Short Spacing for Two Charlotte-Area FMs

[Gregg.]

The two I noticed are severely short-spaced:

1. 104.7 WKQC Charlotte and 104.7 WNOK Columbia. Only 90 miles separate the two cities. Both do uses directional antennas. But both are also at the maximum power, 100,000 watts.

How did the FCC allow this? According to Wikipedia, WNOK signed on in 1959 and WKQC the following year, 1960. So it's not like they were grandfathered before the FCC understood or cared about FM radio.

2. 99.7 WRFX Kannapolis-Charlotte and 99.5 WMAG High Point-Greensboro-Winston Salem. Only 50 miles separate Kannapolis from High Point. Once again, both stations are directional. But both are also pumping out 100,000 watts!

WMAG is older, going on the air in 1946, but at 97.7, which had been a Class A frequency. Those stations at 92.1, 92.7, etc. were originally limited to 3,000 watts, then 6,000 watts. So sometime in recent years (Wikipedia doesn't say when) the station that is now WMAG got to move to a Class C frequency. WRFX also started out as a 3,000 watt station, in 1964. It later was allowed to increase its power, making several stops on the way to 100,000 watts. How can WRFX and WMAG be only one notch away on the FM dial and just 50 miles away in distance?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

How did the FCC allow this? According to Wikipedia, WNOK signed on in 1959 and WKQC the following year, 1960. So it's not like they were grandfathered before the FCC understood or cared about FM radio.

Actually, yes. The current FM allocation rules (broadly speaking) were enacted in 1963 if memory serves me.

Only 50 miles separate Kannapolis from High Point. Once again, both stations are directional. But both are also pumping out 100,000 watts!

WRFX is class C1. So that takes out 13 miles from the expected gap for full class C. And both stations are using a directional antenna with a 10 dB null in the direction of the other, so for the purposes of protecting the other, they're effectively class A stations which would have a minimum spacing of 45 miles. Clear Channel (now iHeart) has owned both stations for almost 25 years, and was able to coordinate the engineering to make this happen.

 

[tylerSC]

The 104.7 problem has been an issue for years. Too close together for full power stations in both Charlotte and Columbia. Even in Charlotte market counties of Union County in NC and York and Lancaster in SC, there is bad overlap and mutual interference. Looks like they could move one of the stations to a different frequency or do something. I live in Spartanburg and can receive most Charlotte radio signals, but not 104.7. And if you drive down I-26 from Spartanburg to Columbia, you can listen to Charlotte radio all the way down until about Broad River Rd. and Harbison Blvd. in the suburbs. Except for K-104.7 as it is overpowered by WNOK on 104.7 from Columbia.

 

[tylerSC]

And 99.7 has been sandwiched between 99.5 from Greensboro and the 99.9 powerhouse from Asheville, WKSF, which is one of the tallest and most powerful signals on the East Coast. So WRFX has a limited range with a directional signal, resulting in nulls that keep it mainly restricted to the core Charlotte region rather than the neighboring fringes.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't know how well it is received now in Charlotte but WKRR Rock 92 (92.3) in Greensboro has a situation similar to WKQC and WNOK. It used to be possible to pick up Rock 92 in Charlotte in some areas. It was a small Asheboro station but in 1985 it went to 100,000 watts even though WXLK (92.3) in Roanoke was close enough to have been heard in Greensboro if WKRR had never been there.

WBRF 98.1 in Galax VA also has a similar situation. The tower for this 100,000-watt station is on Fisher Peak near Mt. Airy, NC and the signal covers Greensboro and surrounding areas. Except for the west side of High Point, the location if the tower of WIST 98.3, Class A.

Now that I think of it, Charlotte has WPEG at 97.9, which WBRF has to deal with, and Greenville SC has WHZT Hot 98.1.