• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WSBB-FM Transmitter Move

Last edited:
RoddyFreeman said:
I get what Mr. Spriggs is saying, that he wants to market the FM because it's going to be easier for new listeners to find WSB on the FM dial.

What I'm not understanding is why adding 2 seconds to mention the AM in addition to 95.5 would take away from his marketing objective.

I will say that the new TOH sounds fantastic. It was time for a refresh.

Jeff Davis has been the voice of WSB since 1993. I can't think of a station anywhere that's used the same voice for 26 years. I'm guessing Jeff is in his 70's, and he still sounds great.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's to disassociate with an old-fogey medium (AM radio)? Same reason Clear Channel changed their name to iHeart.
 
I was at the Edgewood Retail District yesterday, where the tower is very visible. The new 95.5 antenna is also very visible from that vantage point, and of course is lower than the combined antenna for B98.5, V-103, WABE and the Star 94-1 backup.
 
The ceremonial switch over to the new WSBB 95.5 FM signal occurred at 9:10am today (August 20, 2019) with Eric Von Haessler leading a countdown on his show along with Scott Slade and staff. Lots of talk about the FM signal and musical drops of Steely Dan's "FM (No Static At All)" being played. The fact that the legacy AM signal is still around at 750 was mentioned only briefly in passing.

- Harry S.
 
BarryATL said:
I did not notice the stereo pilot. I will look when in the car next. I did notice the processing is still all mid-range.
Click to expand...

Why would they bother to do to stereo? They have been successful playing commercials in mono for decades. The in-town move was better coverage in an area with more man made interference and for building penetration. I have never hear of any "coverage" improvement by running the 19kHz pilot. IIRC it use to be rumored to be the opposite with buildings sometimes reflecting the signal.
 
Even 60KW increase can not overcome 502 ft lowering of 95.5’s antenna in some areas. North of Jasper on 515 once you start down to the hill towards Talking Rock the signal starts to fade.. Cox had better hope that none of the trees up here are wearing PPM deceives.
 
secondchoice said:
Why would they bother to do to stereo? They have been successful playing commercials in mono for decades. The in-town move was better coverage in an area with more man made interference and for building penetration. I have never hear of any "coverage" improvement by running the 19kHz pilot. IIRC it use to be rumored to be the opposite with buildings sometimes reflecting the signal.
Click to expand...

More to the point: How much of their programming is in stereo (or mic'ed for stereo)? No need to broadcast in stereo if you don't have stereo content. As I said before, the only time I've noticed an advantage with stereo with spoken word is sports PXP, and then only if it's mic'ed for it. Otherwise you're just adding noise and multipath problems.
 
secondchoice said:
Even 60KW increase can not overcome 502 ft lowering of 95.5’s antenna in some areas. North of Jasper on 515 once you start down to the hill towards Talking Rock the signal starts to fade.. Cox had better hope that none of the trees up here are wearing PPM deceives.
Click to expand...

How did that compare with before? The Chateau Elan site had greater HAAT but less power, which would suggest a problem with building penetration even if coverage in square miles was the same. The intown site also has a slight null to the NW.

What is the purpose of that null anyway? The nearest cochannel station in that direction is WSM-FM in Nashville...which seems a bit far. There is cochannel WHMA in Anniston, which is more due west and has a CP for 95.3 with a very directional signal to the west (and I'm assuming that they're already on that signal; IIRC that was required for WSBB's move). Interestingly, WHMA was the callsign of the 100.5 signal that is now WNNX. Is it WUKV, a class A in Trion, GA (north of Rome) on 95.7? There's also a WAYB on 95.7 in the Soddy-Daisy/Dunlap/Dayton area just north of Chattanooga, another class A, which has a very directional signal to the SE.

If I had to guess the reason for the null are the two 95.7 first-adjacents, both of which seem like they would cause a lot of interference to WSBB northwest of Atlanta, null or no null. You might want to see if the interference is spillover from one of them.

Back when 96 Rock was 96 Rock and FM DX conditions were good, I'd often pick up interference from WQZY 95.9 out of Dublin, GA on WKLS.
 
So, how has the coverage been inside the red "local coverage area" line?

WSBB_FM_CU.gif
 
BarryATL said:
So, how has the coverage been inside the red "local coverage area" line?

WSBB_FM_CU.gif
Click to expand...

I drove across the entire western outskirts of metro Atlanta today and the signal is pristine! Quiet as a mouse. Every area I have driven has a greatly improved signal.

I heard Mark Arum the other night with an Athens caller complaining about the signal. There are going to be quite a few in the northeastern metro with signals weaker than before.
 
wavo said:
I drove across the entire western outskirts of metro Atlanta today and the signal is pristine! Quiet as a mouse. Every area I have driven has a greatly improved signal.

I heard Mark Arum the other night with an Athens caller complaining about the signal. There are going to be quite a few in the northeastern metro with signals weaker than before.
Click to expand...

I live near the Love/Fish tower and I’ve noticed that since the move, I am receiving distant stations on 95.1, 95.3, 95.7, and 95.9 that were drowned out before by the fact that 95.5 was closer to my side of town.
 
secondchoice said:
Even 60KW increase can not overcome 502 ft lowering of 95.5’s antenna in some areas. North of Jasper on 515 once you start down to the hill towards Talking Rock the signal starts to fade.. Cox had better hope that none of the trees up here are wearing PPM deceives.
Click to expand...

Pikens County is less than 0.5% of the market population. There are likely only a couple of meters, if any, in the county.

On the other hand, they gained a 70 dbu signal in counties or portions with nearly 3 million population. They lost a Pikens, and about a million people not in the Atlanta MSA. Net gain: 3,000,000 persons in the 70 dbu in the MSA.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom