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Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
since16
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Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by since16 » Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:25 am

Recently observing issues that have lasted for weeks on WHTS and for a larger market station like that, you would think that these issues would be fixed or focused on.

There RDS has been stuck on "JUSTIN" for a couple of weeks now no matter where you are at in Grand Rapids and including a moment out in the Coopersville area where their tower is located. Have they not noticed something like this?

I was listening for hours over the weekend and the liners (for example about a gator in Florida) runs nearly every hour. There has to be more liners to rotate on the station than that?

Now that stations are having audio transmitted via internet to the transmitter sites there are "burps" in the audio, but there was at least two weekends that it was happening nearly every 10 minutes all weekend long. Is that something that a major market station would have a backup option or engineer to adjust if someone in programming would notice it?

Lastly, the Rachael Gray promo about her being on the morning show and also on another one of their stations in the afternoon just sounds weird. First, how would you like to be the afternoon guy/gal on HOT FM and have promos running on your station promoting flipping the station during that jocks time slot for another station? From an advertiser stand point if you have budget for just 1 station and the station you are on air is promoting flipping to another station would scare me a bit.

I can understand in small markets the struggle is real, but in larger markets should these things be noticed and fixed faster or has COVID and budget cuts prevented these sort of "eyes on everything" focus of the old days?



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Ben Zonia
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by Ben Zonia » Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:49 am

You have to realize that WHTS is not line of sight into much of the market, and is not City Grade (70 dBu, not 60 dBu which many believe). It is something the industry used to call a "Suburban" station. I would compare it to WPPN Des Plaines, IL in that regard. Usually those only do well as some kind of unique niche format not otherwise covered by the true local stations.


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RandJob
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by RandJob » Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:39 am

since16 wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:25 am
Recently observing issues that have lasted for weeks on WHTS and for a larger market station like that, you would think that these issues would be fixed or focused on.
Isn't the morning show host the PD too? These types of things often happen when you have conflicting priorities between your show and the station.


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Jan 27, 2021 5:08 pm

No, Lori Bennett is PD (which helps explain why the station sounds like shit).



Transmitter
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by Transmitter » Wed Jan 27, 2021 5:36 pm

But she sure gushes over Jackie Green, like they're more than just best friends.



cckadlec
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by cckadlec » Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:38 am

since16 wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:25 am
There RDS has been stuck on "JUSTIN" for a couple of weeks now no matter where you are at in Grand Rapids and including a moment out in the Coopersville area where their tower is located. Have they not noticed something like this?
The tower is located in rural Grant actually, 10 miles south of Fremont. But I digress. The RDS issue has been a big problem in their past too. They had such a problem that even here in Fremont, where it is the second strongest station on the dial (WBLV is just 7 miles away at 100kw), the RDS would barely decode. While most stations would use somewhere between 3 and 5% injection for RDS, the higher number decoding quicker - a station like 95.1 Nash FM that decodes the moment you even hear a staticy signal from them would be using something very high - they must have been using a very horrifically low value. Either way, it went on for MONTHS like that. Nobody was paying any attention or had no care in the world about it. But when that station goes off the air, like it did a few times in the last two years, damn, they try to handle that quickly. Of course, it wasn't a simple fix and it didn't come back on at full power quickly, but they try. The RDS issue though - meh. I haven't listened myself and tested it out. GR stations aren't my regular presets here in Fremont as I listen to more Milwaukee regulars, but I don't for a second doubt what you're saying!

Interestingly, 92.5 from the same tower also has had their RDS stuck on "RIHANNA" for a month or so, probably more now. With that too, I haven't checked in a little while, but it had been quite a long time last I noted it.


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Feb 07, 2021 7:02 am

Sounds like a top notch operation over there! LOL



radionut
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by radionut » Sun Feb 07, 2021 7:07 pm

RDS is working on both stations as of Friday.



option1
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Re: Is Anyone Focusing on 105.3 HOT FM?

Post by option1 » Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:20 pm

I don’t see a problem with RDS being stuck on Justin since every other song they play is actually from Justin.



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