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The Ticket West Michigan

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
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MWmetalhead
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by MWmetalhead » Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:35 am

Let's not forget Cumulus was openly touting that the new 106.1 FM was going to sign on within one week of all the format changes that occurred recently. That clearly was bullshit from the start. You don't say that, wind up with a CP on February 1, and then wait about four full weeks to conduct testing.

So, I stand by my original claim. They LIED to their listeners and clients, or at best, made a promise that had minimal chance of being fulfilled.



cckadlec
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Re: 106.1 FM on the air right now

Post by cckadlec » Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:00 pm

statmanmi wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:11 pm

Solid reception on my car’s radio at 68th St. & 131.
No signal heard up here in Fremont. Phew. Some of those GR translators have really killed the dial up here. 90.7 is a minor pest at just 13 watts and more than 35 miles. 99.5 Lowell has killed a good part of 99.5 here (one of the more potent ones and the darn thing is directional aiming in a whole different direction too!). 92.9, 93.3, 104.9, etc. all crushing their former graceful frequencies :oops: . But on 106.1, I can only hear Lansing with a side of Muskegon, and I'll take that :o . You can keep 106.1 to yourself.

Since they don't bother me, now I can finally say good on them for getting on the air instead of "die, you bitch, you just die!!!!" haha.


[ Radio and weather geeks, beware! Coastal tropo studies, the 3-hr. Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide, 6-hr. 500 Top-of-Hour IDs, and Chinese FM at www.chriskadlec.comTuner: Grundig G8 • Location: Fremont, Mich. ]

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48125er
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by 48125er » Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:52 pm

Very faint signal east of Rockford, Q106 goes right over it.



CK-722
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Re: 106.1 FM on the air right now

Post by CK-722 » Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:00 pm

cckadlec wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:00 pm
statmanmi wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:11 pm

Solid reception on my car’s radio at 68th St. & 131.
No signal heard up here in Fremont. Phew. Some of those GR translators have really killed the dial up here. 90.7 is a minor pest at just 13 watts and more than 35 miles. 99.5 Lowell has killed a good part of 99.5 here (one of the more potent ones and the darn thing is directional aiming in a whole different direction too!). 92.9, 93.3, 104.9, etc. all crushing their former graceful frequencies :oops: . But on 106.1, I can only hear Lansing with a side of Muskegon, and I'll take that :o . You can keep 106.1 to yourself.

Since they don't bother me, now I can finally say good on them for getting on the air instead of "die, you bitch, you just die!!!!" haha.
You really need a directional FM receiving antenna, cckadlec. You'd be surprised how many nested signals there are capturing the rest. I haven't checked it out lately, but in the old days, it was not uncommon to be able to receive three or four cochannel stations on all but the strongest signals. You've done well DXing, but it really could be a lot better. Even the Antennacraft/Archer FM-6 and FM-10 are/were very good for this. In the old days, the stations in smaller towns would sign off hour by hour, revealing the next lower level of DX.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

cckadlec
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Re: 106.1 FM on the air right now

Post by cckadlec » Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:52 pm

CK-722 wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:00 pm
You really need a directional FM receiving antenna, cckadlec. You'd be surprised how many nested signals there are capturing the rest. I haven't checked it out lately, but in the old days, it was not uncommon to be able to receive three or four cochannel stations on all but the strongest signals. You've done well DXing, but it really could be a lot better. Even the Antennacraft/Archer FM-6 and FM-10 are/were very good for this. In the old days, the stations in smaller towns would sign off hour by hour, revealing the next lower level of DX.
I've always been happy with what I've gotten I think. I do have a dedicated directional FM antenna, but it's tucked safely under my bed (that is, not connected to anything). I have always been a mobile DXer and most of my work is done on beaches, so directional antennas don't fit so well with that model. In Korea, I especially am discreet as the older generation is pushy on that topic as DXing was illegal (until 2000) when they were growing up, and they're still suspicious of it. At home, the portable gets plenty up to and beyond 400 miles easily, things a directional antenna could never get because I'm able to move it all around and find tiny nulls.

However, such antennas do enhance those very weak signals sometimes. I can take WPHN as a good example. With the portable, I can pick it up very easily in Sudbury as it's a semi-local signal. But once I'm in North Bay and further east in Mattawa, the portable just picks up nothing at all on 90.5. But if I hop in the car, my car radio, which has a rear window directional antenna (very directional actually), it can hear it with no problem whatsoever. So, when it comes to things like my coastal bandscans, I use my car radio as an alternate and do a scan facing both directions on that one as well to sort of fill in any holes, like from signals that the portable may have missed. Sometimes there are additional signals, especially in the out-there areas, and sometimes not.

But my 500 Top-of-Hour ID project was the closure of my DXing in West Michigan, so it's kinda all in the past now. I've heard what I've heard! I have 25 hours of recorded radio content on my website and I'm quite pleased with what I've stumbled upon on the radio bands, whichever antenna I have used :D


[ Radio and weather geeks, beware! Coastal tropo studies, the 3-hr. Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide, 6-hr. 500 Top-of-Hour IDs, and Chinese FM at www.chriskadlec.comTuner: Grundig G8 • Location: Fremont, Mich. ]

CK-722
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by CK-722 » Tue Mar 05, 2019 11:20 pm

As one example, in Genesee County, I could get WWWS/WTLZ, WPAG-FM/WQKL, WHLS-FM/WSAQ, and sometimes WITW/WCKC, as all reached sign off in order, separated by 1 hour. Another was WDTM/WLLZ, WWRM/WKPK/WSRT, and WYEN/WPPN on 106.7 just by turning the rotator with an Antennacraft/Archer FM-10.

Null depth was more important than being able to move slightly, or just change telescoping whip polarity, though that certainly. I hooked up an interferometer a few times, with the FM-10 on the roof and the one bracketed to the back of the house. I used the old Rembrandt Rabbit Ears with the 12 Position Attenuator/Phase Shifter Switch. That was interesting, but I didn't have much time to explore the possibilities. I remember once in Macomb County, I got WWCK-FM and WQQO by just changing the switch position, both with full quieting.

Back to Genesee County, I put WRIF into a deep null with the FM-10 and got WBRN-FM/WWBR 100.9 and WIXX 101.1 on a regular basis. Until WFXZ/WLUN 100.9 came on the air, which made too many degrees of restriction and not enough degrees of freedom on 100.9 to get WBRN-FM. The pattern was perfect for WBRN-FM and WIXX.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

OneBigFan
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by OneBigFan » Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:52 pm

Could someone 'splain why on Sunday , March 10, I was dial hopping while driving and happened upon the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament finals and on a break said it was a Westwood One production on 106.1 FM. At the conclusion of the game there were promo's for The Ticket's shows and then went to FoxSports or CBS Sports radio.

Was that a case of contracts with Westwood One required their stuff be on 106.1 or a board screw up?

I live south of GR and have gone to listening to Dan Patrick online live or catching podcasts later because 1340 AM reception is iffy at best.
Its too bad 106.1 can't run DP 9-12.



RedRamage
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by RedRamage » Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:21 pm

FWIW I tend to get a very strong signal for most of my morning commute from Breton Village Mall area almost all the way to GVSU's Allendale campus. I start getting some static just west of the river on Lake Michigan Drive.

Afternoon/Evening I don't know cause I rarely listen then, but I did have it on yesterday (Monday) and there was a lot of static until maybe two or three miles to the east of the river on Lake Michigan Dr.



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MWmetalhead
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Re:

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:28 pm

There was a little distortion in the audio feed around midday yesterday. Wasn't a reception issue; this sounded like something that was ingrained in the satellite feed audio chain.

The reception - for a station that is supposed to be running only 75 watts from a low tower height - definitely overachieves. I cannot help but wonder if they are running "hot."

Q106's signal was being picket-fenced as far eastward as the Clarksville - Saranac exit off I-96.

Before 106.1 GR signed on, I used to have no issue at all picking up Q106 as far west as the M-6/M-37 junction. Station would reach that point or even a couple miles beyond with a nearly crystal clear signal most of the time. Now at M-6 & M-37, The Ticket powers through with little difficulty under normal atmospheric conditions.



cckadlec
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Re: The Ticket Reception

Post by cckadlec » Sat Apr 06, 2019 1:13 am

MWmetalhead wrote:
Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:28 pm
Q106's signal was being picket-fenced as far eastward as the Clarksville - Saranac exit off I-96.

Before 106.1 GR signed on, I used to have no issue at all picking up Q106 as far west as the M-6/M-37 junction. Station would reach that point or even a couple miles beyond with a nearly crystal clear signal most of the time. Now at M-6 & M-37, The Ticket powers through with little difficulty under normal atmospheric conditions.
Same experience here today. Friday morning, I checked the signal as I was driving to Ann Arbor and back after seeing your post. The Ticket was in until the Clarksville exit before Q106 quickly took over (and heading the opposite direction 16 hours later, it came in at that same point as well... testing for consistency :)). And since I always forget, I checked it on the way back north on the way home. Conditions tonight are quite dead as far as enhancement goes. Just the normal GR and Milwaukee at home, but it leaves plenty of room for translators with little to interfere. Q106 is especially weak compared to normal here. The Ticket was in solid with RDS heading north until Bailey, started to bash it out with Q106 by Grant, and then Q106 finally took out The Ticket entirely in Newaygo, but because Q106 is so weak tonight, it was mostly M106 that was taking it out (for some reason, that station has been getting out REALLY well the past few weeks... whereas 103.7 did, but 106.1 was always terrible). Similar reception pattern with 103.7 as I've noted plenty of other times. 99.9 Smile FM, as usual, was still in pretty solid into Newaygo and to the north. All the other translators (94.9, 97.3, etc.) are all gone at Sparta usually. Of course, 104.9 usually makes it north of White Cloud and heading west toward Shelby; it's not a good comparison.


[ Radio and weather geeks, beware! Coastal tropo studies, the 3-hr. Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide, 6-hr. 500 Top-of-Hour IDs, and Chinese FM at www.chriskadlec.comTuner: Grundig G8 • Location: Fremont, Mich. ]

OneBigFan
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by OneBigFan » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:55 pm

I was out of town for 3 months.

When did 106.1 go back to sports talk? Today I heard Jim Rome then Simonson talking about his drive time show on 1340 AM and 106.1.



statmanmi
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Re: The Ticket West Michigan

Post by statmanmi » Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:39 pm

OneBigFan wrote:
Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:55 pm
I was out of town for 3 months.

When did 106.1 go back to sports talk? Today I heard Jim Rome then Simonson talking about his drive time show on 1340 AM and 106.1.
Hi OneBigFan,

Since GR's 106.1 FM went live in early March 2019, it's been all sports. It's an "FM Translator" from 1340 AM. (So a low power FM signal simulcasting from an AM station's source. Seems like most every AM is getting one or more of these of late.)

You noted earlier in this thread that you were surprised to hear ACC Tournament basketball on this frequency.

So it's not so much that 106.1 went "back to sports talk"; just that GR didn't previously have a 106.1 FM until this one went live.

Cheers! ~ Statmanmi



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