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The 106.3 signal

I like Thunder's willingness to fight for their New York area listeners. They're not kidding when they say they're "Country With Attitude."
Perhaps this is related to the delay in the official start of the real programming on the translator from May 12, to May 18?
Ansky, are you now able to receive Thunder once again in stereo?
 
When they say "From New York City to Atlantic City" they will fight for every square inch from New York to AC.
 
Barry said:
I like Thunder's willingness to fight for their New York area listeners. They're not kidding when they say they're "Country With Attitude."
Perhaps this is related to the delay in the official start of the real programming on the translator from May 12, to May 18?
Ansky, are you now able to receive Thunder once again in stereo?
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Yes, I'm back to getting a stereo signal from Thunder. Let's hope it stays this way.
 
94.5 The Vibe has its transmitter 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas in the middle of the desert, and it has a booster in Las Vegas outside the 60 dBu contour. Before the booster signed on 94.5 was almost all static in Las Vegas. 94.5 was intended to serve the people (and cactus) of the Moapa Valley, not Las Vegas.
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KVBE is a full class C, protected out to its 54dBu contour. So the boosters that are in Vegas are in fact, within the rules.

WKMK has the same chance of getting a booster in or near Manhattan as I do of buying CBS-FM for $5. If you look at their 60dBu, it doesn't even come close to Manhattan. The 40dBu for WFAF and WKMK both meet near Central Park. So by the logic posted here, why not let WFAF get a booster too? That's why it won't happen for either station, it's outside of its protected contour. Otherwise we would have boosters sprouting all over NYC for WDHA, WXPK, WSUS...
 
Hey there I'm completely new here to this forum and only found out about this site because I recently noticed that I can actually hear country music for once in NYC. I live in gravesend Ave X and I noticed it recently. I used to never go above 104.3 but lately it seems to be too John Lennony for my tastes so I've been looking for a new radio. The other day I heard Jason Aldean while flipping the radio and almost had a heart attack. Country(well Jason Aldeans only half country but still)? NYC? can't be.


Any how I've been reading other posts and noticed people saying something about a translator (no idea what that is) and some dance station being put on 106.3. The people on this site seem to be pretty well informed on whats going on with radio (have no idea how and where they are getting info but it seems legit).


So my question is this are we actually gonna keep having country in NYC or is this just a cruel joke on me to give it for a while and then take it away. I mean they took KROCK (ruined it then took it), took 101.9 smooth jazz, and now 104.3 isn't the same anymore. Is thunder here to stay?

Thanks. And pardon me for my ignorance of how radio works, never knew this stuff was public knowledge.
 
biffbubbadale said:
So my question is this are we actually gonna keep having country in NYC or is this just a cruel joke on me to give it for a while and then take it away. I mean they took KROCK (ruined it then took it), took 101.9 smooth jazz, and now 104.3 isn't the same anymore. Is thunder here to stay?
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Thunder is a New Jersey station, not a New York station. It's licensed to serve a given area around Eatontown NJ, as illustrated by this map :http://maps.google.com/?q=http://ww...freq=106.3&contour=60&city=EATONTOWN&state=NJ

Thats the area Thunder is supposed to serve, per their license. Anything outside of that circle is not guaranteed - its considered gravy, and thus unless the translator is interfering within that circle, the FCC isn't likely to knock it down.

I agree that the translators are a mess, and the FCC should curb them. But so far, this translator is up and operating within the parameters of the CP, and people bitching that they cant get Thunder in Brooklyn or Essex County don't hold weight with the FCC. The station is meant to serve Monmouth & Northern Ocean County...not Northern NJ or NYC.
 
What a waste. Look what happened in the Hudson Valley area. For example, WKZE was on at 99.1 in Red Hook was interfering WKIP-FM's "News/Talk 99.3" and it doesn't come out good, because of that stupid translator. When the station moved to 105.9 back in early February, it is now interfering WQSH's "Crush-FM" in Albany at 105.7. WKZE's translator in Red Hook is a waste of space. I remember a few years ago when WJGK was on at 97.3's translator, it is interfering WKXP & WZAD's "The Wolf". That was a total garbage. As of now 106.3's translator is a waste of garbage. Someone get Batman and tell 'em to pull the plug. This is no good. Who programmed the translator? It might be the Joker.
 
I checked again this morning around 7am and the translator still can not be heard at all from where I am in Essex County. So they must have made some adjustments to their power or directional pattern. Thunder is booming in loud and clear in stereo - pun intended :)

I agree with the post above - the 106.3 translator is a complete waste. It's intended audience in NYC can't even hear it and it has caused inteference to another station outside the city. So what benefit has it provided??
 
I noticed a change too around Jersey City/Secaucus/Rutherford... Saturday the translator was blanketing the area pretty well, with an occasional drop in from Thunder - yesterday, the translator was having trouble staying locked in even in the Newport area, line of sight from 4 Times Square!

I was wondering if the weather was having an impact too, but I have no knowledge of those dynamics...
 
Thunder is not a New York Radio station they need to stay within there parameters maybe there running over power to serve those areas there saying interference is happening. Its only a 1 kw erp radio station maybe FCC should look at them!!! tell Thunder get over it
 
Woody12 said:
Thunder is not a New York Radio station they need to stay within there parameters maybe there running over power to serve those areas there saying interference is happening. Its only a 1 kw erp radio station maybe FCC should look at them!!! tell Thunder get over it
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All the NJ shore radio stations put a decent signal into north Jersey and the NYC area. In addition to Thunder I have no trouble picking up WJLK 94.3 and 107.1 The Breeze. Besides, you can't always trust coverage maps. The coverage map for WKMK shows the "fringe" contour going virtually right over my house, yet I can pull in the station like it's a local.
 
North Jersey is a strange animal when it comes to FM.
All of the elevation changes creates opportunities to pick up a wide range out of area signals.
Within a few miles in Morris County (and depending on the weather), you can pick up stations anywhere from Scranton/Lehigh Valley, PA to Long Island/CT...and from the Catskills to Philly and South Jersey.
 
ansky212 said:
I checked again this morning around 7am and the translator still can not be heard at all from where I am in Essex County. So they must have made some adjustments to their power or directional pattern. Thunder is booming in loud and clear in stereo - pun intended :)

I agree with the post above - the 106.3 translator is a complete waste. It's intended audience in NYC can't even hear it and it has caused inteference to another station outside the city. So what benefit has it provided??
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The translator is not a complete waste. It's an opportunity to program a missing format in NYC. It's 99 watts blankets the city quite well.
I live in Williamsburg and work in midtown and it comes in fine in both places. It's a bit more problematic at street level in midtown but so is Z100 for that matter. There's alot of interference with buildings in Manhattan.
I realize some people want to hear their preferred station but if it's an out of market station you cannot blame stations or translators operating within the market for blocking the out of market signal.
Oddly enough no one seems to complain about the pirates. The brunt of these pirates operate with more power than the translator and completely wipe out any out of market signal and then some.
 
Jeffrey said:
The translator is not a complete waste. It's an opportunity to program a missing format in NYC. It's 99 watts blankets the city quite well.
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Except it won't be well programmed, all it will be is automated and voice tracked, nothing better than you could get from your iPod or Pandora. And if it's smooth jazz as rumored then it won't be a missing format since you can already get that from WRXP HD2 and online.

Also its 99 watts don't blanket the city well, just look at the signal reports, it's crap unless you're due east in Williamsburg or due west in Newark and Union County where it's wiping out Thunder Country.

Congrats to the translator owner though, who managed to convince the FCC that somehow we needed another broadcast signal in Times Square since there just aren't enough media choices or RF signals there.
 
Jeffrey seems to be the only poster on this board (or on that other one devoted to New York radio) that is enthusiastic about the signal from the translator. Everyone else is apparently reporting that it is very spotty, even in midtown Manhattan. Evidently WLTW HD2 actually has an easier to receive signal than the translator that is simulcasting it. Unless it will rebroadcast a fabulous format, I would expect that it will be largely ignored.
I am curious whether any modifications were made to the translator's signal. A number of listeners to Thunder Country on its Facebook site and on this board and Thunder are reporting less interference from it in NJ. But reception remains buried by the translator's in much of Union County and points in its vicinity. And atmospheric conditions could be affecting reception.
 
Raider57 said:
What about the Northeastern part of Monmouth County? Was the translator able to interfere with Thunder?
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Nope. Thunder kicked in pretty well south of Rahway.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
if it's smooth jazz as rumored then it won't be a missing format since you can already get that from WRXP HD2 and online.
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Any format is available online and virtually nobody has an HD radio. If it's Smooth Jazz, 106.3 will be the only place you can pull the format in in NYC on an FM radio from a licensed signal.
Congrats to the translator owner though, who managed to convince the FCC that somehow we needed another broadcast signal in Times Square since there just aren't enough media choices or RF signals there.
Click to expand...
The translator owner's engineering consultant merely found a way to fit another signal that conforms to the current FCC technical parameters onto the NYC dial.
 
WKMK's protected contour covers all of Staten Island and a good portion of Brooklyn, so they do, indeed, serve New York City... just not Manhattan. If they "kick in around Rahway" that's about right. As pointed out earlier in this thread, you can only use a translator to fill in the main signal's predictred coverage contour. If Press could acquire the translator from Clear Channel, they could turn it into a de-facto booster. They could do a time brokerage agreement with an HD channel of a signal that gets into Manhattan. Press currently has a JSA with WAWZ/99.1, so that might be a good candidate. You could then synchronize the two 106.3 signals and possibly let out the translator's directional pattern to the south. But.... being that country is a format that has more appeal in the 'burbs than the city proper, that might be a lot of expense to pick up a relative handful of listeners.
 
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