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When is 93.9 and 105.1 to Move toward the Cary Area?

A

audiomusiclover

Guest
I recall discussions last year of the impending move of 93.9 Kissfm to the Cary area. I also recall G105 was to also move to the same transmitter just off Hwy 1. Has anyone heard any updates on if either of the stations are nearing their transmitter moves? It appears that those plans have been delayed.
 
On the same subject, does anyone know the plans for the current WDCG and WKSL transmitter sites at Terrell's Mountain in Chatham County? Will these sites be sold to another broadcaster, be retained for other uses (auxiliary sites if new parameters allow, etc) or will future nighttime drives along I-40 west in southern Durham show only one tall tower above the trees as the land is sold to developers?

I could see a very remote chance of Radio One moving WQOK 97.5 there when it's relicensed from South Boston to Carrboro, though current plans call for 97.5 to move to the 500' WFXC 107.1 tower in eastern Durham and I don't know a move to Terrell's Mountain would affect short spacing. The other Burlington FM (93.9 is licensed there until their move to Cary), WZTK, is probably better suited at their current Cane Creek Mountain site to cover both markets, not to mention short spacing and ownership cap issues that would arise with a move east.

I believe Durham-licensed channel 28, now My Network affiliate WRDC, transmitted from Terrell's Mountain in their early days as WRDU-TV, but later relocated to Apex (on a tower that once stood nearby the WLFL tower that 105.1 and 93.9 will occupy) for a more-centralized signal in the days before cable/DSS became prevalent.
 
Isn't 97.5 going down to a C2?

105.1 barely puts a decent signal over Wake County as a C from that site.... I can't imagine what a C2 would be like. Probably wouldn't even make it into downtown Raleigh.
 
IMHO CC shouldn't move neither G105 nor KissFM, and we all know how long CC takes to do anything with their construction permits that are granted them....however only time will tell what will actually take place.

Dropping the 105.1 signal down to a C2 will not effect reception in downtown Raleigh in a negative way. The "Apex tower" that everyone is refering to is the 1500' WLFL-CW22 tower on Ten-ten Rd. right off 64. This site is only around 7 miles from d/t Raleigh and 73,000 watts is somewhat respectable. The parts that will truely suffer noticeably will be the western listening areas. Greensboro and Asheboro will still have fair coverage. But if you happen to live in, say, Winston-Salem..well, I guess you're stuck with KZL ::)
 
carlosswicegood said:
IMHO CC shouldn't move neither G105 nor KissFM, and we all know how long CC takes to do anything with their construction permits that are granted them....however only time will tell what will actually take place.

Dropping the 105.1 signal down to a C2 will not effect reception in downtown Raleigh in a negative way. The "Apex tower" that everyone is refering to is the 1500' WLFL-CW22 tower on Ten-ten Rd. right off 64. This site is only around 7 miles from d/t Raleigh and 73,000 watts is somewhat respectable. The parts that will truely suffer noticeably will be the western listening areas. Greensboro and Asheboro will still have fair coverage. But if you happen to live in, say, Winston-Salem..well, I guess you're stuck with KZL ::)
Click to expand...

IIRC G105 is going to C1, not C2. 97.5 IS going to a C2 from that area... someone brought up moving 97.5 out to Terrel's Mountain and I was just using G's coverage as an example.

CC does very badly need to get the 93.9 and 105.1 signals moved closer into town though. Raleigh is sprawling like crazy to the east and up toward Franklin, Wilson, Nash, etc the signal is terrible, always has been.
 
Re: When is 93.9 and 105.1 to Move toward the Cary Area?- Apparently very soon!

This afternoon on my way home from work I noticed a FM antenna about half way up on the Channel 22 tower. I didn't get close enough to count the bays but I will do it tomorrow. It looked like around 6 from a distance.
So I guess that the move should happen soon. Today is the first day I noticed it but it could have gone up late last week. I go by the tower every day so I'll keep you guys posted!

Chris
 
New FM antenna on Ch 22 tower

I looked at the new FM antenna on the Apex tower on the way in this morning. Definitely 6 bay with radomes. It is a little more than halfway up the tower.

Chris
 
Another FM antenna On the Apex tower

This morning on the way in to work I noticed a second FM antenna on the Channel 22 tower. This is a few hundred feet above the 6 bay that I mentioned before, and has two bays.

Chris
 
This is an intersting move. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall in the CC engineering offices to actually see the patterns and population counts in each of their configuations. I guess we must assume that they will increase their coverage in this metro by making this move, otherwise they would not go down the path, but you rarely see stations agree to lowe their power.
 
Most of these stations moving their towers closer to Raleigh from the outlying areas are doing to because their HD signal will have trouble reaching the core population center from their present locations.
 
Didn't bother CC one bit when they moved the WFMX tower to the Triad and changed the format. It was a huge reduction of reach and power. Now they have a wonderful third rate station that's about as interesting as a bucket of warm spit. :p
 
Also, I remember the WDCG drop in class/power is related to Clear Channel's 104.9 in the Roanoke market (WZBL, I think, unless the call letters have changed) increasing their coverage. WKSL is actually gaining some antenna height in their move, as well as going non-directional, now that Cary's soon-to-be "first" radio station (at least the first in terms of FCC allocations to NC's now-7th largest city) will be farther away from first-adjacent WTHZ 94.1 in Lexington. No doubt having both antennae at one site (CC actually bought the Apex tower from Sinclair as WLFL will abandon it next winter) will be much cheaper to maintain and pay taxes on than the two sites at Terrell's Mountain.
 
As of yesterday March 13-
WDCG is now broadcasting from the Apex tower. Reception is not so great towards the north and west now. i was just hoping the move wasn't going to effect the signal this much... :-\

anyone in the southern and western Triad noticing the weaker signal ?

WKSL is still at Terrell's Mountain; for now at least
 
The only reason that 105.1 and 93.9 are moving to the Apex tower is because of HD coverage concerns. HD (IBOC) will not work in the Raleigh market from the Carrboro towers. The 105.1 is already transmitting from the Apex site, 93.9 should be on this week.... --- ... The Chatham sites will be used as aux. transmitter sites.

The same is true for 97.5. They are moving because of HD coverage issues. Probably not a smart move in the long run, because IBOC will fail. It has failed to catch on and that trend will most likely continue. The system is flawed, because the digital coverage area does not mirror the analog coverage area. It will never be accepted by the public. If the -10db level is approved, it will be the end of FM broadcasting as we know it. The IM interference from the IBOC signal, that will be present in all of the analog receivers, will force most people to stop listening to FM radio. IM distortion is already a serious problem at -20db, it will be a HORRIBLE problem at -10.

Am IBOC is already finished. WNCT in Greenville has turned off IBOC because of too many listener complaints. Cox has turned off all of their AM IBOC signals, others are considering doing the same. I see massive class action law suits against IBIQUITY in the not too distant future...It's really quite a mess and it's the FCC's fault (too bad it's impossible to sue the FCC, they deserve it for approving a system with so many technical flaws).
 
sam1 said:
Am IBOC is already finished. WNCT in Greenville has turned off IBOC because of too many listener complaints.
Click to expand...

FINALLY!

Ever since they started their music format it has been impossible to listen to. Sounded AWFUL.
 
What is the timetable for WDCG and WKSL's turning on their IBOC signals (with obvious consideration for WKSL actually signing on from the Apex tower)? I live almost 20 miles away, but in sight of the Apex tower and I'm not getting an HD signal from WDCG.
 
both signals are considerably weaker here in greensboro (using my DX-398/ATS-909), I noticed saturday that I couldn't receive G105 on my crappy sony home stereo reciever....but I also have WVBZ 100.3 less than 5 miles from my home.it overloads everything...I guess I can call it quits on listening to bob & the showgram in the mornings...I only listened to 93.9 in the car so its not really affected

//slightly ot///
Radio one is broke...I don't think any of their stations are gonna go HD anytime soon, hopefully they won't build out the CP with WQOK, but someone in raleigh needs to do a urban....radio one richmond is really a mess right now (having people call your station and call your midday girl a whore...then turn around and air it..) CC richmond is still moping the floor with them.

I tried to demo the HD recievers at Circuit City in greenbsoro, I found 2 that were on display..one car reciever and one home stereo....the car reciever was not connected to any antenna...it would flash the HD light on several stations but wouldn't decode...and the home stereo system had no antenna whatsoever....I believe its gonna fail worse than AM Stereo....
 
Why not move 93.9 back home to Burlington and do both RAL/GSO. It's been another classic CC failure like moving WFMX Statesville to Triad as if anyone listens. So sad to see the harm and destruction CC and greed has caused
 
In the first place, the move of 93.9 was done waaay before CC began meddling in things. You can blame Jim Heavner and Chapel Hill's Village Companies for that one.

I've always wondered why Heavner moved the focus of that station all the way to Raleigh. When I knew him back in the mid-70's, Heavner was very Chapel Hill-oriented and was seeking an FM station he could buy and move to the hill to transform into a WCHL-FM.

By the time he purchased WBAG-FM someone had convinced him that Chapel Hill was too small a place for a viable FM, and he built his monster Top-40 "94-Z" in Raleigh. The big market ate poor ol' Jim alive, soured him on radio, and I'm sure it influenced his move to sell WCHL to Curtis. It cost him a wheelbarrow full of Franklins to correct that move.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
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