Re: Speaking of CP's and Cox
> > > In addtion to 107.3 having a CP .....I see 98 rock has
> one
> >
> > > as well.....probably tied together/related. 97.9 moving
> > > higher to allow placement of 107.3 antenna on that tower
> ?
> >
> >
> > Since 97.9 and 105.5's current specs state antennas
> located
> > at the exact same height, my guess would be that 107.3 is
> > either buying the current 97.9 antenna and or installing a
>
> > new one in that spot. 97.9 then moves up the tower 150
> feet
> > or so. Of course, don't forget poor 97.1 down at 732 feet
>
> > pumping a weak 11,500 watts. Interesting to see how 2
> > companies, with 2 direct competing stations, are or are
> not
> > forced to work together on tower space. As we've always
> > said, the guys at 97X have always been working at a
> > techincal disadvantage vs. 98Rock. How many years have we
>
> > been saying move em to 107.3, then 102.5, and now with
> both
> > of those stations looking to stick around... I guess now
> > they can hope for the 101.5 stick some day. Although the
> > ratings for the station have been good as of late (2004
> was
> > a terrible year for 98Rock), you know the guys at 97X must
>
> > get sick of answering listener's questions over the
> poorness
> > of their signal.
>
> One of the ideas with programming these large clusters
> nowadays is to put a format that appeals to a certain
> audience on your worst signal. For example, in a market in
> another state that I once worked, one company bought up 5
> FMs in the market. A successful country station was on
> their worst signal and oldies was on their best signal.
> They were getting major competition from a country owned by
> another company in a nearby market. The market was also
> hungry from an Urban station. So, they killed oldies format
> and moved their country from the worst signal to the best to
> go after the other country that was hurting them. Then,
> they launched urban on the worst signal (similar to the 97X
> signal) and it did well because the audience was willing to
> suffer the less signal to get their station. This may be
> one of the reasons Cox keeps "alternative" 97X on their
> worst signal.
> >
> > One other thing that I'm curious about... Does the 107.3
> > upgrade affect the fact that Cox has 6 FMs? Again, as
> we've
> > all discussed before, the power and signal contours of the
> 6
> > stations have to be set so they're not forced to sell one
> > off. I guess as long as 102.5 continues to broadcast from
>
> > Manatee, and 97.1 at such low power from Pasco they can
> get
> > away with it. I wonder if running the same programming on
>
> > both 97.1 and 102.5 would benefit both frequencies?
> >
I believe the 97.9 upgrade is to maintain their full class "C" status -- they need to be at 450 meters or higher -- I've seen some "C" stations downgraded to C0 status -- (with the flat terrain there really isn't that much of a coverage difference between a C0 and C). 97.9 cannot move their tower to Riverview, unless they wanted to downgrade from a class C -- As a full class "C" they would interfere with WRMF 97.9 in Palm Beach. Likewise, 97.1 cannot upgrade or move their tower either -- they are shortspaced with 96.9 in Fort Myers -- In fact 97.1 is running at 1/2 the ERP of a full class C-2 station at 732 feet in order to accomodate the short spacing.
That original tower site (in Holiday) was constructed in the 60's to permit WLCY-TV 10 (city of licence was Largo) to opererate and not interfere with WPLG - channel 10 in Miami. The original tower (believe it or not) was only 500 feet and folks in Tampa and St Petersburg needed separate antennas to pick up the signal. I beleive the current tower was built in the late 70's or early 80's.
Tom S
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Tom S</P>