The 2009 Youngstown Holiday Wish List
Youngstown: With my location somewhat between Erie and Youngstown, it is my pleasure to bring you my first annual "Youngstown Holiday Wish List." The same rules apply to this list as the previous Erie list. So here we go with 1.) Putting "The Freq" out of it's misery. The Beacon FM station at 107.1 (WEXC) out of nearby Greenville has featured a Christian Rock / Rap format that hasn't gained any traction since the format replaced oldies a few years back. Meanwhile, Beacon has also replaced sports on it's two AM stations WGRP 940 and WLOA 1470 with classic country. My wish here is that the format be moved to the FM side in order to be more of a competitive FM station in the Youngstown market. Even if the format went back to oldies, you'd see a stronger station near Youngstown. 2.) Fox Youngstown having it's own HD signal. The station has a much better picture thanks to being on WKBN's DT signal. With only 3 full powered HD stations in the Mahoning Valley, Fox is limited to it's over the air HD on WKBN's special 3rd channel for events like the Super Bowl last year and the Daytona 500. A separate full powered HD signal for Fox would be great, however they will probably have to settle for a low powered station for the time being. 3.) Increasing power for the HD Radio stations. This is more of an FCC matter but increasing the power of the HD side of the Valley's HD stations on the radio side could improve listenership of HD. There are possible interference issues with such a power increase, but I'd be curious to see how much interference there would actually be with a power increase of 10% of what the analog station puts out. 4.) Like in Erie, let's hope that local talent is embraced and not cut any further on the local airwaves. To you & your family, have a Very Happy Holiday Season.Readers’ Forum
Joe G – I did read your comment and saw that another comment was waiting. I went to check it & saw that it was yours waiting to be approved. I thought that you may have sent it twice so I deleted it since it was on the forum page already. My apologies for that mix up. Yeah, it may be tough for WYFX to go full power with digital due to their own sister station WYTV. It’s too bad that WOAC from Akron/Canton couldn’t move in to Youngstown with their digital station since it’s a 24/7 infomercial station that I doubt gets any viewership in that larger market when you include Cleveland.
Tom Lavery (URL) - December 23, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Speaking of 940/1470, I’ve noticed the past couple of days that on 1470, I can also hear Freq 107 on there has well (I don’t have that problem when listening to 940). I also wish they would get rid of Freq 107; I loved it when they had the oldies format and when it was Variety 107 before that).
BOTR - December 23, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Yes, let the HD-AM stations have more power. AFTER THE IBOC system is FIXED.The IB part is correct, the splatter is kept “In Band”. It’s the “Over Channels” part of IBOC that is separating the ‘dream’ of iBiquity’s system from the reality.
I’m still trying to figure out how that system got approved when it was from the start that it was NEVER going to be On Channel.
RJ
RJ Kanary - December 23, 2008 at 9:10 pm
It’s cool, I think I submitted it twice by accident anyways. But yeah, especially with the sports programming you can tell the on-air mixture between WYTV and WKBN/WYFX, and even some of the cameramen I’ve seen at YSU have press passes with logos from all three stations (as well as MY-YTV). I’m surprised that they still have separate news divisions even though they are sharing the same resources. It would be possible for WOAC to move to Youngstown, considering that WPCW moved from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, and an argument could be made for it. I think New Vision should end the LMA they have with WYTV and try to get WYFX to go full-power, maybe convert WKBN-DT2 into a RTN affiliate after WYFX goes full-power. I think the result of the LMA has actually seen more emphasis placed on perennial third-place WYTV over WKBN, which used to give longtime market leader WFMJ a run for its money at times. Clearly the LMA has only strengthened WFMJ’s position as the market leader as well as the ONLY locally-owned-and-operated station in town. Kind-of strange considering it has the numbers game against it.
Joe Gerard (URL) - December 23, 2008 at 11:01 pm
What Holiday are you referring to?
Roy - December 24, 2008 at 10:28 am
10% power increase? The NAB is asking for a 10 dB power increase, that’s a 1000% power increase, not 10% which is less than 1 dB. Most stations wouldn’t be able to do a 10 dB increase anyway without replacing a ton of equipment at a high cost, so don’t count on it.
WYFX doesn’t even need a full-powered signal, an LP at 15 kW digital would do the trick, if it came from near the top of WKBN-DT’s tower. Digital signals do pretty well at low power as long as they have a fair bit of height to them. At one time, WYFX did have a permit to sign on a low-powered digital signal, and then let it lapse…
Trip Ericson (URL) - December 24, 2008 at 11:47 am
Trip – Regarding your HD Radio comment. I meant to put 10% of what the analog station would be putting out. My mistake for not completing that particular sentence.
Tom Lavery (URL) - December 26, 2008 at 10:23 am
WPCW actually was moved from Johnstown to Jeannette, but that was only in terms of the city of license. I do not believe the tower was moved, or at least it was not moved enough to truly give it an impact on the Pittsburgh market, except that it is now run by KDKA. The full impact of that move is yet to be felt, as Channel 19 cannot switch to digital until Feb. 17, when WPXI drops analog Channel 11 and WPCW can move to that channel.
Pat Cloonan (URL) - December 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm
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