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WBGO to Officially Begin Transmitting From 4 Times Square on Friday

B

Barry

InsideRadio states they are already testing their transmissions from that location. I heard on the air that they will officially flip the switch at 1 pm on December 30.
Hopefully this will make the area's only full time jazz station easier to receive. It has been tough pulling it in throughout much of the region when it broadcast from Newark NJ.
Radio-Locator.com indicates they were granted an F.C.C. license for their new transmitter location on December 20. They can run 2500 watts from a height above ground level of 883 feet.

Radio-Locator: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wbgo&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C
 
This is very good news. I live in Queens where I can not receive WBGO very well in my apartment but can get it in my car. I've had to listen to it on the web. They have unique programming of traditional jazz which can not be found anywhere else on the New York radio dial. Their Saturday morning programming featuring Felix Hernandez's Rhythm Revue is excellent. The station estimates that its potential listenership increases by over a million with this new transmitter.

Bruce
 
I wonder how much the signal quality here in Newark itself will decline. I guess it will probably sound much like WNYE, which is not bad. Obviously I will no longer receive WBGO underground in downtown Newark anymore though (on the Newark Light Rail).
 
Ike Hull said:
I guess it will probably sound much like WNYE.
Click to expand...
These four non-comm FMs [will] all have about the same overall signals and coverages, although there are differences.
The first three are on Conde Nast and the fourth is on the Empire with the least power but the greatest height.
WBGO
WKCR
WNYE
WQXR
 
I listened to the whole thing. They did a countdown. The odd thing is there was no interruption of the transmission. I would have thought there would at least be a brief interruption in the signal during the switchover. The other strange thing is prior to 1pm I was hearing a bit of static as I normally do. Even after the switchover the signal stayed exactly the same with the exact same static as before. Somehow I have my doubts that they actually did the switch. Has anyone noticed a change?
 
ansky212 said:
Even after the switchover the signal stayed exactly the same with the exact same static as before.
Click to expand...
Sounds like it did not happen as scheduled.
Although we are nowhere near the tristate area, we texted 85944, just to be a part of it all.
Why would they wait till the last minute when this will obviously increase their revenue a lot.
Should have begged, borrowed, and stolen and had it on the air one day after the CP came in.
 
I agree that the signal sounds no better in the locations where I listened, mostly to the north and west of NYC.
But they have stated a number of times on the air that the switch to the new antenna did take place at 1 pm today. If it did, the new antenna is disappointing.
Is it possible they are not running full power yet?
 
In a Star-Ledger article on the new transmitter, the WBGO CEO says, "Right now, we have a listener in Livingston who, if he turns on WBGO in his living room, he hears static."

What? What makes him think the signal will get better in Livingston? Won't it get marginally worse now that the transmitter is further away from Livingston? Or the SAME, at best. The Newark transmitter was only at 428 feet, according to the article, but it was also MUCH closer to Livingston.

In fact, I was just driving through Livingston on Eisenhower Parkway. I tuned into WBGO just to check its signal. It sounded terrible -- lots of interference from that overmodulating 88.1 WDNJ from Hopatcong. It sounded a lot better when I got onto I-280 east, though. On 280 the signal was strong. I don't know what it sounded like there before, since I rarely drive on 280 and rarely listen to WBGO, but I bet it was good there before, so no difference, I'm guessing. In Newark, it sounded good too, as usual, but with a couple of scratchy spots on Clifton St. I doubt those were there before. I bet WBGO might not penetrate into all of the downtown Newark office buildings anymore, though. I used to work in 2 Gateway Center and radio reception was difficult. WBGO was one of the few stations that put a good signal into there.
 
Seems like they've probably picked up many potential NYC listeners at the possible expense of some suburban areas.

The Livingston listener is a good example. WBGO is higher up, but maybe not high enough to clear the ridge in West Orange. Plus it's now further away and at lower power.

In NYC, however, I'd bet there are people hearing WBGO for the first time. The buildings and proximity to the ESB and 4TS probably beat the hell out of 88.3 when it was in Newark.
 
Reception of WBGO is actually worse now in parts of southern Westchester County.
Perhaps the new signal has a null in that direction?
 
WDNJ is terrible. I've contacted WBGO before about their 200% modulation and apparent lack of any processing and/or preemphasis limiting.

WBGO should buy 88.1 and turn it into a simulcast for the western part of Jersey.

I wouldn't doubt that people in Livingston would get better reception from 4 Times Square. The transmitting antenna in Newark was lower than the mountain to the west of it, causing severe shadowing in the next valley. The Longley-Rice tells the story of what was wrong with the "old" WBGO.

Can anyone blame them for wanting to improve the signal in NYC and areas east.
 
Those maps pretty closely match the 60dbu (1mv/m) and 50dbu (316uv/m) contours on R-L.com
Something prevents me from loading the FCC 60dbu file, an improper KML or KMZ file.
Looks like of the four B1s in Manhattan, WNYE has the best coverage, WKCR is next, WBGO, and finally WQXR.
Interestingly, WFUV, a full class B, does about the same to the south, but gets farther north from their perch up in wherever-they-are are than any other FM in the city, although the FCC map shows their contour as not covering much of Staten Island.
Nice pics on that link you provided; we like the closeups of the directional antenna sections. Looks like they might be more directional in the H plane than in the V (or less).
 
ai4i said:
Those maps pretty closely match the 60dbu (1mv/m) and 50dbu (316uv/m) contours on R-L.com
Click to expand...

I wonder (actually, I know...) why stations post and believe those theoretical maps using contours that no common consumer gear can get in the locations where most listening occurs.

In the NY metro, around 75% of listening happens at home and at work. For any real listening to happen a 64 dbu signal is needed (based on analysis of millions of diary listening locations). The real usable coverage of WBGO is well inside the innermost of the two contours.
 
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