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WDRC-FM signal Question

Ken said:
BRNout said:
To the poster who asked about WZMX, it starts to get clobbered by WMKK on I-84 before you even get to the Mass. border. Same happens to Power 104 (thanks to co-channel WBCN), but even closer to Hartford. Others suffer from co-channel interference as you get into central MA (or even southern VT): WWYZ gets interference from WXRV Haverhill, WKSS gets clobbered by WZID Manchester. Actually, WTIC-FM even gets some co-channel interference from WMLL Manchester as you get into central MA and southern VT. WCCC starts to get some interference from Magic 106.7 once you pass Auburn/Worcester (depending on the radio, of course) and WRCH gets it from adjacent WZLX. None of those stations come in very well in southern CT, which is why none do very well in the New Haven ratings book.
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Are you talking about if some of the Hartford stations do well in New Haven? If you are WZMX, WPHH, WKSS all did well for the last New Haven book. All three beat out KC 101. This is if your talking about the samething?
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WZMX, WPHH and WKSS all transmit from West Peak in Meriden (New Haven County), just as WDRC does. I was answering a question that was posed about the 'other' Hartford stations: WRCH, WTIC-FM and WCCC-FM. WRCH broadcasts from Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington, WTIC-FM transmits from Avon and WCCC-FM also transmits from that same area. Those last three stations are very strong in Hartford, but not so much so in New Haven which is why they don't garner as many listeners.

And, the last New Haven book appears skewed toward the northern portion of the market - helping those West Peak signals (which come in really well in northern New Haven County).
 
KML-224 said:
What about WDRC-FM to the southwest? You do have first-adjacent 102.7 FM in New York City. I think there's also a broadcaster in southern RI on 102.7 FM.

What about WHCN-FM 105.9 towards the southwest? I believe one of the NYC area's Spanish stations is WCAA-FM 105.9, licensed to Newark, NJ.
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I get WDRC-FM pretty well all the way to Stamford (on the Merritt). It does fade in and out (with terrain) between roughly Westport and Stamford - but interference from 102.7 seems non existent (on a car radio) in that area. It may be worse right along the shoreline, but probably not until you get well past Norwalk. Yes, the interference does become a serious issue once you get into Greenwich. But remember, that most of Fairfield County is really not all that close to the NY tx site on Empire.

Another interesting signal slugfest is KC-101 versus WCBS-FM, particularly in this age of IBOC. Can't comment too much on that one except to say that reception for both stations must be pretty spotty in much of lower Fairfield County.

About WHCN, I have to honestly say that I do not know. I never listen to that station. My guess is that it would not do so well to the SW of Fairfield/Westport for that reason - that you would start to get a mish-mash. But, I also know that WCAA is a class B1 (with reduced power) and does not have nearly the signal that the big NY FMs do. I don't think it even comes in very well in much of Westchester County. So, that's an interesting question.

Actually, I have to make that very drive tomorrow and will check. Gives me something to do while sitting in the stop-and-go traffic that the Merritt Parkway is sure to provide. ;)
 
I know driving down you can get WTIC-FM and WRCH fine on the car radio. As during Christmas time when driving down to Clition for Christmas 100.5 is on for Christmas music.
 
Ken said:
I know driving down you can get WTIC-FM and WRCH fine on the car radio. As during Christmas time when driving down to Clition for Christmas 100.5 is on for Christmas music.
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In a car radio in Clinton, yes - though a station like DRC-FM or WZMX will come in even better.

See how they are in New Haven or West Haven or Milford. Significantly weaker than any of the West Peak signals (WWYZ, WZMX, WKSS, WDRC, WPHH, WHCN, etc).

The reverse is true in Springfield, but I think that the West Peak signals do better in Springfield than WTIC-FM/WCCC-FM/WRCH do in New Haven. For that matter, test 'em the next time you're in Waterbury. The terrain to the south and southwest is less favorable for those signals - one reason why West Peak is so popular.
 
Now if CBS Radio wanted to move WRCH and WTIC-FM to West Peak could they? I think the reason why they aren't on West Peak as they would bother New York and Boston stations. But then I ask the question why is WPHH up their when you got WBCN in Boston both on 104.1 also WDRC on 102.9 when you got WWFS on 102.7. This goes for some other stations too I believe.
 
Most of those stations were grandfathered shot spaced long before the FM table of assignments was brought into place. Lots of shortspacing in the Northeast Corridor
WPRO-WXRV-92.5 Waterbury-WXRK

WBCN-Power 104 Hartford

Lots of problems in NJ between NYC and Philadelphia

Washington DC, Southern PA and Maryland also have problems
 
Very true! Both Philadelphia and New York City have stations on 101.1 and 100.3 FM. While Portland and Boston have 100,000 watt stations assigned to them (WBLM-FM and WGBH-FM, respectively), I don't think you'd ever be able to have a station that powerful here in Connecticut.
 
Boston's GBH is 98000 watts and a short stick. here in Central MA WBLM and DRC battle it out with each station winning depending on topography although there are more days where BLM comes in very strong.
 
chrish said:
Most of those stations were grandfathered shot spaced long before the FM table of assignments was brought into place. Lots of shortspacing in the Northeast Corridor
WPRO-WXRV-92.5 Waterbury-WXRK

WBCN-Power 104 Hartford

Lots of problems in NJ between NYC and Philadelphia

Washington DC, Southern PA and Maryland also have problems
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Actually, WPRO and WXRK are both on 92.3 - but I get your point (which is well taken). They're all quite short spaced. And, 104.1 is even worse than you noted because it's hemmed in by co-channel 104.1 WBCN in Boston and first adjacents WAXQ 104.3 in NY and WRCN 103.9 in Riverhead, NY. The latter causes interference issues along the CT shoreline - particularly in places like Guilford and Old Saybrook.

As mentioned before, central NJ is a mess thanks to co-channel stations less than 100 miles apart on 100.3 and 101.1, not to mention that almost every other commercial station in the Philly market is 0.2 MHz from one in the NY market. Plus (and here's the real travesty) new translators for religious crap stations have been plopped in northeast of Philly too - on 97.1 and 103.5 (both NY frequencies). The northeast is an RF mess and its actually getting worse (thanks FCC!).

I wouldn't foresee any big tower moves in CT in the near future. Besides, I would imagine that WTIC-FM, WRCH and WCCC-FM like where they are because they have excellent signals in much of their home market (Hartford/north and the Farmington Valley) and carry well into Springfield too - even if they don't reign supreme over the whole state.
 
True, and - in checking out WHCN today on my way home to NH, I noticed another issue: 106.1 WBLI. It did more damage to WHCNs signal (even in Hamden) than anything else. They seem to have one of the worst W. Peak signals to the S and SW for that reason. Not WCAA.

DRC was strong as always, got it from Milepost7 in Stamford to Oxford/Auburn, MA. Poor audio, but a musical treat!
 
I had WDRC-FM 102.9 in and out on my Panasonic CD Walkman earlier this afternoon in Fairfield on I-95. Bridgeport was a no-go due to the washout from WEBE-FM 107.9 ("Webe 108").
 
CHJ1950 said:
Anyone know why WDRC-FM, doesn't have a live web stream?
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DRC-FM used to stream through broadcast.com (Remember them?), but pulled its stream in the spring of 2001 when AFTRA demanded additional fees for the streaming of broadcast commercials voiced by unionized talent. As I recall, some stations started scrubbing unionized-talent ads from their streams immediately, some left the Internet for a while but came back with the ads scrubbed, some just continued on as before and accepted the additional cost, but DRC-FM just stopped streaming, period.
 
Ken said:
And in Bridgeport wouldn't Fresh 102.7 bother WDRC-FM too? Plus WWFS has their HD up which hurts stations next to 102.7
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Nope, DRC-Fm is much stronger than Fresh in most of the Bridgeport area. Even in Stamford, Fresh's HD splatter had only a limited impact on DRC-FM. It's in Greenwich where the New York FM signals really get strong. Their signals are moderate (i.e. not overpowering) in almost all of Fairfield County. Long Island FM signals are stronger.
 
Checked out 102.9 FM along I-91 while heading south from Brattleboro, VT this afternoon. The 102.9 FM translator station in Greenfield, MA saturates downtown Greenfield to the point that my Panasonic CD Walkman was getting bleedover on a few dead spots on the dial. Soon after the Deerfield town line, the station was all but gone. I first got a trace of WDRC-FM in Hatfield, MA near Exit 21. It got strong for about 30 seconds or so in Northampton's Exit 20 (near a plaza with Wal-Mart). Lost it for a bit after that. From Holyoke southward, it was the expected slow improvement.

My semi-related question is this: Why the need for the 102.9 translator of Hot Country 104.9 to begin with?
 
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