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WKVE on WLTJ's HD-3

It's time for a change!! On May 10th 2012, I was talking to the VP/GM of SCM and I suggested that we do something nobody else is doing with their HD's, we take another radio station not owned by Steel City Media and we simulcast it on WLTJ's HD-3. I chose WKVE 103.1 FM because I like the format and it's close to what I was doing with the classic rock and it's live (that's very important to me) And it has a Western Pennsylvania flare being semi-local to downtown Pittsburgh. And by me doing this it is unique to HD Radio because no other radio station in the nation is even attempting this with their HD Sub channels, meaning WLTJ is owned by The Frischling's and WKVE is owned by Bob Stevens, 2 different companies in almost 2 different markets, and this should (hopefully) generate some much needed press (newspaper and hopefully TV) for promoting HD Radio in Pittsburgh, It wasn't an easy sell for me to convince SCM's Owners to let me do this, but after a few hours he decided to let me do it.

So, I contacted Bob Stevens owner of WKVE (May 11th) and he instantly knew what my reason was and we talked on the phone for over 90 minutes (more about music and radio than about what I wanted to do).

On (5-11-12) I was working on a way to get a good OTA signal for re-broadcasting of KVE's audio, I worked all afternoon to get a good reception of KVE and the antenna (FM Receiving that was on the roof of WPGH) got fried in a lightning storm or just died with age. I never used this antenna before and it was on WPGH's building before I moved WLTJ to that location in 2005 I had no luck on getting a great reception I even went to WRRK's transmitter site and tried reception there, nope. I am making a new antenna cut to KVE's frequency and I will try it and see if that works if it doesn't my backup plan is using internet streaming audio from KVE's studio so I can use that as my HD-3 audio. I like this option more than a OTA signal. because I should be able to XML tag song artist and title to the HD-RDS

Also, I can give KVE internet streaming audio which gives KVE streaming audio for Androids and iPhones and computer desktops, its a win-win

Why are we doing this? And what If this is successful?

HD Radio gets a boost by people not really knowing what HD Radio really is, most think HD Radio is Satellite Radio I got this from asking around, and WKVE gets a Pittsburgh City Grade signal. Look at it this way Pittsburgh gets a new radio station by proxy, I find that highly entertaining on many levels it might take a few years for this to catch on and we at SCM and WKVE are on the same page with what I want to do. Also with more and more car manufacturers installing HD Radios in their vehicles, its sure to be a hit. and I want word of mouth to generate press as well. And since WLTJ and WKVE are locally owned and operated I am hoping that the locals who pride on being from Western Pennsylvania and surrounding counties will apperciate our attempt to keep things "Live and Local" It's going to be fun if you ask me

I will post when everything is a go.
 
Try a Sony XDR-F1HD tuner. You would not believe how sensitive and selective this tuner is. Using this tuner in West Mifflin I can slightly get KVE's 104.1 translator! Last year during FM skip I received stations from Cuba and the Bahamas! Here is a link to a technical page about it.

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm
 
Parttimer said:
This is what the HD channels need to be... great move.

Hey guys it all sounds good but it has been tried in several markets (Detroit, NJ & NY) although it was a lease and after a year so so with no listeners they pulled the plug. Last year I purchased a Kenwood KDC-HD545U, all & all a decent radio but once you get 8 or 10 miles from the transmitter the HD goes away. Let's face the facts, HD was not viable from the start. My gut feeling is that HD radio will end up just like Motorola C-Quam did nearly 20 years ago. Several radio groups have pulled their HD due to degradation and interference with the main channel. Renda did it in Ok. city and Saga has done it in several markets. It won't be long when we can say remember that HD thing. I said the same thing about Quad Stereo over 30 years ago.
 
filenz said:
It won't be long when we can say remember that HD thing. I said the same thing about Quad Stereo over 30 years ago.

Heh...and don't forget how everyone said AM stereo was going to save the band!
 
If I'm not mistaken, weren't the other markets that were simulcasting other stations owned by the same company?, but... it's not important to this topic

With a good amount of today's new car's having HD Radios factory installed and I already have 100's of listeners for Bob's Malt Shop (I know because of these are the numbers of emails I get when I have WRRK's HD's off for more than 24 hours) and I know I have at least that many listeners with WLTJ's HD-3 all I'm trying to say is I think this is the right time for this to be done in Pittsburgh.

Yes, I read all the other threads in other forums about HD is a dead horse and those wishing for it to be so. But, my question is have you listened to my HD's, WLTJ and WRRK? not Clear Channels or CBS's
I have spent 100's of hours tweaking the bandwidth allocated for the subs on HD1,HD2.HD3 and HD4 years ago just to make everything "audible" to the ears, and lets not forget the 1000's of hours I spent on processing. and SCM has the only 2 stations in the USA playing music on their HD4's and since I first made it happen I was dedicated to make it sound as good as I can

With WKVE and WLTJ teaming up to do this venture it will be interesting to see if we can change the history of Pittsburgh HD Radio.

Look this is 100% me that's doing this when I made those changes on SCM's HD streams I did all of those changes after business hours and the company I work for and WKVE today will just watch me make this happen, and if I didn't think that FM HD was worth it I could easily spend my free time watching mindless TV

All I want for my new venture is for this to have some success, as I stated in the original post, all I want is some much needed press for HD Radio and I think WKVE has the format people will want to listen to.
 
Several stations have pulled it due to licensing fees not signal degradation. FM wipes out a station one or two clicks away from your main channel, AM is a different story though as it does affect the analog signal and requires a really good antenna system. One which very few AM's have.
 
filenz said:
Hey guys it all sounds good but it has been tried in several markets (Detroit, NJ & NY) although it was a lease and after a year so so with no listeners they pulled the plug.

This is what non-technical person needs clarification on. RadioEngnr, this isn't going to affect their signal on 103.1, is it?
 
No, not at all... think of HD as another band of frequencies to choose from, if someone has an HD Radio (in car preferred) the listener can tune to 92.9FM wait for an HD lock then go to HD3 and there will be WKVE

WLTJ has 4 HD's

WLTJ HD 1 = The Analog
WLTJ HD 2 = Q in the City - R&B and Classic Urban
WLTJ HD 3 = (soon) WKVE
WLTJ HD 4 = Christmas Q (giving you holiday cheer throughout the year)
yes Virginia, I do have listeners to this format about 60 people a day listening on-line
 
All fine and good. But please leave WLTJ HD2 "Q in the City" as is. I'm listening from Boston on line and it's the best station on the air.
 
Yes, I am thinking the same thing. Please DO NOT touch Q92.9 HD2. This is Pittsburgh's last bastion for REAL R&B. I must agree with jimmy128. WAMO 100.1 is now mostly 90% hip-hop, and I mean "Hip-hop HEAVY" with repeats of the same songs!
 
This sucks. I love 92.9's current HD3 station. It actually plays true rare tracks, not the same 50 songs that WDVE plays over and over again. They even play whole album sides.
 
your not alone, I'm getting many emails and a few phone calls from people saying to leave HD-3 alone
I had RDS text scrolling for just 24 hours on the HD3 channel saying "coming soon, 103.1 WKVE on this channel"
 
If you want evidence of why local (or at least non-corporate) station ownership is a good thing, this is a good chunk of it. Paul and Steel City Media have come up with a creative and innovative idea, and they're running with it. I understand that there is strategy here (it makes the news and provides good PR for Steel City...it raises public awareness of HD), but I'll bet a big part of why they're doing this is just that it's fun! My god, what a concept. Having fun while doing radio. I didn't even know that was legal anymore. As someone who's old enough to have been in the game before ownership rule changes and the homogenization / lockstep standardization of radio, I can say I'm sorry that a lot of younger folks don't know how much fun it could be...to listen and to produce. "Hey! Here's a crazy idea! Let's do it!" Classic rock would not have been my choice for the progamming source they've chosen (enough already....been there, heard that), but it's just as well it wasn't up to me to decide, since they'd have probably had about one listener (KPFA rebroadcast, anyone? Maybe recordings of Don Davis on WDVE or the Credibility Gap newscasts on KRLA?). So props to SCM for making the wide world of sludge on Pittsburgh radio just a little bit more interesting.....
 
For what it is worth, from the May 28 McKeesport Daily News ... which featured comments from WKVE-103.1 owner Robert Stevens:

* WKVE soon may simulcast on Steel City Media's WLTJ-92.9 HD-3, replacing "Rockin Q" classics. Steel City Media reportedly brought the idea to Stevens.
"It's very visionary of them," Stevens said. However, "Rockin Q classics appear to be deeper than what WKVE does."
* Steel City has a lot on HD: WLTJ soft rock HD1, "Q in the City" urban HD2 and local "Yinz" HD4 and WRRK-96.9 Bob FM HD1, adult "B sides" HD2, "Malt Shop" HD3 and "Amerirockin" HD4.
 
"It's very visionary of them," Stevens said. However, "Rockin Q classics appear to be deeper than what WKVE does."

Really? KVE may be the deepest station I've ever heard. You realize this pretty quick when you don't know a song for 30 minutes.
 
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