Non commercials Stations in Philly

[Jace]

How come there aren't any true independent radio stations in Philly?

Yes I know there is 'XPN, 'RTI, and WHYY (...and you know what's wierd, they all run NPR news at the top of the hour in the AM.) Penn and Temple are benefitting from the revenue oops I mean fundraising these stations generate. Those stations have a corporate feel to them, which overall makes their production sound professional and not "college-ish".

In NYC there's a ton, like WBAI, WBGO, WNYC, WFMU, Washington has WAMU and WPFW even Atlanta has WRFG, WRAS and WCLK. These stations have a community feel to them that's missing from XPN, RTI, and HYY.

What's going on?



BTW, what happened to 91.7 WKDU's (Drexel) signal? I remember it being much stronger I can't even pick it up any longer, anyone know?

 

[Jace]

DCRTV reports that WAMU claims to be #5 in the DC market.

 

[nd2023]

99.9 WHHS is an independent station in Philly

 

[musicbox]

There is a non-commercial station in the Philadelphia that would be a true independent station. True, it is in the suburbs, but has a Philadelphia translator at 107.3. That would be WRDV-FM (89.3) with studios in Hatboro, PA. The format is Big Band on weekdays, Specialty at night, and Rock and Doo-Wop on weekends. The hosts are all volunteers It is also heard on 97.1 (Bensalem) and 91.7 (Bristol/Levittown - WLBS-FM)

 

[MikefromDelaware]

WVUD 91.3 from U of Del can't be received in Philly, but I believe they stream on line, and they are a very independent collegeish feel type station.

 

[Dancerev889]

WBZC, WDBK, WMPH theres a start for you

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I'm a long, long ways from Philly so I can't analyze what is going on there, but I will share what I see in general.

Non-commercial radio suffers from the same emotions the commercial stations do. "Back in the day" it was interesting to listen (and participate in) to small town radio where all the young, inexperienced announcers wanted to emulate their (our) heros on the really great stations we could hear in the city. It's kind of like putting on "your Sunday best" to go to church to see people in their Sunday best when you all see each other during the week in some pretty slouchy clothes. Some radio stations want to "wear their Sunday best".

Then there is the "dress code" of today's teens... I guess you could call it "our ghetto best". Drooping pants, holes in the clothes, etc. It's not cool to be sophisticated looking. Well, some non-commercial radio seems to program with "baggy pants and holes in their britches" as a reaction to the perceived stuffy sound of NPR and some other non-commercial.

Remember the days of a country music station where "accordin to the thermometer here on the back porch at Radio Ranch it's 87 HOT degrees." Don't want to be mistaken for stuffy, Sunday Best city folk.

All of that verbiage to steer your attention to two LPFMs that seem to have found a comfort level right in the middle of the two extremes I tried to paint.

www.radiofreenashville.org is a dandy. WRFN-LP. Informal, unpredictable, and yet you get the idea that some of the volunteers are downtown young lawyers on their lunch break. Their city of license isn't all that far from Grinder Switch of Minnie Pearl fame... and yet there isn't a lot of pretense in most of what I hear.

www.KFOK.org is in the "back woods" between Sacramento, CA and Reno, NV. This is about as opposite from NPR as you can get. A social worker was doing an hour for the elderly the other day and in the midst of her consumer advice she stopped until the noise of a logging truck passed. Later she excused herself to get up and go get a drink of water. And yet it wasn't corn-ball.

So, what has this all got to do with Philly? Listen to these two for a little while (they stream) and then sit down with a note pad and say to yourself: If I had a non-comm in Philly, here is what I would do. Then come back here and tell us about it.

 

[softmachine]

WBZC, WDBK, WMPH theres a start for you

The first two don't make it far or at all.

 

[Dancerev889]

WBZC, WDBK, WMPH theres a start for you

The first two don't make it far or at all.

WBZC is 10,000 watts plus two translators. You can hear it in most of south jersey and the eastern part of Philadelphia.

 

[amfmsw]

Although not a Philly station, it does cover some of the city and Wilmington, and it's the finest TEACHING radio staion I've ever heard. That is WGLS in Glassboro, owned by Rowan University, operated by Frank Hogan. Frank is former CE of Famous 56.

Like a teaching hospital associated with Temple, U of P, et all, WGLS has the student execute the foundation laid out by professionals. That's how they learn. WGLS has won so many awards for news, Community Affairs, Features, Programming, you'd need a whole page just to list them. In fact: http://wgls.rowan.edu/awards.html .

The STUDENTS who persure a career in area Newsrooms, Marketing Agencies, and on-air are ready when they're feet hit the ground. Hire a Rowan WGLS grad for a broadcast position, and you're free of training wheels and hand-holding.

There's no stuffy NPR. They use ABC News at TOH, run an honest-to God format, write and report local news. All volunteer, with rules. THIS is what College Radio should be, not a dozen repeaters from Philly that do not serve the locals.

 

[Jace]

Yes, WGLS is very good and what they do and their signal is decent south of Philly city limits.

 

[qtpieislit]

WBZC, WDBK, WMPH theres a start for you

The first two don't make it far or at all.

WBZC is 10,000 watts plus two translators. You can hear it in most of south jersey and the eastern part of Philadelphia.

Horizontal Effective Radiated Power 470 Watts

Height above Avg. Terrain 67 meters (220 feet)

Antenna Pattern Directional

 

[Dancerev889]

Although not a Philly station, it does cover some of the city and Wilmington, and it's the finest TEACHING radio staion I've ever heard. That is WGLS in Glassboro, owned by Rowan University, operated by Frank Hogan. Frank is former CE of Famous 56.

Like a teaching hospital associated with Temple, U of P, et all, WGLS has the student execute the foundation laid out by professionals. That's how they learn. WGLS has won so many awards for news, Community Affairs, Features, Programming, you'd need a whole page just to list them. In fact: http://wgls.rowan.edu/awards.html .

The STUDENTS who persure a career in area Newsrooms, Marketing Agencies, and on-air are ready when they're feet hit the ground. Hire a Rowan WGLS grad for a broadcast position, and you're free of training wheels and hand-holding.

There's no stuffy NPR. They use ABC News at TOH, run an honest-to God format, write and report local news. All volunteer, with rules. THIS is what College Radio should be, not a dozen repeaters from Philly that do not serve the locals.

That sounds like WBZC, WDBK and WMPH as well

 

[Dancerev889]

WBZC, WDBK, WMPH theres a start for you

The first two don't make it far or at all.

WBZC is 10,000 watts plus two translators. You can hear it in most of south jersey and the eastern part of Philadelphia.

Horizontal Effective Radiated Power 470 Watts

Height above Avg. Terrain 67 meters (220 feet)

Antenna Pattern Directional

Is this trying to prove me wrong?

 

[Play Freebird]

Horizontal Effective Radiated Power 470 Watts

Height above Avg. Terrain 67 meters (220 feet)

Antenna Pattern Directional

WBZC operates with limited horizontally-polarized ERP to protect Chanel 6. However, the vertically-polarized power (at the maximum of its directional pattern, towards the west) is indeed 10 kW.

 

[softmachine]

Horizontal Effective Radiated Power  470 Watts

Height above Avg. Terrain  67 meters (220 feet)

Antenna Pattern  Directional

WBZC operates with limited horizontally-polarized ERP to protect Chanel 6.  However, the vertically-polarized power (at the maximum of its directional pattern, towards the west) is indeed 10 kW.

And that's a big number. 

The coverage for Philly, according to Radio-Locator.com, is smack dab in the middle of distant and fringe. The coverage IRL as I've driven it, disappears just over the Betsy Ross Bridge, and does not cover most of Philly proper.

Any other numbers we should know about, as to semantically increase purported coverage?

 

[qtpieislit]

WBZC operates with limited horizontally-polarized ERP to protect Chanel 6.  However, the vertically-polarized power (at the maximum of its directional pattern, towards the west) is indeed 10 kW.

Wow, an original. Either this is the basic college level display of the applied sciences of lysergic acid diethylamide or apparently, this is a BCC example of a new indirect method of calculating 88.9’s ERP.  3.14, divided by the square root of the horizontal polarized subchannel oscillation, equals perfect reception in the Pine Barrens, on a dimly moonlit night, when the humidity is below 50%, and the dew point is at it's saturated level, and classes have been excused for the day. Thus it equals 10,000 watts when measured vertically to the west. 

 

[Dancerev889]

WBZC operates with limited horizontally-polarized ERP to protect Chanel 6. However, the vertically-polarized power (at the maximum of its directional pattern, towards the west) is indeed 10 kW.

Wow, an original. Either this is the basic college level display of the applied sciences of lysergic acid diethylamide or apparently, this is a BCC example of a new indirect method of calculating 88.9’s ERP. 3.14, divided by the square root of the horizontal polarized subchannel oscillation, equals perfect reception in the Pine Barrens, on a dimly moonlit night, when the humidity is below 50%, and the dew point is at it's saturated level, and classes have been excused for the day. Thus it equals 10,000 watts when measured vertically to the west.

You're a funny guy. I think our engineer and our engineering survey firm would have a much better answer for you. Maybe you should get in your car and drive around and see if the station comes in. I dont think Michael Tearson and Glenn Kalina would be working at a "typical" college radio station.

Better yet I invite you to come out the school and check out our operation. The equipment that we use is just as good if not better than most commercial stations. Doors are open come on in

 

[qtpieislit]

This was in no way a slight on Michael Tearson, or Glen Kalina. They are two true pros, by all measure, and I commend them for their contribution to the curriculum at BCC and the undertaking at WBZC. I was just knocking around the power allocation parameters. It’s all in good fun. I’ve actually never seen that facility, probably one of only a few I haven’t had the opportunity to see. So I think I will take you up on your invitation, and come on down there. Besides, Hy Lit Technologies is always scouting the colleges for new young talent to participate in our intern program, and get involved with the company in a permanent capacity after graduation. I'm interested in seeing what's goin' on down there.

 

[softmachine]

I dont think Michael Tearson and Glenn Kalina would be working at a "typical" college radio station. 

I guess I'm supposed to make a syllogistic conclusion based on that ideation?