Tom Joyner going to Power 92 ?

[radioman148]

Tom Joyner will officially be starting this morning, Wednesday the 22nd, on Soul 106.3. The interesting thing about
the arrangement is that Tom will be paying for the airtime. He is brokering the morning show(5AM-9AM).

Damixah3, I know at one time when Crawford put "The Groove" on 102.3, they wanted to either buy or rent the
102.3 in Waukegan, 102.3 WXLC. They wanted to do this to set up a similar situation to the former 92.7 or 103.1,
or what they are doing with the two 106.3 frequency's(too bad WYRB is to far west to really impact the Chicago
area too well), which was the same station on two different stick's to reach the majority of the area. The owner
of WXLC, Nextmedia would not go along with the deal. WSRB in Lansing doubled their power two or three years
back, from 2,000 watts to 4,100 hundred watts to try to alleviate the problem up north. The real problem with
their signal up north is the fact that 106.7 is broadcasting 50,000 watts from a tower in Arlington Heights, there
is just no way to compete with that with 4,100 watts. That is why the signal is especially bad in the NW suburban
area.

I remember that 106 Jamz used to do quite well in the ratings, despite being only 2,000 watts. The big difference
from back then and today was that if 106.3's signal was fading we had the option of listening on 950AM, which
could be picked up reasonably well past the Illinois border. It is to bad that that simulcast doesn't still exist with
the addition of Tom Joyner, it would make listening up north possible.

Cant they boost the signal more?? Or put up a stick on the hancock??

I don't think they can at that frequency, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[stormy01]

Cant they boost the signal more?? Or put up a stick on the hancock??

I don't think they can at that frequency, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

My understanding is that a 106.3 would be short-spaced for full-power (Class A) on at least 105.9 and possibly 106.7 from a loop transmitter site. They would have to operate as a repeater with a very low power, like 100.7 (2 watts) and the construction permit for 97.5 (3 watts)...

Best they could do is a repeater, if a frequency was available in the north or northwest suburbs. Of course, buying a station is between financially out of reach and no stations are for sale at this time. I have no idea how deep Dontron's (Crawford Broadcasting) pockets are... Some stations use 'boosters' which are kind of like repeaters on the same channel, except that the booster's signal contours have to fall within the primary station's signal. WLEY 107.9 I believe used to have a setup like that but I think it was when WLEY was still broadcasting from the WSCR tower in Glendale Heights. Now that WLEY broadcasts from the Oakbrook Terrace Tower, they might not have the booster any longer.

WSRB does have an excellent website: http://soul1063radio.com/ and they stream online. But that won't help mobile, unless you have internet access in the vehicle.

 

[radioman148]

Cant they boost the signal more?? Or put up a stick on the hancock??

I don't think they can at that frequency, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

My understanding is that a 106.3 would be short-spaced for full-power (Class A) on at least 105.9 and possibly 106.7 from a loop transmitter site. They would have to operate as a repeater with a very low power, like 100.7 (2 watts) and the construction permit for 97.5 (3 watts)...

Best they could do is a repeater, if a frequency was available in the north or northwest suburbs. Of course, buying a station is between financially out of reach and no stations are for sale at this time. I have no idea how deep Dontron's (Crawford Broadcasting) pockets are... Some stations use 'boosters' which are kind of like repeaters on the same channel, except that the booster's signal contours have to fall within the primary station's signal. WLEY 107.9 I believe used to have a setup like that but I think it was when WLEY was still broadcasting from the WSCR tower in Glendale Heights. Now that WLEY broadcasts from the Oakbrook Terrace Tower, they might not have the booster any longer.

WSRB does have an excellent website: http://soul1063radio.com/ and they stream online. But that won't help mobile, unless you have internet access in the vehicle.

I thought short spacing would be a problem.

 

[dave73]

WSRB can't upgrade any further, due to 3 106.3's, & 106.7 Des Plaines. The 106.3 in South Bend (to the east), 106.3 in Gibson City (to the southwest), and 106.3 in Genoa (to the northwest, and their simulcast), plus 106.7 to the north. There are 3 nulls in their signals to protect those 3 stations, and a small null to the north. 105.9 is already short-spaced with 106.3, and both are pre-1964 stations. So that doesn't matter there. 106.7 however signed on under the current rules, and the null to the north is to protect 106.7, and not 105.9. If 105.9 signed on under the current rules, they might only be a class A at the most, 6kw. So they (WSRB) can't upgrade any further. So if Crawford wanted to try and cover more of the market, then they would have to look at translators. I however don't know if they can be used for commercial purposes. It might be better in this case than with all those religious organizations that clog the FM dial with their translators.

 

[radiotower40]

Cant they boost the signal more?? Or put up a stick on the hancock??

I don't think they can at that frequency, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

My understanding is that a 106.3 would be short-spaced for full-power (Class A) on at least 105.9 and possibly 106.7 from a loop transmitter site. They would have to operate as a repeater with a very low power, like 100.7 (2 watts) and the construction permit for 97.5 (3 watts)...

Best they could do is a repeater, if a frequency was available in the north or northwest suburbs. Of course, buying a station is between financially out of reach and no stations are for sale at this time. I have no idea how deep Dontron's (Crawford Broadcasting) pockets are... Some stations use 'boosters' which are kind of like repeaters on the same channel, except that the booster's signal contours have to fall within the primary station's signal. WLEY 107.9 I believe used to have a setup like that but I think it was when WLEY was still broadcasting from the WSCR tower in Glendale Heights. Now that WLEY broadcasts from the Oakbrook Terrace Tower, they might not have the booster any longer.

WSRB does have an excellent website: http://soul1063radio.com/ and they stream online. But that won't help mobile, unless you have internet access in the vehicle.

Stormy, To the best of my knowledge WLEY is still broadcasting from the WSCR transmitter. The Oakbrook
location is only an auxiliary transmitter.

Actually, a booster or translator station would be great for a station such as 106.3. I can not understand why commercial
broadcaster's rarely apply for them. If you look on the FCC's website their a ton of APP's for these stations, sometimes
up to three or four per frequency, but, almost every one of them are for non-profit and religious organization's.

I believe the only possible solution for 106.3 would be to develop a directional pattern and build a tower somewhere
in an area in the western suburbs, in between the two current towers in Genoa and Lansing. It would have to be far
enough west to not interfere with 105.9, and far enough south to not interfere with 106.7. If that is even possible due
too spacing concerns, it would be tremendously expensive to do. They would have to hire a consulting firm to work
with the FCC, to develop the pattern, and to find a suitable tower site. Then there would be the problem of the signal
being strong enough on the south side and NW Indiana, where it is very good now. They would also have to pay to
build the station, I don't think that Crawford would be willing to pay out that kind of money right now.

I don't think it is possible to make the current Lansing signal any stronger, due to there being a station on 106.5 in St. Anne,
IL, and being close to 105.9. In fact when they updated  to 4,100 watts they had to go directional to protect 106.5. Not to
mention there are stations southwest and east of the Lansing station that also need to be protected.
   

 

[Damixah3]

with tom buying his timne slot on 1063 maybe they have the renue to pay for the upgrades suggested......

 

[radioman148]

with tom buying his timne slot on 1063 maybe they have the renue to pay for the upgrades suggested......

Doesn't generate nearly enough revenue.