Why does WSTW not show up in the Philadelphia Arbitron ratings? WJBR is in there. Do people just not listen to WSTW in the Philadelphia area? In my opinion, it's a pretty solid Hot AC station. I think it's actually better than Mix 106 (the only other Hot AC station in town) because it has a wider playlist. Thoughts?
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Wstw
- Thread starter ReadtheBox
- Start date
There HD-2 isn't that shabby if you like off the wall Alternative that you cannot hear anywhere else, nice production, very local and a good HD signal to boot..Still don't know why JBR which pound for pound has the strongest HD in the area, has not added a sub after being HD for over 4 years 
F
FredLeonard
Guest
Stations are only listed if they subscribe to the book, in this case the Philly book.
I don't think extra coverage was the intent. It looks like they may have replaced the antenna with one capable of HD, and the size was different, requiring a re-filing. I remember asking about the other tower when you brought it up a few years ago. I think it was for a TV station, not radio. Maybe it fell through? Possibly FLO TV which build and then dismantled millions of dollars worth of UHF transmitters, mostly on channel 55 I think.
I was out that way over the weekend, what a waste of a good tower, its a shame STW could not relocate on the very top, I guess their power would have to be reduced if they did. I noticed the FM antenna has many bays, more than I have ever seen on any antenna, probably for their two powerful side band HD's.I did a little research, that's actually 10 bays. 5 High Power bays for the main signal, and 5 Low Power bays for the HD in what they call "shared aperature" meaning the bays are intermingled. That's why they are Big/Small/Big/Small etc ...
The smooth pole on the tower to the left is a UHF TV antenna. WSTW probably didn't move to that tower because of the huge costs involved in replacing or extending the two feedlines to go to that tower. The extra loss may even require more transmitter power, for very little benefit.
Thanks for the picture.
Thanks for the info, its an impressive site on Shipley Road, I did not get a pic of the two small towers and there is another large one with no bays...now that I have your attention I have a question to ask, I think you are the only one who would know. I remember staying in Wildwood the summer of 1964. I was only 10 back then at my parents rental house. I seem to remember 2 top 40 high energy stations, of course we all know WMID but I can recall WOND also playing the hits with personality jocks like WMID. From what I remember WMID sounded like WIBG and WOND had the WABC approach, they used the news feed ABC on the hour and called themselves All American WOND. They had equal listeners in Wildwood on the beach and boards from what I can recall but at night WOND was gone and WMID remained but somewhat weaker. Am I dreaming or is this all true, it was neat and odd to hear 2 top 40 stations at the shore, when we only had one WIBG here in Philly.
I only know what I've read about early WMID and WOND, my family moved down to Somers Point in 1970, and I only ever listened to WIBG and WDAS-FM (Hyski's Underground) before we moved.
Jersey Shore radio was pretty strange to me. WMID stopped everything at 9 PM each night, and had a religious show called "Joytime" and an hour or two of Classical music on the weekend with Victor Travis (Dr. Victor Ruby) otherwise, WMID seemed to have the WABC approach, and was pretty good.
On FM, about all I could get was WMGM, weak, in mono, but the stereo light flashed on peaks of overmodulation. There was dead air all of the time, and I started calling to tell them, and they would fix it, sometimes rewinding the tape right on the air, and playing the same songs over again. I experimented, and found that if I didn't call, it would NEVER come back on. hah
When I started working there a few years later (when I was 18) I saw the setup. It was amazingly crude. Two home type reel to reel decks, a cart machine, and 4 mis-matched crooked knobs and a meter and headphone jack on a panel. A pot for each reel and the cart, and a simulcast of WOND. The headphone jack was the ONLY way to monitor the station in the building. No speakers, no FM radio or anything.
Kevin Fennessy is the Atlantic City/Wildwood radio guru. If he still reads the forums, he'll jump in.
Jersey Shore radio was pretty strange to me. WMID stopped everything at 9 PM each night, and had a religious show called "Joytime" and an hour or two of Classical music on the weekend with Victor Travis (Dr. Victor Ruby) otherwise, WMID seemed to have the WABC approach, and was pretty good.
On FM, about all I could get was WMGM, weak, in mono, but the stereo light flashed on peaks of overmodulation. There was dead air all of the time, and I started calling to tell them, and they would fix it, sometimes rewinding the tape right on the air, and playing the same songs over again. I experimented, and found that if I didn't call, it would NEVER come back on. hah
When I started working there a few years later (when I was 18) I saw the setup. It was amazingly crude. Two home type reel to reel decks, a cart machine, and 4 mis-matched crooked knobs and a meter and headphone jack on a panel. A pot for each reel and the cart, and a simulcast of WOND. The headphone jack was the ONLY way to monitor the station in the building. No speakers, no FM radio or anything.
Kevin Fennessy is the Atlantic City/Wildwood radio guru. If he still reads the forums, he'll jump in.
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