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WZEW adds an HD subchannel

No 250 watt Country station could compete with 95KSJ. Combined with secondary coverage from WXBM, Cat Country, K99 and Kicker.... no chance.
Slim possibility of Americana/Classic/Outlaw Country.... a very slim chance.
Possibly Smooth Jazz, but that would be tough on the tiny signal and iHeart's been playing with Jazz on HD long enough to know if it deserves a translator.


Realistically no music on a 250 watt translator in Mobile is going to complete with all the 100kw FMs. Mobile doesn't need another talk/sports or religious station. What's left that could draw 100 listeners besides Alternative? EDM maybe? Very few options are available in Mobile.
 
92.5 is looping Freebird and Stairway to Heaven. They were feeding it will low bit audio, but has improved. The teaser almost points to "Shark" or some kind of sea creature branding.
 
Fmeng said:
I would bet on a hybrid format, one that doesn't actually exist in your list of radio formats
Click to expand...

Successful Freeform commercial FM radio. That doesn't exist in Dixie? Does it even exist in the US outside of WFMU and KFOG?

Or are you suggesting something more like Birmingham Mountain Radio? Mobile Bay Radio?

Meh. For some reason I have really low expectations for Zew's translators.
 
Groove1670 said:
92.5 is looping Freebird and Stairway to Heaven. They were feeding it will low bit audio, but has improved. The teaser almost points to "Shark" or some kind of sea creature branding.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm happy to hear they are at least not looping the same thing day after day. The low bit rate audio — I bet it's being fed by an actual HD radio! The audio was pretty low bit rate when I heard it direct of ZEW the other day.
 
HD2 and or 3 are usually 32 kbs at Best unless you go to extended mode. By nature of course a translator is a reboadcast, all though rules don't require the audio feed be derived directly off air.
From the format standpoint, low wattage generally means a signal only a mother would love, which means it needs to develop extreme passion from the followers, usually exact opposite of FM commercial radio which is programed to have mass repeated casual listening. The mountain radio comparison is interesting, but exactly that would collide with the parent 92zew.
 
Fmeng said:
HD2 and or 3 are usually 32 kbs at Best unless you go to extended mode. By nature of course a translator is a reboadcast, all though rules don't require the audio feed be derived directly off air.
From the format standpoint, low wattage generally means a signal only a mother would love, which means it needs to develop extreme passion from the followers, usually exact opposite of FM commercial radio which is programed to have mass repeated casual listening. The mountain radio comparison is interesting, but exactly that would collide with the parent 92zew.
Click to expand...

Audio is not a issue on a HD channel feed to a translator. It depends on processing and the way the audio is distributed. The average listener does not know the audio difference on a HD channel. Translator location will depend on signal coverage, co channel and terrain, and antenna. A translator located in a populated located with no co-channel issues and antenna height will have the signal equal to a class A FM.

I've seen 25kw FM stations that coverage looked great on a coverage map, but were a big disappointment after sign on, and the other way around. It is a crap shoot in some cases.
 
Agree with theoretical coverage vs actual, however on the gulf coast with all the signals that roll in not to mention inversion expecting anything beyond city grade is dreaming for the most part.
 
Fmeng said:
Agree with theoretical coverage vs actual, however on the gulf coast with all the signals that roll in not to mention inversion expecting anything beyond city grade is dreaming for the most part.
Click to expand...

Very true. 100.3 Mobile started on the 1800 foot tower. Ducting and Hattisburg killed it. It was moved into the city. I always tell translator applicants to monitor the frequency during ducting. If it is noisy. Forget it.

There are a few in Mobile with a good signal, and others that get chewed up. Frequency research is the key.
 
Well doing inversion periods here on the coast there's something on every single Channel. Was translators here its location location location how big a population can you put inside of the 60 DBU. Central Mobile County or halfway between Daphne and Fairhope away from the bay are the best bets. Then of course you got to find a tower, South Baldwin County is growing but there is really no place to hang an antenna. Cheers
 
Fmeng said:
Well doing inversion periods here on the coast there's something on every single Channel. Was translators here its location location location how big a population can you put inside of the 60 DBU. Central Mobile County or halfway between Daphne and Fairhope away from the bay are the best bets. Then of course you got to find a tower, South Baldwin County is growing but there is really no place to hang an antenna. Cheers
Click to expand...

You can't. Your option is to serve the Mobile Metro or the Eastern Shore. The market must be centrally located. Atlanta is a good example. Baldwin, pick the city you want to serve. Translators are on the way for Robertsdale, and Fairhope.
 
Looking forward to seeing what 120 watts at 2000 feet can do from Robertsdale.

Bay Minette also has a translator app.
 
Fmeng said:
Well doing inversion periods here on the coast there's something on every single Channel. Was translators here its location location location how big a population can you put inside of the 60 DBU. Central Mobile County or halfway between Daphne and Fairhope away from the bay are the best bets. Then of course you got to find a tower, South Baldwin County is growing but there is really no place to hang an antenna. Cheers
Click to expand...

I'd have liked to have been in Mobile (or Pensacola) a few weeks back when we had that massive tropo event overnight, to see how the existing translators got manhandled. Over here in central Baldwin County I logged something like 63 signals over night, 27 of which were new logs. Everything from Reynosa MX to Texarkana to Bainbridge GA. It was crazy. Strangely, many of "the usual" translator frequencies were not giving me anything out of the ordinary. I never lost WBHY's 103.3 from Spanish Fort the entire time, and I'm well outside its 60 dBu. The rest:

90.7 - Panama City
93.3 - New Orleans
96.5 - Fort Walton Beach
97.1 - New Orleans
97.9 - Houston and Biloxi
99.5 - New Orleans, Lake Charles and Brownsville
103.5 - Panama City
106.1 - Grove Hill and Picayune MS

99.5 was the most active by far, and 97.1 despite all the skip kept wafting back to The Ticket from Pensacola, which is usually pretty decent here. So I'm thinking the translators might not have been as hurt as they could have been.
 
From downtown Pensacola I've noted that WRRX, WUWF and the translators survive extreme tropo events. Everything from Baldwin county or Fort Walton is vulnerable.
 
The new format of the WHTG translator in Hampton, Va is being described by another site as Hyperlocal AAA and news. Seems like a nice format. I wonder if 92Zew would try to flank themselves with a second flavor of AAA?
 
Another side announced WCLY 95.7 Raleigh, NC is programming a small translator with a hybrid format of " Roots, Americana, Country, Rock, Folk, Bluegrass, and R&B with support for local artists."

It's funny that ol' fmeng suggested Zew programming a yet unseen hybrid format on a translator just as translators in similar sized communities roll out the same...

It's so much easier for me imagine this type of format in downtown Pensacola, but if it covered the right part of Mobile or Fairhope... or both, maybe?
 
Groove1670 said:
92.5 is looping Freebird and Stairway to Heaven. They were feeding it will low bit audio, but has improved. The teaser almost points to "Shark" or some kind of sea creature branding.
Click to expand...

96.5 is simulcating the primary signal. Signal is very weak.
 
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