Ratings!

[Kennelly Heaviside]

I thought the ratings looked a little strange in many or all of the markets. Many have said they are scratching their heads.

[BayCityJohn2337]

WTCM not being on top is very confusing to say the least. WKLT is kicking ass in Northern Michigan!

[Kennelly Heaviside]

WJFM/WBCT not only went from 500 kW to 320 kW ERP over the years, but they may have mounted the antenna in such a way to maximize Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, and probably gave up on Lansing, where people went to Frandor, not the North Kent Mall. It's amazing that WBCT doesn't get a 70 dBu that far beyond the Grand Rapids City Limits, and the terrain is rough enough for that distance, that it gives a lot of signal fluctuation with location and time, called F(L,T). So they might have optimized it to get more signal. Has anyone noticed if WKAD Harrietta gets observably more interference from WBCT than WRCL Frankenmuth?

What passes for AC today can be more than a little edgy lyrically and musically now, and between that and a spiritual awakening due to the events of the last 2 years, there may be a move toward CCM type formats.

https://www.fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid= ... 3ebeb7&i=2

[ftballfan]

What used to be a pretty solid signal in Big Rapids is now an irritant if in a moving vehicle thanks to WKAD. There's little doubt in my mind that circumstance contributed to the decision to flip 100.9 FM to Country, an ultimately wise move. I suspect Big Country 100.9 pulls monster numbers in Mecosta County.

I'm a little surprised ownership hasn't moved Country to the much stronger signal at 102.3 after all these years. Along M37 in Newaygo and Lake Counties, 102.3's signal is much stronger than 100.9. People in those areas want to hear Country, not fruity pop music (which is also available on a number of other signals).

With Country being on 100.9 instead of 102.3, I can imagine WTCM does very well in Lake County (since it's about the only country station with a decent signal in most of that county). Same can be said for Manistee County

[Kennelly Heaviside]

The Valleys of the Valley City do quite a bit of attenuation and fluctuation to the 320 kW WBCT signal, even within the Grand Rapids City Limits. I observed this way back in the early 1970s with my Sony Portable with a signal strength meter, and saw the fluctuation riding in a car. It was still 500 kW then.

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php ... beb7&map=Y

WFGR with 2.75 kW has no "red dots" within the immediate Grand Rapids area. True, it doesn't hit Kalamazoo.

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php ... beb7&map=Y

WTRV with 3 kW/100 meters.

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php ... beb7&map=Y