No more Easy 99.1?

[WhoseLineFan]

https://radioinsight.com/community/topic/new-fm-in-worcester/#post-181196

So what's going to happen to the station? Will the AM still be there, or will it be online only?

 

[raccoonradio]

I think someone on WPLM-FM made a comment saying listeners in Worcester, fairly far from Plymouth, may not get them anymore due to an FM translator in Worc going on.The regular signal for 99.1 should otherwise be unaffected. 50,000 watts

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WPLM-FM

The map at that link shows Worcester is at the far end of the fringe listening area, as it is.

 

[WhoseLineFan]

I just got a reply from the program director saying that nothing is changing. A very small station 75 miles away has applied for license on the 99.1 frequency and will have no affect on the Easy 99.1 signal locally.

 

[WhoseLineFan]

And nothing will be different, will means that you will still be able to listen online.

 

[nowradioguy]

With all due respect to Scott Fybush and his FM translator consulting operation, I think this whole business of the way translator frequencies are haphazardly assigned is going to ruin the already vast wasteland known as the FM broadcast band. Be real: there just aren’t enough vacant channels here in the Northeast, so stop already with the “unrestrained exuberance” every time one of these annoying signals appears!

An additional flea-power FM channel is not going to save an ailing AM. Some AMs are better off just going silent. Most just need some creative ideas about how to reach an underserved audience.

I notice Sirius XM is doing well. My guess is people are fed up with much of terrestrial radio. Keep up these half-a$$ed “solutions “ to “save” AM and you’ll just drive more listeners to satellite or online streaming.

 

[WhoseLineFan]

It's good that Easy 99.1 will be online, because I may not be able to listen to the station on the actual radio anymore.

 

[TheBigA]

I notice Sirius XM is doing well. My guess is people are fed up with much of terrestrial radio. Keep up these half-a$$ed “solutions “ to “save” AM and you’ll just drive more listeners to satellite or online streaming.

Two very different things. Sirius isn't local. There's an advantage to that if you commute a long distance from another market. Sirius music channels offer formats not available on OTA. The music channels are commercial free. By the same token, it's another monthly bill to pay. Some people don't see the need to pay for radio.

Yes the FM translators are cluttering up the dial. But the other side of that is they're just offering more choices. If choice is the appeal of satellite, then offering more choices won't drive listeners to other places, because those places offer even more choices.

 

[Wimmmex]

By the same token, it's another monthly bill to pay. Some people don't see the need to pay for radio.

I find in my travels...

1.) People don't care about radio that much...while everybody likes good enjoyable radio, most won't go out of their way to get it....and use whatever they have access to.

2.) People are tired of getting nickel and dime-ed these days. Cable, cell, newspaper....and now a radio bill to pay?


A co-worker was just telling me that when he was young, when his father bought a new car, he would not 'splurge' on the cost of a radio, as it was an "extra" (not a stereo....not an FM or tape player....an AM RADIO!) I can't imagine how they survived without one! LOL!

 

[Deleted User]

I find in my travels...

1.) People don't care about radio that much...while everybody likes good enjoyable radio, most won't go out of their way to get it....and use whatever they have access to.

2.) People are tired of getting nickel and dime-ed these days. Cable, cell, newspaper....and now a radio bill to pay?

When I got my latest company car ( 2 years ago this month, time for a new one) there were 2 things if had to have.

3R3 red paint, and factory SXM radio.

Red cars were easy to find, one at the trim level I wanted with SXM was not, but eventually I found one, and iirc the radio upgrade was somewhere around 500 dollars because it was premium sound/SXM/navigation

My SXM subscription is 120 dollars a year, and it is some of the best money I spend.

10 dollars a month and I get to listen to what I want.

For the last three months, prior to 2/1, they had an all Eagles channel, got to hear the Live in Nashville performance from October ( it sucked so I knew not to drop 1500 on tix to see them on tour!) some of the interviews ( Bob Segar) were fantastic.

On days I have to take Mom out, I have the 40's channel for her enjoyment. That makes her day.

I'm a (former) radio guy, I am a music fanatic, SXM IMHO is money well spent and a nice compliment to local radio.

YMMV

 

[TheBigA]

10 dollars a month and I get to listen to what I want.

In a general sense, yes. But they still pick the songs. If what you want is current hits, you can get that for free.

You also obviously talked the customer service folks into giving you a discount. Because the actual fee is $14.95 a month, and it'll be going up soon due to rising music royalty rates.

 

[looseends]

You also obviously talked the customer service folks into giving you a discount. Because the actual fee is $14.95 a month, and it'll be going up soon due to rising music royalty rates.

That's what I do - each time my renewal comes up I call and ask for a discount (threatening to cancel service, if necessary), and they typically give me 6 months for $36. It's a bit of a hassle to call them every 6 months, but to save $100 or so each year, it's worth it.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

My wife has it in her car. I've gone all the way up and down the dial a few times and found nothing I wanted to hear.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

A friend of mine has Sirius/XM in her car - it came with a yearlong free trial, as it was a brand new car.
The channels that it has, tend to mimic regular radio formats, for the most part. The channels for a
particular artist/band - I probably already have their content in one form, or another. One channel,
however, I find to be wicked cool - Deep Tracks. You never know what's coming up next, and they
find some really obscure stuff. I may not like every track they play, but it is always interesting!

 

[MarcB]

It's good that Easy 99.1 will be online, because I may not be able to listen to the station on the actual radio anymore.

All it takes is one complaint to the FCC and they will be off the air whether the complaint is with or without merit. I've seen it happen in Connecticut three times, twice to the same owner.


Five years ago. Maybe even 6 or 7 now Full Power Radio bought a low-power translator on 104.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut from WFAR a non-commercial ethnic (mostly Portuguese) station in Danbury. FPR boosted the translator's power to 250 watts and used it for Spanish CHR formatted WMRQ-HD2. Some screwball woman on Long Island - different state, Different market complained to WIHS, a 3.1KW non-commercial religious radio station in Middletown, Connecticut that she could no longer receive WIHS. The translator had to sign off. WIHS got Full Power Radio to move the translator to 104.5 FM.

Two years ago. Maybe three. iHeart Radio signed on a Rock formatted radio station on a translator on 102.1 in New Haven, Connecticut (Milbrook) called Rock 102 (WKCI HD2). The real Rock 102 - WAQY a Classic Rock station in Springfield, Mass was taking complaints from listeners who could no longer hear their station. i-Heart's Rock 102 was forced off the air. They moved the translator to 100.9 and relaunched as Hip-Hop formatted 100.9 The Beat.

Last year i-Heart radio sent phony complaints to the FCC that W241CG, a 250 watt translator on 96.1 owned by Full Power Radio and licensed to Southington with its antenna on Meriden Mountain was causing interference to their WKSS KISS 95.7 signal. Full Power Radio cut power of W241CG to 210 watts and changed their antenna pattern.

You know why I suspect the complaints about W241CG were phony?

1. W241CG's antenna is on the WMRQ antenna on Meriden Mountain.

2. WKSS also transits from Meriden Mountain.

3. Your radio has to be a piece of junk if a 250 watt station on 96.1 is causing interference to a 16,500 watt station on 95.7 FM.

4A. And this is the big red flag. W241CG plays is an Oldies Station playing the biggest Hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They play some of the same music as i-Heart's Variety Hits station The River 105.9 WHCN, which claims the biggest variety of the 70s and 80s. (They play little if any disco unlike 96.1).

4B. And here is the other red flag. This complaint about W241CG interfering with WKSS wasn't filed until early 2017. It just so happens that January 2017 is when W241CG started showing up at the bottom of the Hartford ratings. They're listed as WNTY-AM. W241CG signed on in March or April 2016.

 

[Least]

Two very different things. Sirius isn't local. There's an advantage to that if you commute a long distance from another market. Sirius music channels offer formats not available on OTA. The music channels are commercial free. By the same token, it's another monthly bill to pay. Some people don't see the need to pay for radio.

Yes the FM translators are cluttering up the dial. But the other side of that is they're just offering more choices. If choice is the appeal of satellite, then offering more choices won't drive listeners to other places, because those places offer even more choices.

I can't speak of other markets, but one thing that translators in this market are not offering is a vast amount of choices. Translators are specifically to get an AM signal or a HD substation on analog FM. In the purest form, they are doing exactly what they are meant to do. But the companies around here are not offering choices. I see choices as getting something like the EDX station that is on WBWL HD-2 to have a greater reach, as many people don't have access to HD substations per their radio.

Around here, all they do is put an AM on FM. To me, that's not choice. That's providing me with better sound of an option that I already had, which is something that could be achieved through AM Stereo (technically speaking; however not financially sound these days). I don't see that as choices. Heck, around here, all they do is put AM on HD substations and FM on HD substations as well. Over the last few years we've lost Jazz stations, speciality local themed stations, Live Rock, Blues, Free Form, Deep Cut Rap/Hip-Hop, etc. Now, outside of Irish Music, Christmas Music, Oldies, EDX and a speciality station to play new Pop, which will be on every CHR and Hot AC station within weeks, the rest of HD radio has become AM stations.

To me, one thing missing is choices. That's where satellite and internet thrives, there isn't vast variety on FM, at least around here. It's a business and advertising brings in money. Therefore, I do not have a gripe that these companies are playing content that will bring in money and pay the bills, but I still don't see it as choices. I see it as ways of getting choices that I already had on AM, just on the band that the 99% of listeners tune into. Again, I agree it's a sound decision to get more listeners to these stations, but it isn't adding choices. It's only getting the content out to the people who don't realize that the AM/FM button on their radio switches to another band.

 

[TheBigA]

To me, one thing missing is choices. That's where satellite and internet thrives, there isn't vast variety on FM, at least around here.

Some stations put their HD stations on translators. But keep in mind there may be 50 or so OTA radio stations in the Boston area. Sirius offers between 100 and 150 stations on satellite. So no matter how many translators they cram into the FM dial, it will never equal what's available on satellite. Also, because Sirius is a monopoly, there is no format duplication, because there is no competition. So you only have one station like The Highway, whereas there are two such stations on FM. Then there's the monthly bill.

 

[Deleted User]

All it takes is one complaint to the FCC and they will be off the air whether the complaint is with or without merit. I've seen it happen in Connecticut three times, twice to the same owner.

I doubt WPLM is going to spend the resources to complain to the FCC about a translator that by all indications will be outside of their fringe 40DBu or just inside of it.

WPLM is not trying to be a Worcester, or even Boston station, like WATD they have carved out a little niche for themselves on the South Shore and that is where they pull their revenue in from.

I happen to like WPLM, (full disclosure I turned down a gig there and have friends that work there) and they come in nicely here on the NH border, even with the 98.9 translator up in Windham on the first adjacent.

 

[Least]

Some stations put their HD stations on translators. But keep in mind there may be 50 or so OTA radio stations in the Boston area. Sirius offers between 100 and 150 stations on satellite. So no matter how many translators they cram into the FM dial, it will never equal what's available on satellite. Also, because Sirius is a monopoly, there is no format duplication, because there is no competition. So you only have one station like The Highway, whereas there are two such stations on FM. Then there's the monthly bill.

I cannot debate that. You are spot on completely. I remember when HD Radio began to be advertised more, it was geared as FM's answer to what at the time were SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. There were greater options. Had those options stayed, perhaps FM translators in Boston would have at least offered something different that only those with an HD Radio could get, instead of AM stations, which most people in the specific area could get. Speaking only for myself, I'd like to see a reveal of AM. Could the sound get up to par of AM Stereo, and the message out, that would be even more variety for those with a basic AM/FM Tuner. I enjoy finding the true Oldies music, and listening to 1030 to get the news. But, that's just one man's opinion.

But, yes some stations do put their HD stations on translators. I am at a lost of which ones do in the Boston area, but I like the story coming out of Minnesota where the company decided to promote a HD-3 rock station's beginning of being put on a translator as the million dollar ransom to it's two competitors. And, yes, SiriusXM is a monopoly, and don't have completion. But, when they were two separate companies, they each still had wider variety. It isn't the monopoly that causes SiriusXM to have greater variety. It's the satellite radio band, which is controlled by one company, but has space to accommodate much more programming. I think that had it been split up, and different groups took specific channel spots on the satellite band, I would suspect that even though we might have several attempts at repetitive Pop or country stations, there would still be greater variety than that on FM. Again, it would be nation wide, so there would be different owners needing to program for a national audience. What works in Boston might not work in Miami.

 

[TheBigA]

I'd like to see a reveal of AM. Could the sound get up to par of AM Stereo, and the message out, that would be even more variety for those with a basic AM/FM Tuner.

AM Stereo doesn't address the issues of frequency response, interference, or noise.

 

[WhoseLineFan]

All it takes is one complaint to the FCC and they will be off the air whether the complaint is with or without merit. I've seen it happen in Connecticut three times, twice to the same owner.


Five years ago. Maybe even 6 or 7 now Full Power Radio bought a low-power translator on 104.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut from WFAR a non-commercial ethnic (mostly Portuguese) station in Danbury. FPR boosted the translator's power to 250 watts and used it for Spanish CHR formatted WMRQ-HD2. Some screwball woman on Long Island - different state, Different market complained to WIHS, a 3.1KW non-commercial religious radio station in Middletown, Connecticut that she could no longer receive WIHS. The translator had to sign off. WIHS got Full Power Radio to move the translator to 104.5 FM.

Two years ago. Maybe three. iHeart Radio signed on a Rock formatted radio station on a translator on 102.1 in New Haven, Connecticut (Milbrook) called Rock 102 (WKCI HD2). The real Rock 102 - WAQY a Classic Rock station in Springfield, Mass was taking complaints from listeners who could no longer hear their station. i-Heart's Rock 102 was forced off the air. They moved the translator to 100.9 and relaunched as Hip-Hop formatted 100.9 The Beat.

Last year i-Heart radio sent phony complaints to the FCC that W241CG, a 250 watt translator on 96.1 owned by Full Power Radio and licensed to Southington with its antenna on Meriden Mountain was causing interference to their WKSS KISS 95.7 signal. Full Power Radio cut power of W241CG to 210 watts and changed their antenna pattern.

You know why I suspect the complaints about W241CG were phony?

1. W241CG's antenna is on the WMRQ antenna on Meriden Mountain.

2. WKSS also transits from Meriden Mountain.

3. Your radio has to be a piece of junk if a 250 watt station on 96.1 is causing interference to a 16,500 watt station on 95.7 FM.

4A. And this is the big red flag. W241CG plays is an Oldies Station playing the biggest Hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They play some of the same music as i-Heart's Variety Hits station The River 105.9 WHCN, which claims the biggest variety of the 70s and 80s. (They play little if any disco unlike 96.1).

4B. And here is the other red flag. This complaint about W241CG interfering with WKSS wasn't filed until early 2017. It just so happens that January 2017 is when W241CG started showing up at the bottom of the Hartford ratings. They're listed as WNTY-AM. W241CG signed on in March or April 2016.

I'm not complaining about it.