WBT 99.3 FM SIGNAL

[bishoppri]

Can anyone please logically explain how WBT 99.3 is registered as LPFM but has such a strong signal and coverage? I read in radio-locator that its registered as a C3 station @ 7700 Watts; is it a LPFM or was their an upgrade of some sort? I was under the impression that LPFMS can only operate @ its higehest @ 100 Watts. I also want clarity in regards to LPFMS being registered as educational stations allowing them to operate as a Full Power FM?

 

[vchimpanzee]

Can anyone please logically explain how WBT 99.3 is registered as LPFM but has such a strong signal and coverage? I read in radio-locator that its registered as a C3 station @ 7700 Watts; is it a LPFM or was their an upgrade of some sort? I was under the impression that LPFMS can only operate @ its higehest @ 100 Watts. I also want clarity in regards to LPFMS being registered as educational stations allowing them to operate as a Full Power FM?

It's not a low-power station.

It was a regular station licensed to Chester, S.C. before the owners of WBT-AM decided they needed a nighttime solution for the listeners in the western part of the state and bought the station. Most of the programming his been the same as what was on the AM.

 

[amos]

It's not a low-power station.

It was a regular station licensed to Chester, S.C. before the owners of WBT-AM decided they needed a nighttime solution for the listeners in the western part of the state and bought the station. Most of the programming his been the same as what was on the AM.

Exactly, except I'd say the nighttime solution is for the western part of the METRO (Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill).
Before 99.3, WBT was unreachable in Gastonia... and WBT-AM already puts a great city-grade signal into Rock Hill (and Chester) even at night. 99.3 does give them some coverage by Spartanburg, but since that's in a different market, it's just gravy. There's no other station that could have given them Gastonia coverage without the overkill of a 100kw signal, and if that was the goal they would have used 107.9.

And, as you said, 99.3, even when it was a Chester station (WDZK, if I remember correctly, co-owned with WBZK York) was NOT an LPFM.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

The WBT engineers told me WBT-FM's signal has worked out even better than they had planned. One of the things that helps is the signal is mono. A stereo signal seems to degrade a bit more.

Does anyone here remember the syncronized 1110 transmitter WBT had in Shelby?

 

[eacalhoun1]

I remember hearing people talk about the Shelby transmitter, but after BT had abandoned it. Is that tower still standing? If so, where?

 

[JimA]

WBT Shelby went away when Shelby's 2nd AM station went on WADA 1390. The WBT tower is gone. Late 50s I think.

 

[jtudor]

You may be confusing the new LPFM station at Lenoir Rhyne college with WBT. Seems that the LRC station went on within the past year.

they seem to be having a lot of problems getting started there. From what I have heard, it is the most unprofessional college station actually on the air and not on carrier current that I have evern heard.

One night they wre preparing to broadcast a basketball game and all that was on the air for about 15 minutes was testing with the remote operator and chitchat between the remote and studio. Highly unprofessional.

They now keep the WBT (99.3) signal from being listenable most anywhere in Burke and Catawba counties. I wish they were on another frequency, or would just go back to cable.

Just my $0.02 worth, YMMV

 

[djpoint]

99.3 is in HD if your are down near Rock Hill area....it sounds really good. Not here in LKN though

 

[Powell]

Originally the HD would NOT work with a mono signal, [don't know why] and the WBT CE was talking to Ibiquity about fixing it. I guess they did. Now if I had a GIANT FM beam up about 50 feet aimed that way maybe I could hear WBT-FM in HD.


Powell