WMPX and WMRX simulcasting again

[ChrisWL1980]

"The Highway" has been permanently closed and AM 1490 and its translator are back to simulcasting with 97.7 as "Sunny 97-7 and 107-7."
Smart move IMO, given 97.7 being a rimshot signal in Midland and the glut of Country options in the area. 1490 also reaches Bay City better for those who still care to listen on AM.

[Realist]

One less country station is always good. Now several hundred to go…

[MWmetalhead]

97.7's audio processing sounded awful the last time I drove up that way. Super muddy and loud. I wonder if that has been fixed?

[Colonel Flagg]

97.7's audio processing sounded awful the last time I drove up that way. Super muddy and loud. I wonder if that has been fixed?

As hard as it is to believe, the FM was originally built to serve Beaverton. Studios were in a single wide trailer at the base of the tower. Calls were WGEO.

1979-80 was a terrible time to build a new radio station, no question about that.

[fairbankshockeypuck]

I am not getting anything on 1490....sure WMPX is still broadcasting??? Thought I heard a promo that 107-7 and 97-7 were simulcasting.

[MWmetalhead]

The Highway must've been losing money.

[matt1]

WGEO FM was in MONO in the early to mid 80's!!

[fairbankshockeypuck]

Pretty sure 99.3/1250 AM oldies translator broadcasts in mono...I know in Alaska our FM translators on ESPN and news talk stations were put on mono on purpose to supposedly cut down on noise?....dont know if that helped on getting out further....although 250 W at 3,000 feet on top on top of Ester Dome helped a lot.....

[ChrisWL1980]

I am not getting anything on 1490....sure WMPX is still broadcasting??? Thought I heard a promo that 107-7 and 97-7 were simulcasting.

I asked on their Facebook page if they were keeping the AM 1490 signal and they said yes. Is it back on?

[Ben Zonia]

They have to keep 1490 to have the translator on 107.7. The WMRX 97.7 60 dBu contour does not reach Midland, so that can't be a co owned originating station either. It would be nice if the translator had a higher HAAT. It's on a 150 foot height tower. It had to have a top beacon then at 150 feet, when I saw the tower lighted in the late 1960s. They increased the required lighting threshold to 200 feet.

[fairbankshockeypuck]

I am not getting anything on 1490 here in Hemlock area.....maybe transmitter issues???? and I stand corrected looks like 99.3 is in stereo on my truck radio....

107-7....Midland.....Kalamazoo 107-7 overriding the Midland signal here

[ChrisWL1980]

They have to keep 1490 to have the translator on 107.7. The WMRX 97.7 60 dBu contour does not reach Midland, so that can't be a co owned originating station either. It would be nice if the translator had a higher HAAT. It's on a 150 foot height tower. It had to have a top beacon then at 150 feet, when I saw the tower lighted in the late 1960s. They increased the required lighting threshold to 200 feet.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought maybe they'd use 97.7 to feed 107.7 and turn 1490 off.
I wonder if 1490 is at reduced power for some reason? I'll ask again.

[fairbankshockeypuck]

what I find interesting is 105.9 FM.....Midland has a religious station
and WMLM-St Louis/Alma at 1520AM also has a translator at 105.9FM,,,I am 20 miles away from Alma/St Louis...I am 15 miles from Midland..the regious station comes in loud n clear......nothing from Alma/St Louis at 105.9..think they go north south highway 127 corridor...
99.3 WJMK oldies Saginaw comes in good... 92.3 in the truck...WSAM/WSAG 104.1FM

[Ben Zonia]

what I find interesting is 105.9 FM.....Midland has a religious station
and WMLM-St Louis/Alma at 1520AM also has a translator at 105.9FM,,,I am 20 miles away from Alma/St Louis...I am 15 miles from Midland..the regious station comes in loud n clear......nothing from Alma/St Louis at 105.9..think they go north south highway 127 corridor...
99.3 WJMK oldies Saginaw comes in good... 92.3 in the truck...WSAM/WSAG 104.1FM

The FCC Databases are all messed up, so I can't get access to the applications, but the Midland translator is only 150 watts maximum, and is directional, and only about 60 watts toward the St. Louis translator. The St. Louis translator isn't that high of an HAAT. Likely, they protect each other as required, 60 dBu F(50,50) to 40 dBu F(50,10) and vice versa. The applications would show this.

But the FM band is ridiculously jammed up now, IBOC makes it a lot worse, and they should have expanded it instead of jamming it up. As a DXer, I can only remember how good FM signals used to be. AM stations going off the air is making it somewhat easier to DX than FM now, if you can find an electrically quiet location. A lot of those ridiculously short spaced situations have disappeared, like a lot of the ones in Ohio and Michigan on 1520, are pretty much gone.

[ChrisWL1980]

I got a good signal from the WMLM translator (and no sign of the WMAX translator) when I was in Mount Pleasant a few weeks ago, but that hasn't always been the case. I'm also surprised how well 104.1 WSAG and 104.5 WILZ come in in Mount Pleasant (at least on the east side near the casino). On a selective tuner I can get good signals from both (with RDS on 104.1) with zero bleedover from WCZY.
Speaking of WCZY, the size and breadth of their playlist continues to amaze me. As I type this they just segued from "Morning Train" by Sheena Easton to Faith No More's "Epic." They even play some '60s oldies that have aged out of the Sunny 97-7 demos - "California Sun," "Aquarius," "Surf City." Almost reminds me of the old Eagle 101.5 in Gaylord where they'd play everything from the Carpenters to George Strait to Heart in the same hour.