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What FM in Cincinnati has biggest coverage area?

B

BruceB

Banned
A friend of mine bought a new car and I was up checking it out about 15 miles north of Dayton. we were setting the preset buttons on it and I noticed that some Cincinnati stations were much stronger than others. it got me wondering what Cincinnati station does have the largest signal coverage. For what it's worth, The strongest signal up there was WREW and WVXU.
At least on that radio.What do you guys think the best signal is?
 
Directional Ray said:
WREW-FM 94.9. Highest antenna above average terrain at 1056 feet, and dead center location in the market. WGRR is on the same tower at 1037 feet, but it's also directional.
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I think you're right.in Tipp City Ohio it was loud and clear and no picket fencing as we drove around. same was true of WVXU which surprised me a little
 
The limitation these days on FM signal coverage tends to come from co-channel and adjacent-channel signals before it comes from the degradation of the desired signal itself.

I was in Dayton a couple of months ago, staying on the south side of the city, and while most of the Cincinnati class B FMs were easily heard, I had the most trouble with WEBN - because of 102.9 locally, not because it was any weaker than the others.
 
fybush said:
The limitation these days on FM signal coverage tends to come from co-channel and adjacent-channel signals before it comes from the degradation of the desired signal itself.

I was in Dayton a couple of months ago, staying on the south side of the city, and while most of the Cincinnati class B FMs were easily heard, I had the most trouble with WEBN - because of 102.9 locally, not because it was any weaker than the others.
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That was always the case. when I lived in Dayton and the late 1960s I wanted to listen to WEBN and that new progressive rock format but had trouble getting it because of interference from what I think then was called WBLY from Springfield.solved the problem by putting a Radio Shack FM antenna on my roof so I could get Jelly Pudding on my FM stereo receiver
 
fybush said:
The limitation these days on FM signal coverage tends to come from co-channel and adjacent-channel signals before it comes from the degradation of the desired signal itself.

I was in Dayton a couple of months ago, staying on the south side of the city, and while most of the Cincinnati class B FMs were easily heard, I had the most trouble with WEBN - because of 102.9 locally, not because it was any weaker than the others.
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Same when I lived in the South Dayton area. I often listened to WGRR and what is now WREW in its Jammin' Oldies days.
 
fybush said:
The limitation these days on FM signal coverage tends to come from co-channel and adjacent-channel signals before it comes from the degradation of the desired signal itself.
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Same situation down here in Lexington. Back in the early 2000's before all the translators signed on, I could regularly get 92.5, 93.3, 94.1, 94.9, 98.5, 101.9, 103.5, and 107.1. A couple of them like 93.3 and 101.9 were always particularly strong. Always enjoyed listening to WKRQ.

Nowadays the only Cincinnati FMs I can usually get are 90.9 and 102.7, even with Class A 102.5 about 10 miles away. All others are obliterated by either translators (the majority of them), local IBOC (94.5 takes out 94.1), or a (relatively) new move-in local Class A on 107.1

WGRR still makes it down but is really weak and usually fights it out with WAKY out of Louisville. WUBE 105.1 has always had trouble due to rimshot co-channel WRNZ.

Oddly enough, Cincy rimshots such as WOBO 88.7, WAOL 99.5, WNKR 106.7, and WIOK 107.5 seem to perform better than they ever have here. Granted, WNKR and WIOK are a lot closer to Lex, but now have co-channel signals to fight with from the opposite direction. Go figure.
 
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My view- comments about what you or I can "get" on our radio are only useful if a majority of people have a similar subjective experience on their radios. Reception that you or I hear on a radio is a moment in time and place and nothing more. Radio propagation is time variable, and receiver systems are different. Normal daily, seasonal and weather changes in propagation impact the desired signal and undesired signal. Consider that unless they are a roof mounted whip, vehicle antennas can have directional patterns. You need to drive in both directions down a road, or drive in circles at a subjective test location.

But keep the comments coming. I have my own where I live. And in totality they matter.
 
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I'm a little surprised 92.5 hasn't received more mentions. I travel within the Columbus/Dayton/Cincinnati triangle for work several times a year and 92.5 is the easiest catch for me as far north as Springfield. Not a blowtorch that far out, but's still. By the time I hit Xenia, it's very listenable.
WGRR owns 103.5 by Springfield as well. I was surprised when I checked Radio Locator that WGRR's tower is in central Hamilton County. I guessed it would be farther north.
These aren't one-time instances either. They've happened several times.
 
Most of the comments so far concerned north or south of Cincinnati I wonder about East and West the last time I went to Indianapolis it was hard for me to get any Cincinnati stations even southeast of the city. This could just be an issue of geography haven't really tried going East of Cincinnati to check on signals
 
I can't help you east of Cincinnati. I don't get down to southern Ohio often. I doubt those hills would be too kind to FM signals, especially once you get 50 or more miles east.
 
schmave said:
I'm a little surprised 92.5 hasn't received more mentions. I travel within the Columbus/Dayton/Cincinnati triangle for work several times a year and 92.5 is the easiest catch for me as far north as Springfield. Not a blowtorch that far out, but's still. By the time I hit Xenia, it's very listenable.
WGRR owns 103.5 by Springfield as well. I was surprised when I checked Radio Locator that WGRR's tower is in central Hamilton County. I guessed it would be farther north.
These aren't one-time instances either. They've happened several times.
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It's amazing how often I've heard Toledo in the Dayton area, especially Springfield and Fairborn.
 
I did get Q-102 in Frankfort once.

But I remember a couple times in the mid-'80s, when you'd drive south to Lexington, another top 40 station would start coming in on 101.9. Someone on another board told me it was some station way out in Muhlenberg County, but I don't know how I could hear it near Lexington.
 
gr8oldies said:
It's amazing how often I've heard Toledo in the Dayton area, especially Springfield and Fairborn.
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That has yet to happen for me ... but I won't stop trying. The big signals from Cincinnati and Columbus are cinches in those areas for me, the former more so in Fairborn of course.
I've heard Toledo's 92.5 as far as south as Wapakoneta, and WIOT down to Marion ... at least before the current LPFM in that area (WZMO) came on the air several years ago. Now, WIOT doesn't break through until almost Upper Sandusky.
 
schmave said:
That has yet to happen for me ... but I won't stop trying. The big signals from Cincinnati and Columbus are cinches in those areas for me, the former more so in Fairborn of course.
I've heard Toledo's 92.5 as far as south as Wapakoneta, and WIOT down to Marion ... at least before the current LPFM in that area (WZMO) came on the air several years ago. Now, WIOT doesn't break through until almost Upper Sandusky.
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I can vouch for Marion having been the WIOT/WTUE line in the past. Going up and down I-75 Lima was about the divider but there was a 104.9 in Lima.


Before 80-90 and the translators and LPFMs, one could get almost all of the Columbus and Cincinnati stations from Beavercreek
 
WREW has the best overall coverage, in my opinion.

WEBN probably would be decent in much of Dayton if it weren't for Hot 102.9. I've had 102.7 lock in on seek mode many times, but the adjacent channel splatter from 102.9 ruins the listening experience.

What amuses me is how rapidly WFTK weakens north of I-70. The K-Love station at 96.9 in Troy interferes big time as soon as one gets close to the northern Montgomery County line.
 
MarkW said:
WREW has the best overall coverage, in my opinion.

WEBN probably would be decent in much of Dayton if it weren't for Hot 102.9. I've had 102.7 lock in on seek mode many times, but the adjacent channel splatter from 102.9 ruins the listening experience.

What amuses me is how rapidly WFTK weakens north of I-70. The K-Love station at 96.9 in Troy interferes big time as soon as one gets close to the northern Montgomery County line.
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I can remember back in the early 70s when 96.5 Hamilton had a religious format but I can't recall the call letters. WQ something. Only example I can think of a religious station going secular instead of the usual other way around.
 
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