WTIS AM-1110 St. Petersburg

Frank: A 10kw CCA? I'm sorry.

I live about 2 miles from where the tower was for WTIS. I don't know where they are broadcasting from now. AM not clear anymore and FM sometimes fades a little and then comes back. At least I can hear in stereo.

Driving around in downtown St. Petersburg, SE SP and almost to the Skyway yesterday, I also noticed that the AM quaility has gone down the drain, muddy sound and some static that seemed to be coming from the broadcast and not external sources such as power lines etc......then later on going to Tampa on I-275 noticed that even in Tampa between the West Shore area and downtown Tampa, poor reception as though they were on reduced power as well as the muddy sound, this was all between 1PM and 3:34PM yesterday.

On the 101.1 side of things, good clean sound and good stereo separation, but in place in St. Petersburg, I would hear an occasional clip of a Salsa format.....perhaps that’s the translator in Bradenton? It sounds as though it could be a translator for WYUU HD2 which has a Salsa format, but I was never able to get an I.D.

drt said:

Driving around in downtown St. Petersburg, SE SP and almost to the Skyway yesterday, I also noticed that the AM quaility has gone down the drain, muddy sound and some static that seemed to be coming from the broadcast and not external sources such as power lines etc......then later on going to Tampa on I-275 noticed that even in Tampa between the West Shore area and downtown Tampa, poor reception as though they were on reduced power as well as the muddy sound, this was all between 1PM and 3:34PM yesterday.

On the 101.1 side of things, good clean sound and good stereo separation, but in place in St. Petersburg, I would hear an occasional clip of a Salsa format.....perhaps that’s the translator in Bradenton? It sounds as though it could be a translator for WYUU HD2 which has a Salsa format, but I was never able to get an I.D.

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I have noticed the AM sound has degraded greatly after the translator went on the air. The Spanish music could be the LPFM in Bradenton.

I have never heard Salsa on WUDN-LP.
When they are not airing community service talk programming,
they play mostly softer music, often Spanish guitar.

Calling themselves "Timeless 101.1 FM and 1110 AM" Using the calls "WTIS" too and referring to both frequencies in various ways. It's pretty obvious they're running automated DJ software and simply shuffling a library of 70's and 80's easy listening favorites. Some of the songs with cold endings are fading as the next starts.... that's an indication the library and the tracks haven't been individually set to fire off the next song properly. I'm in NE St. Pete with an antenna pointed towards Tampa and I'm getting them pretty clear. Hopefully they'll tweak the audio some as it sounds pretty flat.

billalm said:

Hopefully they'll tweak the audio some as it sounds pretty flat.

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Do you mean a flat frequency response
or unprocessed with a wide, natural dynamic range?

ai4i said:

I have never heard Salsa on WUDN-LP.
When they are not airing community service talk programming,
they play mostly softer music, often Spanish guitar.

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I have never listened to WUDN-LP, nor do I travel much to St. Pete, so I figured since they are the only Spanish Station on the closest co-channel, that they were the ones splattering in.

I drove from SRQ to TPA yesterday and remembered to check 101.1 on my way back.
Nice audio!
The one promo that I caught mentioned only 1110 and that was at night.
The last hint of the station was obliterated by WUDN somewhere on the northern part of the Skyways Bridge.

I might be driving cars with better radios than I am used to,
stock 2010 & 2011 Towncars,
because I always find that WSMR and W280DW overlap listenably,
contrary to their posted coverage maps.
Perhaps if I had to listen to them in St Pete regularly, I would think differently.

Hello. Have tried for WTIS here in Altamonte and nothing. They used to come in during the day here on my CC EP. I no longer live in the area.

austingrace said:

Have tried for WTIS here in Altamonte and nothing.

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But WBT must be solid at night; they push about 150KW ERP your way!
I wonder whether you hear wWBF on 1130 from Bartow in the day?
I do in the SRQ airport, but I do NOT know which syndicated classic hits program they carry.
I think it is Weswood one, but I could not find any list of affiliates.
It is the same one that WAFC on 590 in Clewiston carries.

Something I have noticed. I can't hear WTIS at all here in Altamonte during the day. I don't know if the station move has something to do with it but a few years back,
1110 was a regular here in Altamonte. RE: WWBF, have not tried that one in quite some time. But thanks for reminding me. Last I remember, that station was a hard catch here in Altamonte. WBT is like a local here at night.

I've heard a lot of dead air on 1110 recently

rfrus said:

I've heard a lot of dead air on 1110 recently

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Dead air and much more softly processed audio than WTMP;
careful to maintain a topnotch translator, though!
I hear so many AM's pushing translators that I will never hear;
rarely do I ever hear translators without the AM's.

Although I like the 35-45 songs that both WTMP and WTIS; the novelty has worn off; I think at a bare minimum, they should at least shuffle the order of their songs and freshen up their playlists every several weeks.

It’s sad to hear a song and know what song will be next; at least they should have a shuffle option.

As far as translators go; WTIS’s in top notch in reception due to the full 250 watts and antenna height; WTMP on the other hand, with their reduced power and bigger null to the east has pretty well been nuetered and in most of St. Petersburg is not listenable; in fact in downtown SP and S.E. SP as well as the area near I-275 and 54th Ave N, WPCV was coming in loud and clear with only an occasional hint of WTPM’s translator underneath. (In the downtown area, once I got south of Sunken Gardens on 4th St N (about 17-18 Ave N and 4th St N) there was not even a hint of WTMP underneath!)

I agree with Ai4i that WTIS’s volume on FM is quite a bit lower than WTMP’s translators and other FM’s.

drt said:

I agree with Ai4i that WTIS’s volume on FM is quite a bit lower than WTMP’s translators and other FM’s.

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What I meant was that 1110 is much lower than 1150.
I have not compared the translators because 101.1 sounds great where I travel but 97.5 never does.
I go from SRQ to TPA airports and back every few days.

ai4i said:

But WBT must be solid at night; they push about 150KW ERP your way!
I wonder whether you hear wWBF on 1130 from Bartow in the day?
I do in the SRQ airport, but I do NOT know which syndicated classic hits program they carry.
I think it is Weswood one, but I could not find any list of affiliates.
It is the same one that WAFC on 590 in Clewiston carries.

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Try 50,000 watts for WBT 24/7, not 150,000.

My estimate was actually conservative because we have to consider both the phasing of the elements plus the extra three or four dB of gain over reference quarter wave radiators, maybe 300Kw ERP.
WBT uses approximately half of the Blau-Knox "Diamond" towers still in existence, not by size (they are short in comparison to the ones on lower frequencies) but by number,
The center one is original, but the other two were replaced after Hurricane Hugo a few years ago. Rebuilding those expensive towers took some real dedication.