• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Question about WMRD-AM 1150 and Rock Cats Baseball

KML0224

KML0224

With the rain postponing the Orioles vs Yankees game tonight, I ended up listening to the Rock Cats vs Senators game for a time on WMRD-AM 1150 of Middletown. I notice that they let nearly everything through from the WTIC-FM HD2 feed, with very little advertising of their own for Middlesex County. Now for a couple of technical notes:

1- The feed is a few seconds ahead of WTIC-FM HD2 when I check it on my Insignia FM HD tuner "Walkman".
2- It sounds like WMRD-AM has their daytime pattern on until the game ends (coming in decent as I type this).

Does anybody know if it's the same with WLIS-AM 1420 of Old Saybrook with this set-up? (I can't get them here due to WPOP-AM 1410 of Hartford.)
 
KML-224 said:
2- It sounds like WMRD-AM has their daytime pattern on until the game ends (coming in decent as I type this).
Click to expand...

WMMW used to cheat this way as well when Buckley had the Rock Cats contract. The FCC must wink at this, because 'MMW got away with it for years.
 
CTListener said:
KML-224 said:
2- It sounds like WMRD-AM has their daytime pattern on until the game ends (coming in decent as I type this).
Click to expand...

WMMW used to cheat this way as well when Buckley had the Rock Cats contract. The FCC must wink at this, because 'MMW got away with it for years.
Click to expand...
I find that hard to believe for two reasons. For one, WMMW's pattern change is not done manually - it's been on a "Sunwatch" type system for years. Also, when a competitor tried that back in the early 90s Buckley Broadcasting was quick to figure it out and let the competitor know it - it was quickly corrected. The summer night pattern doesn't kick in till about 8:00 or 8:30pm, which may have explained a stronger signal to the west of their Meriden towers later into the evening. WMRD is still non-directional at night, and if it's a quiet night for interference their signal can come in well to the north and northwest of their Middletown tower in a swamp that can get pretty full in the spring right next to the Connecticut River.
 
GlennO said:
CTListener said:
KML-224 said:
2- It sounds like WMRD-AM has their daytime pattern on until the game ends (coming in decent as I type this).
Click to expand...

WMMW used to cheat this way as well when Buckley had the Rock Cats contract. The FCC must wink at this, because 'MMW got away with it for years.
Click to expand...
I find that hard to believe for two reasons. For one, WMMW's pattern change is not done manually - it's been on a "Sunwatch" type system for years. Also, when a competitor tried that back in the early 90s Buckley Broadcasting was quick to figure it out and let the competitor know it - it was quickly corrected. The summer night pattern doesn't kick in till about 8:00 or 8:30pm, which may have explained a stronger signal to the west of their Meriden towers later into the evening. WMRD is still non-directional at night, and if it's a quiet night for interference their signal can come in well to the north and northwest of their Middletown tower in a swamp that can get pretty full in the spring right next to the Connecticut River.
Click to expand...
All I know is that I used to be able to hear the postgame show loud and clear on MMW in the stadium parking lot and along the road back to Meriden. If MMW were running its legal nighttime pipsqueak power those days, wouldn't the signal poop out somewhere in Berlin? I get MRD on the car radio in the stadium lot, too, but it's not as strong as MMW's used to be.

I remember reading somewhere that the FCC had a "Friday night football exemption," unwritten, for stations in the south and midwest, where high school football is king, so the fans could hear their teams' games over the wide open spaces. Is that still the case?
 
I was listening to some of the first game yesterday afternoon during the 5 o'clock hour on WTIC FM HD2 and they ran an ad for a business in Deep River. I wonder if WMRD and 96.5 HD2 run the same ads. BTW, WMRD was coming in pretty good when I was driving in Bristol last night. WNTY 990 would stay on day power when they had the Rockcats way back. I was a National Radio Club member at that time and WNTY was getting logged all over the east. I'm looking forward to the season with the team in FIRST place. I have a partial season ticket package for 22 games this year. I'm one of the very few who actually brings a headphone radio to the games to hear Jeff Dooley and Joe D'Ambrosio. WTIC 1080 will broadcast a limited schedule of Rockcats games (including tomorrow's home opener) when there is no conflict with Red Sox baseball.
 
No conflict with the Red Sox? Well that could change. Their game against Tampa got postponed tonight. I will be at the game but I highly doubt I'll have my radio with me. Friday's game is supposed to be around noon time, for what I was told. Obviously, WMRD-AM 1150 is no problem for me at that time of day.

P.S. You mentioned that magic frequency! 3...2...1...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom