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Ohio Coverage Champs and Wimps

G

gr8oldies

There was a similar thread on the Indiana board about stations with exceptionally (if not surprisingly so) good
good coverage and coverage that is really bad. Obviously we know about WLW and WTAM but
some others come to mind:

Good coverage: WHKO 99.1 with that tall tower, audible from North of Lima to Cinncinati and at times almost to Indianapolis. I have heard them in Ft Wayne and even
beyond, and west practically to Indianapolis.

WCKY, Tiffin.on 103.7, Seems to reach about half the state, and before translators took to the air it was almost a daily
occurence to hear them in Springfield. I've also heard them on the lake Erie shoreline at Vermilion.

WJYM, Bowling Green, 730. It's all Jimmy, all-the-time these days but the former WMGS has 1000 watts that sound like a million. They cover almost all of the Western half of the state
, I've heard them in Central Indiana in the daytime, Columbus, and Vermilion. I did lose
them well before Canton during a drive there in the 70s, and WJYM's fire and brimstone was
replaced by WPIT's brand of the same (Ah was knee deep in hell!).

Now deleted WFRO (AM) 990. Got them decently in Ft Wayne, and even into the far north of the Dayton suburbs.

BAD COVERAGE: The foursome on 1520 in Northern Ohio. I don't knowe how they fit these stations in, in one place about 30 miles apart.
 
gr8oldies said:
There was a similar thread on the Indiana board about stations with exceptionally (if not surprisingly so) good
good coverage and coverage that is really bad. Obviously we know about WLW and WTAM but
some others come to mind:

Good coverage: WHKO 99.1 with that tall tower, audible from North of Lima to Cinncinati and at times almost to Indianapolis. I have heard them in Ft Wayne and even
beyond, and west practically to Indianapolis.

WCKY, Tiffin.on 103.7, Seems to reach about half the state, and before translators took to the air it was almost a daily
occurence to hear them in Springfield. I've also heard them on the lake Erie shoreline at Vermilion.

WJYM, Bowling Green, 730. It's all Jimmy, all-the-time these days but the former WMGS has 1000 watts that sound like a million. They cover almost all of the Western half of the state
, I've heard them in Central Indiana in the daytime, Columbus, and Vermilion. I did lose
them well before Canton during a drive there in the 70s, and WJYM's fire and brimstone was
replaced by WPIT's brand of the same (Ah was knee deep in hell!).

Now deleted WFRO (AM) 990. Got them decently in Ft Wayne, and even into the far north of the Dayton suburbs.

BAD COVERAGE: The foursome on 1520 in Northern Ohio. I don't knowe how they fit these stations in, in one place about 30 miles apart.
Click to expand...

Don't forget about WTVN, at least in the daytime for pretty much the entire state. Sounds pretty good at night where it can be heard, too ... makes it almost to Toledo without interference, or at least it used to a few years ago.
Some others I can think of:
- WTUE has an impressive signal from Kenton down through Cincinnati and east to Circleville and even into parts of Fairfield County if the conditions are right. Were the 104.9 in Gahanna not there, I'm sure WTUE would put a signal into much of Columbus.
- Most of the big Toledo stations cover northwest Ohio all the way to Lima, Van Wert and Lorain County on a regular basis. By this I mean 92.5, 99 and 104.7. 94.5 would except it's directional to push its signal east and west, which it does very well.
- T-102 out of Lima has easily the best signal from that city, making it to the northwest suburbs of Columbus (a good 75 miles) under normal conditions.
- As for WJYM, it has a tremendous signal where it can be heard. It *really* pulls in its signal to the north (and I think to the northeast as well) to the point where it comes in better in Lima better than on the north side of Toledo. Someone from Toledo, feel free to correct me on that.
 
gr8oldies said:
Good coverage: WHKO 99.1 with that tall tower, audible from North of Lima to Cinncinati and at times almost to Indianapolis. I have heard them in Ft Wayne and even
beyond, and west practically to Indianapolis.
Click to expand...

I can hear WHKO 99.1 FM here in Columbus in my car from time to time.
 
I can get Toldedo's "River" on 101.5 fairly often in the Dayton area. Kiss sometimes leave's Cincy's Fox roadkill.
Another one from the northwest part of the state that seems to get about everywhere is WKXA on 100.5.
 
To add to my earlier post on WJYM, it appears doing some reading that the Leamington 730 has been off the air for at least a decade, yet is still being protected. ::)
 
Leamington was 710 during the daytime(once heard it in Ft. Wayne) and 730 at night. As all dark Canadian AMs, it will be "protected" until the end of time.
 
Always thought WJYM was a 5K watter..Always has been a terrific daytime signal in Western Ohio since the WMGS days. No one (supposedly) is watching the store up at the Lime City towers anymore since it now rebroadcasts their FM out of Baton Rouge.
 
I got my radio start at WMGS 730 back in early 1974 (ask me sometime about being a just out of high school kid reading AP bulletins every two minutes on the evening of the great Xenia tornado outbreak while the lightning was striking the four tall towers surrounding our old train depot studio), so I have always been nostalgic for it. Last couple of times I've been back in Ohio, I found no evidence of any living presence at the WJYM studio/transmitter site in "Lime City." Wonder just where the public file is located? There's gotta be a way to get that signal back for someone to do something more than repeating a station that few people will want to listen to in Ohio from 800 miles away in Louisiana (or Idaho or California, for that matter).

Their 1-kw signal is sharply focused S-SW, with a big null to the NW to protect Lansing, which makes it fade out in Trilby and other parts in the middle of West Toledo's main population base. Someday someone may want to spend the money to move it into Monroe County, Michigan and tweak its pattern a bit to give Toledo its only AM signal with any reach.

By the way, the old WFRO-AM from Fremont was on AM900 (not 990 - a religious group in Ypsilanti snatched that one up a few years back) and also had a good daytime-only signal even into parts of Detroit, due to its also being sharply directional, only, in their case, toward the population. It was probably one of the cleanest signals in NW Ohio, so I was especially surprised the FCC let it be taken away, until I realized they didn't really care about coverage areas under the no-regulation of the licensees philosophy.

Indeed, CHYR-AM has been gone from AM 710/730 for probably two decades now (they're on 96.7FM now), and there should be a way with WJYM's now-nighttime signal to cover all of metro Toledo-BowlingGreen-Findlay fulltime, with a tight lobe due north toward Detroit and maybe another one getting it as far east as Sandusky. Gotta protect Lansing and Pittsburgh, plus nighttime for what's left of a clear's signal from Montreal within Canada.

My vote for AM 730 is for one of the NPR affiliates in Ohio or Ann Arbor to get it and do more of a typical NPR type talk format there -- absolutely perfect place on the dial between WLW and WJR to get some new listeners/contributors who might not otherwise appreciate the classical music on WGTE, and have gotten tired of what the former great 50kw'ers have become.

When I was working there for $2/hr during its bankruptcy days, pre-Jimmy, there had been reports of the WMGS 230 watt pre-sunrise signal being picked up in Georgia and Cuba on occasion. Not sure how true that was, but AM730 is still a relatively clean dial position, compared to the crowded FMs chewing up each others fringe coverage now. And, again, that tight directional AM signal will really work wonders, if its aimed toward, not away from, where a sufficient audience base lives.

-- Goldilocks (now in Seattle)
 
Formerly WCLW, WYHT(Y-105), Mansfield has always been a strong signal reaching as far north as the lake & as far south as Columbus(no surprise) but being in "Mid-Ohio" they've literally got it covered. Maybe that's why they're one of the few little stations CC kept.
5,000W WMJK(formerly Majic 100.9), Clyde used to come in clear down in Steam Corners Ohio.
 
How about WQIO 93.7 out of Mount Vernon which can be heard from Mount Vernon to Norwalk. And then there's WQKT 104.5 out of Wooster with 52,000 watts, one of the Indians baseball top affiliates.
 
Both those stations are excellent choices. What makes WQKT stand out even more is that they do quite well in the often-hilly terrain of eastern Ohio. I have depended on them for Indians baseball more than once in that region.
Both 105.1 and 106.1 from Mansfield get into Columbus nicely as well, and I would assume the southwestern reaches of metro Cleveland.
 
The coverage wimp may well be WCIN (soon to be WDJO). They had a competitive signal in the 70s, tower relocations have left them 4500 days and 330 nights..much weaker than the formerly leased 1160.
 
I used to live northwest of Columbus between Dublin and Marysville and I could pick up WCIN. Not any more.

1250 out of comes in pretty good during the daytime in Columbus. WKRC used to have a good daytime in Columbus. No more.

I can't get Y105, but listen frequently to 106.1.

730 in Bowling Green and 1110 in Dayton.

WCLT has pretty good regional coverage for a short stick.

1090 out of Sidney (now dark) was directional east and easily made it to Columbus. I listened from just south of Bowling Green to Columbus one evening.

940 out of Lima had a monster day signal. No more. They had a woman who did news in the morning in the late 80's or early 90's that sounded major market.

WRFD used to have a huge signal until they went on the 1230 stick. They stayed on 24/7 during the blizzard and got listeners in California.
 
del_griffith said:
WRFD used to have a huge signal until they went on the 1230 stick. They stayed on 24/7 during the blizzard and got listeners in California.
Click to expand...

Back in the late 80s when WRFD was still on Powell Rd.. they would run liners calling themselves "Ohio's Power Station" and proclaimed to cover 80 of Ohio's 88 counties.
 
del_griffith said:
I used to live northwest of Columbus between Dublin and Marysville and I could pick up WCIN. Not any more.

1250 out of comes in pretty good during the daytime in Columbus. WKRC used to have a good daytime in Columbus. No more.

I can't get Y105, but listen frequently to 106.1.

730 in Bowling Green and 1110 in Dayton.

WCLT has pretty good regional coverage for a short stick.

1090 out of Sidney (now dark) was directional east and easily made it to Columbus. I listened from just south of Bowling Green to Columbus one evening.

940 out of Lima had a monster day signal. No more. They had a woman who did news in the morning in the late 80's or early 90's that sounded major market.

WRFD used to have a huge signal until they went on the 1230 stick. They stayed on 24/7 during the blizzard and got listeners in California.
Click to expand...

I worked in Newark for two years and can't believe I forgot to mention WCLT-FM. They can be heard from New Philly out toward Springfield.
I remember hearing WCIT during the day in Columbus quite a bit, but since it was directional it wasn't a powerhouse in St. Marys, only 20 miles from Lima.
I also have noticed 550 no longer having a good signal in Columbus. Did HD get them too?
 
WKNR 850 is actually strong enough in parts of the metro Detroit area (i.e. Macomb County) to stop the Scan/Seek on some car radios. I have heard it during the day as far away as Bay City, MI.

WDFM 98.1 Defiance also does pretty well - it comes in listenably from Lima northward to Hillsdale and Adrian, MI.
 
The old WRKG, 1380AM while still in Lorain(tower was near Amherst I believe) on a humid day would come in clear in Downtown Cleveland but at night when they lowered the power the old folks home next door to the station(Antlers Hotel basement) could barely pick it up! Sometimes a champ, sometimes a wimp!

WENZ, Cleveland, even in their WPHR "Power 108" days always had a weak signal barely hitting the west side of Vermillion.
 
Interesting thing about the 107.9 (WENZ) signal is at one time it was the most powerful FM station in the Cleveland area. Back in the 70's when it was WELW FM I believe they operated with 70,000 watts or something along those lines. The station could be heard throughout NE Ohio and even into western PA. The location of the transmitter also contributed to the listening being what it was. The TX was (and I believe it still is) located in Geauga County as compared to most of the other stations who have their towers south of Cleveland.

I cannot remember for sure when they reduced the power but I believe that it was sometime in the early 80's. I can't remember the circumstance surrounding why they reduced the power but I do remember it happening.
 
ChrisInMI said:
WKNR 850 is actually strong enough in parts of the metro Detroit area (i.e. Macomb County) to stop the Scan/Seek on some car radios. I have heard it during the day as far away as Bay City, MI.

WDFM 98.1 Defiance also does pretty well - it comes in listenably from Lima northward to Hillsdale and Adrian, MI.
Click to expand...

850 could be heard almost clearly in some parts of Columbus before WOSU's IBOC tossed interference its way, but it really pulls in its signal to the east to protect a co-channel in Pennsylvania. That is quite obvious driving around the southeast side of Cleveland on 271.
 
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