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WHTK no HD?
- Thread starter aaronread
- Start date
aaronread said:
The question should be: Why is that station still on the air? It was a turkey 32 years ago when I auditioned there, it's still a turkey!
With one of the worst coverage patterns in metro Rochester that station has undergone more format changes than a toddler goes through diapers in a day.
Mike Sheridan said:aaronread said:
The question should be: Why is that station still on the air? It was a turkey 32 years ago when I auditioned there, it's still a turkey!
I have to give Jeff Howlett and the gang over there some credit, actually - they've built a surprisingly decent little radio station on that signal. The combination of Jim Rome in middays and (Don and) Mike in afternoons has found a small but very loyal audience, and it's largely in that hard-to-reach young male demo that nicely compliments the Fox and WHAM in the cluster. John DiTullio does OK in late mornings, too. It's probably the most successful that 1280 has been in the last quarter-century.
As for that signal, it's no WHAM - but the day signal with 5 kW ND gets out fine, and at night it's still probably the third- or fourth-best AM in town, for whatever that's worth.
Scott Fybush said:
Which begs the question: In your opinion Scott, aside WHAM, what Rochester AM has the best night signal and where is that signal's strength with regard to population? Would it be WXXI?
Radknowski said:
Oh dear God, no!
WHAM, obviously, is head and shoulders above any other AM in the market.
Believe it or not, after that I'd probably take 1460 for 24-hour coverage of the greatest proportion of the market population. The new transmitter site in Henrietta is just far enough south, compared to its old neighbors 1280 and 1370, to take in a little more to the east and west at night. Having a brand-new transmission system doesn't hurt, either, especially since I don't think there was any ground system left at the old Winton Road site by the time they left it a few years back. Also, 1460 is a relatively quiet channel here at night - Albany, Columbus and Harrisburg are all pretty good neighbors, compared to the sea of day-power-at-night cheaters on 1370 and the big WADO signal out of NYC on 1280.
I'd probably take 1280 as third, though that null to WADO in NYC costs it some southeastern reach that 1370 does get with its little nighttime lobe out toward Canandaigua. 1280 and 1370 are about equally bad going straight east and west - and straight east is the direction in which 990's 2500 watts really shine. I'm probably a little biased about the 990 night signal because even as it booms over Greece, the northern part of the city, Irondequoit and Webster, it doesn't get south of the city very well at all, even as close in as my Brighton home. (And all that incoming signal on 990 from Winnipeg doesn't help any, either.)
And then - sorry, Bob - it's a race to the bottom of the charts between 1040 and 950 once the sun goes down. Absent IBOC, 1040 probably gets a little more population in its 500 watt night signal than 950 does with its kilowatt, especially now that Detroit is cranking out 50 kW at night on 950, but with WBZ's hashmaker cranking away, that sinks 1040 almost anywhere north of the Livingston County line most nights.
I guess 1590 out in Brockport is on at night, too, but I think you have to be staying at the EconoLodge next door to hear it...
I have, on several occasions, listened to a perfectly readable WADO 1280 on I-390 at the Lehigh Station/Thruway exit at night. WHTK was present under it, but WADO was winning.
When I worked at WRMM AM/FM ca. 1989-1991, we had to have a phone line audio sample from Ogden to hear the AM at the studios at 3136 Winton Road South. Basically 990 was not reliable at night, at least in noisy locations, south of Brighton-Henrietta TL Rd.
When I worked at WRMM AM/FM ca. 1989-1991, we had to have a phone line audio sample from Ogden to hear the AM at the studios at 3136 Winton Road South. Basically 990 was not reliable at night, at least in noisy locations, south of Brighton-Henrietta TL Rd.
qman said:
That it does!
For a year or two in the mid-90s (1992? 93?), 990 was WCMF(AM), doing sports, and it had the Red Wings. As an expatriate Rochesterian living in west suburban Boston, I'd tune in from time to time for games. I remember one night when the Wings were playing at Pawtucket and I listened to the pregame show on WCMF all the way down to the PawSox stadium...never mind that there's a "local" 990 in Rhode Island itself!
My brother-in-law lives in Boston and my wife and I spent a week with him and his family. Being the radio nut that I am I checked to see if I could pull WHAM from there. Of course I could, but much to my surprise, I also pulled in 990 which at the time was playing standards as WEZO. Also noteworthy was my being able to pull in WBEN from there.
B
Bob1370
Guest
"...aside WHAM, what Rochester AM has the best night signal and where is that signal's strength with regard to population? Would it be WXXI?"
Probably yes. Everyone is crippled west of Greece and Gates by having to protect co-channel stations to the west. The good news about WXXI-AM is it shoots a pretty strong nighttime lobe south and southeast toward eastern Livingston and Ontario Counties, especially the Victor-Canandaigua corridor where the market's population growth currently seems to be headed. It's one of only two Rochester AMs you can hear after dark in Canandaigua with a below-average car or portable radio (the other one, of course, being WHAM). The antenna tweaks made back in the early 90s made it decently listenable in Perinton, Macedon and Penfield on night pattern as well, something that's still a real problem with 950, 1280 or 1460. I think Bill Pearce knew that, and that's why he purchased it rather than one of the others (several of which were also on the block at the time) when the demand for a 24/7 noncomm news/talker was starting the build in the early 80s.
Probably yes. Everyone is crippled west of Greece and Gates by having to protect co-channel stations to the west. The good news about WXXI-AM is it shoots a pretty strong nighttime lobe south and southeast toward eastern Livingston and Ontario Counties, especially the Victor-Canandaigua corridor where the market's population growth currently seems to be headed. It's one of only two Rochester AMs you can hear after dark in Canandaigua with a below-average car or portable radio (the other one, of course, being WHAM). The antenna tweaks made back in the early 90s made it decently listenable in Perinton, Macedon and Penfield on night pattern as well, something that's still a real problem with 950, 1280 or 1460. I think Bill Pearce knew that, and that's why he purchased it rather than one of the others (several of which were also on the block at the time) when the demand for a 24/7 noncomm news/talker was starting the build in the early 80s.
Ah yes, the infamous "WALE" of a signal on 990, with "50000 watts" that "covers from Mystic, CT to Plymouth, MA" (NOT!!!).
I wouldn't be surprised if WALE wasn't even transmitting that night, Scott.
Still, nobody's answered my question: has WHTK permanently stopped broadcasting in HD? If so, how long ago did that happen?
J
JohnW
Guest
Tom Wells said:
Never, I hope.
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