WRNE trying to secure an FM translator

[Nate Wesley]

Not sure if this development has been noted previously, but here goes:

I was reading a post at the Alabama Broadcast Media Page blog, the blog for the Alabama Broadcast Media Page (hey Zach!). It obviously spent time updating a few changes to Alabama-based stations. Specifically, it noted that W295AP 106.9 (Bay Minette, AL) has a license to cover with 99 watts, but he guessed that operation was likely playing the translator shuffle towards Pensacola.

That piqued my interest, so I looked the translator up on RECnet. The owner of record for W295AP is Media One Communications, the same one who owns WRNE 980.

 

[Poledo]

I'm going to consider this a coincidence but about a week ago I was picking up a poor signal on 96.7 that was rebroadcasting WRNE. The signal was so bad that I assumed it was a pirate or part 15... but now, I don't know. The station was playing urban so I flipped back and forth between 96.7 and 980 several times in order to determine the source.

If they were able to get that 106.9 translator over to the tallest tower in Pensacola (I believe that would be the old WSRE TV tower near the Escambia county jail, the old 107.3 tower is too far north of town, I think, and the WUWF tower would cover the wrong demographics for WRNE), WRNE would be in a great place on the dial to compete with the only other urban station in P'cola, Magic 106.1. With WRNE being one of two AMs left in Pensacola playing music, an FM translator would serve them well. Lite Rock 1450 doesn't need a translator because I just don't understand that station.
I know a couple people at WRNE, I'll try to remember to see if I can dig up some info for y'all.

There are also unused translators in Gulf Shores @100.3 (owned by a church) and in Milton @106.5 (owned by Pensacola's news/talker WNRP 1620).

When will Clear Channel start buying translators to put their HD-2's on analog frequencies here?

 

[Poledo]

I was bored and stumbled upon another translator headed toward Pensacola. Atmore's W278AR, 103.3, has begun it's march south. It appears to still be owned by a church... hopefully it'll get snapped up by a secular broadcaster to provide Pensacola with something cool on FM... be it music from one of Clear Channel's HD-2s or perhaps an FM translator for WCOA.

It's about time Pensacola started jumping into the new translator game.

 

[Rob]

Kinda dumb as they will hear 96.5 which booms in P'Cola there. Right now, I hear country and what sounds like "mix 96.7" - THE MIX

-Rob

 

[Poledo]

Hey Rob, re-read the posts. The 96.7 catch was probably a fluke. The two translators that appear to be crawling toward Pensacola are 106.9 from Bay Minette and 103.3 from Atmore. 106.9 has already been purchased by WRNE 980 AM while 103.3 is still owned by a church. I'm betting Clear Channel or Cumulus will buy the 103.3 translator before the dust settles.

A question for Redneck or one of the other pros out there, how well would a 250 watt translator cover Pensacola from the top of 107.3's old tower north west of Pensacola? Would the shorter WUWF tower south east of Pensacola provide better coverage (the 88.9 Calvary translator does pretty well with less power from this location) or is the WRRX tower the best/only option for a translator to compete? (We don't have too many tall towers around Pensacola to get great coverage from a translator like Birmingham, Montgomery and Atlanta have been achieving lately.)

Also, is there any way 106.5 from Milton or 100.3 from Gulf Shores could wind up in Pensacola? Perhaps Hale could move FWB's 94.5 over this way after cceng gets finished with them? Putting the 94.5 translator near Milton (say, on a WEBY tower) to relay WTKE-AM 1490 may help his Pensacola coverage issues...

 

[ngriffin]

The Birmingham and Atlanta markets work well for the "almost class A" translators because they can be located high right in the center of population. Pensacola doesn't really have that, so the best option will be to get a couple hundred feet up on a centrally located tower. If the demographics of the format favor one portion of the market over another, that might play a factor in the site, too.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

The Birmingham and Atlanta markets work well for the "almost class A" translators because they can be located high right in the center of population. Pensacola doesn't really have that, so the best option will be to get a couple hundred feet up on a centrally located tower. If the demographics of the format favor one portion of the market over another, that might play a factor in the site, too.

"Almost Class A"? Try Class B! 250Watts at 1,000 feet can throw pretty damn far.

 

[jmtillery]

I had looked into a situation in Ocala where our engineer had determined we could get the equivalent of class C3 coverage with an area translator. Originally we were looking into using the translator to re-broadcast an AM station which had a fairly impressive 2mV/m daytime contour. At the time, the translator was capable of filling in most, if not all, of the 2mV/m AM daytime coverage which would have been very close to a C3 signal operating with 250 watts at approximately 1,200 feet.

 

[R.D.P.]

Try this one out for size.

I know of one translator station, that has an impressive coverage area and comes in real good on most days.

So good, it almost sounds like a local radio station.

The sound quality on this station is very neat and clean.

This one just signed on a few days ago, at 94.3 FM and broadcasts with 250 watts.

They broadcast in a glorious mono sound.

And no they're not located in my hometown.

This one is located in Marion Alabama, which is around 30 to 35 miles northwest of my front door.

The station they rebroadcast on here is WJUS 1310 AM, which does a Party Blues, Oldies and Gospel format.

From my own research, this translator is located on top of the WJUS AM tower in Marion Alabama.

R.D.P. <><

 

[Nate Wesley]

Try this one out for size.

I know of one translator station, that has an impressive coverage area and comes in real good on most days.

So good, it almost sounds like a local radio station.

The sound quality on this station is very neat and clean.

This one just signed on a few days ago, at 94.3 FM and broadcasts with 250 watts.

They broadcast in a glorious mono sound.

And no they're not located in my hometown.

This one is located in Marion Alabama, which is around 30 to 35 miles northwest of my front door.

The station they rebroadcast on here is WJUS 1310 AM, which does a Party Blues, Oldies and Gospel format.

From my own research, this translator is located on top of the WJUS AM tower in Marion Alabama.

R.D.P. <><

And from my research, this ain't got spit to do with WRNE or North Florida.


Why are you here, again?

 

[Poledo]

And from my research, this ain't got spit to do with WRNE or North Florida.

You've been around awhile Nate. You should know that we always take threads off on weird tangents in the Redneck Riviera. It's one of the reasons we don't have to share a board with the rest of this damn Yankee state. Just watch, the next poster will start writing about the good ol' days of The Great 108 blasting the PC Beach strip... some 25+ years ago, without any help from AM radio or a super powered FM translator.

The only translator with any Pensacola coverage right now is Calvary Chapel's 88.9 with 13 watts @ 400 feet. It's got a good signal considering it is in the crowded non-com band and located about 15 miles east south-east of town. For those of us that haven't been to the big city recently (like, say, me), we may have no idea what to expect from these new translators on rather clear frequencies with 250 watts at unknown heights. I'd say RDP had a valid post and it didn't even involve the Flora-Bama Mullet Toss (I hear the new building out there is nice!).

If that's not good enough for you Nate, hit me up... I'll hook you up with a couple of these xanax bars my doctor gave me for high blood pressure. They'll help you figure out what's going on here... and get you back into the right grove with the other posters on this board... no Gin needed.

Don't forget: "Just say No!"


[/rant]

 

[Nate Wesley]

And from my research, this ain't got spit to do with WRNE or North Florida.

You've been around awhile Nate. You should know that we always take threads off on weird tangents in the Redneck Riviera. It's one of the reasons we don't have to share a board with the rest of this damn Yankee state. Just watch, the next poster will start writing about the good ol' days of The Great 108 blasting the PC Beach strip... some 25+ years ago, without any help from AM radio or a super powered FM translator.

The only translator with any Pensacola coverage right now is Calvary Chapel's 88.9 with 13 watts @ 400 feet. It's got a good signal considering it is in the crowded non-com band and located about 15 miles east south-east of town. For those of us that haven't been to the big city recently (like, say, me), we may have no idea what to expect from these new translators on rather clear frequencies with 250 watts at unknown heights. I'd say RDP had a valid post and it didn't even involve the Flora-Bama Mullet Toss (I hear the new building out there is nice!).

If that's not good enough for you Nate, hit me up... I'll hook you up with a couple of these xanax bars my doctor gave me for high blood pressure. They'll help you figure out what's going on here... and get you back into the right grove with the other posters on this board... no Gin needed.

Don't forget: "Just say No!"


[/rant]

I might have to take you up on that Xanax bar recommendation...if you'll notice, that was my edited response. Edited for a 'I don't want to get thrown off the board' revision. My apologies.

 

[Poledo]

...if you'll notice, that was my edited response. Edited for a 'I don't want to get thrown off the board' revision. My apologies.

Yeah... I'm a geek too. I noticed the edit, that did made me curious as to what you had toned it down from and had an influence on my posting an immediate reply.

I've also made at least a dozen posts that I thought would get me banned from these boards. To this point I haven't even gotten a warning from a moderator. Positive reinforcement that the crowd chatting about North Florida and Bama must be pretty cool and generally mature enough to handle anything thrown at them. ;D

My ranting response was triggered because your post didn't follow with your normal "mood" around here. You seemed off. Just wanted to make sure you knew you came across this way, even with an edited post. I also did not expect the Slema bureau chief, RDP, to post a response... and he didn't. I must be a little psychic (and at times psychotic.)

Now go out there and find us something interesting to discuss. Like how long does it generally take to get these translators up so Pensacola can have a new FM radio station? I didn't follow the journey's for the Montgomery, Birmingham, and Atlanta translators. How long did they take them to go from starting their move into town and debuting a new format on the translators at full power? 106.9 and 103.3 only have 20-30 miles left to go to get to the taller towers around Pensacola. If they're new home will wind up on top of 107.3's old tower in Cantonment they're even closer.

 

[tomservo]

Now if we could just get WRNE to turn the C-QUAM back on.

(Sorry, I just got here. This is off topic as I can get at the moment.)

 

[Rob]

HIGHWAY 98 country is now known as WRNE-FM (would HALE do it???) Naa, this would be a flea power station about 200W or so in G. Breeze. Does 1.450 out of PCOLA have CQUAM on? I never heard AM stereo and heard it sounded good. I'm an analog freak and had a nightmare that all FM/AM broadcasts were going digital (screams)

-Rob

 

[Poledo]

Rob, don't you remember? About 10 years ago Hale sold 98.1 FM to Qantum and Cumulus at the same time. Very smart man.
Highway 98 is now the sister (mother ship?) of Wave 102, Mix 103 and Fly 92. Hale only has 100.3 and the 94.5 translator.

 

[tomservo]

1450 does not broadcast in stereo and never has, as far as I know. Shame, it's a good candidate, music-wise. Back in the day, your best bet would have been 590 out of Panama City. They turned it off when they went back to music after being a tourist station, if I remember correctly.

 

[Poledo]

Does it really matter? When was the last time you saw a radio capable of CQUAM? I think all mine wound up in the "auto parts department" behind my barn. I think my Ford pickup with the pine tree growing out of the rusted out bed has CQUAM in it.

 

[tomservo]

Does it really matter? When was the last time you saw a radio capable of CQUAM? I think all mine wound up in the "auto parts department" behind my barn. I think my Ford pickup with the pine tree growing out of the rusted out bed has CQUAM in it.

Because it would give me something to listen to with my AMAX Walkman, that's why.