The 106.3 signal

[Jeffrey]

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.

I would not say it has anything to do with enthusiasm, just fact. I can pick up the translator without interference from Williamsburg, Brooklyn and from midtown Manhattan. I've also had it on in the car and you can pick it up very well in most of Manhattan.

 

[nd2023]

106.3 is a mess north of 100th street. Maybe Thunder's complaint prompted them to tighten up its directionality and reduce the power transmitted to the southwest, which would explain the worse signal in NJ when it signed on after the outage yesterday.

 

[magicjellybeans]

To our Loyal Thunder 106 Listeners! We are aware that many of our listeners in the Counties of Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union, Bergen, Essex, Hudson as well as Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island and Lower Manhattan are experiencing interference with our Thunder 106.3 signal

What crack are they smoking? Sussex?? Are they aware of WHCY? Same thing goes for the northern parts of Morris, Passaic and Hunterdon... you haven't had a snowball's chance in hell to get WKMK.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WHCY&service=FM&status=L&hours=U

I get WKMK (thunder ) in Passaic and Hunterdon no problems with a $99 Pioneer cd player.

 

[XCountry285]

How will this translator effect WHCY-FM in Blairstown?

 

[ansky212]

How will this translator effect WHCY-FM in Blairstown?

It really won't have any effect on WHCY. WHCY only travels as far east as the Morris/Essex county border. The translator really wasn't reaching anywhere west of the West Orange area.

 

[Jeffrey]

with the translator silent, the only thing you get on 106.3 on May 12 in midtown Manhattan is static.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I'm actually getting WKMK loud & clear in my office in midtown right now, on a Boston Recepter radio. I didn't even have to fiddle with the antenna, I just dialed up the frequency and there it was. I'm practically in Times Square so it's hard to believe the translator owner didn't notice there was a signal getting in on that frequency.

On the other hand there's no sign of any signal at all on 95,9 which I understand was the other possible minor change the translator owner could have made moving down from the former 106.5 frequency.

I have to admit I never listened to Thunder Country before this incident, but I've had them on most of the day and must say it's a really good sounding station with live jocks and great energy.

 

[Jeffrey]

I'm actually getting WKMK loud & clear in my office in midtown right now, on a Boston Recepter radio. I didn't even have to fiddle with the antenna, I just dialed up the frequency and there it was. I'm practically in Times Square so it's hard to believe the translator owner didn't notice there was a signal getting in on that frequency.

On the other hand there's no sign of any signal at all on 95,9 which I understand was the other possible minor change the translator owner could have made moving down from the former 106.5 frequency.

I have to admit I never listened to Thunder Country before this incident, but I've had them on most of the day and must say it's a really good sounding station with live jocks and great energy.

It's not a matter of the translator noticing or not that there is a signal on 106.3. It's a matter of the FCC granting the translator a license to operate on it. NYC is not within the protected contours of WKMK's (Thunder) intended listening area.
WKMK does not serve NYC per se and is an out of market station.

I have no idea what floor you work on, you may be line of sight to the WKMK signal or there may have been troppo but you cannot receive WKMK with any listenable regularity from most parts of Manhattan. I am at 49th and 6th on the 23rd floor and there is no signal.

As for the signal at 95.9, it's the same deal as with WKMK. 95.9 WRAT broadcasts at 3000 watts to the same market as WKMK and also has a marginal signal in southern sections of NYC. They could complain just as WKMK did but they would be just as unjustified as WKMK is for complaining about the translator.

The whole reason WKMK is so up in arms is because they are trying to be a country music station for NYC which they are not.

 

[ansky212]

The whole reason WKMK is so up in arms is because they are trying to be a country music station for NYC which they are not.

I think you're missing the point. WKMK is complaining because their listeners are complaining. I think the issue is that they have listeners in NJ that are being affected by the translator. You're assuming that all the listeners that complained are in NYC and can't pick up the WKMK signal. You're also assuming that the translator was operating correctly. Maybe they were broadcasting above the licensed wattage or their directional pattern was incorrect. Perhaps the translator's signal was indeed bleeding into WKMK's local coverage area. We just don't know the details at this point. If I owned the radio station I would not just be complacent and accept interference by someone that just decided to set up shop in the area. Clearly an investigation is needed.

 

[Ozman]

I could never get this 106.3 signal in Greenwich because of the neighboring 106.3 WFAF but I listen to the q-104.3 HD-2 signal with no interference in Old Greenwich now they must have been able to increase the power on the IBOC.

 

[mdamico25]

The whole reason WKMK is so up in arms is because they are trying to be a country music station for NYC which they are not.

[/quote]

I think you're missing the point. WKMK is complaining because their listeners are complaining. I think the issue is that they have listeners in NJ that are being affected by the translator. You're assuming that all the listeners that complained are in NYC and can't pick up the WKMK signal. You're also assuming that the translator was operating correctly. Maybe they were broadcasting above the licensed wattage or their directional pattern was incorrect. Perhaps the translator's signal was indeed bleeding into WKMK's local coverage area.

I don't think so. I was in Monmouth County last weekend when the translator was blasting away, and had WKMK locked in without any interference from the translator from the big Rartan River Bridge in Sayreville (Middlesex County), all the way through Northern Monmouth, without any sign of the translator. Last Sunday I went to Freehold and again had WKMK strong until just south of Freehold Center when I started to get interference with 106.3. But this time, it wasn't the translator- it was interference from adjacent channel WISX 106.1/Philadelphia. By the time I was south of Freehold, 106.5 was stronger than 106.3.

To repeat what the others have been saying, unless Press can claim that the translator is interfering with WKMK in its "local" area- read the Jersey Shore area of NJ, I don't think there will much of a case. WKMK is an out of market station for NYC and North Jersey. The fact is they play country music that people in New York and North Jersey enjoy their music for lack of a better "alternative" (pardon the pun)...

BTW: to the poster that basically said that Press "won" against the big evil corporate giant that is Clear Channel, Press has been known to do some not so nice things as well. Ask fans of WKMK's predecessor WHTG, how they treated their audience at the end when they changed formats. Or the citizens of Elko, NV and Jackson, WY when they bought the local TV stations in those towns with the intent of shutting them down and moving them to NJ and DE. These days, money, greed and power talk whether you are CC or Press.

-Mike


O

 

[Jeffrey]

The whole reason WKMK is so up in arms is because they are trying to be a country music station for NYC which they are not.

I think you're missing the point. WKMK is complaining because their listeners are complaining. I think the issue is that they have listeners in NJ that are being affected by the translator. You're assuming that all the listeners that complained are in NYC and can't pick up the WKMK signal. You're also assuming that the translator was operating correctly. Maybe they were broadcasting above the licensed wattage or their directional pattern was incorrect. Perhaps the translator's signal was indeed bleeding into WKMK's local coverage area. We just don't know the details at this point. If I owned the radio station I would not just be complacent and accept interference by someone that just decided to set up shop in the area. Clearly an investigation is needed.

I never assumed that anyone from NYC complained. The signal is so limited how many people would actually be listening from NYC? Country music wouldn't exactly take the city by storm even if it were listenable. The WKMK website stated they were having signal interference in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens as well as parts of NJ which is why I assumed WKMK complained to the FCC about the translator within the city as well as parts of NJ. NO part of WKMK's protected contour is within any part of NYC yet they sight that the translator is interfering with their signal in those boroughs...?

NJ is another story, I don't doubt some complained but are they within the protected contour? Certainly if the translator was operating properly and it's true, we don't know if it was, then that would clearly need to be corrected.

My opinion is that WKMK simply wants to bill itself as a NYC station with it's fringe signal so they are creating waves. Have you not heard the sweepers, "from Atlantic City to NYC"?

Let's tell it like it is...... You didn't hear a peep out of WFAF did you?

 

[ansky212]

Let's tell it like it is...... You didn't hear a peep out of WFAF did you?

What does that have to do with anything? Just because WFAF has not complained doesn't mean WKMK shouldn't complain. WFAF and WKMK cover 2 different areas so it's not even an apples to apples comparison. As several other people have pointed out, the translator had a terrible signal to the north, so it probably had no effect on WFAF's listeners.

 

[Barry]

I posted this on another thread devoted to the 106.3 translator, but I believe it bears repeating here. Below are some quotes from the F.C.C. translator rules that appear to justify Thunder's complaints, even for areas such as Manhattan, outside of their protected contour. We need to understand that regular radio stations can interfere with translators, but not the other way around. Under the regulations, translators have less rights than regular broadcast stations.
From the F.C.C. translator rules: " A translator or booster may not cause predicted or actual interference. If any actual interference is created, the Commission requires the permittee or licensee to resolve all interference complaints by appropriate means. If the interference cannot be resolved, the Commission will require the FM translator or booster station to discontinue operations."
There's also this:"A translator construction permit application will not be granted if an objecting party provides convincing evidence that the proposed translator station would likely interfere with off-the-air reception of a full service FM station, even if there is no predicted prohibited contour overlap."
I believe the rules make it clear that if a translator interferes with significant amounts of a station's listeners anywhere, the translator is subject to being shut down if the station complains and the interference is not removed.

 

[frozenfiresb]

Can anyone speak for the signal in the North Bronx or southern Westchester? I would imagine it's not very likely, since the 106.3 frequency is a hotbed for pirates in the Bronx, despite the fact that the WFAF transmitter is slightly northeast of Mount Kisco and its signal deteriorates fairly quickly most points south and west of White Plains.