Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
Mega Hertz
Posts: 4265
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Location: Brighton

Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Mega Hertz » Sat Dec 28, 2019 5:38 pm

I've gotten spoiled living in Livingston county the last couple of years. I'm fortunate to get small and medium market stations filling in most of my dial, with playlists that stray from the warhorses. Q106 has the Saturday Night metal show, and when not airing MSU games, WMMQ has the all-request Saturday night. 103.9 the Fox also comes in well here, as does WIOT. While not ALL stations come in like locals, they get the job done. Add to that 89x, WCSX, Riff and Wheels (what is this, 1991?), and I can generally find some kind of music I enjoy.

The same can't be said for my old stomping grounds in Eastern Macomb County. Obviously, none of those fringe stations reach that far. And changing to our presets on THAT side of town is disappointing to say the least. Every other available frequency is either a peashooter AM translator, CBC rebroadcast or some kind of religious programming. 92.7, 93.5, 97.5, 98.3, 99.9, 101.5, 103.1, 103.9, 104.7, 105.5, 106.3 and 107.1 all featured the programming I listed above. I believe one was classic soul if I'm remembering them correctly. The only bright spots were WPHS and WAHS, both high school stations found on the 89 portion of the dial.

That's not to say we don't have them out here. However, 88.1 and 89.7 are the only two that come to mind. 99.7 from Saginaw pops in from time to time, and the one at 106.3 fights with Mix. I get a FAINT home.fm at 106.9 also.

I think they're starting to be a LITTLE out of hand, now. What's worse is, you'd think WJR or WWJ would be the AM stations to deserve FM translators. Nope! The Patriot and WLQV? Really? They don't make inroads on AM...so who the hell is listening on peashooter FM signals?

I don't remember how I ever survived the FM dial in that area.


"Internet is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining."
-TurkeyTop

Y M Ionhere
Posts: 661
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:31 pm
Location: Where the sun no longer shines

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Y M Ionhere » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:20 am

Ive always liked WHMI until K-love put a translator on that frequency and pretty much blocked it.
All local commercials for little mom and pop businesses.
Though the news reporters enunciation and voice pushing got real annoying.
I was able to pick that station up as far as Southfield when I worked there.



Mega Hertz
Posts: 4265
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Mega Hertz » Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:31 am

"I'm Jessica Matthews with WHMI new..........s"

I know what you mean. I, too, love the local aspect, but when they were playing the same song as WCSX and I flipped back and forth, the audio processing wasn't even a competition. WCSX won hands down.


"Internet is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining."
-TurkeyTop

CK-722
Posts: 1284
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by CK-722 » Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:51 am

You forgot the 107.9 translator in Spanish, that's coming in all over the place where it really shouldn't. Funny thing that it's on WNIC's tower, so it blocks out WCRZ which used to show up in the Detroit Book with a 0.3 quite regularly. How conveeeenient!

In Livingston County, you would be able to hear nearly all the stations from Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, and most from the Tri Cities with a good outdoor directional FM antenna, and some of the newer designs that block out signals 30-40 dB down in the side and back lobes of the pattern. Tower and outdoor antenna restrictions? Get a ham license, and put a 2 meter antenna on it with along with your FM antenna.


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.

Mega Hertz
Posts: 4265
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Mega Hertz » Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:34 pm

I'm getting these in either a 2017 Ford or in my basement, 1992 Pioneer receiver with SPEAKER WIRE as my antenna. WMMQ is a solid stereo signal while knocking out WCSX. WJIM (97.5) and i92.9 are also like locals.

My girlfriend would murder me if I stuck an antenna up on the house or in the yard. I can already hear her bitching now...

...oh wait, she is. Gotta run!


"Internet is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining."
-TurkeyTop

User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11873
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:45 pm

WHMI has had atrocious sounding audio processing forever, it seems.

They've also been using the same jingle package since the mid 90s.



fuzzpower
Posts: 1027
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 3:37 pm

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by fuzzpower » Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:31 pm

In my area, 93.5 is a terrible mix of WHMI, WRQN, the London CBC station, and maybe a translator. I agree about WHMI- small town radio both good and bad.

SW Macomb is a mess with all of the translators clogging up the dial. Only good thing is you can pick up some AM stations that are hard to get on the west side (1590 Marine City comes to mind).



User avatar
Master Shake
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:49 am

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Master Shake » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:59 pm

Mega Hertz wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:31 am
"I'm Jessica Matthews with WHMI new..........s"

I know what you mean. I, too, love the local aspect, but when they were playing the same song as WCSX and I flipped back and forth, the audio processing wasn't even a competition. WCSX won hands down.
I always liked WHMI until sometime in 2005 when I applied for the morning news job there. I got a call from Reed, who told me I was everything they were looking for, except not being female. In an instant, I realized what a lot of people had gone through with discrimination. The thing that really pissed me off was I didn't have the ability to record the call to nail 'em for that. Haven't dialed them in when I've been in that part of the state ever since.



format this
Posts: 204
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2004 12:49 pm
Location: Just stole Bill Murray's Budweiser at Wrigley
Contact:

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by format this » Mon Dec 30, 2019 2:51 am

Mega Hertz wrote:"I'm Jessica Matthews with WHMI new..........s"
Hey... she was just trying to hit 1:00.000 for timing...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Note to WGN... bring back Steve Cochran ASAP.

EDIT: Steve Cochran IS BACK AT WGN!!!

Y M Ionhere
Posts: 661
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:31 pm
Location: Where the sun no longer shines

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Y M Ionhere » Mon Dec 30, 2019 5:48 am

Master Shake wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:59 pm
Mega Hertz wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:31 am
"I'm Jessica Matthews with WHMI new..........s"

I know what you mean. I, too, love the local aspect, but when they were playing the same song as WCSX and I flipped back and forth, the audio processing wasn't even a competition. WCSX won hands down.
I always liked WHMI until sometime in 2005 when I applied for the morning news job there. I got a call from Reed, who told me I was everything they were looking for, except not being female. In an instant, I realized what a lot of people had gone through with discrimination. The thing that really pissed me off was I didn't have the ability to record the call to nail 'em for that. Haven't dialed them in when I've been in that part of the state ever since.
Not sure if its true, but ive heard that some police departments in Canada only hire female dispatchers because they have clearer, sharper voices, making them easier to understand. Cant say for sure if this practice occurs over here or not but it may explain a few things.
Yeah, its discriminatory. But there may be more to it.



User avatar
audiophile
Posts: 8546
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:21 pm
Location: Between 88 and 108 MHz.

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by audiophile » Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:57 am

If you are hiring for a movie cast would it be illegal to hire based on gender? No. Why should a radio cast be different?

Would it have been better saying your tonal quality wasn't what they were looking for? That's not discrimination per se but that would probably upset you more deeply.

Sounds like they were just being honest on who they wanted for the cast.


Ask not what your country can do FOR you; ask what they are about to do TO YOU!!

User avatar
Ben Zonia
Posts: 2143
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:35 pm
Location: Honor

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Ben Zonia » Mon Dec 30, 2019 1:13 pm

Mega Hertz wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:34 pm

My girlfriend would murder me if I stuck an antenna up on the house or in the yard. I can already hear her bitching now...

...oh wait, she is. Gotta run!
How many cats does she have again?


"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."

-Author Unknown

Mega Hertz
Posts: 4265
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Mega Hertz » Mon Dec 30, 2019 4:23 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Mon Dec 30, 2019 1:13 pm
Mega Hertz wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:34 pm

My girlfriend would murder me if I stuck an antenna up on the house or in the yard. I can already hear her bitching now...

...oh wait, she is. Gotta run!
How many cats does she have again?
No cats. But is pushing for a dog. Which means we'll have one in a few months...


"Internet is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining."
-TurkeyTop

ChrisWL1980
Posts: 813
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:36 am

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Tue Dec 31, 2019 2:22 am

I too grew up in Macomb County and now live on the west side (Whitmore Lake to be exact). Some of my favorite radio stations growing up in the M-59 corridor during the late '90s were the out-of-market stations I could receive on the second adjacents to Detroit: CKSY (then on 95.1), 101.5 The River with Kim Carson's Quiet Storm evenings, Monroe's Tower 98 and Flint's CK105.5 (usually there and just barely listenable), 99.9 The Fox, 102.3 WGRT, Cars 108, Woodstock, ON's 103.9 when it ran an AC format as K104. 93.5 was 50/50 between WHMI and CBCL and London's FM 96 was always in day and night. Good luck receiving any of those in that area today (with the exception of 95.1 Cool FM which is still quite listenable in much of Macomb County). And of course, IBOC has wrecked DXing on the first adjacents as well, which equally renders many of the first adjacents I listened to back then - Toledo's 92.5 Kiss FM, 96.9 WBTI, 97.7 WTGV with its then-quirky mix of easy listening/soft AC/smooth jazz - unlistenable. (I was a WBTI listener on AM 1590 during the short time they simulcast around 1997-98, in between the WIFN Talk and WHYT Real Country formats; if I'm not mistaken that was right after Liggett bought the station and killed the Talk format to avoid competing with then full-service AC WPHM.) The biggest nuisance was the Spanish language religious pirates operating on 106.3 (Pontiac) and 94.3 (Mexicantown IIRC), and even those were somewhat useful for me because they gave me a chance to practice my high school Spanish. LOL

Slowly but surely Ann Arbor radio is getting in on it too. I've already lost 98.3 and to a lesser extent 107.9 thanks to Spring Arbor and 92.7 thanks to WAAM. WTKA will soon have a translator on 106.3 and WLBY on 95.1. WDEO has a CP for 105.5 in Southfield which will clutter up the dial in the heart of the Detroit metro even more. Smile FM supposedly has a 102.3 translator around Ann Arbor/Ypsi though I've yet to hear it (I still attend church in Saline, where I lived for 10 years from 2002-12, and 102.3 is still solidly WPOS there). Chelsea once had an LPFM on 102.3 (licensed to Ann Arbor) which is now deleted.



Mega Hertz
Posts: 4265
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Radio: West Side vs. East Side

Post by Mega Hertz » Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:54 am

When I first moved from The Clem to Ann Arbor, it was a night and day difference. Like you said, years back, before the translators and HD, it wasn't uncommon to hear many of those stations. But my Christmas trip out there just reminded me how dire the dial is over there. You can have a translator just to broadcast a fart noise all day.


"Internet is no more like radio than intravenous feeding is like fine dining."
-TurkeyTop

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic