Traveling in Z-hills yesterday I noticed that 96.7 was not bringing up the stereo light. May be intentionally transmitting in MONO trying to increase the reach? The station primarily runs Moldy Oldies with may be MONO anyway. Experience here says that MONO does not buy much except maybe to some car radios on the fringe. I find with the 60 dBuV contour listeners prefer stereo. Comments?
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WZPH-LP 96.7 in Z-hills in Mono?
- Thread starter wlsl
- Start date
Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Radio Shack seemed to be in it’s prime I bought my first stereo from Radio Shack (their own brand); bought a receiver and one of the many features was a “blend” for weak to medium FM signals, where the stereo was blended down somewhat to keep from hearing hiss on some of the weaker but listenable stations . This was 1980 and later than year I bought a really nice Marantz portable boom box from Radio Shack that had of course a cassette deck that took the various kinds of cassettes (metal, plain etc), but on that unit at least it was up to me (the listener) as to whether I wanted to listen to an FM station in stereo or mono.....that unit also had a switch for wide stereo (I believe it was called a matrix switch) that would improve the sound on some stations on the fm band and on the am band; some stations sounded a lot better with the matrix switch on. Now when in Hernando county; I travel down the road (SR50) to Cleremont to visit one of the last 7 or 8 Radio Shacks in Florida; not much selection but it’s mainly for the nostalgia that I visit; that RS is located on the north side of SR50 and Citrus Tower Drive behind some other buildings .
At any rate I did hear 96.7 in Dade City this past Saturday; I wish they would broadcast in stereo, some of those “moldy oldies were recorded in stereo; especially the Mammas and Papas 5th Dimension and some of the later Beatle songs and by 1970 or 1971 it seems most everything was in stereo or had a stereo version.
I had listened them in the past in stereo; I always enjoyed their jingles as much or more than their limited playlist and could never understand why they’re liscensed to Dade City and sometimes are barely listenable in downtown Dade City and points north. On that same note, now WXIO is broadcasting in mono today; they had been stereo, hope this is just temporary; drove by today and iron gates locked and still cannot visually locate an antenna. Here’s hoping that this is not a trend for LPFM stations, as you correctly point out, this really doesn’t increase their coverage area.....and again, I wish more car radios and home radios had switches for mono or stereo and let the listener decide when to listen in mono.
Agree about the MONO/STEREO control. Another anomaly is that the Zhills station identifies as Z-hills not Dade City. The "original" COL was Dade City as it was owned by a defunct church. I think the preacher there was caught with the choir leader. Nasty divorce. Film at 11. Only in East Pasco.
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The FCC data base still shows licensed to Dade City but according to the 60dbu contour on the FCC site; at the 60DBU level it barely covers western Z’hills (looks to be just east of downtown then westward about half way between US 301 and I-75; parts of Hillsborough County are in the 60DBU contour though!?! Is the FCC that strict, where they can’t change the COL? I know on commercial FM stations, seems the COL can be changed at will and often don’t make sense.
Also it looks as though WZPH is now owned by the Pasco County school system or is that just a misleading or wrong name of owner? (Pasco County Education Association- is listed on the FCC site; Radio locator shows - Hall Communications- as in WONN, etc Polk county).
I should have been more clear; by at will, I should have said what you said SomeRadioGuy; that it does have to be filed but there are usually approved; I remember it was much different when 910 in Plant City moved it’s towers and COL from Plant City to Dover; of course that included a tower move as well; at any rate as best I can recall the FCC wasn’t pleased.
Still curious as to who actually owns WZPH; for now I’m assuming the FCC data base is more up to date that radio.locator.com.
Still curious as to who actually owns WZPH; for now I’m assuming the FCC data base is more up to date that radio.locator.com.
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