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SCA on 102.5 FM

M

mgpt6

Did Greater Media keep the 2 subcarriers at 67 and 92 kHz after they took over 102.5 FM from WCRB? Do they still have both subcarriers now with HD Radfio running on 102.5? If both subcarriers are still on , does this not allow 102.5 to have exteneded HD hybrid mode?
 
I don't know if Greater Media is running any SCA services on 102.5, but the ones WCRB ran were discontinued in the spring of 2006, before the sale to Greater Media. DMX Sound and Media, which leased the subcarriers from WCRB, turned them off after its SCA customers were switched over to other media. Even in the days when WCRB Sound Systems ran the subcarriers, SCA was a moribund business; if you wanted background music you could choose between traditional elevator music or a rock/pop format, whereas via satellite (DMX) you could choose among more than thirty formats. And now I'm not even sure if background music service is a viable business given the ubiquity of iPods and the like.
 
I used to have a blast listening to the SCA's on the local FM stations. I used to have an FM converter which put FM signals on AM-only car radios. It was totally by accident in '79 that I found the subcarriers of FM stations by simply moving the AM dial up and down the dial from the center frequency with radio with a converter. It was called "slope detecting". If your FM converter used 1400 kHz to down convert the signal to an AM only radio and if you moved the AM dial a little further up or down away from the center frequency (around 60 to 90 khz), you could actually listen to the background music services, programing for the blind or visually impaired, Physician's Radio Network, a lot of telemetry chirps and a few subscription services (in store broadcasting) and more. The modulation was naturally a bit on the low side to protect the main channel. Funny, I actually heard WLNE (Channel 6, 87.75 MHz) use an SCA from their FM audio carrier for their telemetry from the transmitter in Tiverton, RI. This was back in the late 70's and early 80's. Later I got a FM radio modified for SCA use. One interesting catch I got WSRS (96.1) in Worcester. They actually used their SCA to feed their weather forecasts to the other Knight Quality Group Stations around the area like WGIR and WHEB in New Hampshire. I'm sure now, SCA's are few and far between. I haven't used my SCA receivers in many years. It was truly a last frontier of radio.
 
At the time of its sale to WGBH last year, WCRB 99.5 was running a Microsoft data SCA.

I believe WHRB still has a Greek-language and a Persian-language SCA running.
 
When I first saw the title, I thought 102.5 FM had flipped to all-ska music... ::)
 
I know WERS has a Radio Reading SCA on its 67kHz subcarrier. Who else in Boston has FM SCA subcarriers. I have read that 92kHz subcarriers and HD IBOC Radio dont mix well.
 
I think WPLM had music on theirs up until just a few years ago. WATD has the Massachusetts Reading Network on theirs. I also think WERS has a seperate feed on their 92kHz.
 
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