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Rock 94.9 is taking complaints against the WFHK translator for interference

tomservo

tomservo

If you're in the Birmingham area and affected by the illegal WFHK translator operating from atop Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County, they've provided a document they're asking listeners to fill out. I couldn't attach it here because there's a comically low restriction of just 19 kb for attachments, so instead here it is on my Dropbox.

Affected listeners are asked to e-mail the filled out document to jasonmack (at) iheartmedia (dot) com.

Just thought I'd pass it along since I know a few folks on here are in the area.
 
If Rock 94.9 ( WQEN HD 3) Wins What will happen to WFHK? Will they go back to 1430 AM?
I thought that 94.9 was here first. I also thought a deal was worked out between the two stations.
 
so this is an interesting concept. this is a translator interfering with a translator? Clearly neither is a full power signal - what's the precedent here?
 
It's an illegally located translator interfering with a legal one. The license for the translator relaying WFHK in Pell City is for only 30 watts from the little hill where the water towers are overlooking downtown. This new translator is probably running 230 ways from Bald Rock Mountain, where WJSU used to transmit from.

Edit to add: their HAAT went from -26 meters to ~250 meters.
 
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Sunday morning November 9th update:

The iHeart 94.9 is stronger this morning but
this could be due to routine enhanced morning
conditions.
WFHK's 94.9 was not heard due to the capture
effect.

What is not routine is a weak but readable
WFHK AM signal on 1430.

They may be back on the temporary longwire.
The Tx is rated/authorized for 5 kw but took a
lightning hit before the tower collapse and was
being run at 1 kw.

At any rate it appears that either iHeart acted
on the listener reports they received,or the
restoration of WFHK-AM service has begun at last
(helped along by a visit from Atlanta?).
 
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Early Sunday afternoon update:

Rock 94.9 appears to be dominant on the
channel now.

WFHK-FM is still there but very much weaker.
Formerly both were of equal strength here.

WFHK-AM continues on 1430.
 
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passtheword said:
From the administrator of the Rock 94.9 Facebook page a few days ago.

'Eric, we are running at our FCC designated power. For the past month, The River was broadcasting at a level not permitted by the FCC. They have moved back to their FCC allotted location and power. Sorry for the inconvenience."

https://www.facebook.com/Rock949/po..._id=524202654389729&offset=0&total_comments=1
Click to expand...

The guy who posted that message they responded to was one of the people who private messaged me on Facebook, telling me they were going to go to the FCC and DEMAND that the Pell City station be allowed to cover all of St. Clair County, lol.

I tried to educate him on how all this works to the best of my ability, but you know the saying… you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Or in this case, you can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. :cool:
 
tomservo said:
The guy who posted that message they responded to was one of the people who private messaged me on Facebook, telling me they were going to go to the FCC and DEMAND that the Pell City station be allowed to cover all of St. Clair County, lol.

I tried to educate him on how all this works to the best of my ability, but you know the saying… you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Or in this case, you can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. :cool:
Click to expand...

lol. I like the last sentence...SO funny! But you're right...most people who don't have an interest in radio (at minimum) understand how radio stations are allocated with power, etc (I'll be the first to tell you I don't understand all of it myself). I've seen comments, though, from listeners who have posted on The Vulcan's (and other FM translator)'s Facebook pages, complaining about how weak the signals are and telling station owners to just "crank up the power" and/or "build a higher antenna", never realizing that radio stations have to apply for and have those types of upgrades approved by the FCC first.

It's unfortunate those two translators have been licensed to areas so close in proximity. It appears the folks in Pell City aren't too happy about Rock 94.9 trampling over their station there, but if Birmingham's 94.9 is operating within its licensed facilities, it (the situation) "is what it is", as the saying goes.
 
We are "entitled" etc etc etc.
Gotta love these folks.
Sounds like the pirates on 6800
or 1710 khz.
Sorry,it dosen't work like that ...:rolleyes:.

Do they publish
"The Idiot's Guide to Broadcasting"
or "Broadcasting for Dummies?"

You know,this shows there is an audience in St. Clair county.
If it can't be reached on FM,then why not AM?
It's not a dirty word or something.
Get 'FHK back up to full power and go for it.
A little promotion would work wonders,too.

They won't come if they don't know you're on,
and you really,really need to be back on
with a tower and 5,000 watts.

The AM went places the FM didn't.
 
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passtheword said:
It's unfortunate those two translators have been licensed to areas so close in proximity. It appears the folks in Pell City aren't too happy about Rock 94.9 trampling over their station there, but if Birmingham's 94.9 is operating within its licensed facilities, it (the situation) "is what it is", as the saying goes.
Click to expand...

When they were originally granted, they were both very low power and pretty far apart. If I remember correctly, Stocks got authorized for 230 watts atop Bald Rock first but was never able to get that facility on air. If they had, the 94.9 in Birmingham would probably be useless because it'd still be relegated to 10 or 17 watts or whatever it was originally. Instead, Stocks' translator was forced to be put on from in Pell City and that gave iHeart the OK to seek their two power increases. Even though the Pell City translator is the older of the two grants by something like a month, in the world of translators it's first come first serve.

I'm sure St. Clair County is under-served as far as radio goes but as the proponents of WFHK claim, but as RTC notes, they have a perfectly good 5 kW AM to put into operation if they only would do it. It's better than nothing and really does cover most of the county when it's running full tilt.

Plus, it only takes a little research with a qualified engineer to find another frequency if one's available and do a minor modification. They could be on a new channel in less than a month if they just had a clue.
 
"They could be on a new channel in less than a month if they just had a clue."

That is so right.
You would think that people who did this for a living would be
inclined to learn something about it.
But how many local stations are run by folks with a "Radio Shack"
attitude of "We don't know anything about this and don't wish to"?
Amazing.
 
Now that The River is no longer overflowing its banks, they need to start looking to a frequency change with the possibility of returning back to Bald Rock or another place where they can get as much of the St. Clair County coverage they seem to desire.

I'm wondering how willing the FCC is to issue waivers for translators on 3rd adjacents, of if that's still (stupidly) off limits. If they could move up one click to 95.1 they'd be 3rd to WJOX and WBHJ but there's no logical reason why that wouldn't work. Throw the directional antenna back up on the mountain and go to town.

This is one of those times where the FCC rules are a hindrance more than a help. They can only move, what is it… 3 channels at a time, or 10.6 MHz? Stupid. If they could go anywhere, both 100.1 and 100.3 (and possibly 101.7) would be wide open. Seeking any of those now would be a major modification and there's no window for that. The way the Feds have clamped down on the Mattoon Waiver I don't think they're as sympathetic to AMs getting translators as people think.
 
tomservo said:
Now that The River is no longer overflowing its banks, they need to start looking to a frequency change with the possibility of returning back to Bald Rock or another place where they can get as much of the St. Clair County coverage they seem to desire.

I'm wondering how willing the FCC is to issue waivers for translators on 3rd adjacents, of if that's still (stupidly) off limits. If they could move up one click to 95.1 they'd be 3rd to WJOX and WBHJ but there's no logical reason why that wouldn't work. Throw the directional antenna back up on the mountain and go to town.

This is one of those times where the FCC rules are a hindrance more than a help. They can only move, what is it… 3 channels at a time, or 10.6 MHz? Stupid. If they could go anywhere, both 100.1 and 100.3 (and possibly 101.7) would be wide open. Seeking any of those now would be a major modification and there's no window for that. The way the Feds have clamped down on the Mattoon Waiver I don't think they're as sympathetic to AMs getting translators as people think.
Click to expand...

I agree it makes sense move WFHK 94.9 The River to 95.1, but wouldn't the WSYP-LP 95.1 construction permit need to move to 95.3 then ( it would make sense).
 
Stretching A Bit?

tomservo said:
The guy who posted that message they responded to was one of the people who private messaged me on Facebook, telling me they were going to go to the FCC and DEMAND that the Pell City station be allowed to cover all of St. Clair County, lol.

I tried to educate him on how all this works to the best of my ability, but you know the saying… you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Or in this case, you can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. :cool:
Click to expand...

Yes, I said I was going to write the FCC asking that Pell City have a station that would cover all of St. Clair County..."go to the FCC"...seriously? "DEMAND"? Don't be so dismissive. I might not be a radio insider but I know enough about allocations, license procedures, and how the FCC works to know how these things work. Don't act so smug and elitist.
 
I would suggest that you call or go by the station and
encourage them to fix their AM station asap.

There may/may not be a FM frequency available for their
area that would permit a bit more power.

But as you know the translator's "footprint" can't exceed
that of the AM station so a new frequency or location
might be a tricky thing to implement.

They still appear to be oblivious to the fact that the idea is
to reach as many listeners as possible be it via FM,AM or
streaming.

Here in Leeds the FM can only be heard on a top-notch
receiver whilst the AM (on a tower and full power)
was quite audible.

More listeners=more income.

As Theodore Roosevelt once said, "You need to
do the most with what you have where you are".
 
Unregistered said:
Yes, I said I was going to write the FCC asking that Pell City have a station that would cover all of St. Clair County..."go to the FCC"...seriously? "DEMAND"? Don't be so dismissive. I might not be a radio insider but I know enough about allocations, license procedures, and how the FCC works to know how these things work. Don't act so smug and elitist.
Click to expand...

If you know how these things work you'd know how screwed up that whole situation was and that writing the FCC to make a special exception just for the desires of a few people never works.

Also, you're not the only one who wrote me about that comment from Facebook.
 
The entire 'FHK thing is an example of the new reality.

When you have little stations like this near a "major"
market (not that B'ham is all that big) the Big Chains
have long since acquired the surrounding area FM's and
converted them to rimshot stations,broadcasting into the
"big city".

After that,they have pretty much exhausted the slots
for translators running their iboc subchannels and
whatnot.

Which leaves a local station like 'FHK out in the
cold and relegated to second-class status.
Is this "fair"?
No.
But it is what it is.

Which is why they really need to get their AM
back up asap.
 
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Friday Morning Update:

Just got back from a local trip and WFHK-AM 1430 was
noticeably stronger this morning.
More above the noise than in it.

If any of you happen to be in the Pell City area
please run by the station and post an eyeball
report.

Thanks.
 
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