agentUrge said:
Is it more cost effective to use a translator and simulcast rather than going with more power? I've seen a few stations do that up in the NE...or can they even use the same call letters on different frequencies?
"More power" is easier said than done. Assuming this translator starts simuling 680 The Fan...
Here is what WCNN's coverage area looks like in the daytime:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Not bad--and an FCC-max 50kW. A slight null to the NE protects another station on 680 in NC (Hi Art!)
But, at night:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
Yuck! Down to 10kW of power and a hard null to the NE to protect that NC station. In the process, Gwinnett, Forsyth, and even parts of Cobb get terrible coverage.
Now, let's look at that translator:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=W229AG&service=FX&status=L&hours=U
Now you've picked back up all of Cobb, most of Gwinnett except Chateau Elan, and most of Forsyth, since FM stations run the same power 24 hours a day. Plus, on FM, you get no interference from out of town stations at night, plus the other benefits of FM (like higher fidelity and reduced RFI).
Now, about the call letters. You can't use the same calls on different frequencies. Hence, FM stations are suffixed with "-FM" as part of their official calls when they share calls with an AM station. Obviously, this prevents two FM stations from using the same calls, period. Some FM simul pairs use similar pairs of calls--two that come to mind are the old Y106-Y104 pair (WYAY and WYAI), and the Viva 105.7/105.1 pair (WWVA and WVWA).
Furthermore, translators have to use special calls-W(or K)xxxAA, where xxx is the "channel number" of the FM frequency (88.1=201, 88.3=202, etc.), and AA is a sequential alpha code starting AA, AB, AC...AZ, BA, BB, and so on to ZZ.