The New K107.3 Flint's Classic Hits

[ChrisWL1980]

Some of you are going to hate me for saying this - but as far as Adult Contemporary stations go, I think 96.1 actually has a very well structured playlist. I prefer it to 107.9 and many other stations.

I've always liked the on-air jocks I've heard on the station, too, within the past few years.

The jingle package is the only thing I'm not fond of; a little too flimsy sounding for my liking. (I'm assuming the station still uses the same package it used a year ago.)

Cars 108's playlist suffers from inadequate variety, the voiceovers are boring, and the processing is too soft. I think 96.1 is a better programmed station overall.

Cars 108 seems to be airing a Townsquare corporate playlist now. I'm noticing the same songs played in the same order as WFMK. It also seems to be a touch softer than what both stations were airing before. WFMK actually played a song by Gloria Estefan last night, an artist who likely hasn't been on their playlist (outside of Christmas music) in years. I wouldn't be surprised if Banana 101 and WGRD are airing the same music logs as well.

The only thing I listen to Cars for anymore is the '80s request lunch (assuming that still exists) and '80s AT40 on Saturday nights. Then again, their signal is very hit or miss here these days thanks to the Spring Arbor translator in Dexter.

I agree, My 96.1 is better music-wise. It's got a decent variety of familiar songs with enough "oh wow" to be a little more interesting than your typical mainstream AC.

[MWmetalhead]

The music logs at GRD and Banana have plenty of differences based on a review of this afternoon's material.

The song choices at Banana sure do SUCK these days. It's been nearly two decades since the station last sounded so lame.

Z93, Q106, WIDL and even WRIF are so much better that it ain't funny.

[Realist]

The music logs at GRD and Banana have plenty of differences based on a review of this afternoon's material.

The song choices at Banana sure do SUCK these days. It's been nearly two decades since the station last sounded so lame.

Z93, Q106, WIDL and even WRIF are so much better that it ain't funny.

They put WAYYYYY too much old and stale classic rock tracks in their playlist. Have yet to figure out why. They needed to stay straight up active rock

[innate-in-you]

Many people DRIVE from Genesee County to JOBS in Oakland County (US Census says around 25,000), and why shouldn't they be able to listen to their LOCAL stations on the way to work? They can't even listen peacefully to WCRZ with that blasted (and at the very least) overmodulated translator for WDTW 1310 within WCRZ's protected 54 dBu contour.

I've never heard bothersome interference from the WDTW translator within predicted WCRZ's 54 dBu contour.

107.9's signal has underperformed relative to FCC predicted contours in most of Oakland County for years, long before the WDTW translator came along. I live near Birmingham, and WCRZ's signal was already completely unlistenable here before the 1310 translator signed on, even in the car.

In recent years, my experience has been one needs to be near Lake Orion, Waterford Twp, Rochester, or Milford to get a decent signal in the car from WCRZ. The 1310 translator favors Macomb County much more than Oakland County and produces minimal if any interference in the communities I just listed.

Not all translator interference is created equal. The Smooth Jazz 104.7 translator caused widespread destructive interference to WIOT in highly populated areas where WIOT had previously enjoyed reliable reception *and* where WIOT actually had significant listeners. There's not a chance in hell the Smooth Jazz 104.7 translator's directional antenna pattern performed anywhere near in accordance with the specs the FCC approved. Way more power was being sent southbound and southwestward than what was authorized.

The original site used by the WRDT translator (WMUZ-FM tower on far NW side of Detroit) is another great example; that one caused destructive interference to WQKL near and along the I-275 corridor - a place where WQKL clearly had listeners, and from what I was told at the time, at least 1 or 2 advertisers. Thankfully, that situation was resolved quite promptly.

If the AM 1500 translator causes destructive interference to WDZZ in areas where WDZZ previously enjoyed meaningful listenership, I agree that it's a shame the FCC allows to occur. However, the only interference I've personally observed is on the fringe of WDZZ's listening area - where predicted contour strength is on the order of 45 dBu. It's doubtful WDZZ enjoyed material listenership from those areas.

Regarding Smooth Jazz 104.7:

That translator was up and running, for several months, (uselessly) rebroadcasting WRCJ (Since WRCJ covers a larger area itself), nobody was complaining about the WRCJ simulcast.

Once the owner rented an HD channel from a licensed station, and brought the format back to the area, suddenly, it was "interference". Big Radio would have no tolerance for someone crashing their private club.

[Realist]

Found this yesterday on a music and radio newsletter:

Cumulus ushered in 2021 with the launch a new Classic Hits station in Flint, MI, with the January 1 debut of K107.3, replacing the News-Talk format on WWCK-AM 1570, and plugged into a new translator tuned to 107.3. The new K107.3 is playing classic hits of the '70s, '80s and '90s, along with Michigan State Basketball.

K107.3 PD Jerry Noble commented, "There are so many great artists that other stations had left behind, we felt it was an opportunity for us to bring back the songs Flint can sing along with and enjoy all day at work. Everything from the Bee Gees, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, Earth Wind & Fire, and Bob Seger, to Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Prince & Madonna, and more, all on your radio, office computer, phone, or smart speaker."

Chris Monk, RVP/Market Manager, Cumulus Ann Arbor/Flint/Saginaw, noted, "Classic Hits is one of the most popular radio formats in America... and when you listen, you'll see why. Advertisers will love the audience this station delivers."


Upon reading that, I truly think Monk, if he was in charge 5 years ago there, is either a moron or a hypocrite. I read this shit of “classic hits being the most popular radio format” and immediately think of WHNN. Why in the hell did they flip it FROM classic hits then and lose 1/2 their overall ratings? It still makes absolutely ZERO SENSE to me.

[bobhuge]

The funniest part to me: "There are so many great artists that other stations had left behind"...no......there are so many great SONGS left behind. To even believe that a cumulus station would do anything but drive the same tired tracks into the ground is a joke.

[djb]

More like:

"We left these artists behind us years ago, and I'm not letting the same happen to me. We spun up 107.3FM so I could continue to host, bringing the format more inline with what I am most hip to".

[Realist]

Considering 97.3 Joe FM has pretty much picked up this format by doing almost all 80’s, it would be stupid for WHNN to flip back now. They missed the boat...

[MWmetalhead]

Regarding Smooth Jazz 104.7:

That translator was up and running, for several months, (uselessly) rebroadcasting WRCJ (Since WRCJ covers a larger area itself), nobody was complaining about the WRCJ simulcast.

Once the owner rented an HD channel from a licensed station, and brought the format back to the area, suddenly, it was "interference". Big Radio would have no tolerance for someone crashing their private club.

Nearly the entire time WRCJ was being rebroadcast, the station's antenna was co-located on a short microwave or cell phone tower near I-696 and Groesbeck in Warren.

Listening range was very limited and interference to WIOT was minimal at the time.

From Eight Mile Rd in Oak Park, actual antenna performance was nothing close to the pattern the FCC actually approved. Far too much RF was being sent southward and southwest bound.

Conservatively, a half million potential listeners who previously had access to a decent WIOT signal - at least in the car - lost that ability when Smooth Jazz 104.7 took to the airwaves. WIOT had long been a somewhat popular station in downriver portions of Wayne County; that audience got hosed. WIOT's engineer rightfully filed a complaint with the FCC.

[CK-722]

I don't know if the 104.7 translator was operating legally or not. However, the new "super translators" operating in Detroit cause de facto interference to MANY stations that were formerly available. This may be from other unknown factors about the transmission systems. The FM propagation model used to predict signals appears to break down when a near 1000 foot HAAT is used for a substantial ERP (99-250 watts ERP) translator (Class D, agrees to accept interference from other services), and a licensed Class A, Class B1, or Class B station using a shorter antenna on the order of 100-150 meters on the order of 40-50 miles away.

Once again, what makes the WIOT format so special that it warrants protection that all the others
don't? I really can't hear it. There should be no sacred cows. The complaints were goosed grass roots style by the WIOT engineer in my opinion. WIOT is your sacred cow. If it's so special, listen to WIOT online. That's what every other complainer is being told.

Goose-verb.

"To prod or urge to action or an emotional reaction."

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/goose ... re%20items...

[MWmetalhead]

here should be no sacred cows. The complaints were goosed grass roots style by the WIOT engineer in my opinion.

Are you suggesting he was in the wrong? If so - I could not possibly disagree with you more.

WIOT is one of two U.S. based stations within a stone's throw of Metro Detroit that received PROVEN interference within its protected contour.

The other? 107.1 WQKL.

In each case, the interfering translator either (a) changed its facilities to greatly reduce or eliminate the interference or (b) ultimately went off the air.

All the other local examples either involve interference in fringe reception zones or interference to Canadian stations.

You cannot name a single active example in SE Michigan where a U.S. based translator currently produces routine interference within the protected service contour of a U.S. based full power station, with the exception of WDTK's translator vis-a-vis WRVF. I'm sure the reason iHM hasn't pursued that one is because it'd rather have the A.C. audience in Wayne County listening to 100.3 WNIC, where it has a much better chance of monetizing that listenership. (iHM owns both WRVF and WNIC.)

I'll be the first to say that permitted interference to Canadian stations that were formerly easily receivable in Metro Detroit bothers me. The WRDT translator @ 96.7 MHz on Detroit's NW side is an outrage. Unfortunately, such translators are permissible pursuant to FCC rules.

[CK-722]

I thought that Newton Minow had an agenda back then, but his term "vast wasteland" to describe TV programming then now applies to the sea of interference that now describes FM.

With many stations leaving the AM dial completely in Canada, and quite a few in the US, the AM band has become very listenable if you can find a quiet country road or store parking lot away from the store electrical noise. Many frequencies are not duplicated for hundreds of miles.

[CK-722]

To those of you with a fuzzy view of where WIOT's protected 54 dBu contour extends, here is a map. It barely gets out of Monroe County into Wayne and Washtenaw, and that's sparsely populated.

https://www.fccdata.org/?facid=&call=WI ... d=&lang=en

Even the 45 dBu "complaint contour" (which concept didn't even exist when WIOT's engineer goosed the listeners to complain) covers only a tiny sliver of Oakland County and none of Macomb County.

https://www.fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid= ... 604732&i=2

[MWmetalhead]

To those of you with a fuzzy view of where WIOT's protected 54 dBu contour extends, here is a map. It barely gets out of Monroe County into Wayne and Washtenaw, and that's sparsely populated.

Not true. What you stated applies to the 60 dBu. The plot on the fccdata.org site is mislabeled. Calculate the mileage if you do not believe me.

The 54 dBu makes it to roughly I-94 in many areas to the west of Detroit. Smooth Jazz 104.7 destroyed WIOT's reception along that corridor.

[CK-722]

You must have asked Denny Moon.

I knew that. Just wanted to know if you noticed that fccdata.org has a lot of errors and limitations, like not displaying DAs properly, and still no Canadian stations in a lot of searches.

However, my assertion still stands about the 54 dBu. It really doesn't reach the large majority of Detroit Metro. And the 45 dBu assertion stands. There are over 2,100,000 persons in Oakland and Macomb County according to 2019 estimates. Only a handful of listeners in Oakland County would be able to complain today, none in Macomb.

Look, if you're concerned about interference, it shouldn't be sacred cow formats only that are protected.

The FCC won't do what is necessary to accommodate AM stations sufficiently, open up a new band of a few MHz to move stations to. They should have done what Canada started decades ago to move AMs to FM, before all this translator nonsense started. Virtually all AM radios have the expanded band today. They had 5 years to simulcast.