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WMEX applies for 101.1 FM in Weymouth and other translator news

MarcB

MarcB

The other board lists all the applicants for new translators.

WMEX 1510 has applied for 101.1 FM in Weymouth.

WJDA 1300 in Quincy has applied for 100.1 FM in Quincy.

WBIX 1260 wants 97.3 FM in Medford.

Over in New Bedford/Fall River.

WBSM 1420 wants 99.5 FM in New Bedford.

WNBH 1340 wants 101.3 FM in New Bedford.

WSAR 1480 Fall River wants 95.9 FM in Fall River.
 
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I'd mentioned on Mon that WMEX applied for an FM translator in a South Shore community; Fybush's NorthEast Radio Watch had all that info but it was behind a paywall so I figured I'd at least hint at it (didn't say freq and COL etc). The notice about the sale of WMEX (pending FCC approval) mentioned that the parties understood Perry was applying for an FM translator.

Some stations with FM translators accent that--Valley 98.9 Salem NH (// WMVX 1110), The Beat 105.7 Barre VT (//WSNO 1450). WROL's site prominently mentions their new 100.3 translator (it doesn't quite reach up to 128 in Lynnfield and it's been said WHEB in Portsmouth is really overpowering them. In Beverly I can not only get WHEB on my HD portable but also their HD2.Radio-locator says WHEB's antenna is 34 mi from me)
 
"You're listening to 24/7 Cardio Mix, powered by 24/7 Fitness".It's some kind of 80s-90s dance pop. When I just tried it the display read "Young Dumb and Broke/Thunder"(a medley) by Imagine Dragons.
 
I made this observation/comment on another thread in this board, and it needs to be made here, I think, even more so.

With all due respect to Scott Fybush and his FM translator consulting operation, I think this whole business of the way translator frequencies are haphazardly assigned is going to ruin the already vast wasteland known as the FM broadcast band. Be real: there just aren’t enough vacant channels here in the Northeast, so stop already with the “unrestrained exuberance” every time one of these annoying signals appears!

An additional flea-power FM channel is not going to save an ailing AM. Some AMs are better off just going silent. Most just need some creative ideas about how to reach an underserved audience.

I mean, how many times within I-495 can 100.3 or 101.3 or 106.1 be re-used? And for what purpose? These signals don't actually extend the reach of the AM they purport to "translate" to the allegedly superior FM band. I recall all the huffing/puffing when "the second adjacent channel to WXXX-FM is being affected by the HD splatter from WYYY-FM." And now look at what we've got.

Granted, this is happening in other parts of the nation, too, as one see from reading talkers.com, where translator after translator is mentioned, often before the parent AM.

If people don't care about radio, then why go through these gyrations at all?

If people do care about radio, well, the FM band is the one that's taking a big hit with all these low-reach signals packed in there like sardines.
 
I appreciate the due respect - and I actually agree with most of your points.

I try very hard to make sure my clients have realistic expectations of what their coverage will look like with a translator, and I've had a few prospective clients decide not to pursue an application when I've shown them what their real-world coverage would look like if they followed through.

If I had my druthers, the FCC wouldn't have done this as a "last chance" set of windows. It's created a mentality (understandable, I think) in which AM licensees don't want to be left behind as second-class citizens without any remaining chance to get a translator. In the brokerage side of my business, one of the things I remind anyone looking to own a station is that they're not going to own it forever. You have to have some sort of exit strategy, even if it's a decade or more down the road...and with AM station valuations dropping substantially, most owners don't want to risk the possibility that the market will now significantly penalize any AM license that goes up for sale without a translator attached.

I don't see most of these translators as being any significant detriment to existing full-market FM signals. However many low-power 106.1s might sign on in greater Boston, they are always going to be a much weaker signal at any given location than WROR on 105.7 or WMJX on 106.7. They may do damage to each other, or to anyone trying to DX WCOD from the Cape, but not to the big class Bs. When I engineer translators for clients, I don't want them to pose any threat of interference - the last thing I want a client to have to deal with is fighting off an interference claim that could have been avoided in the first place.

What I've been hearing from my AM-only clients for years now is that they believe their stations have simply ceased to exist for a growing segment of their potential audience that will not sample the AM band under any circumstances. That's a bigger issue than just translators. It's rising noise floors, it's bad allocations decisions over the years that haven't respected the reality of MW propagation (100 watts on MW at night can cause real-world interference hundreds of miles away; 100 watts on VHF FM simply disappears past the horizon); it's a deregulatory landscape in which AM receiver quality has gone to crap. It's hard to blame some of these little guys for wanting to be able to be heard on the band that the audience has already selected for its listening. I just try to do the best I can to get them the best facility I can, given the limitations.
 
nowradioguy said:
If people do care about radio, well, the FM band is the one that's taking a big hit with all these low-reach signals packed in there like sardines.
Click to expand...
This whole mess could have been avoided had the FCC seen the wisdom and common sense of re-allocating VHF Channels 5 & 6 to an expanded FM band.

Unfortunately....wisdom and common sense are sorely lacking at the FCC :(
 
Channel 83 said:
This whole mess could have been avoided had the FCC seen the wisdom and common sense of re-allocating VHF Channels 5 & 6 to an expanded FM band.(
Click to expand...

And waiting for how long to get all auto manufacturers to make receivers capable of tuning those frequencies standard equipment? And how much longer for all those older cars to die and expanded-FM-capable cars to become the majority on the roads? And how much longer still to convince manufacturers of electronics for the home to start making expanded-band-capable FM receivers and for Walmart and Target and whatever big-box electronics stores remain to sell and advertise those receivers? Sorry. That ship sailed long before the first death rattle of AM was heard.

For the record, I regularly listen to a couple of those AM-station translators as well as an LPFM and a 10-watt translator of a distant public broadcaster in the non-comm band. I don't care if I don't get to DX those frequencies because FM DXing was never my thing in the first place. I'm just glad to hear more of the music and talk I like on FM. I used to do some AM DXing, but the rising noise floor pretty much killed that for me more than a decade ago and I'm over it. The only AM listening I do now is to play-by-play of area teams that haven't found a home on a nearby FM station yet and an occasional listen to Rush or Savage for a good laugh.
 
raccoonradio said:
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=W254BR-FX&s=C
The approx range for the 100.3 translator of WROL, aimed south etc to avoid WHEB and other stations.No wonder I couldn't get it on 128 in Lynnfield. Salem is promoting the new freq but it will only cover certan areas. They got this moved from a 98.7 in Maine.
Click to expand...

WROL blasts into the North Shore on 950 and most of its audience is in the demographic that still uses AM, so no great loss there. From the coverage map, the FM will do what it needs to do -- improve reception to the south and west and give the fans of the nostalgic Irish music show more listenable audio. For spoken-word programming like the Bible teaching, FM doesn't provide a whole lot of added value.
 
Some AM talk stations have gone for FM translators, as in Portland, Manchester, etc. WRKO and WBZ have not but each is on an HD2. RKO really promoting its being on WZLX HD2, blasting out from top of the Pru IIRC while newsradio WBZ is on Kiss 108's HD2.For a time, iHR put WKOX syndie talk on WBWL's HD2.

Is it necessary for RKO and BZ to somehow be heard on FM? Both are strong signals; RKO goes directional at night but there are fewer listeners to their syndie shows.How many people have HD radios? Supposedly they are in more new model cars and some portables are only about $50 but for most, it's a radio geek/ cult item for those who want "extra stations". Some were cast aside (Mojo blues, free form WBCN) recently but there's still WODS oldies (sans DJs), Irish 96.9 etc.

So does iHR bother to apply for FM translators for 680 and 1030, or even moves to FM full power stations? No. We have wondered "when will WBZ newsradio move to FM, where most listeners are--hey, blow up Amp to do it"-- well, now, they can't, as iHR owns 1030 while Ent. has 103.3. "The AM band is dying!," we say; "stations gotta use FM translators to be heard!" Lesser AM stations have gotten translators here. As for RKO and BZ, not quite needed. (And Ent still owns WEEI 850 but that's fairly strong by day at least and they have yet to put "ESPN on WEEI" on an HD subchannel or an FM translator.

And so the FM dial is crowded with FM translators.The "AM revitalization plan".Lower powered signals plagued by interference (high tension wires) , directional signals, and the dying AM band get a lifeline! That Barre VT station WSNO changing to CHR so they can simulcast on a translator that will reach an even smaller area than the AM but hey, they can simulcast on FM so why not? So out went Rush and Howie on 1450 to change to hit radio.
http://www.thebeatvermont.com

"The Beat 105.7" (no mention of WSNO 1450)

Years ago you had AM and FM combos simulcasting, with full power FMs..good for music. Beautiful Music on WWEL 1430 and 107.9...
Now translators are a lifeline to struggling AMs...
 
Somebody heard them, running WROL's programming and WHEB was really cutting in, even not far from the Kendall Sq stick.It was said if the FCC won't protect LPFMs from interference, they also won't care about an FM translator.(Unless it's a full power station getting interference from a translator!)

My post last Mon on the "Joe Ligotti returns" thread:
>>A post on FB says WROL's new FM translator is getting interference from WHEB, even near to the translator's antenna.The pirate has moved to 105.3 and even has a Big City 105.3 logo via Instagram
------'''''--------
Michael Hirsch on Facebook:
"WROL 100.3 initial casual listen indicates a lot of interference from co-channel 50kW WHEB Portsmouth, NH--even rather close to WROL-FM transmitter. Modulation on 100.3 very low--it was WROL as same content heard on WROL Web audio. Range/coverage very limited by these issues.

Dorchester pirate has moved to 105.3
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bevz37-FOEO/
on enhanced propagation days, I could hear WHEB down to Chinatown in Boston--with Dorchester pirate co-channel! With normal propagation, I could tell WHEB was there, even if it wasn't always listenable in Boston due to distance/terrain/pirate. Thus even before WROL came on to 100.3 and without modeling, one could make a pretty good guess the interference was going to be significant to both legal users, and perhaps why pirate preemptively moved off of 100.3 to 105.3
 
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raccoonradio said:
Somebody heard them, running WROL's programming and WHEB was really cutting in, even not far from the Kendall
Dorchester pirate has moved to 105.3
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bevz37-FOEO/
on enhanced propagation days, I could hear WHEB down to Chinatown in Boston--with Dorchester pirate co-channel! With normal propagation, I could tell WHEB was there, even if it wasn't always listenable in Boston due to distance/terrain/pirate. Thus even before WROL came on to 100.3 and without modeling, one could make a pretty good guess the interference was going to be significant to both legal users, and perhaps why pirate preemptively moved off of 100.3 to 105.3
Click to expand...

There has been a different Dorchester pirate playing mostly Reggae and Caribbean music on 105.3 for many years, it may be called "Vibe". I'm not sure whether it has still been on recently. I guess it must be gone if "Big City" moved there.
 
raccoonradio said:
Somebody heard them, running WROL's programming and WHEB was really cutting in, even not far from the Kendall Sq stick.It was said if the FCC won't protect LPFMs from interference, they also won't care about an FM translator.(Unless it's a full power station getting interference from a translator!)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure whether LPFM's and translators may be protected within a limited range. What are definitely NOT protected are "Class D" FM's, the previous type of non-commercial "low-power" FM's from years before LPFM licenses existed. The FCC stopped issuing new Class D licenses sometime around 1980, but the existing Class D stations were allowed to stay on the air as long as they weren't interfering with a higher-power class station in its protected contour, and they could not protest about interference from stronger stations (except pirates). Such "grandfathered" Class D FM's in the Boston area include 104.9 WRBB Northeastern U. Boston and 100.1 WBRS Brandeis U. Waltham. WBRS did contribute to getting a 100.1 pirate from Boston shut down a few years ago.
 
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There’s no way the WROL translator is on the air at full power yet. I’ve just barely heard it in couple places, and it wasn’t because of “interference” from WHEB.

Vibe 105.3’s antenna was on the same building as Big City, 87.7, and I think 1 other, so they’re no longer on the air.
 
Uncle Kaimbridge said:
Are they actually on, with anywhere near full power?
I get absolutely nothing at South Station! :confused:
Click to expand...

I finally heard this WROL translator while driving through Central Square, Cambridge, and I heard why some of you are hearing NOTHING on it!

It's broadcasting in OUT-OF-PHASE stereo! It's a mono program feed being broadcast on a stereo transmitter, but one of the two mono feed channels is being sent to the transmitter with the polarity reversed!

If you can get a strong enough signal for it to decode stereo, you can hear the program, but it has that weird, muddy "out-of-phase" stereo sound.

In mono, it almost completely phase cancels out, and you can barely hear the program, if at all!

If you're not getting a strong enough signal for full stereo separation, the modulation is mostly phased out and you don't hear much of anything.

In addition to that, I agree that the carrier output power doesn't sound anywhere near as strong as it should be.
 
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Interesting!
It's been said there are two different pirates on 105.3. I checked out DIYMedia.net's FCC Enforcement database; various NUOOs were sent out for 105.3 etc and it's that building around 616 Blue Hill Ave. Has been said 87.7, 101.3/100.3, and 105.3 have been broadcasting from around there (well, one of the 105.3s).Names are attached to the notices as well as the name of a church.
 
We've also got a legit translator in metro Boston on 105.3 now, for WCCM Methuen, transmitting from the Medford/Malden line, but it's so highly directional to the north that it can barely be heard just a few miles south toward Boston. I can barely get it in Somerville and Cambridge with lots of multipath distortion due to the antenna pattern. I've also heard the 105.3 translator for WEIM Fitchburg in the Boston west suburbs, even within 128 in Newton, Waltham, etc...
 
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