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WFNK-FM (107.5 Frank FM) Lewiston, ME Question

KML0224

KML0224

While leaving Portland on late Sunday morning, I left my Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman" on WFNK-FM 107.5 of Lewiston, ME, a.k.a. 107.5 Frank FM. I got a good signal until at least York at the I-95 toll plaza. Between Kittery to about Hampton Falls, NH, I had big time interference from WERZ-FM 107.1 of Exeter/Portsmouth, NH. Soon after that, the weak signal of WFNK-FM came back and had them to about Amesbury, MA near the Merrimack River. Did this station increase their power or move their transmitter? I know there's WFCC-FM 107.5 of Chatam, MA to deal with in a case like that.

I once lived in Old Orchard Beach from September 1985 to June 1987. That was back when 107.5 was the old WBLM-FM. It used to come in with a lot of noise back then.

Speaking of WFNK-FM, do they have an agreement of some type with WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring, ME? I noticed they were both near the bottom of the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland near Monument Square.
 
They used to feature WMTW news and weather but switched their affiliation to WCSH a few years back. Their sister sat-oldies AM station WLVP simulcasts the WCSH newscasts too.

Last I knew, WMTW news has 39 remaining viewers, including master control and camera ops! ;D

I'm not sure about their coverage south of Portland as I live in a broken-down refrigerator in Bayside, but I'm pretty confident they are 100,000 watts (from outside of Lewiston)?

Next time you're in town, bring the Old Milwaukee and we'll talk radio!

Cheers,
OldPort Wino
 
WFNK is 100,000 watts @ 928ft.Their transmitter is just off Route 26 in Poland near Range Pond.I'm pretty sure the power increase happened in 2005.I don't know why Fuller Jeffery didn't do this back when they owned 107.5.They were always improving signals.
 
KML-224 said:
Speaking of WFNK-FM, do they have an agreement of some type with WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring, ME? I noticed they were both near the bottom of the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland near Monument Square.
Click to expand...

They were sister stations not too long ago. WMTW 8, WMEK 99.9, WMTW 870/106.7 and WTHT 107.5 were owned by Harron until 2003, when WMTW was sold to Hearst and the radio stations went to Nassau.
 
Yeah, I remember the WMTW news on the radio experiment. I was flipping through the FM dial while at a Seadogs baseball game in 2002.

I checked the coordinates of the WFNK-FM transmitter last night. That site is 26 air miles from downtown Portland. I figured that they had to have increased their power if I was still getting a weak signal of theirs down to Amesbury, MA on I-95.

I used to do much of the same in the mid-1980s with the old FM-103, then with the calls of WGAN-FM and then WTHT-FM (between 1985 and 1987). I would leave my mother's car stereo on their station, to see how far it would go out, knowing they were 100,000 watts even back then. It was always to the Amesbury, MA area on I-495. If we were at a rest area in the right spot, a hint of WDRC-FM 102.9 from Hartford would pop in.
 
The original 107.5-WBLM transmitted with the equivalent of 50,000 watts from a site about mid way between Augusta and Lewiston....in Litchfield, Me. The transmitter was moved to a new site about mid way between Lewiston and Portland around 1983, still broadcasting with 50,000 watts at the time.
 
Time Traveler said:
The original 107.5-WBLM transmitted with the equivalent of 50,000 watts from a site about mid way between Augusta and Lewiston....in Litchfield, Me. The transmitter was moved to a new site about mid way between Lewiston and Portland around 1983, still broadcasting with 50,000 watts at the time.
Click to expand...

The relationship between WMTW-TV and WFNK, explains why WFNK has an aux transmitter at the WMTW-TV tower in Baldwin.

The old site wouldn't be the current 99.9 location would it? I know WBLM has an aux facility there.
 
Thanks for the pictures! I see that Poland, ME is in Androscoggin County, but just barely. Still looks closer to Portland than either Lewiston or Augusta.

(Despite living in York County twice, I was north of Portland once in those days! I only got to see the whole length of I-295 in 1996!)
 
That beats my catch of 'FNK at the Blandford Service Plaza on the Mass Pike in Western MA last summer! I'm certain elevation played a role there... is Bristol situated on a hilltop at all?
 
The 107.5 frequency signed on the air in April of 1974, (then calling themselves Stereo 108) playing Beautiful Music during the day and Album Rock at night. The studios were in Litchfield, until Fuller & Jeffery moved it to the top of the hill in Auburn, the transmitter move was made to New Glouster, in 1983, where it sat until they sold that frequency (107.5) for the 102.9 frequency (the old WMTW, then later WHOM A 100Kw Frequency with the ten foot tower on the top of Mt Washington) 100Kw from the top of Mt Washington had the largest radio coverage in America blanketing 3 states. But the Fuller/Jeffery Group had to relocate the Tx tower to get the frequency, and they moved the studios to one city center Portland. Fuller/Jeffery were not dumb after all the movement they sold it quickly as the station's ratings started edging downward. Sadly Frank FM with a softer album rock format blows the blimp (maybe that is how they move that huge thing, now??) With the job market being as it is, I would not want to be employed at WBLM or their other station Q-97.9 WJBQ!
 
The 107.5 frequency signed on the air in April of 1974, (then calling themselves Stereo 108) playing Beautiful Music during the day and Album Rock at night. The studios were in Litchfield, until Fuller & Jeffery moved it to the top of the hill in Auburn, the transmitter move was made to New Glouster, in 1983, where it sat until they sold that frequency (107.5) for the 102.9 frequency (the old WMTW, then later WHOM A 100Kw Frequency with the ten foot tower on the top of Mt Washington) 100Kw from the top of Mt Washington had the largest radio coverage in America blanketing 3 states. But the Fuller/Jeffery Group had to relocate the Tx tower to get the frequency, and they moved the studios to one city center Portland. Fuller/Jeffery were not dumb after all the movement they sold it quickly as the station's ratings started edging downward. Sadly Frank FM with a softer album rock format blows the blimp (maybe that is how they move that huge thing, now??) With the job market being as it is, I would not want to be employed at WBLM or their other station Q-97.9 WJBQ!
 
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