Does anyone know how long the Gater has been using Wellington as its city of license? I take it that this was similar to Wild's move in terms of making the station sound like it is closer to West Palm Beach?
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The Gater/City of License
- Thread starter ScottBurns
- Start date
What was the COL before Wellington? Typically, when a station changes their COL, they are looking to do some power changes and "move" closer to that city.
Take a look: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WKGR&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
If WKGR could move closer to Wellington, they would also get closer to Broward. (Not sure if technically they can move-- possibly too much interference with other Miami stations, but it's a thought for the future.)
Take a look: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WKGR&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
If WKGR could move closer to Wellington, they would also get closer to Broward. (Not sure if technically they can move-- possibly too much interference with other Miami stations, but it's a thought for the future.)
C
cd637299
Guest
COL was Fort Fierce. I didn't even know about the change until this board. I looked at the Tiger maps on FCC.ogv, but I see no change in the transmitter location.
Moving 98.7 closer to Miami would interfere....with the pirate we have!
cd
Moving 98.7 closer to Miami would interfere....with the pirate we have!
cd
The signal is no better on southern Palm Beach County. As a matter of fact, the signal is much better in St. Lucie County than it is in Wellington, Lake Worth, or West Palm Beach.
5
50share
Guest
They can't use "Gator" spelling as it would infringe upon the Gator Radio Network service mark.
R
Radio-X
Guest
cd637299 said:
I know this is old, but it was re-hashed...and this could mean something significant...maybe...
In 90% of the cases where the COL is changed but the tx location stays the same, it is usually due to another station signing on at the old COL. However, the people on this board would have spotted something like this on the FCC site months ago.
I'm guessing this is part of CC's restructuring plan. Pehaps Ft. Pierce is a different market in the eyes of the Feds and the move was needed to keep 98.7 as a Palm Beach cluster station. This happened with 101.1 and 104.1 in Orlando which have Brevard COL's but are Orlando stations. CC "moved" both to their Brevard cluster to comply with ownership limits. Still have Orlando studios...just different "markets".
Put it this way, things like this don't just happen for no reason or to make the station sound better at the TOH ID. There is something to this...either a move in, sign on, cluster change, or change in facilities at some point. And usually if the COL is changed, the new facilities are added with that info...so I'd bet this is strictly government housekeeping.
Radio-X
While they can't cover Miami very well, the COL move does give some flexibility. Firstly, Wellington just "sounds better" for a station trying to serve the South Florida area. Ft. Pierce is far enough away that it just "feels" like an out-of-town location. Doesn't it snow up there? 
From a technical perspective, the spacing for a second adjacent Class C to a C is 65 miles. 98.3 is South of Miami, but even 99.1 is still 75 miles from WKGR's current location. WAYF IF spacing would require at 22 mile separation, whereas they are currently at about 30-32 miles. With a Ft. Pierce COL, the requirement to keep a 70dbu over the city prevents them from moving. With the city-grade requirement shifting to Wellington, they can probably move 8 to 10 miles closer to their audience. While this doesn't sound like much, it makes the difference between being local in WPB and being one of the handful of stations that is so strong it can be received on a cheap clock radio or MP3 player with built-in FM tuner. In FLL where they are mostly listenable, but just on the edge where a car radio's scan function can miss them the would be reliably strong like they are now in Deerfield Beach.
From a technical perspective, the spacing for a second adjacent Class C to a C is 65 miles. 98.3 is South of Miami, but even 99.1 is still 75 miles from WKGR's current location. WAYF IF spacing would require at 22 mile separation, whereas they are currently at about 30-32 miles. With a Ft. Pierce COL, the requirement to keep a 70dbu over the city prevents them from moving. With the city-grade requirement shifting to Wellington, they can probably move 8 to 10 miles closer to their audience. While this doesn't sound like much, it makes the difference between being local in WPB and being one of the handful of stations that is so strong it can be received on a cheap clock radio or MP3 player with built-in FM tuner. In FLL where they are mostly listenable, but just on the edge where a car radio's scan function can miss them the would be reliably strong like they are now in Deerfield Beach.
Interesting information. These same issues must have played a role in Wild/WLDI's COL move from Ft. Pierce to Jensen Beach. I would have thought that Wild was more limited, as 95.3 is occupied by a powerful Ft. Myers station, and 95.7 is occupied in Miami.
There are not many other stations in the market with a less-than-desirable COL. WZZR's COL is Riviera Beach, but that is just north of West Palm, and south of Jupier. WNEW's COL is Jupiter, but the station has no problem reaching southern Palm Beach County. WMBX has a Jensen Beach COL, but it has, arguably, one of the best signals in the market.
There are not many other stations in the market with a less-than-desirable COL. WZZR's COL is Riviera Beach, but that is just north of West Palm, and south of Jupier. WNEW's COL is Jupiter, but the station has no problem reaching southern Palm Beach County. WMBX has a Jensen Beach COL, but it has, arguably, one of the best signals in the market.
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