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WBT-FM Returns To Class C 107.9

tylerSC said:
Nevertheless I have tuned in 107.9 in the car in parts of Richland County and the HD can even lock on at various locations. One of them at the Columbiana Mall along I-26 where I have shopped because they have a big Belk men's dept, and there is a Rush's burger joint in the neighboring shopping plaza. But as you get closer into Columbia there is indeed a LPFM religious station that will interfere. So you can tune to 1110 as an option to fill the gaps in the fringe, which is why I wish they would continue the simulcast.
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Columbia is a geographically large, sprawling city that has tendrils which go out into Lexington and even Kershaw counties. The area you describe is on the far northwest side of town where OOM stations can often be received, they've recently erected a city limits sign on I-26 with our very attractive new city logo. I only have a small portable HD radio and haven't had it out in that area yet.

I live in the northeastern part of Richland County (my property isn't within the city limits, though there are such tendrils out my way too), just a little bit shy of where you can receive Charlotte FM or TV stations reliably (curiously, there is a final knife-edge to my south that enables me to get WTAT and WCSC with the Televes DATBOSS about 60% of the time). WBT-FM 107.9 cuts in and out depending on how straight a shot you have to that pesky LPFM in Lexington. Even W278CY on 103.5, WVOC-560's LPFM sidecar, can get overtaken by WEZL Charleston if you get down on a certain side of the hill.
 
Not that it means anything now but 560 WVOC always had the best AM signal of any of the Columbia stations. 840 and 890 are 50kws in name only. 100.1 was anemic compared to them. It barely gets to Chapin before it gets weak. When you have 6kw signal it ain't much in that market.

I remember 15-20 years ago Charleston and Charlotte signals could be heard all throughout before they put in all the translators and LPFMs.
 
charlestondxman said:
Not that it means anything now but 560 WVOC always had the best AM signal of any of the Columbia stations. 840 and 890 are 50kws in name only. 100.1 was anemic compared to them. It barely gets to Chapin before it gets weak. When you have 6kw signal it ain't much in that market.

I remember 15-20 years ago Charleston and Charlotte signals could be heard all throughout before they put in all the translators and LPFMs.
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WVOC on 560 holds out for me until I get just shy of Greenville. On the south side of town, around Woodruff Road, it's still there, though weak, but you go a few miles north and it's gone. By the time you get down to Laurens, it's entirely listenable.

I've found it a real challenge to get news radio in Greenville. Seems as though everything up there is either country music or religion. The Black Information Network station up there has news at the top of the hour, they do a good job.
 
IM42A said:
WVOC on 560 holds out for me until I get just shy of Greenville. On the south side of town, around Woodruff Road, it's still there, though weak, but you go a few miles north and it's gone. By the time you get down to Laurens, it's entirely listenable.

I've found it a real challenge to get news radio in Greenville. Seems as though everything up there is either country music or religion. The Black Information Network station up there has news at the top of the hour, they do a good job.
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WORD has a very strong news/talk signal on 98.9 and can be heard all over the Upstate and down to Columbia. Although I prefer WBT which can still be heard for a few more weeks on 1110 during the day and now 107.9 in certain areas.
 
tylerSC said:
WORD has a very strong news/talk signal on 98.9 and can be heard all over the Upstate and down to Columbia. Although I prefer WBT which can still be heard for a few more weeks on 1110 during the day and now 107.9 in certain areas.
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Thanks for the info. I must either have missed them, or they were running something other than news when I was up there and searching for top-of-the-hour news (assuming they offer that, as news/talk stations generally do).
 
The NRSC filters were the initial approach to narrowing the bandwidth on AM. You could buy one and add it after your (old) processing, or you could buy a new processor with the filtering built-in. Doing either would give you ‘presumed compliance’ with the 73.44(a) & (b), barring a complaint, through 6/30/94. After that, a station would have to take measurements to ensure compliance with all of 73.44.
 
Greg Strickland said:
AM stations did not have to put in filters.
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Some arrays have always been "narrow". I work at a four-tower directional that has an array that's good to approximately 7.5 khz. Any more than that and the transmitter will start having conniption fits with VSWR unless you modulate way below +100. Array dates back to the 1940s. And this is a music station! :ROFLMAO:

Unfortunately the current audio processor only has options for 4.5khz, 6 and NRSC (10), so it remains set to 6 khz. Using a different (loaner) processor I was once able to get it out to 7.5 and I could ABSOLUTELY hear the difference in improved high end between 6 and 7.5khz.
 
IM42A said:
Thanks for the info. I must either have missed them, or they were running something other than news when I was up there and searching for top-of-the-hour news (assuming they offer that, as news/talk stations generally do).
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If you remember WSPA-FM that's WORD. I used to listen to them in Charlotte. They went the common route from Beautiful Music, to Soft AC and then AC as times changed.
 
RadioFixerCLE said:
Some arrays have always been "narrow". I work at a four-tower directional that has an array that's good to approximately 7.5 khz. Any more than that and the transmitter will start having conniption fits with VSWR unless you modulate way below +100. Array dates back to the 1940s. And this is a music station! :ROFLMAO:

Unfortunately the current audio processor only has options for 4.5khz, 6 and NRSC (10), so it remains set to 6 khz. Using a different (loaner) processor I was once able to get it out to 7.5 and I could ABSOLUTELY hear the difference in improved high end between 6 and 7.5khz.
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Has someone measured the common point input to the antenna phasing apparatus?
And to clarify, here and on this thread I am not commenting specifically about the Urban One stations in Charlotte.
But rather, general topics that have come up here.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
If you remember WSPA-FM that's WORD. I used to listen to them in Charlotte. They went the common route from Beautiful Music, to Soft AC and then AC as times changed.
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A few years back, Entercom/Audacy swapped their AC and News/Talk formats in the Upstate. WSPA-FM known as Magic 98.9 moved to 106.3 and WORD moved from 106.3 to 98.9, giving the conservative talk format one of the strongest FM signals in the market. The FCC required 106.3 to be divested, so it was sold to Hispanic format broadcaster Norsan Media, but still retains the call letters WSPA-FM. The Magic AC format is now streaming only, leaving a void for an AC format, and Mix 107.9 can no longer fill the void in Spartanburg. Unless you switch to 99.3. We had thought they might flip Rock 101.1 back to the Magic format when John Boy and Billy ended, but they went country instead. The WROQ calls remain for now, although they seem best suited for a rock format, as they had originated at 95.1 in Charlotte. WSPA radio is no longer co-owned with WSPA-TV, channei 7, which is now owned by Nexstar.
 
vchimpanzee said:
What about HD, assuming anyone knows how to get it?

And aren't there any translators?
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The Magic stream may be on one of the HD feeds, perhaps B-93.7. Haven't checked lately. It was on one or two translators, but I don't think that is the case anymore. But definitely not on a full power signal.
 
It's The Last Day of 2025 ❄❄ New Years Eve ...
🌅🗽🥶❄⛄🌄

and "Magic Upstate" is Playing Nonstop Christmas Music, This Morning on B 93.7 's HD-4 🎅🎄🎁

Also, Finally Heard Them ID'ed Using Just Their Title, "Magic Upstate." Without The Frequency, of course. Kinda Surprised To Hear Some More Commercials than usual on there too...

Maybe B93.7 Can Soon Skew Older to Regain Some of Magic's "Magical" Audience Loss ... In other words, Perhaps It Would Be Great to Merge Some of the Old Magic Music into B.

I Think It'd Be Very Nice if B (Or Something Like it), Would Finally Add Some More Older Tunes into their Playlist, Just Like "Mix Charlotte" Recently Has. It'd Definitely Be A Great Fit AND Would "Mix" Well. Just Like they recently combined the local rock stations into one.
 
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KyleSmith1988 said:
I Think It'd Be Very Nice if B (Or Something Like it), Would Finally Add Some More Older Tunes into their Playlist, Just Like "Mix Charlotte" Recently Has. It'd Definitely Be A Great Fit AND Would "Mix" Well. Just Like they recently combined the local rock stations into one.
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That would make it Hot AC, wouldn't it?

Leaving only Hot to do CHR.
 


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