FM radio

[PAHighways]

I usually leave the radio on and seek when stations begin to fade, but that all Country piece of the Turnpike between Bedford and Carlisle used to get to me.  It was one reason I got XM, but since cancelling, I just play MP3s from my phone through my car's stereo system.

I once picked up something in French on that stretch, on 93.5 (where I was expecting WTPA in Harrisburg).  And years ago, driving across I-80 somewhere west of Williamsport, there was a stretch where I was alternating between NPR stations in Buffalo and Baltimore.

Sounds like you caught some E-skip in those trips.

Whazzat?

http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/05/e-skip-tropospheric-ducting-and-other-vhf-propagation-phenomena/

[ftballfan]

Tropospheric ducting = short distance, E-skip = long distance

States/provinces I've received via tropo: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ontario, South Dakota, Wisconsin
States/provinces I've received via E-skip: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Brunswick, New Mexico, Nova Scotia, Oklahoma, Quebec, Texas, Wyoming

[Michael in Philly]

Before the FCC ruined broadcast television, I could occasionally get stations from as far north as Providence and as far south as Florence, S.C.  Once picked up stations from Kansas City and some place in Nebraska, and on one occasion stations in Montreal and Baton Rouge were fighting it out to come in on channel 2 (which was really bizarre, given that I was living 20 miles from New York, where channel 2 was occupied)....  Haven't had that sort of experience with FM much.  WHYY 90.9 in Philadelphia apparently had transmitter trouble during Car Talk a few months ago... I heard faint classical music through the static and said to myself "that's WETA!" (in Washington).  Listened to the static long enough to hear WETA's station i.d.

[huskeroadgeek]

About 20 years ago, I had a small TV that was great for picking up E-Skip TV signals. I picked up stations as far away as WFMY Channel 2 in Greensboro, NC and WJXT Channel 4 in Jacksonville, FL. I also picked up a station that I'm thinking must have been in Quebec, because it was in French. I would have been able to pick up more if I didn't have a nearby station in Omaha on Channel 3. I haven't had as much luck with E-Skip FM reception, although I do remember one time getting a station from Winter Park, FL.

[Michael in Philly]

^^Radio-Canada, the French-language counterpart of the CBC, has stations across Canada because it's federally supported.  If you're in Nebraska and were picking up something in French on channel 3, it could have been Radio-Canada in Winnipeg.

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/tvn/winnipeg_radio-canada.shtml

[huskeroadgeek]

That could have been it-even though it was hard to get much E-Skip on Channel 3 because of KMTV in Omaha, they went of the air at about 1:00 AM at that time, so there was always a period in which I could get other stations on Channel 3 if I was up late enough.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Winnipeg and its outskirts have some francophone communities. Notably, Saint-Boniface, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, etc.

[Michael in Philly]

105.9 in Washington has switched from Classic Rock to simulcasting talk/sports WMAL.

93.5 in Harrisburg has moved to 92.1 (haven't been in the area enough yet to say if it comes in as well), while 93.5 has become "today's hottest hits" or something of the sort.

An ethnic station in the Philadelphia area - WNWR 1540 AM (this, I need to know about for work) is now all-Chinese programming, and popular ethnic programs have moved to WWDB 860.  (That's according to an article in a trade publication we got today.)

Am I imagining it, or is there more format churn than usual right now?

[mjb2002]

I like my classic rock stations. Milwaukee has maybe one but northeast Wisconsin has at least 6 or 7.

There used to be five rock stations in my area. WGFG (then WWBD and on 95.7), WDRR (93.9), WBHC (92.1), and WWBD (then 105.1) either all flipped formats or moved out of the CSRA. WGFG has gone to country. WDRR and WBHC are now 'variety' stations. And WWBD is now in the Charleston/North Charleston/Goose Creek/Summerville DMA.

The only rock station in my area is WEKL-FM. It used to be on 102.3 and had a weak signal. Then, in 2007, it switched dial numbers. It is now on 105.7 and it has 100,000 smoking watts of energy:

[MDOTFanFB]

I like my classic rock stations. Milwaukee has maybe one but northeast Wisconsin has at least 6 or 7.

Around here, we have only one classic rock station, WCSX 94.7:

[roadman65]

Ratin

I know there's some discussion of FM radio on the AM thread, but no one's posted there since January.  Hence, a new thread.

Just drove to the 'rents in north(ish) Jersey today and discovered 101.9 in New York's gone all-news.  Why can't the largest city in the country sustain more than one rock station?  Or is there one - beside 104.3, which I find a bit hard-rock for my tastes - I don't know about?

Any discussion of FM (or tangents) is welcome here, of course....

Ratings is why.  Classic Rock is on the way out! In Orlando Q96 stopped playing rock all together.  They now have an AM station simulcasting on it with Talk Radio from AM. 

It all started in the 90's when Rock was separated once more.  All those before 1990 went to be reclassified as "Classic Rock" while new rock after got its own stations that play only that.  www.radiostationfinder.com to see what is left.

I know its frustrating as I remember when WPLJ stopped playing rock in 1983 when I left the area to go to FL for vacation.  When I went back to the NYC area and tuned in 95.5 on my car radio, I was totally confused when I heard songs that PLJ would never play before.  I first thought the signals got crossed, but it was the end of an era  I found out instead.  Many were outraged by this as WPLJ was the best rock station EVER, but 28 years later they are still with this format.  Maybe it took a while to come up with a slogan for them as they did experiment with many before sticking with POWER 95, but the ratings indeed show that more people want this than classic rock.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

I have a 160GB iPod nearly filled to capacity and an aftermarket head unit that interfaces directly with it.  I don't listen to the radio anymore unless the iPod isn't in the car.  I usually just leave it in the car but sometimes I take it out to use it around the apartment.

[Truvelo]

I usually leave the radio on and seek when stations begin to fade, but that all Country piece of the Turnpike between Bedford and Carlisle used to get to me.  It was one reason I got XM, but since cancelling, I just play MP3s from my phone through my car's stereo system.

I have a 160GB iPod nearly filled to capacity and an aftermarket head unit that interfaces directly with it.  I don't listen to the radio anymore unless the iPod isn't in the car.  I usually just leave it in the car but sometimes I take it out to use it around the apartment.

Both comments are why I hardly listen to FM when I'm in North America. I don't know what it is for for some reason radio stations over there tend to have a very small reception area. As most of my travelling is long distance I find the signal starts breaking up not long after tuning in to something. This is why when renting cars the first thing I do when getting into the car is check to see if Sirius XM works. A lot of rental cars have expired subscriptions so if this is the case I move to the next car. Because of the distance I travel I find it incredibly boring not to listen to the tunes I like. With FM it's either commercials or constantly retuning when the signal fades.

My own car has USB built in. I listen to that more than I do the radio. As for the CD I've never used it. It wouldn't surprise me if manufacturers stop selling cars with CD players soon. The only thing I wish for is to see Sirius XM come to Europe.