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What can you folks tell me about radio in Burlington and Plattsburg?

F

fordranger797

Star Participant
Hey guys! I am from Seattle, Washington, and I have been interested about the radio market out there in Burlington and Plattsburg, New York. So my questions go as follows:

1. What is the radio market like? Are all of the stations based on one side of Champlain or the other? What is the dominate city radio (and television) stations try to cater to?

2. What locations house radio towers? [I remember hearing about television stations broadcasting from a mountain in Vermont, is this true for FM radio too?]

3. What is the coverage for these stations like in Burlington and Plattsburg? Can the signals from FM stations cover Vermont?

Thanks! I would love to hear all about media out there!
 
fordranger797 said:
Hey guys! I am from Seattle, Washington, and I have been interested about the radio market out there in Burlington and Plattsburg, New York. So my questions go as follows:

1. What is the radio market like? Are all of the stations based on one side of Champlain or the other? What is the dominate city radio (and television) stations try to cater to?
Click to expand...

Burlington is the dominant city - but it's a very small city by Seattle standards. It's where the money in the market is (it's home to the University of Vermont and is the business center for the state), and the radio stations that can serve Burlington try to do so. Plattsburgh is smaller and much more blue-collar. Only a handful of stations focus on Plattsburgh, mostly because they can't reach Burlington. WIRY 1340 is the most Plattsburgh of the Plattsburgh stations, and is a great local operation.

Lake Champlain is kind of like Puget Sound in size, but without as many ferries. The straight-line distance from Plattsburgh to Burlington is under 30 miles, but it's close to a two-hour drive. Radio signals get across the water a lot more easily than people do.

2. What locations house radio towers? [I remember hearing about television stations broadcasting from a mountain in Vermont, is this true for FM radio too?]
Click to expand...

Mount Mansfield, southeast of Burlington, is the tallest peak in the state and is home to nearly all the TV in the market and several big FMs. Other FMs are scattered around the region at a variety of sites, including one on the New York side that was the home of WPTZ-5 in analog (WPTZ's digital is on Mansfield now.)

Here's Mansfield in 2009: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2009/site-090911.html

3. What is the coverage for these stations like in Burlington and Plattsburg? Can the signals from FM stations cover Vermont?
Click to expand...

Vermont is bigger than it looks from a distance...close to 200 miles from north to south, and the whole state is mountainous. Nothing covers the whole state. The good FM signals in Burlington/Plattsburgh cover most of the core of the Champlain Valley on both sides of the lake. That includes 92.9 and 107.9 from Mansfield, 99.9 from Plattsburgh, 106.7 Vergennes (from a site in Charlotte, south of Burlington on the VT side), and even some of the lesser-class FMs like 95.3 (on the north side of Burlington) and 101.3 (on the NY side).

The TV market for "Burlington-Plattsburgh" includes all of the state of Vermont except for the southeasternmost corner, as well as the northeastern corner of New York state. Not all of that area gets the Burlington signals over the air. There used to be a bunch of translators, but they're mostly gone, leaving cable and satellite to carry the load. The Burlington TV stations are also the US network affiliates for Montreal and the rest of Quebec. There are a lot of Montreal ads that run on Burlington TV.

The FM dial in Montreal has become crowded enough that you can't really easily hear Burlington radio up there. Think Vancouver and Seattle - the distances and signals are similar.
 
The Burlington-Plattsburgh market is also interesting in that it falls in the Class C Zone for FM stations. Nearly all the Northeast, down to Norfolk and out west to Milwaukee, plus Southern California, is in the Class B Zone, meaning FM stations are limited to apx. 50,000 watts at 500 feet, or on a tall antenna, about 10,000 watts on a 1000 foot tower. But the zone stops short of the U.S.-Canada border, so a few stations in Watertown NY, Burlington-Plattsburgh, Portland and Bangor ME, get to run the higher power.

These stations have higher power than would be permitted elsewhere in the Northeast...

92.9 WEZF Adult Contemporary
98.9 WOKO Country (They run 100,000 watts but the signal isn't as strong as the others, because their tower is only 308 feet high.)
99.9 WBTZ Alternative Rock
107.9 WVPS NPR/News/Talk

Meanwhile Rock station 106.7 WIZN runs 50,000 watts on a 375 foot tower. Their tower is closer to their city of license, Vergennes VT, which is south of Burlington and in the Class B zone.
 
fybush said:
Burlington is the dominant city - but it's a very small city by Seattle standards. It's where the money in the market is (it's home to the University of Vermont and is the business center for the state), and the radio stations that can serve Burlington try to do so. Plattsburgh is smaller and much more blue-collar. Only a handful of stations focus on Plattsburgh, mostly because they can't reach Burlington. WIRY 1340 is the most Plattsburgh of the Plattsburgh stations, and is a great local operation.

Lake Champlain is kind of like Puget Sound in size, but without as many ferries. The straight-line distance from Plattsburgh to Burlington is under 30 miles, but it's close to a two-hour drive. Radio signals get across the water a lot more easily than people do.



Mount Mansfield, southeast of Burlington, is the tallest peak in the state and is home to nearly all the TV in the market and several big FMs. Other FMs are scattered around the region at a variety of sites, including one on the New York side that was the home of WPTZ-5 in analog (WPTZ's digital is on Mansfield now.)

Here's Mansfield in 2009: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2009/site-090911.html



Vermont is bigger than it looks from a distance...close to 200 miles from north to south, and the whole state is mountainous. Nothing covers the whole state. The good FM signals in Burlington/Plattsburgh cover most of the core of the Champlain Valley on both sides of the lake. That includes 92.9 and 107.9 from Mansfield, 99.9 from Plattsburgh, 106.7 Vergennes (from a site in Charlotte, south of Burlington on the VT side), and even some of the lesser-class FMs like 95.3 (on the north side of Burlington) and 101.3 (on the NY side).

The TV market for "Burlington-Plattsburgh" includes all of the state of Vermont except for the southeasternmost corner, as well as the northeastern corner of New York state. Not all of that area gets the Burlington signals over the air. There used to be a bunch of translators, but they're mostly gone, leaving cable and satellite to carry the load. The Burlington TV stations are also the US network affiliates for Montreal and the rest of Quebec. There are a lot of Montreal ads that run on Burlington TV.

The FM dial in Montreal has become crowded enough that you can't really easily hear Burlington radio up there. Think Vancouver and Seattle - the distances and signals are similar.
Click to expand...

Hey! Thanks a lot for the information. I know you have responded to some of my posts in the past, and I never connected your screen name to your website. Just a "FYI", your website really got me interested in broadcast engineering. I saw the page you did on Tiger Mountain, Washington when I was about thirteen years old, and thought it was the coolest thing. Just thought you'd like to know ;)
 
Gregg. said:
The Burlington-Plattsburgh market is also interesting in that it falls in the Class C Zone for FM stations. Nearly all the Northeast, down to Norfolk and out west to Milwaukee, plus Southern California, is in the Class B Zone, meaning FM stations are limited to apx. 50,000 watts at 500 feet, or on a tall antenna, about 10,000 watts on a 1000 foot tower. But the zone stops short of the U.S.-Canada border, so a few stations in Watertown NY, Burlington-Plattsburgh, Portland and Bangor ME, get to run the higher power.

These stations have higher power than would be permitted elsewhere in the Northeast...

92.9 WEZF Adult Contemporary
98.9 WOKO Country (They run 100,000 watts but the signal isn't as strong as the others, because their tower is only 308 feet high.)
99.9 WBTZ Alternative Rock
107.9 WVPS NPR/News/Talk

Meanwhile Rock station 106.7 WIZN runs 50,000 watts on a 375 foot tower. Their tower is closer to their city of license, Vergennes VT, which is south of Burlington and in the Class B zone.
Click to expand...

Interesting! That must be why the New York City stations are all under 10,000 watts from the Empire.
 
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