IHeart Outages

[Mega Hertz]

For quite a while this evening both 95.5 and 106.7 were off the air. 95.5 eventually came back on, yet 106.7 was off a while. They came back, ran a legal, played a Zeppelin tune, and went back out.

[JGP1954]

Amazing major market stations don't have backup generators, and probably not a full-time engineering staff.

[Mega Hertz]

That's what I said, too. Is no one minding the store? Any PD's or anyone listening? Add to that the WNIC fiasco...

I guess I'm curious as to why only two of the five were affected.

[Mega Hertz]

And tonight, as of 9:30pm, all FMs were off. WDFN, ironically, was on the air.

[MWmetalhead]

To clarify - all FM transmitters were broadcasting dead air. The stations weren't technically "off the air."

Makes me wonder if a Studio-Transmitter Link got damaged.

[Deleted User 3751]

Makes me wonder if a Studio-Transmitter Link got damaged.

The Studio building has a backup generator so I would have to agree that it may have been an STL problem.

[Mega Hertz]

To clarify - all FM transmitters were broadcasting dead air. The stations weren't technically "off the air."

Makes me wonder if a Studio-Transmitter Link got damaged.

This is correct. I had to explain the difference to my girlfriend as I scanned the iHeart stations.

Damn shame they can't afford to keep anyone in the building lest the CEO can only afford ONE off-shore dual motor racing yacht.

[Colonel Flagg]

Microwave STL's, where possible, are the best way to go. If you don't believe me, try to listen to WWJ during a severe weather outbreak. The STL drops multiple times. As I recall, WWJ's "phone line" STL has to pass across 3 different telco carriers between Southfield, and Berlin Township. With Channel 50's tower right there, how can there not be a microwave path to Berlin Township?

As to I-Heart, there's really no excuse, because the distance from Farmington Hills to all transmitter sites isn't great. I've never seen the I-Heart complex, so I have no idea what type of STL's they are using. If I were VP of engineering, microwave would be mandatory. The back-up facilities, and redundancies that were firmly in place in the past, have largely been eliminated over time by the bean counters, post consolidation.

[TC Talks]

Who cares? Most listeners have many other options.

[MWmetalhead]

Is their radio dial broken?

None of iHeart's local FMs are format exclusive.

Want AC? Tune to 98.7
Want CHR/Pop? Tune to 96.3 (they play a decent amount of that stuff).
Want gangbanger music? Tune to 107.5.
Want bad 80s butt rock? Tune to 94.7.
Want throwbacks and R&B? Tune to 105.9 or 105.1.

The outage happened at night, not morning drive where air talent differences might be more important.