The Areas Strongest FM Signal

[eyg2181]

I nominate WMGK. they are way stronger than the Radio-locator Map says it is.

WMMR is pretty good. according to the RI map, the dont reach Pottsville, i fact, it says that the dont even reach schuylkill county. but it does, and fairly well for the distance. MGK and RFF are almost perfect, just certain parts in the CITY of pottsville they are out, but once you get past that, theyre back.


WRFF is about tied with WMGK

 

[K-Tel]

I'm going to toss in a vote for WKDN.

 

[Interstate 78]

i too am familiar with the pottsville schuylkill county area and i think WISX is one of the best signals from philly in that area

 

[BRNout]

WOGL seems to do best into northern NJ and into the central PA area. They have a very good range. That being said, their penetration locally is not quite as good as WXTU, WISX or WDAS-FM. But those 3 don't seem to go out quite as far.

All in all, most of the Roxborough & Wynwood signals seem to be fairly similar.

Of course, the worst commercial FM signals in Philly seem to be 107.9, 103.9, and 106.9 (in that order).

 

[amfmsw]

A lot has to do with dial position, not just "coverage". Agreed, WOGL does not have the building penetration of WXTU & WMMR, but in 98.1's and WYSP's case, height is everything. Here at the Shore, with Docket 80-90 Class A FM's everywhere, not many Philly FM's are listenable in the Car, and none make the trip on home radios (unless your radio is a Scott, Mac or Marantz 10-B). With that in mind, the best signals here are from WXTU, WYSP and WOGL. All get 1st adjacent channel fights. WXTU from 92.7 in Toms River and Rehoboth Beach DE. WYSP from 94.3 in Avalon, and WOGL from 98.3 in Ocean City. While WILW is 3kw, WTKU is twice as powerful and at a full 100 meter antenna height and fully modulated. Even with that, WOGL with it's superior tower height and center dial position, is still auto radio listenable except in Cape May County. On many but the finest radios & tuners, the sensitivity and selectivity wane at either end of the dial, giving WOGL the edge again.

WMGK is hammered by 102.7 WJSE. 103.9 is non-existant from WMGM.

 

[eyg2181]

A lot has to do with dial position, not just "coverage".

i am beginning to think the frequency is half the battle as well. its weird that i can get 94.1 and 93.3 in my shop class, but not 102.9 or 104.5. moving the wire around barely pulls either one of them in, unless im touching the end of the wire. but mmr and ysp come in fine, i just need to position the wire right. but in the car MGK and RFF come in better than MMR and YSP. keep in mind that this is the radio in my schools shop class (its an aiwa unit with a double cassette and a cd changer built in) that im in the first 2 periods of the day. and i want RFF and MGK b/c MMR and YSP have their morning shows. i turn YSP on at 9 when the music starts, but MMR has P&S on too damn long theres no music until after i leave. until 9 i keep The Hawk on, because RFF and MGK wont come in clear with out me touching the end of the wire.

i am beginning to think the radio can tune in the lower frequencies (YSP & MMR) better than the higher (MGK & RFF). and believe it of not, local 107.5 Frank FM, will barely come in either. BTW, im in Blue Mountain High School in schuylkill county.

however, in the car and in, MGK and RFF almost sound local, and come in better than MMR and YSP. and Frank-FM is PERFECTLY clear. in my house i get all the Philly stations loud and clear, even NJ 101.5


with all that being said, i must add not to focus too too much on the post because it somewhat derails the thread, but i had to give an example as to what im talking about.

 

[8638]

I'm going to toss in a vote for WKDN.

I don't usually listen to that, but, coincidentally, I stopped on 106.9 while driving home from Toms River to Bayville, NJ. Very clean signal, unassaulted by 1st adjacents WLTW New York or class A WWZY Long Branch (an A with a solid signal here, 35 miles to the south of its stick).

WOGL is always strong, as is WMMR. WRFF is afflicted when there is tropo...1st adjacent WAXQ New York walks all over it then.

103.9 and 107.9 are barely listenable. WXTU gets hammered by 92.7 WOBM, but sometimes I can null the latter out enough to listen.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

Well, by all means, if Philadelphia FMs don't reach POTTSVILLE, damn those lousy engineers!

You do realize Pottsville is like, what, at least an hour's drive outside this market, right?

I'm no engineer, but I think it's safe to say dial position has little to do with market coverage when talking FM. WMGK I was always told was one of the lower-powered signals, but has its amazing signal due to antenna height.

For what it's worth (and that's probably minimal), the Philadelphia FMs I used to have trouble pulling in in Montgomery County (using household radios, not talking about in the car) were WXPN (before the move to 88.5), WRTI, WMMR, Kiss/Y-100, WIBF-FM/WDRE, and WKDN (not that there has been anything worth listening to on 106.9 since the '60s). In other words, anything at Roxborough was fine here. (Though I think WRTI is in Roxborough-- 90.1 was always and still is a challenge to get here.)

Meanwhile these days, WRNB is almost non-existent in King of Prussia, with that Scranton-area station frequently looming right on top as I drive by Radio One's own studios in Conshohocken. Out-of-town FMs like the old WBYO in Boyertown come in clearer. In fact, on the Schuylkill around Conshohocken most of the Lehigh Valley and Trenton FMs come in like locals.

 

[BRNout]

I'm going to toss in a vote for WKDN.

I don't usually listen to that, but, coincidentally, I stopped on 106.9 while driving home from Toms River to Bayville, NJ. Very clean signal, unassaulted by 1st adjacents WLTW New York or class A WWZY Long Branch (an A with a solid signal here, 35 miles to the south of its stick).

106.9 broadcasts from Camden and has a better signal to the east of Philadelphia than it does to the west. It actually gets sketchy as close to the west as Exton, and it's noticeably weaker than the main Philly signals as close in as Wayne. That's why I listed it as third weakest.

Which is no great loss, as this station is a waste of electricity.

About 107.9 - horrible signal in many of the suburbs. The station is unlistenable in the King of Prussia area, and that problem carries westward through the Great Valley along 202. An area where everyone else comes in fine.

 

[Interstate 78]

backing up my post earlier in the thread about WISX having a good signal into schuylkill county, i have run into at least 5 people in the pottsville area complaining they can no longer pick up the new wjjz at 97.5 but they used to pick up 106.1 fairly good. 97.5's signal even with the tower change is one of the worse signals in philly, but not as bad as say a 103.9 or 107.9. i've actually gotten 97.5 in southern stretches of schuylkill county but not without a lot of work. 106.1 was a lot easier. but george is correct. philly engineers could (and should) care less about schuylkill county. schuylkill county is two radio markets and a tv market away. that county doesn't even get philly tv stations (except for maybe a few bonuses from the cable company). their tv comes from scranton. as for smoooth jazz, there's parts of the southern part of the county that actually get smooth jazz 92.7 our of harrisburg better than wjjz.

 

[eyg2181]

yea, 2 markets away. THERE IS NO F****** MARKET IN POTTSVILLE the only good station in the market is FRANK and The Hawk.
and ALOT of people in the area listen to philadelphia stations they come in pretty good, just not on radios with crappy antennas inside brick buildings.

 

[Interstate 78]

the only station i ever hear on in places when i've been in pottsville is the city's only commercial FM station, good 'ol WAVT T-102. theyre not too bad. nice to hear a locally owned station. magic 105 out of tamaqua i guess would be T's only real cross county competitor with their AC/full-service format. schuylkill is an interesting county.

 

[Tiger1983]

the only station i ever hear on in places when i've been in pottsville is the city's only commercial FM station, good 'ol WAVT T-102. theyre not too bad. nice to hear a locally owned station. magic 105 out of tamaqua i guess would be T's only real cross county competitor with their AC/full-service format. schuylkill is an interesting county.

Yeah, T-102 is a powerhouse from Schuylkill County, with its very good signal here in the Wilkes-Barre area. The Magic 105 is completely covered by the local WSFX(LCCC) translator.

Whenever we are on the PA Turnpike(Northeast Extension), T-102 comes in clear as a bell about seven miles north of the Quakertown interchange, but it was sometimes interfered by nearby WIOQ. This was on my Sony Walkman with the "Local" switch turned off. I remembered couple of years ago when the station was ID'ed as "WAVT Pottsvile, Reading, Harrisburg"! Maybe the signal traveled as far as parts of the Harrisburg suburbs.

 

[eyg2181]

T102 sucks, absolutly THE worst station i have ever heard. i hat how so many ppl think it is so great. but then again, i only like one gen re of music, but im sure its great for people who like a variety. oh and i must add, t102 does not come in clear on my radio or the shops radio for that matter. (THANK GOD). you cant mix nelly furtado with the rolling stones and garth brooks, it just doesnt work. Y-102 comes in better, but they're not too too great. Frank is the real winner up in pottsville. btw, i live on the other side of the mountain to pottsville, its the side that faces philly. i think its sharp mountain.

 

[eyg2181]

i guess back to the original topic........

 

[JerseyShor]

The Philly stations that most often stop my radio in "seek" mode here in Ocean County are (in order) WMMR, WIOQ and WMGK.

As for the strongest in the area, I nominate WSTW.

 

[nd2023]

In New Brunswick, NJ, most of the Philly FMs have New York adjacents spewing IBUZ trash. WMMR, WYSP, WRDW, and WISX come in best here. Surprisingly, WOGL isn't too bad, despite having the WMGQ 98.3 tower 2 miles away. 107.9 doesn't come in at all except in a few spots, WEBE from Connecticut always is stronger. Same with 103.9, WFAS is always stronger than WPPZ. During a recent tropo opening, 106.9 was the only Philly station that came up on the auto-scan, and it was bleeding on to 107.1 WWZY. 97.5 is a mess between WJJZ and WALK.

 

[eyg2181]

JERSEYSHOR, WSTW is an amazing siganl, i pick that up in my area as well, and it is my favorite out of the the three (PST, STW, Q102).

UPDATE: WMGK, i was going to check ouit a college in Dunmore PA yesterday. i had 102.9 on since i left my driveway on the outskirts of Pottsville, all the way on 61, and all the way on 81. i didn't have to change it until i got near the West Hazleton Exit, thats what??? like 140-150 miles away right? and it was in CLEAR too, all it took to lost it for good was like 10 seconds....i kept checking it to see if it came back, but it didnt, but that is still amazing. but i did get to listen to 97.9 The X (Hazleton/Wilkes-Barre) the rest of the was, i love that one a lot, and on the way back, i put 102.9 on most of the way back...there was also a streach on the road where MMR was still in good too, but as i approached Frackville some oldies station bled over it until i got into the St. Clair/Pottsville area again. YSP it totally dead after you get into the city of Pottsville b/c of the top-40 station out of sunbury, and STW is out about the same time because of some country station. but MGK was in better than the hawk or Frank FM.

i tried to contact MGK to tell them about having them on all the way up in the Hazleton area, but the pohones were ringing off the hook apparently as i could get nothing but the busy tone signal over the phone.

of course, when im in levittown with my dad, radio is not a problem, except i listen to 105.7 and 93.3 in levittown rather than 107.5 99.9 102.9 and 93.3 in pottsville

 

[K-Tel]

There used to be a pirate in the Hamilton, NJ area on 107.9 that would re-broadcast WSTW. They were there for the longest time, too. Interesting.

 

[Stuart]

When I drive from Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Philadelphia (via I-95), I can usually pick up WOGL about 30 miles North of Baltimore. Oddly, on the return trip, WOGL stays on almost into Baltimore ???