WPGP will soon have a translator

August 2, 2016 Off By Eric O'Brien

Salem’s WPGP (1250) will soon have a translator in town. The company paid $75,000 to Family Ministries for W279BK (103.7) in Carbondale. According to the FCC query, the application has it being licensed to Pittsburgh and moved to 103.9 FM at 60 watts. One might question the move in frequency given that 103.7 is clear in Pittsburgh. We aren’t sure what tower the antenna will be on yet, but it might be located too close to Froggy’s 103.5 FM WOGH licensed to Burgettstown, but whose transmitter is still located at WTOV-TV near Steubenville. But wait, isn’t 103.9 FM home to WLSW in Scottdale? The “distant signal” barely makes it to Pittsburgh.

Stay tuned for more translator news as the window for Class “A” & “B” stations recently opened.

(h/t Tom Taylor)

CategoryPittsburgh

5 Comments

  • JR says:
    August 2, 2016 at 9:33 am

    WLSW used to have a much better signal into Pittsburgh’s South Hills. I can hardly get them anymore. I know they were running in mono for a long time cause their audio processor had problems. Since they went to satellite fed programming the station has been an automated abandoned husk.

  • Boomer The Dog says:
    August 2, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    I think the FM band is becoming ghettoized. I wonder why they feel the need to have a translator of 60 watts, when they have a 5000 watt day and night omnidirectional signal that is technically pretty good and has a strong signal right in the city?

    My experience has been that Pittsburgh translators are just not that great in the car, and some aren’t great at home. Most of the translators are good on the tops of hills and ridges, but drop out in the valleys, not the same listening experience as listening a full power FM by any means.

    I’m in Greentree, and at home I have a strange situation at 97.7, where Family Radio’s translator is right on top of WLER, The Rock Station from Butler, and both are unlistenable, with static, and burps of WLER trying to come in. It happens in the car too around the area.

    My best translator signal is from Froggy 105.5’s translator, WAMO 100.1 is second best, at home. On regular portables and boomboxes, 105.5 gives a decent signal. 106.3 ESPN is a weaker signal and I haven’t done car listening tests to it yet.

    I like hearing Music Power 104, I’m right in their fringe circle at Radio-Locator, but with decent radios I can pick them up at home. They’re a quirky station without lots of dynamics processing, which is nice to hear, I listen to podcasts, and it’s like podcast dynamics on many shows on line. They were also running one of the last soul music shows in the city that I could find.

    The only thing I can think about translators might be that they’re good for a few miles around the antenna, and for the cool factor of being able to say you have an FM station. They haven’t proven to be any real service to me.

    Boomer

  • phil Zmenkowski says:
    August 2, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    WPGP and WJAS Both Applied for 103.9 WPGP 60 watts Directional from it’s Tower site in South Side. WJAS wants 145 Watts from Another site in South Side. Struggling WLSW has a Very Good Signal Through out Pittsburgh .WKHB 620 has applied for 102.1 with 25 Watts From the WQED Tower.

  • Carson says:
    August 8, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    so…..WKHB is planning to run THREE translators? At 92.3, 94.1 and 102.1? Can they do that? And once they do will the music I enjoy so much after 7:15PM disappear to be replaced by more medical shows?

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