Stations That Pretend to be in Bigger Markets

[charlestondxman]

WFXH 1130, when they were the sports station for Savannah for several years, was an example. They are a 1kw station that focuses on Hilton Head Island and the Beaufort area, yet tried to serve Savannah with ESPN Radio even though it is a non-entity as a signal in the inland parts of Chatham County, forget about the outer parts of the market. At night, it only covers HHI and part of Bluffton. Now it is a standards station, a perfect format for that signal.

92.1 out of MacClenny, FL, with that home shopping format, also tries to serve Jacksonville, but it is a rimshot that is tough to get in the eastern parts of town.

 

[LibertyNT]

By Far The craziest claim HAS to go to KXEZ in Farmersville, TX
They try everything they can to claim to be a Dallas-Ft.Worth station.

However, their meager 3kW Class A Facility barely covers Collin county with a 64dbu Signal (stopping just a little south and west of McKinney, a little north of Wylie)
Their signal is nearly non-existant in Dallas and impossible in Fort Worth due to KTFW which completely takes over just a little west of Dallas around Carrolton.

Their map speaks for itself http://www.radio-locator.com/pats/KXEZ_FM_LU.gif

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Maybe some FM stations have some US listenership, but nothing like CKLW had in its heyday. Detroit Metro, Cleveland and Toledo, and the whole East Coast at night. People in the outlying areas of New York City would listen to the songs Rick Sklar wouldn't let them play, call WABC, and force their hand. You just can't find radio like that these days.

Thanks to voice tracking, the listener can't even call their local station to force their hand these days. No wonder radio is less relevant.

 

[Poledo]

I know this is a small fish in a small pond but WPFL (WPensacolaFLorida) is a C3 with it's tower located almost 50 miles north of Pensacola. They tried to be a Pensacola station for a couple decades even though they have no useful signal in town. I believe the current owner has given up on IDing Pensacola but they held on to the obvious call letters.

 

[ftballfan]

There are still some Canadian stations that get decent listenership in the US

CIMX 88.7 Windsor, ON comes to mind. They are an Alternative format known as '89X', targeting Detroit, on the other side of the river. Music is pretty standard for an Alternative format, but unique due to Canadian content rules.

89X has an advantage over other Detroit stations: They run 100kW

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

You could get CKWW-FM/CJOM all over Lower Michigan before WIAA moved from 88.3 to 88.7, at 84000 watts at something like 284 feet. It was on one of the CKWW 580 towers. It did have a format that people would seek out, even if it just faded in and faded out.

 

[ftballfan]

You could get CKWW-FM/CJOM all over Lower Michigan before WIAA moved from 88.3 to 88.7, at 84000 watts at something like 284 feet. It was on one of the CKWW 580 towers. It did have a format that people would seek out, even if it just faded in and faded out.

Didn't WIAA downgrade when they moved to 88.7? I saw somewhere that they ran grandfathered power on 88.3

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

They were 115 kW at 350 feet on 88.3. The present HAAT gives them much better coverage.

 

[mimo]

Toronto's AM 740 has a large U.S. audience due to that massive signal, both day and night. It's not what CKLW once was, but it's respectable.

 

[ftballfan]

They were 115 kW at 350 feet on 88.3. The present HAAT gives them much better coverage.

I take it they broadcasted from the Interlochen campus at that time. Did the Harrietta move and the move to 88.7 happen at the same time?

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Moving to 88.7 had something to do with the Channel 6 interference rules, which are now moot. It was on the Interlochen Campus when it was on 88.3.

 

[ftballfan]

Speaking of northern Michigan, who can forget 100.1 WCUZ Bear Lake's unsuccessful attempts to compete in Traverse City? This station has been silent for what seems like at least 15 of the past 20 years, but whenever it was on the air, it tried to target Traverse City, with the most recent being a news/talk station carrying Rush, Sean, and some other big talkers, despite there being a 50kW AM owned by a competitor in TC airing most of those shows. IMO, 100.1 would only work as a simulcast of a TC or Ludington station or a simulcast of a noncommercial station.

 

[KeyTimes950]

Let's start with CKLW. I remember that station well, as a nighttime listener in Pittsburgh (and still occasionally DX for it, albeit for other reasons) and as a daytime listener when my family vacationed in Erie.

WTOR-770 may be among the Birach stations that actually fulfill the public interest, convenience and necessity rule, which hasn't been the case for Birach's WWCS-540 in Canonsburg, serving the Pittsburgh market in recent years with Mexican music from Michigan and now a Fox Sports Radio affiliation that some here think is Clear Channel parking the format there for future reference. (Clear Channel has denied that.)

OK, now that I am in my home market, we have WAVL-910 in Apollo, more than 25 miles away, which claims to be a Pittsburgh station but hasn't succeeded with Christian music (carried from WAY-FM after a short attempt at local programming faltered) or conservative talk (with hosts who either wouldn't make it in Pittsburgh or are being carried on other smaller talk stations in the market).

Broadcast Communications Inc. out of Greensburg has made a tradition of trying to be "Pittsburgh" with its AMs from Westmoreland County, WKHB-620, which started out as heritage station WHJB and once was a full-service station for its home county, and WKFB-770, home of "Pittsburgh oldies" deejay Frankie Day.

WKHB formerly was licensed to Greensburg, now is licensed to Irwin, tried for Brentwood (on the other side of McKeesport from Irwin, and those living in Pittsburgh would know what I'm talking about) but the FCC rejected that idea, and now has an FM translator licensed to Clairton (a Mon Valley city some 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh) but broadcasting from near a cemetery that overlooks the Waterfront (a Pittsburgh-oriented retail complex just over the city line in the Steel Valley boroughs).

WKFB formerly was WBCW in Jeannette, still is licensed there but usually downplays the COL in its IDs (as it also downplays "Irwin," and both stations are blurted out as "KHB Pittsburgh" and "KFB Pittsburgh") and has an FM translator that is licensed to Monroeville but now is tied to the KFB tower south of Irwin and southeast of McKeesport.

Now, one could look at a map, see that all these towns are reasonably close to Pittsburgh, and dismiss my whole premise. But I offer it anyway for your discussion.

 

[davideduardo]

Toronto's AM 740 has a large U.S. audience due to that massive signal, both day and night. It's not what CKLW once was, but it's respectable.

It actually shows up in the ratings in Erie, Buffalo and Olean. The total cume in those 3 markets is about 7 thousand people.

 

[charlestondxman]

Another station that pretends it is in a bigger market is 93.5 from Ocean Isle Beach, NC. It tries to serve Myrtle Beach, and has for decades, but it has almost no signal in the southern part of Horry County. They even had their studio down on US 17 in Surfside Beach until a few years ago.

 

[ftballfan]

WCKY (103.7 Pemberville, OH) tries to target Toledo, but their tower is 40 miles out of Toledo. It's closer to Tiffin, Fostoria, Findlay, Sandusky, and even Marion than Toledo.

WAUN (92.7 Kewaunee, WI) tries to target Green Bay with a Spanish format, but it needs a translator there to get a decent signal. They also have a translator in Sturgeon Bay, where there is very little Spanish being spoken. The translators are owned by Del Reynolds while WAUN is owned by Magnum Communications. If translator rules weren't as strict, the Sturgeon Bay translator would likely be rebroadcasting one of Del Reynolds' stations from Glen Arbor, MI (which likely put in a listenable signal to Sturgeon Bay).

 

[boiseengineer]

How about Salt Lake City with something like 19 boosters for
KYMV KLO-FM KZNS KUDD KDUT KNIV KEGA KYFO in North SLC alone.
Most of the same bunch have boosters in Ogden & Logan.
Those rim-shots are shadowed big time by the very big Washatch Range from transmitters almost in Wyoming.

 

[boombox]

Within 100 miles of the Canadian border, we have a couple stations in W WA that program South Asian music and talk, apparently aimed at the South Asian audience in Vancouver BC.

One of the stations in Oak Harbor (KRPA 1110) apparently isn't well heard in Vancouver BC (or Seattle, for that matter).

I think the other two stations (KVRI 1600, KRPI 1550) are heard over the border a lot more easily.

The other WA (and BC) guys here probably have a better idea of how these stations are heard in BC, as I haven't been north of the Seattle-Tacoma area for a couple years.

 

[cyberdad]

I think the other two stations (KVRI 1600, KRPI 1550) are heard over the border a lot more easily.

The other WA (and BC) guys here probably have a better idea of how these stations are heard in BC, as I haven't been north of the Seattle-Tacoma area for a couple years.

These are what I was trying to think of earlier. For the past ten or so years, I've been getting into Vancouver once or twice a year on average. These two are both heard well there....24/7. 550 is another signal that blasts in.

 

[Signal]

Back when I lived in St. Peters, MO:

105.3-WAOX Staunton,IL. Truly a rimshot with programming beamed in.
99.9-KFAV Warrenton,MO. Another rimshot. What do these guys rank in Arbitron?
94.1-KPVR Bowling Green,MO. A "Joy" FM outlet. Could pull their signal in a rather weak state in St. Peters,MO.
97.7-KZHR Potosi,MO. Another "Joy" outlet. Could also be heard in St. Peters.