WXPK/ The Peak 107.1 Currently Off Air; Website Down

The Peak has been off the air this morning. That's not so unusual for them, as they have had outages in the past. Apparently the rock station does not have a backup for when their link between the studio and transmitter has problems.
But what seems strange is that when I checked their website today, in its place is a page from GoDaddy.com. It has this message: "Notice:This domain name expired on 01/15/2011 and is pending renewal or deletion."
The Peak has continued to stream online though, accessible through the site, radiotime.com.
A faint signal from The Breeze in NJ can now be heard on 107.1 in Westchester County.

WXPK 107.1 The Peak's over-the-air signal has returned.

A few weeks ago WXPK was down for about 1 hour around 5pm and I was able to listen to WWZY Long Branch clearly (with RDS) all over Southern Rockland and NE Bergen.......I am pretty shocked how well WWZY makes it up this way whenever WXPK goes down.......I also remember WXPK making it pretty far south when WWZY was down for a short period when they were moving their transmitter from Atlantic Highlands back to Long Branch

I can pick up The Breeze very well in Essex County. If I move my antenna around I can pick up The Peak equally as well.

What market does this station get ratings in??

There used to be a Westchester book but it was discontinued sometime around 2005.....They show up in the NYC & Stamford/Norwalk books but since they cover neither market fully, they only score around a 0.5 in each book.....Overall I think they do pretty well in Westchester/Rockland & Northern Bergen considering they have a very poor signal......It would have been great if Pamal got the 96.7 signal instead of EMF.

I can't understand WHY any commercial station wouldn't have some form of backup to the TX?! Or non-comm for that matter. If the T1 goes down, why isn't there an internet link? A Comrex Blue Box on a POTS line? A pots line? Something? I don't get how this station goes off the air so much.

WNTIRadio said:

I can't understand WHY any commercial station wouldn't have some form of backup to the TX?! Or non-comm for that matter. If the T1 goes down, why isn't there an internet link? A Comrex Blue Box on a POTS line? A pots line? Something? I don't get how this station goes off the air so much.

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The economics of smaller market radio (and the Hamptons market is very small... when it had its own book, it was about 100,000 persons 12+. The top billing station bills under $1 million.

A cheapo 5 kw FM transmitter would be about $15 k to 18 k, and that is not for a Nautel. When you start adding transmitters, redundant STLs, etc., it becomes very expensive. Stations will add redundancy to the extent that it makes economic sense. For example, a station may have a microwave and a T1 for the STL, and phone lines for readings backed up by an SCA return on the transmitter. Adding a commercial DSL might cost $600 or more a year; that seems small but added to a lot of other things it just might not be worth it.

There are also some things that are so expensive that even huge market stations often forgo them... like an auxiliary site (rent, permits, taxes, maintenance). Few stations have auxiliary towers or even antennas and feed lines. The chances of losing some of those things are minimal.

And then you get things like emergency tower repair... safety and OSHA may require powering down for a time during such things. There just is not enough money to cover every single thing, and the smaller the market, the more selective a station has to be to pick the things that truly make a difference.

Look, I worked at a small budget public station for years (as well as other small budget stations) and they all "got it" that down time was losing money and losing audience. A POTS line for $14.99 a month with a one time investment in a used Blue Box and you have your backup STL. Most of the Peak's problems seem to be the T1 line, not the TX. So knowing this, why would you roll the dice when your ratings and revenue are at stake?

DavidEduardo said:

The economics of smaller market radio (and the Hamptons market is very small... when it had its own book, it was about 100,000 persons 12+. The top billing station bills under $1 million.

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The station referenced in this thread is WXPK-FM 107.1 The Peak, Briarcliff Manor/White Plains, NY, which as mentioned shows in the NYC, Nassau-Suffolk, Danbury, CT & Stamford/Norwalk, CT ratings reports (http://www.radio-info.com/stations/wxpk-fm).

But...coincidentally this past weekend, WLIR-FM-107.1 Hampton Bays, NY (which is a simulcast of WEPN-AM-1050 ESPN Radio New York) has also gone off the air, thus the understandable reference to the Hamptons market in David's post. Of course, the same limitations apply to the smaller stations in all of these markets. As of Mon. afternoon 1/17/11, they're still silent. I'm guessing that N.Y. Jets fans who couldn't be near a TV on Sunday afternoon/evening weren't happy about missing the broadcast of the game, although the broadcast was available online via www.1050espnradio.com's audio player and via other affiliates on the Jets Radio Network which (according to the www.NYJets.com website) includes the following stations: WEPN, WMTR, WNJE, WOBM, WADB, WXHC, WPIE, WPDH, WTMM, WTLA, WSGO, WRCN, WLIR. WRCN Riverhead, NY would have been the nearest "replacement" on Long Island's east end/Suffolk County.

PS The website for WXPK www.1071thepeak.com has also been "restored".

WLIR-FM-107.1 Hampton Bays, NY is back on the air.