what's up with.......

[d21ofnj]

having stations like fln, cool 100, magic 101.7, q107, and wpel 96.5 having 3 or 4 transmitters simulcasting within the same coverage area? is there really a need for all these frequencies (95.1, 98.7, 101.1, 102.5, 102.9, 104.5, 106.3, and 107.1) to simulcast station that can be heard on 88.5, 96.5, 100.5, 101.7, and 106.7 just perfectly fine?

 

[SHimes100]

We all took up collections from all the employees and bought translators licenses. It was kinda one of those.. I can have more frequencies than you kinda deals.

It's all about terrain.....

Besides... it's kinda fun making all the other corporate stations mad cuz we're in between them all.

And it gives people on radio boards something to complain about.. which is fun to watch as well.

By the way there will be a quiz later

 

[kfitz]

These translators fill in big signal holes which many Class A FM's have. WPEL is in Montrose and needs the translators to cover a shadowed area. The general public typically has lower quality radio receivers than us radio geeks. These stations may seem to have good signals, I assure you they don't....Take a walkman down to the BC arena and see what you can pick up. In the west where shadowing is massive translators provide the only radio service to many communities.

KF

 

[scappy]

I feel ledt out. Where's the love for WKGB-FM's translator at 92.1?

 

[bingodj]

I am new to this board and want to put in my two cents which is really two cents of others. I was part of a meeting a few months ago with DJ's and sales people and we talked about translators in the area. I am going to try to remember all that was said but if I err, sorry in advance. WPEL, it was mentioned because they were in PA and did not have a good signal in this area. KGB, I think it's 92.1. At one time they did not have a great signal and now they do and they probably just kept the translator. Magic, the same thing. But I suspect they might keep it for the Parkway in Vestal. The others and again I am trying to remember the meeting, Those are the translators for 100.5 and 106.7. They are positioned to screw up other stations when talking about ratings. It is a substitute for good programming. 107.1 screws The Bear, 104.5 screws Wild, 102.9 screws Mix and Magic. It's a game that they need because they don't want to program the stations properly. For more info, I am sure someone else from the meeting will put their 2 cents in and mention all the other items.

 

[kfitz]

These translators are fill-in translators and nothing more.....they are not meant to "screw" anyone. That is a very angry misplaced comment. WPEL's 106.3 is short-spaced to WRRQ.....based on your theory they are "screwing" WRRQ. WKGB's 92.1 is short-spaced to WSQX, 91.5. WLTB's 102.5 is very closely spaced to WAVR 102.1 in Waverly. The WMHR 95.9 is very closely spaced to WPHD, 96.1. The new 107.9 WEBO AM on FM translator is short-spaced to The Bear. I can go on and on. There are thousands of FM translators in the same situation all over the country. FM translators represent one of the only possible ways that small local broadcasters can possibly compete with the Wall Street Corporations who control the radio business today. FM translators also represent a way for many more diverse programming avenues to be presented in a market.

 

[kfitz]

Oh Jon.....not to leave you out!!! 92.1 has a great signal in Vestal Village which is difficult to cover from Ingraham and Windy Hills. And.....hey, I personally installed that antenna on the tower on a cold February afternoon....I'm still shivering from the wind and the 20 degree temperature!!

KF

 

[d21ofnj]

These translators fill in big signal holes which many Class A FM's have. WPEL is in Montrose and needs the translators to cover a shadowed area. The general public typically has lower quality radio receivers than us radio geeks. These stations may seem to have good signals, I assure you they don't....Take a walkman down to the BC arena and see what you can pick up. In the west where shadowing is massive translators provide the only radio service to many communities.

KF

I'll do that when I attend the Senators game tomorrow against Rochester. I will let you know what I was able to pick up. To Jon: I didnt mean to leave out KGB's 92.1 transmitter. It's just there are too many transmitters to remember and who they are owned by.

 

[bingodj]

These translators are fill-in translators and nothing more.....they are not meant to "screw" anyone. That is a very angry misplaced comment. WPEL's 106.3 is short-spaced to WRRQ.....based on your theory they are "screwing" WRRQ. WKGB's 92.1 is short-spaced to WSQX, 91.5. WLTB's 102.5 is very closely spaced to WAVR 102.1 in Waverly. The WMHR 95.9 is very closely spaced to WPHD, 96.1. The new 107.9 WEBO AM on FM translator is short-spaced to The Bear. I can go on and on. There are thousands of FM translators in the same situation all over the country. FM translators represent one of the only possible ways that small local broadcasters can possibly compete with the Wall Street Corporations who control the radio business today. FM translators also represent a way for many more diverse programming avenues to be presented in a market.

Don't shoot the messenger. Like I said, I attended a meeting and what I wrote was stated. Whether it's true or not, only a select few know. Maybe the owner of the many translators should watch what he says to people. It starts with him according to the meeting.

 

[JustinCase]

I know zip about the technicals of it... I leave that to the engineers... I just know that if Q107 didn't have a translater at 107.1, I wouldn't be able to get it at my house... As it's morning show host, that would kind of suck! I have a house on the Eastside of Binghamton and am thus in the shadow of Windy/State Hospital Hills, that means I'm blocked from our 106.7 signal; our tower is WAY OUT IN EAST JE$U$ on a hill overlooking Windsor, Great Bend and Susquehanna, PA. Killer signal out there, but try to get it inside downtown, you can't... so we put up translators to give us penetration. YAY, and now I can hear the station at the house, its as simple as that. I've never looked at it as trying to screw others and confuse ratings, but about giving ourselves a chance to compete for ratings by being available to a person when they try and turn us on a radio inside their office or home.

 

[SHimes100]

So your new to the area... and wanna stir up a pot?... then say don't shoot the messenger?...

Thats like walkin in the arena with a Rochester Americans jersey saying you love the Sens...

Go back read the posts in archive and you'll see why they are there and see all the arguments for and against.

If you ever wanna talk radio in a friendly way come down to the players entrance before or during warmups.. introduce yourself and I will be happy to chit chat about radio in Bingo...

 

[d21ofnj]

They are positioned to screw up other stations when talking about ratings. It is a substitute for good programming. 107.1 screws The Bear, 104.5 screws Wild, 102.9 screws Mix and Magic. It's a game that they need because they don't want to program the stations properly. For more info, I am sure someone else from the meeting will put their 2 cents in and mention all the other items.

According to the arbitron which the most recent update I found was for Spring of '08, you mentioned that these transmitters are meant to screw other stations. As listed on the arbitron, again this may be outdated maybe someone has more recent updates than me, but 107.1 screws The Bear. Arbitron states different. WBBI has a rating of 3.2 while Q with two transmitters has a rating of 1.4. You talk about Q's other transmitter 104.5 screwing Wild. Believe it or not, Wild actually got a 4.6 in the ratings. You mentioned 102.9 screwing both mix and magic. 102.9 didn't screw mix, which WMXW had a 5.4, but it did help to jump ahead to beat Magic, but not by much. WCDW scored a 3.9, while WLTB (Magic) scored a 3.6, so these transmitters aren't screwing the ratings. It looks like these transmitters are not even helping their respective station to be big in the ratings. BTW Kevin, I took my Zune to the Sens game saturday, the only transmitters I didn't pick up were 92.1, 101.1 and 102.5.

 

[kfitz]

d21ofnj, Well, it appears that a Zune has a decent quality FM receiver in it. Most normal people, especially those over 45 tend to have older lower quality receivers, this is reality. My 10 year old Sony Walkman does not pick up 100.5 or 106.7 in the arena. Signal reception is even worse in office buildings in downtown Binghamton. By the way, 92.1, 101.1, and 102.5 are translators for the west part of Broome and eastern Tioga County and are shadowed in the City of Binghamton. And FYI, the 102.9 and 104.5 translators are designed to fill in shadows in Chenango Bridge and Northgate where 100.5 and 106.7 have signal problems. What the stations get in ratings is more a product of formats....my interest in Binghamton is simply from an engineering prospective; of course I was once PD of WKGB-FM having piloted it to a 13.2 12 plus in the Spring of 1992 (at the time located on the same tower as 100.5 and 106.7); I currently have only an engineering interest here. If I were programming these I would likely be doing something different but that's another story.

KF

 

[Dan M]

I wouldn't say that translators "screw" with some of the stations in town, in terms of walking on a main signal, I see it as more confusion for listeners in general (not to mention the ones that are filling out diaries). Of course, this was happening way before Cool and Q had all of their other translators on the air, but I'm sure this has made matters worse. You know just as well as I do, that people in the Triple Cities are listening to Magic 103.3, Star 104.1, Mix 105.7, ect. I guess there's really nothing we can do about it, but it does hurt stations when we get the results from Arbitron. I'm not ripping on anybody in town that has more than one frequency (my station has more than one), I'm just calling it like I see it. It's frustrating to hear when people have no clue of what station they are listening to most of the time, as I stated earlier. Here's a prime example. 2 weeks ago, a guy comes in here to Magic to pick up a prize, he says his wife won it during the morning show. I say, what's her name, he tells me, I look at the winner sheet, that name isn't there. I say, do you know what the contest was? He calls his wife, she tells him the contest, he tells me, I say, we don't do a contest like that. Needless to say, she won the contest on Mix, but she insisted to her husband that he was at the right station to pick up the prize. Well, he wasn't. I'm sure this happens at every station in town from time to time, but it just proves my point. Oh well, the music keeps playing no matter how we look at it.

 

[bingodj]

So your new to the area... and wanna stir up a pot?... then say don't shoot the messenger?...

Thats like walkin in the arena with a Rochester Americans jersey saying you love the Sens...

Go back read the posts in archive and you'll see why they are there and see all the arguments for and against.

If you ever wanna talk radio in a friendly way come down to the players entrance before or during warmups.. introduce yourself and I will be happy to chit chat about radio in Bingo...

Please get your glasses re-tuned...maybe eliminating the coke bottle type would help. I am new to the board not to the area. Talking radio with you? Please!! There are many in town I would like to talk radio with but unfortunately not with you. Sorry!!.

 

[SHimes100]

HAHAHA... good one... must have thought for hours on that one.

Don't be sorry... after reading your posts ... Yeah I agree. You would be a waste of my time...

 

[MichaelWilliams]

2 weeks ago, a guy comes in here to Magic to pick up a prize, he says his wife won it during the morning show. I say, what's her name, he tells me, I look at the winner sheet, that name isn't there. I say, do you know what the contest was? He calls his wife, she tells him the contest, he tells me, I say, we don't do a contest like that. Needless to say, she won the contest on Mix, but she insisted to her husband that he was at the right station to pick up the prize. Well, he wasn't. I'm sure this happens at every station in town from time to time, but it just proves my point. Oh well, the music keeps playing no matter how we look at it.

I hope you gave him a little "sumpthin' sumpthin'" for being at the right station, even if he was listening to the wrong station. I've done this many times in the past just to thank people for thinking of my station over the others. Did it work? Did I get even a single diary mention out of it? Who knows.... but I did it anyway.

Michael

 

[LowPayDJ]

Wow, I've never thought about doing that! I'll have to stop by lake street and say that I won something. Got anything good to give me? lol

 

[MichaelWilliams]

Wow, I've never thought about doing that! I'll have to stop by lake street and say that I won something. Got anything good to give me? lol

I'm sorry...... who do I work for again????

 

[Artie2]

What Kevin doesn't tell you is that all the translators are fed directly with STLs and not fed off the air as per FCC rules. Of course this is from the same group that felt it was ok to send in 6 Arbitron dairies last year and list just under 50 hours of listening for one of their stations that is not receivable in the Bingo Metro (Cool 96). I guess they think they can make their own rules.

George got a wake up call from Arbitron on how things work last year.

I'm sure with the new president and heads at the FCC, 2009 will be the year the FCC sets him and Kevin straight.

It's too bad that the other stations in this town are too afraid to blow the whistle. It's more important for these people to maintain those friendships (with the competition) at the parades and the reunions.

That shows the level (or lack there of) professionism in this town. It's about keeping friends and not about winning.

I'm sure there will be many replies to defend why it is a ok to be this way and some personal attacks, but at the end of the day, you all know it' s true. George and Kevin are out of control and everyone in town allows it. It's your own fault!