Questions about 100.1 The Pike in Worcester market

[KML0224]

While heading to and from Boston on Tuesday, I checked out 100.1 The Pike from the Worcester radio market (WWFX-FM Southbridge/Worcester). I have a couple of question about their coverage:

1- Why are they licensed to Southbridge, MA?
2- Do they have a directional pattern?
3- Who owns the station? (The programming I heard sounded automated.)

As for the reception, I lost their signal for good this evening around Ashford or Willington, CT on I-84. On the way into Boston in the morning, I got them somewhat until the Natick/Wayland flip-flop near the eastbound rest stop on I-90. A couple of minutes before I reached the first toll booth in Weston, another station took over on this frequency, possibly a college station.

While we're on the Worcester market, how is the signal for WORC-FM 98.9 Webster, MA?

 

[ssetta]

1. They're licensed to Southbridge because that's where their transmitter is located. And I think that's where the studio located back in the days of country WQVR (Q100).
2. I think they mainly cover most of the Worcester area.
3. The station is owned by Citadel.

I live in Natick, and I can't get WORC-FM too well. Mainly because it's so close to the boom signal of WBMX 98.5, and there's also WPLM 99.1 right next to it.

 

[mgpt6]

The signal at 100.1 FM near Boston is WBRS-FM Waltham. It is a non-commerical station owned by Brandeis Univ. It is 25 watt Class -D stereo. It is one of the grandfathered Class D FMs that had to go into the commercal band because there was no room for it to go to 100watts in the 1980s between 88-92FM.

 

[theAguy]

They were the FM sister of WESO before Citadel bought them and started marketing them as a Worcester station. From what my friend who sells WAAF and WEVI says they do pretty well in the market billing wise.

Is the grandfather provision you mentioned the reason why Northeastern's station has the dial position it has.

I could never figure out why the WRBB doesn't have a higher profile than it does.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

1. They're licensed to Southbridge because that's where their transmitter is located.

Nope. Their transmitter is in Leicester, atop Dead Horse Hill overlooking the Webster Square area of Worcester.

They are directional, with a null toward approximately 305 degrees true.

 

[JustinT]

On the way into Boston in the morning, I got them somewhat until the Natick/Wayland flip-flop near the eastbound rest stop on I-90.

Was this a car radio? I live extremely close to the rest stop in question and have no trouble pulling in the WWFX signal... I believe they were running ads for a Framingham auto body shop for a short period of time too. But yes, when my travels take me into Weston, I lose the station pretty quickly for WBRS.

While we're on the Worcester market, how is the signal for WORC-FM 98.9 Webster, MA?

Terrible. Like ssetta said, WORC-FM has virtually no signal in MetroWest; heck, the station doesn't even have great coverage in Worcester! They did have a construction permit several years ago to change their COL to Spencer and move the transmitter site closer to Worcester, but word is that they could not find land to build the site so the CP expired.

It doesn't seem like Citadel puts any effort into the station anyway; back when 830 WCRN was doing satellite oldies, they creamed WORC-FM in one of the Worcester books. Judging by the numbers that WJMN and WKLB pull in Worcester with no local competition, it would seem like the station would be better off with one of those formats... yes, WQVR failed but that was a while back.

 

[BRNout]

I've picked up 100.1 The Pike up in Chelmsford and it's reasonably listenable along 495 to at least that point. Once you get a bit northeast of there, the signal gets pummelled by WHEB. It's pretty much gone by the time you get to Nashua too.

It's transmitter site is located in Leicester in part BECAUSE it's licensed to Southbridge, not the other way around. They have to put a city grade signal over the COL and it's better to have the tx located in a place where that good signal happens to also include the much larger audience of Worcester. Where I have also heard that it does well. Of course, 100.1 is a frequency that's pretty hemmed in - hence the highly directional signal.

As for WORC-FM, this station has a transmitter location and directional signal that favor the hills of central MA and northeastern CT over any coverage of metro West. It's not even strong in Worcester, yet its one of the last Worcester area signals that you lose on the way to Hartford. Best coverage is in places like Sturbridge and Union. Where few people live, unfortunately.

Tough for them to improve on what they have because of shared and adjacent freq. signals in the region. Another station that's 'hemmed in' by all of those adjacent and nearby market signals.

 

[webcastboy]

I've picked up 100.1 The Pike up in Chelmsford and it's reasonably listenable along 495 to at least that point. Once you get a bit northeast of there, the signal gets pummelled by WHEB. It's pretty much gone by the time you get to Nashua too.

When WBRS is off the air...a relatively infrequent occurrence since they put some basic automation in place a few years ago...you can get WWFX over most of Boston with a car radio. I've listened to them as far away as Melrose and Saugus. It'd be a decent rimshot signal into the city if it weren't for WBRS.

OTOH, WBRS had a pretty decent signal until the late 1990's when WWFX moved several miles to the east and put a lot more signal over Worcester and Boston. As a grandfathered Class D, WBRS had to bend over and say "Thank you mistress may I have another" but at least they still reach Waltham pretty well. These days the line between WWFX and WBRS is usually that hill the MassPike goes over just west of the Weston Tolls.

Speaking of which, I noticed recently that WBRS has been running RBDS. I know WWFX does as well, so you should be able to tell them apart quite easily with the right radio.

 

[KML0224]

The hill to the west of the I-95/MA 128 exits in Weston rings very true. The two signals mixed in along I-90 between Weston and the Natick/Walyland town line flip-flop (basically the area between Exit 13 and 14 on I-90).

To answer the other poster's question, I was using a Panasonic AM/FM/CD personal stereo ("Walkman" is a Sony trademark afterall!), model #SL-CT579V. The next time I'm through this stretch, I want to see just how bad WORC-FM 98.9 is for me. I've checked it heading back into Connecticut on I-84 before, but never between Auburn (Exit 10) and Weston (Exits 14 EB/15 WB).

Next up on the Worcester fringe signal list? WXLO-FM 104.5 of Fitchburg! (LOL)

 

[BRNout]

Next up on the Worcester fringe signal list? WXLO-FM 104.5 of Fitchburg! (LOL)

WXLO is a different deal. Comes in quite well over pretty much all of metro West and well up into southern and central NH. Literally the strongest signal in places such as Littleton, Acton and Westford - and one of the strongest FM signals in Nashua too.

I think in CT, you lose it just past the CT195 (UConn) exit in Tolland. On the downhill side as you roll into Vernon. But, that hill is tough on all signals from the east.

Used to get WXLO pretty dependably around Burlington and Canton - so it gets out there.

 

[rapking]

The hill to the west of the I-95/MA 128 exits in Weston rings very true. The two signals mixed in along I-90 between Weston and the Natick/Walyland town line flip-flop (basically the area between Exit 13 and 14 on I-90).

To answer the other poster's question, I was using a Panasonic AM/FM/CD personal stereo ("Walkman" is a Sony trademark afterall!), model #SL-CT579V. The next time I'm through this stretch, I want to see just how bad WORC-FM 98.9 is for me. I've checked it heading back into Connecticut on I-84 before, but never between Auburn (Exit 10) and Weston (Exits 14 EB/15 WB).

Next up on the Worcester fringe signal list? WXLO-FM 104.5 of Fitchburg! (LOL)

104.5 near Fenway , very awful ,but its ok in Brookline and Rt 24 south of Boston .

 

[KML0224]

Even JAM'N 94.5 is awful by Fenway! At least it has been on any radio I've ever used. Damn Prudential Center! (LOL)

 

[JustinT]

Even JAM'N 94.5 is awful by Fenway! At least it has been on any radio I've ever used. Damn Prudential Center! (LOL)

Another unsolved Massachusetts CP mystery: 94.5 WJMN did have a construction permit during the mid-1990s, IIRC, to move transmissions from Newton/Needham to the Pru. Never happened.

104.5 WXLO has an excellent signal, very similar if not slightly better than WAAF's 107.3 signal. They could easily become a Boston rimshot (probably would need a more lucrative format to make a rimshot a real player though), and Montachusett Broadcasting ownership frequently promoted their MetroWest coverage with area remotes and temperature checks. Citadel has slowly pushed the station back into Worcester County, and seems happy with what they're doing, but if the station were ever sold it wouldn't be a surprise to see it do something different just because of the killer signal.

 

[KML0224]

These days in New Britain, CT, I no longer get a trace of either WAAF (ever since the transmitter move) or WSRS-FM 96.1. Getting back to 100.1 FM, I remember them as a country station back in 1989 and listening to them on whatever personal stereo ("Walkman") I was using at the time. I've only picked them up here once since. It's tough since I get interference from WEZN-FM 99.9 of Bridgeport and WRCH-FM 100.5 of New Britain/Hartford (transmitter at Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington).

 

[webcastboy]

Another unsolved Massachusetts CP mystery: 94.5 WJMN did have a construction permit during the mid-1990s, IIRC, to move transmissions from Newton/Needham to the Pru. Never happened.

Well, this is a wild-ass guess, but I'd say maybe tower rent? IIRC, the Pru is about $20k - $30k more per year. That adds up. And didn't WJMN have some deal where they have a main permit at Needham but an aux permit at the Pru? Or am I thinking of Kiss108 and vice versa on the locations?

I hear WXLO on at several businesses scattered around Allston, Cambridge and Brookline. Despite WBCN being only two spots away on the dial, they've got a remarkably good Boston-area signal.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

And didn't WJMN have some deal where they have a main permit at Needham but an aux permit at the Pru? Or am I thinking of Kiss108 and vice versa on the locations?

I recall WJMN broadcasting from a low-power backup on the Pru one night some years ago when FM-128 was down for maintenance or repair. I don't know whether they have a full-power transmitter up there, but I'd guess not.

FM-128 is actually in Newton, just barely. The city line is the Charles River, and FM-128 is on the Newton side. The tower access driveway is off of Chestnut St. in Newton Upper Falls.

 

[KML0224]

Getting back to 100.1 FM now...how much of the Worcester radio market does their signal cover? Also, how much of Massachusetts IS that market? Am I safe to assume it's all or most of Worcester County?

 

[JustinT]

Getting back to 100.1 FM now...how much of the Worcester radio market does their signal cover? Also, how much of Massachusetts IS that market? Am I safe to assume it's all or most of Worcester County?

100.1 provides a decent signal over the southern and eastern parts of the market as well as the city of Worcester itself. Those areas could probably be considered as the most densely populated areas of the market. The only area that matters that the signal could really be better in is Fitchburg, but it's unlikely that 100.1 could upgrade to the north as a direct result of former sister station WNYN 99.9 in Athol.

I personally don't know what areas qualify as the Worcester market, but logically it would seem to be all of Worcester County; however, towns that are at the far eastern edge of the county (e.g. Southboro) developed as bedroom communities to Boston, and despite the development of the many office parks along I-495, they maintain far more of a bond with Boston than Worcester... though you won't be hard pressed to find listeners of 96.1 WSRS or 104.5 WXLO in these areas.

 

[KML0224]

Good point! In my case, our radio market is listed as Hartford/New Britain/Middletown. Meriden is the interesting city in this case. It's the northern fringe of New Haven County. I'm not sure if they're also a part of our market. I'm guessing that they are because they're home to West Peak, which houses 6 of the 9 commercial FM transmitters in our market (WWYZ, WZMX, WKSS, WDRC-FM, WPHH and WHCN). They could just as easily identify with New Haven since WYBC-FM, WPLR and WKCI come in just as well as these stations do. Like Massachusetts, most associate with the capital here (Hartford), while some stick with the other prominent city 40-some miles down the road. Does this make any sense?

In terms of coverage, maybe WYBC-FM 94.3 could be the one with the signal questions heading north. I get them somewhat here in New Britain (southern Hartford County). This adult urban station doesn't have much listenership north of here. I get Clear Channel's WKCI-FM 101.3 ("KC-101") just as well as their sister station WKSS-FM 95.7 ("Kiss 95.7"). I don't believe WPLR-FM 99.1 of New Haven (Rock) is a big a deal once you're closer to Hartford.

 

[Tomgsinger]

About KC101, they even use(d?) Hartford in their legal ID, I heard it last April, and do live broadcasts and appearances in tandem with their sister stations in Hartford and Waterbury. And WXLO has been "upping their game" when it comes to serving the Boston market. I've heard advertisers from Wakefield, Norwood, and other communities in the Boston area. Additionally, I heard an ID that was like "Leominster to Lowell, Holden to Haverhill, we're New England's number one for variety". Their media kit (which recently got removed from the public database) says WXLO is a "Worcester/Boston station", and they definitely seem to REALLY serve the northern and western suburbs (Merrimack Valley and MetroWest, along with the areas near the 128/93 interchange)