7 years, 6 months ago Mike Moyers
AM 930 WTAD adds 103.3 FM to the family
So, how does the oldest AM station in the Hannibal/Quincy market suddenly appear at 103.3 on your FM dial? It’s called an FM Translator. STARadio, the parent company of AM 930 WTAD, has purchased a number of the low power translators in the past year which would enable the programming heard on WTAD to be also available on the FM side of the dial. As David Oxenford of Broadcastlawblog.com recently wrote:
All this year, the FCC has been busy processing applications by AM broadcasters to buy an FM translator or a translator construction permit, and to move the translator as much as 250 miles to rebroadcast an AM station. We wrote about the Commission’s rules for these translator moves, as set out in December, here. These translator moves have been very successful for many AM stations, giving them an opportunity to put their programming on an FM channel in their market for the first time. The waiver of the translator processing rules now in place allows a broadcaster to acquire a translator and “move” it to the market served by the AM as long as the move is no more than 250 miles. In the AM market, the translator can operate on any commercial FM channel that is available. Once the waiver period ends, except during very infrequent major change windows, translators can only be moved a limited distance where their existing operations interfere with the proposed operations at the new site. This requirement means that the stations usually need to stay on a channel three up or down from the currently authorized channel. So the current 250 mile waiver has provided unusual flexibility for many AM stations to essentially get a new translator on any commercial channel that works in their service area.
For those of us in the WTAD listening area adding the translator gives some of us who lose the AM 930 signal at night another source-that being at 103.3 on the FM dial. AM stations by FCC law must adjust their power at sunrise and sunset so that they don’t infringe on the programming of another station who may be sharing the same frequency. WTAD runs at 5000-watts during the day, but must power down to 1000 watts at night. Should WTAD accidently remain at the 5000-watt level at night the signal could bleed into other stations sharing the AM 930 frequency.
None the less STARadio is excited to provide this additional outlet for WTAD’s programming and invites you to add 103.3 to the settings on your car radio and other FM receivers you may own.
Mary Griffith and Steve Boll in stereo?? Wow! Is this a great country or what?
