It's been quite a while since I traveled to some parts of The Grand Canyon State.
During some of my travels, I set the radio to scan FM stations in the area. In
some cases I hadn't done something like this in 10, maybe 15 years. In rural
areas of Coconino County, Northern Apache and Navajo Counties, basically Northeast
Arizona, the FM dial generally received only a handful of usable stations. The big
exception is KGHR which provided a strong signal through most of the areas. Overall,
the difference over time has been generally slight. In the Eastern portions of AZ,
near Show Low, the dial is filled with a few more stations than in the past but again,
the differences are relatively small. In Southeast AZ, the smaller towns continue
to provide local radio but some of the Tucson stations that were unusable in the past,
now provide much greater coverage of the region. In fact, some of Tucson stations
made it almost all the way to Yuma, some 200 miles away! Along I-8, other than
a few new Tucson stations and eventually Yuma stations, the changes over the years
are minimal. Along I-10, the South Mtn coverage seems to remain about the same.
The stations now broadcasting from Towers Mtn, near Crown King had a clean signal
to nearly the state line. There are many, many more stations along the Colorado River.
Many of those stations broadcast from mountains near Oatman, AZ. Between the
stations on Tower Mtn and the new stations along the river, the changes are incredible.
Some of those same stations, broadcasting from along the Colorado River, could be
heard in Mohave County and Kingman, very well. It's quite the surprise that the
Western portion of the state and the region, would gain so many new and more powerful
FM stations when much of the remainder of Arizona has changed comparatively little over
the years.
During some of my travels, I set the radio to scan FM stations in the area. In
some cases I hadn't done something like this in 10, maybe 15 years. In rural
areas of Coconino County, Northern Apache and Navajo Counties, basically Northeast
Arizona, the FM dial generally received only a handful of usable stations. The big
exception is KGHR which provided a strong signal through most of the areas. Overall,
the difference over time has been generally slight. In the Eastern portions of AZ,
near Show Low, the dial is filled with a few more stations than in the past but again,
the differences are relatively small. In Southeast AZ, the smaller towns continue
to provide local radio but some of the Tucson stations that were unusable in the past,
now provide much greater coverage of the region. In fact, some of Tucson stations
made it almost all the way to Yuma, some 200 miles away! Along I-8, other than
a few new Tucson stations and eventually Yuma stations, the changes over the years
are minimal. Along I-10, the South Mtn coverage seems to remain about the same.
The stations now broadcasting from Towers Mtn, near Crown King had a clean signal
to nearly the state line. There are many, many more stations along the Colorado River.
Many of those stations broadcast from mountains near Oatman, AZ. Between the
stations on Tower Mtn and the new stations along the river, the changes are incredible.
Some of those same stations, broadcasting from along the Colorado River, could be
heard in Mohave County and Kingman, very well. It's quite the surprise that the
Western portion of the state and the region, would gain so many new and more powerful
FM stations when much of the remainder of Arizona has changed comparatively little over
the years.