming to a lot of area that is normally swamped out by AM clutter and Cuban interference.
 
... and I was thinking that my HD radio was a piece of carp. Thanks for confirming my observations on all the Baldwin County HD stations Zach. Those stations just don't work on a moving radio.

I don't know why WUWF was a problem on Hwy. 98, ...tropo maybe? I only loose HD lock in the shadow of the tower, driving past the zoo. Besides that area, WUWF locks in everywhere in Pensacola and FWB on my radio. Drive down to FWB and you can sometimes DX WKGC.
 
poledo said:
... and I was thinking that my HD radio was a piece of carp. Thanks for confirming my observations on all the Baldwin County HD stations Zach. Those stations just don't work on a moving radio.

I don't know why WUWF was a problem on Hwy. 98, ...tropo maybe? I only loose HD lock in the shadow of the tower, driving past the zoo. Besides that area, WUWF locks in everywhere in Pensacola and FWB on my radio. Drive down to FWB and you can sometimes DX WKGC.
Click to expand...

*sigh*

Some markets just seem to have better HD implementations than others. Some Memphis FMs (Entercom?) do really well and sound good, but the Clear Channel ones are all horrible. Albuquerque was another disappointing HD market. I got a lock on some of the Sandia Peak stations' HD from 60 miles east of town, but in the city proper it was horrid. LA was good and so far the best market I've encountered, HD-wise, has been St. Louis. I didn't have a single dropout anywhere even after driving the entire 270/255 loop, and going downtown and out nearly 40 miles from the city.

Here in central Mississippi, all I have are MPB repeaters. The Oxford one is in and out until I'm practically line of sight with the tower, depending on which way I'm going. The Greenwood site wouldn't stay locked anywhere from Greenville to Carroll County. Only the Mississippi State and Biloxi signals seem to be at all robust. I locked WMAH briefly in Baldwin County just west of Gulf Shores!
 
Just bumping the topic to say I have actually enjoyed WNTM on the HD-2 subchannel for occasional listening and news updates. I tried listening up near I-10 around Loxley though and it kept dropping out. That's not far from their tower site! :mad:

In house or sitting still it works fine. I wish they'd get those issues ironed out; I can't imagine anyone east of the AL/FL line getting anything reliable off WRHK at all in HD.

WUWF's HD is still screwed up. I was actually at the TX site near Navarre Beach, looking up at the tower and still no lock, just a flashing HD light. I'm pretty sure I sent them an e-mail or comment on their website but no one ever responded. At least WHIL was nice enough to respond when I asked them about going HD (they have no plans at all.)
 
It may be your radio. I've never had issues with WUWF's hd signal in Pensacola or Navarre... you can see their strobies blinking over the bay from the Pensacola side. My only problem is that they added too much BBC and NPR programing to the -2 and I would prefer to listen to the Exponential Radio music.
 
poledo said:
It may be your radio. I've never had issues with WUWF's hd signal in Pensacola or Navarre... you can see their strobies blinking over the bay from the Pensacola side. My only problem is that they added too much BBC and NPR programing to the -2 and I would prefer to listen to the Exponential Radio music.
Click to expand...

I tried it on two different radios at home and neither gets a lock. I'll have to bring the other one to P'cola next time and try it out there.

One of my Insignias is defective but does HD OK, the one I primarily use is really sharp and works well on analog too. From downtown Pensacola I had no problem getting 107.3, 104.1 and 94.9 with it in the car, so I would think it would get 88.1 there. The callsign decodes but the HD light never stops flashing.

If it works on your radio but not mine, but all the other stations work OK for both of us, I still say they have something wrong in their settings. In fact I seem to recall a thead a while back where some radios were failing to decode HD if an encoder setting was wrong at the transmitter site, but I forget where it was, or what radios were affected. ???
 
Just an update: I'm seeing some changes in the HD landscape here.

WRGV-HD2 is back on with ESPN Radio. The HD-1's song titles/artist fields seem to working again finally after being stuck for weeks on Young MC's Bust A Groove.

WTKX-HD2 appears to be alternative music but no ID yet. The Sixx Sense show with Nikki Sixx is on right now. Song titles seem to be fixed now on the HD-1 one as well. It was stuck on Powerman 5000 for the last several weeks.

WJLQ, Jack FM and WBLX are the only three now with no subchannels. WJLQ's analog and digital audio sound absolutely horrible, like a crappy ISDN line or something. WYCT's HD is still off. I have it listed as the first HD station in the Mobile-Pensacola area but it's been off for as long as I've lived here. I'd love to have them throw up WNRP 1620 on a subchannel like Clear Channel did with WNTM in Mobile.

Finally, not an HD update but an AM observation. WBZR AM 1000 in Robertsdale has been on every night since I've lived here. Isn't it supposed to be daytime only?
 
Coincidentally, about WBZR - the last three times I've driven by Atmore 105.9 has been silent each go. The first time there was something which sounded like distant AM static in the far background, but the last two times in the last three weeks - nothing. Maybe its translator in reverse - an AM to cover the FM when its off air. (I'm sure ESPN 1000 in Chicago would love that)

And, welcome back to Alabama Zach.
 
StrayKats said:
Coincidentally, about WBZR - the last three times I've driven by Atmore 105.9 has been silent each go. The first time there was something which sounded like distant AM static in the far background, but the last two times in the last three weeks - nothing. Maybe its translator in reverse - an AM to cover the FM when its off air. (I'm sure ESPN 1000 in Chicago would love that)

And, welcome back to Alabama Zach.
Click to expand...

Good to be "home" albeit in a different part of the state.

I looked up the WBZR-FM record because I can't find a trace of it down here, either. I thought they were silent too, but according to an STA filed in October, the tx got struck by lightning and they're only running 500 watts until a replacement can be sought. The STA is for 180 days.
 
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