The story of a translator making baby steps from south Jersey to New York City

[nd2023]

I’ve been listening to WOLD 107.9 since the day it first launched about 6 years ago. I’ve also been following the translator W300CZ ever since it signed on in 2016 initially on 107.7 translating WPST. I remember driving down route 539 to the Jersey shore listening to the 107.7 translator go pretty far, and wondering why WPST would even need a translator in that area.

The translator moved to 107.9 and up to East Windsor, still translating WPST. It wreaked havoc on WOLD’s signal, to the point where WOLD solicited listener complaints to get the translator shut down.

Then I noticed that WOLD started simulcasting on 95.1 W236CT, which is on the same tower as WOLD. I thought that was pretty redundant to have the same programming on two frequencies from the same tower. It was fed by WPRB-HD3.

Soon after that, W300CZ switched to translating WOLD via WPRB-HD3, essentially operating as a booster for WOLD. I figured that was in response to the interference complaints, and the translator would be shut down if it aired any other programming.

Then I saw the translator move a bit more northeast to Sayreville, still translating WOLD via WPRB-HD3. I figured that W300CZ was trying to move to New York City as 107.9 is relatively clear, only occupied by WEBE 108 55 miles away.

WOLD was a thorn in the side of the translator’s march to the Big Apple, as it had the power to get the translator shut down entirely due to interference. It would not let the translator move to NYC and shoot most of its power to the southwest, away from Connecticut, and wipe out the LPFM’s coverage area.

Then I saw this on Radioinsight and realized that everything I had observed makes sense. WOLD will surrender its license and claim to the 107.9 frequency in exchange for the 95.1 translator and $50000.

Then W300CZ can get the green light to move to the World Trade Center and have a big signal similar to the 104.7 translator on the World Trade Center that moved from New Brunswick. WEBE 108 won’t complain about W300CZ if the translator keeps its signal out of Connecticut, relatively easy as the Connecticut border is 25 miles from the World Trade Center. Then W300CZ can be sold for a million dollars.

Hopefully by that time I’ll have a million bucks to spare 😂

———————————

Best Media will transfer 95.1 W236CT Edison NJ to SRN Communications as part of a deal that will see SRN surrender the license for Oldies 107.9 WOLD-LP Woodbridge.

In exchange for the license surrender, SRN will receive W236CT and $50,000. W236CT currently simulcasts WOLD-LP’s programming via the commercial 103.3 WPRB-HD3 Princeton. The surrender of WOLD-LP will enable Best Media to continue to hop what is now 107.9 W300CZ Ewansville NJ into New York City with a potential destination of One World Trade Center. WOLD-LP and the unbuilt translator CP on 107.9 for the now-deleted 1530 WJDM Elizabeth NJ were preventing the translator to make its final hops into New York.

 

[luperm]

The direction pattern of 107.9 will likely be similar to 104.7 where substantially all of the signal goes everywhere but north. You can be in midtown with line of sight to WTC and hear WSPK. I believe that in addition to being directional, the 104.7 translator is just below the roofline on the south side of the WTC so as to further obstruct its signal to the north.

 

[TheBigA]

If you do some research on this company Best Media, that's kind of what the do. They buy translators in one place, and make deals to move them some place else, in order to increase value.

 

[djl]

The direction pattern of 107.9 will likely be similar to 104.7 where substantially all of the signal goes everywhere but north. You can be in midtown with line of sight to WTC and hear WSPK. I believe that in addition to being directional, the 104.7 translator is just below the roofline on the south side of the WTC so as to further obstruct its signal to the north.

It looks like 1WTC’s FM Antenna is becoming a master translator. Is there a possibility any full power stations will eventually move from ESB because of new tall buildings in Midtown that can cause the signal to be blocked?

 

[TheBigA]

Is there a possibility any full power stations will eventually move from ESB because of new tall buildings in Midtown that can cause the signal to be blocked?

This gets asked a lot and the answer seems to be no. I also hear the rent on WTC is super expensive compared to ESB.

 

[davideduardo]

This gets asked a lot and the answer seems to be no. I also hear the rent on WTC is super expensive compared to ESB.

And the ESB is, in fact, in a much better location to cover the MSA than WTC. When I was managing the purchase of a NYC FM from Friendly Frost in the late 70's, we looked at how we could manage to get off of the old World Trade Towers as we thought that the location was not suitable for out intended Spanish language format... too much Jersey south of the survey area, and not as good in the pockets outside of the City and the Boroughs.

 

[davideduardo]

It looks like 1WTC’s FM Antenna is becoming a master translator. Is there a possibility any full power stations will eventually move from ESB because of new tall buildings in Midtown that can cause the signal to be blocked?

The problem is that the 1WTC site is farther south, and much of the market is in the counties of NE NJ, SE CT and New York state just above the City and the Boroughs.

Moving south will further impede the coverage to the huge populations to the north of Manhattan.

Look how WPAT-FM wants to stay on the ESB, even with slightly reduced power... because they get better coverage of the HDHAs in the market.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I figured that W300CZ was trying to move to New York City as 107.9 is relatively clear, only occupied by WEBE 108 55 miles away.

55 miles isn't that far and WEBE puts a pretty good signal into parts of the NYC MSA. Even if this translator ends up on WTC it's going to have to point its signal southeast and will not actually cover much of the NYC metro.

 

[nd2023]

Yes of course it would have to be directional. It’ll suffer lots of interference from WEBE 108, and tropo will bring it in strong in the northern half of NJ. Oftentimes WEBE 108 will be in solid HD during tropo in north Jersey, almost like it’s a local.
Cumulus owns WEBE 108 and also owns Urban AC Radio 103.9 in NYC. They could technically get the translator shut down as WEBE has a 45 dBu signal over all boroughs except Staten Island. They could find or invent enough listeners to complain about interference and get the translator shut down, which they could do if the translator’s format competes with 103.9.

However, WEBE doesn’t really care about NY as their ads are mostly for Connecticut. It’ll be pretty tough for a translator signal to cause noticeable interference in Connecticut as WEBE 108 is 60 dBu at the state line.
The translator won’t have to be as directional as 104.7, which has to keep its signal completely out of Westchester county because K104 does consider all of Westchester county within its primary market. 107.9 could reach Westchester county and WEBE won’t care much.

 

[MarcB]

Cumulus owns WEBE 108 and also owns Urban AC Radio 103.9 in NYC

Cumulus sold WEBE 108 (and WICC 600) to Connoisseur a while back.