Wasted signals

[nd2023]

WJRZ"s translators. 100.7 in Toms River and 107.9, right where the original 100.1 broadcasts! I'm not sure why those two translators exist.

They were on well before HD radio, so it's obvious they weren't for HD2 simulcasts. Those translators should simulcast other Greater Media stations that have trouble on the shore, or WJRZ-HD2. It's not like the translators are even blocking out of market competition.

 

[ftballfan]

Speaking of BBN, none of the stations have their own Wikipedia pages. Some of them had histories prior to being bought by BBN (95.5 in Salt Lake City comes to mind).

You misread the call. Here are the Wikipedia Pages.....

WPBN 7 (NBC)
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGTU]WGTU 29 (ABC)

Cheers & 73 ;D

The last sentence was actually meant as a reply to another post on here.

 

[Jul]

WPHT in Philly. hasn't been the same since WCAU-AM went off the air 23 years ago.

 

[spunker88]

Kids do not listen to AM radio, neither to small-signalled stations nor blowtorches. It doesn't matter how available, accessible and well-programmed the music is.

Thats why its a wasted signal in my opinion. Kids don't listen to AM and this generation of kids probably doesn't listen to much FM either. I don't see how Radio Disney is making a profit with no listeners on OTA radio. They'd be better off going internet/cable only for the age group they appeal to. In NYC they could have put Disney on 98.7 and ESPN on 1560 if they thought enough kids would listen on FM. An AM simulcast of ESPN 98.7 (getting rid of Radio Disney completely) would probably be more worthwhile. It would provide a nighttime ESPN affiliate to smaller northeast markets that only have daytimers locally, although not many people listen to skywave AM these days.

 

[ftballfan]

Kids do not listen to AM radio, neither to small-signalled stations nor blowtorches. It doesn't matter how available, accessible and well-programmed the music is.

Thats why its a wasted signal in my opinion. Kids don't listen to AM and this generation of kids probably doesn't listen to much FM either. I don't see how Radio Disney is making a profit with no listeners on OTA radio. They'd be better off going internet/cable only for the age group they appeal to. In NYC they could have put Disney on 98.7 and ESPN on 1560 if they thought enough kids would listen on FM. An AM simulcast of ESPN 98.7 (getting rid of Radio Disney completely) would probably be more worthwhile. It would provide a nighttime ESPN affiliate to smaller northeast markets that only have daytimers locally, although not many people listen to skywave AM these days.

I think most people that listen to Radio Disney listen to it either via internet or satellite radio. 1560 gets out a ways west as well. It comes in most nights in Michigan.

 

[DXingRadio]

I don't see how Radio Disney is making a profit with no listeners on OTA radio.

Easy answer, they aren't. RD is run purely to extend the Disney brand. The electricity and maintenance of these AMs is a pittance to the Disney empire.

 

[MarioMania]

Then why RD keeping AM signals at all if kids are listening online??

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Probably, $10 chocolate shakes at DisneyWorld comfortably subsidize the revenue leakage, Mario .
The devil knows what the admission fee is in 2013. When we went there around 1990, it was fifty bucks.
Each.

Major sports ..... major entertainment companies : The admission prices at both are beyond obscene. Even the ticket prices at our local mall movie (along with the nonpereils and popcorn) are stupid.
We smuggle in Dots and maybe a pint of gin, lol.

Irrespective : True, there are many wasted signals. But the AM dial seems to hoard more than its share, like they were giant globes of aluminum foil or rubber bands that might be worth something eventually.
Owners : Don't hold your breath.

* * * * * * *

A buddy of mine once declared, 'AM DX is dead.'
He meant because of the lack of musical excitement ; the paucity of hooks ; the migration of youth elsewhere.
He said that in February 1977.

 

[audioguy]

I am not a big fan of RD but I am thankful that they are on AM. They provide one of the few remaining opportunities to listen to MUSIC on AM radio. The industry in general seems to have declared war on music and thinks we should all like listening to talk, talk, talk. Personally, I despise talk radio.

There are only three stations that regularly play music that are receivable in the Chicago area: WSM, CFZM, and Radio Disney. WSBC does play some nice tunes at the odd moment.

Therefore, I don't consider RD a wasted signal-- I tune to them on a somewhat regular basis, and at times they play something I can listen to.

 

[davideduardo]

But I've seen them show up in exactly * one * book in the Disney era, and that was something like a 0.3 in the now-defunct Westchester (NY) book.

That was a diary-based measurement, of people 12 and older. The target for Disney is 6-11, which was not even measured in the diary method.

Kids do not listen to AM radio,

6 year olds don't know the difference between AM and FM. It's the only group that doesn't yet have opinions about the sound quality, the hipness or image of AM. But mostly it's a safe destination for parents to select for pre-teens and it is still good marketing for the Disney brand.

 

[davideduardo]

If you want a real wasted signal - I would submit KCTA Corpus Christi, which has viable coverage in Houston and San Antonio, but a format that appeals to almost nobody.

First, it's a daytimer. There are no truly successful daytimers in major metros.

Second, it's considered necessary (and fairly well proven) to have at least a 10 mV/m signal in urban areas to overcome man-made noise and interference. The KCTA 10 mV/M falls several counties short of even reaching the outer limits of either the San Antonio or Houston MSAs. And both metros are full of signals that come much closer to being viable which are getting minimal if any ratings... an ultra-rimshot AM daytimer from Corpus is not going to have a chance at all. If they make money with the current format, they are quite fortunate.

 

[gar hi]

What about all the FM stations that are switching to talk or sports?

There's not already enough of that on AM?

FM seems to be taking the same path AM did after the 70s.

 

[charlestondxman]

AM is a dying band in the smaller Southern markets. As far back as 2002, FM share was close to 90% in Charleston. Here, the top AM last book is WTMA with a 2.6 share, about 14th or 15th place. Clear Channel, even with their big 730 stick, 5kw daytime serving a good portion of the state, was getting lower ratings with Rush and all those shows than WTMA was.

CC decided to move to 94.3, an also-ran urban for several years, and a few months later beat WTMA. That's why spoken word is moving in many places to FM.

 

[crainbebo]

WDBO 96.5 Orlando is bad. They flipped to an "all-news" format and from what I've heard on the Orlando board, it sucks! Reporters are young, cheap people and stumble over lines, and most of the time the news isn't "all of the news" - only 50% of the stories. Sometimes they don't even cover certain traffic hotspots. WHTQ 96 Rock was a station that wasn't "wasted"!

-crainbebo

 

[ftballfan]

If you want a real wasted signal - I would submit KCTA Corpus Christi, which has viable coverage in Houston and San Antonio, but a format that appeals to almost nobody.

First, it's a daytimer. There are no truly successful daytimers in major metros.

Second, it's considered necessary (and fairly well proven) to have at least a 10 mV/m signal in urban areas to overcome man-made noise and interference. The KCTA 10 mV/M falls several counties short of even reaching the outer limits of either the San Antonio or Houston MSAs. And both metros are full of signals that come much closer to being viable which are getting minimal if any ratings... an ultra-rimshot AM daytimer from Corpus is not going to have a chance at all. If they make money with the current format, they are quite fortunate.

So you're trying to say daytimers are now looked down upon, even if they run a decent amount of power during the day?

 

[schmave]

I want to say CKLW, but I don't particularly feel like starting an argument on big Canadian signals near the border.

 

[audioguy]

So you're trying to say daytimers are now looked down upon, even if they run a decent amount of power during the day?

Daytimers can provide a useful service in certain circumstances. But daytime only reception is actually a reality for many fulltime stations, at least for parts of their market. Reception for some of these stations degrades so badly at night that they might as well be off the air. This can be due to a variety of factors, including pattern switches, power reductions, and the massive amount of skywave interference at night that now exists on almost all AM frequencies.

To me, this is one of the biggest reasons why AM is becoming an obsolete radio service. In general, people expect a station to be there with a listenable signal, day and night. FM provides that; AM increasingly does not. In my view, this is the most compelling reason why the AM radio service should be moved to TV channels 5&6.

 

[davideduardo]

So you're trying to say daytimers are now looked down upon, even if they run a decent amount of power during the day?

Daytimers have two disadvantages:

• They are AM. Only the best, fulltime AMs are viable any more for anything except brokered, religious and certain ethnic formats
• They sign on in much of the year well into morning drive, and sign off in afternoon drive.

After that, AMs in general have to deal with constantly shrinking effective coverage areas due to building man-made interference. Add to that the fact that nearly nobody under 50 uses the band much or at all any more...

 

[davideduardo]

What about all the FM stations that are switching to talk or sports?

There's not already enough of that on AM?

FM seems to be taking the same path AM did after the 70s.

No, FM is taking up the slack for the diminished effective coverage of AM and taking viable programming away from AM, where the last two generations of Americans don't go... many of them never, most of them very seldom.

 

[davideduardo]

WDBO 96.5 Orlando is bad. They flipped to an "all-news" format and from what I've heard on the Orlando board, it sucks!

It's not an all news station. It is a talk station with newscasts and a morning drive newscast. It's basically the heritage WDBO which moved to 96.5 and did a simulcast with the old AM facility for quite a while. Late last year, the AM split apart with a new sports format.

So 96.5 is the very long established WDBO, moved to FM. It's been on a continuous growth trend in the last 6 to 8 months, and is now 11th in 12+