WAEZ Electric 94.9 signal question

[BRH]

Just wondering.  Did Electric 94.9 recently change it's signal pattern or tower location?  I've noticed that the signal down here in the Knoxville area isn't nearly as strong in the past month or so.  Did they modify the signal pattern more towards SW Virginia and away from Knoxville?  Just wondering if anyone else had noticed this or had any info.

[RMarino]

I thought Electric 94.9 was always a bit weak near the downtown area of Knoxville.  The signal still does fine in South Knoxville, Sevier County and Blount County so I haven't noticed any changes.

Seems to me though the music has changed a bit though.  I used to think they sounded better than Star, but these days it seems Electric is sounding more adult again and actually Star sounds better these days.  Either way, I'm glad we get both so we have a CHR choice.

...and of course both Star and Electric sound waaaaay better than The River!

[BRH]

Yeah, I think Electric is leaning a bit more adult (probably to fight off new crosstown Hot AC "104.9 KOS" which recently flipped from adult hits and is sounding pretty good).   As far as the signal goes, Electric had been strong all the way through west Knoxville, but now breaks up quite a bit on the west side.   
 
    Anyway,  I'm glad we have choices now too for CHR.  I live south of town (in Sweetwater) and work in Knox. so I listen to WDOD 96-5 The Mountain Chattanooga most of the time till I hit west Knoxville.  I think The Mountain is sounding far better than either Star or Electric right now.  Too bad they aren't streaming online so more can hear it.   Also, speaking of CHRs,  I thought the satellite fed Q 100.7 Bulls Gap- Morristown is sounding quite well to.  That "Hits Now" feed is not bad.

[w9wi]

Just wondering.  Did Electric 94.9 recently change it's signal pattern or tower location?  I've noticed that the signal down here in the Knoxville area isn't nearly as strong in the past month or so.  Did they modify the signal pattern more towards SW Virginia and away from Knoxville?  Just wondering if anyone else had noticed this or had any info.

They have a permit (which they may have recently implemented) to increase antenna height from 332 meters to 455.  The site isn't changing, but the directional pattern is.  Looks to me like the "loss area" in the new pattern would be in the direction of Asheville, NC: 

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=13478&rotate=0.00&p0=0.956&p10=0.929&p20=0.894&p30=0.855&p40=0.815&p50=0.779&p60=0.749&p70=0.760&p80=0.760&p90=0.740&p100=0.720&p110=0.706&p120=0.706&p130=0.707&p140=0.708&p150=0.712&p160=0.721&p170=0.739&p180=0.764&p190=0.798&p200=0.837&p210=0.876&p220=0.913&p230=0.945&p240=0.968&p250=0.984&p260=1.000&p270=1.000&p280=1.000&p290=1.000&p300=1.000&p310=1.000&p320=1.000&p330=1.000&p340=0.989&p350=0.976&p360=0.956&  (old pattern)

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/polarplot?frame=Y&temp=70675&rotate=0.00&p0=1.000&p10=0.850&p20=0.680&p30=0.650&p40=0.600&p50=0.540&p60=0.490&p70=0.390&p80=0.310&p90=0.260&p100=0.210&p110=0.210&p120=0.210&p130=0.210&p140=0.260&p150=0.310&p160=0.390&p170=0.490&p180=0.610&p190=0.760&p200=0.950&p210=1.000&p220=1.000&p230=1.000&p240=1.000&p250=1.000&p260=1.000&p270=1.000&p280=1.000&p290=1.000&p300=1.000&p310=1.000&p320=1.000&p330=1.000&p340=0.989&p350=0.976&p360=1.000&  (new pattern)

[CHRles]

I think 107.5 The River sounds much better than Star 102.1 Knoxville, and these days is sounding better than Electric 94.9.
WRVW has some of the best imaging in the country, and has been able to hold onto its talent in all the major dayparts for an impressive amount of time. It's nice to also have 102.5 The Party here in Nashville, especially now that they have a decidedly Rhythmic slant.

I'll agree though that 96.5 The Mountain is awesome - it continues to be one of my favorites CHR in the state as well as the country.

[RMarino]

I'll agree though that 96.5 The Mountain is awesome - it continues to be one of my favorites CHR in the state as well as the country.

If that's the case, I wish I could hear it better here in Knoxville.  The only time I can receive the signal here is in the morning, and I hate syndicated CHR morning shows.  At least Star and Electric keep it live and local.

Since we are on the topic of CHRs, Hot 104.5 really needs to freshen up.  I swear it seems like they haven't updated the playlist in months!  And they really need to kill that "Echo" song by Gorilla Zoe.  It was their most played song this week and yet it's a 6 month old stiff!

[Mid West Clubber]

If knoxville had a real Urban, then hot could be a rhythmic leaning CHR and that would freshen up the boring CHR choices in knoxville,, no offense, but since Electric is out of market, knoxville really only has a Conservative Hip Hop, and a conservative Adult CHR...

Knoxville needs a rock leaning chr like WOKI and a rhythmic-dance CHR like the old 95.3 TNZ...

[BRH]

I'll agree though that 96.5 The Mountain is awesome - it continues to be one of my favorites CHR in the state as well as the country.

 

   And one cool thing about The Mountain is that it doesn't tend to lean adult like Star and even Electric do at times.   This, of course, is thanks to the fact that they own the big crosstown AC powerhouse (WDEF Sunny 92.3).   Therefore, it would make no sense to lean The Mountain in an adult CHR or Hot AC direction because it would eat into Sunny's ratings.    So if anything, I would expect them to lean The Mountain younger.  I think Brewer's crosstown urban WJTT Power 94 is The Mountain's main target.   Power has always kind of served as the defacto rhythmic CHR in the market by having a lot of crossover listeners along with their urban core.   The Mountain has grabbed those listeners from Power recently, and knocked off Power's hold on the 18-34 demos.   (Notice WJTT's recent trend;  one of the lowest in years).    So, yeah, The Mountain is right on course and has to be performing better than Bahakel could have ever imagined.   

    With the Mountain's meteoric rise, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone else try and enter the CHR field.  Clear Channel's new move-in AC (WURV 103.7 The River) has bombed big time by not even managing a 1.0 share yet.   I wouldn't be surprised to see them move it to CHR or Rhythmic CHR.   Also, with The Mountain hurting WJTT,  I wouldn't be surprised if Brewer decided to re-evaluate the formats on their two recent move-in signals.  They just recently launched a talk format on 95.3 which replaced Jack FM, and are about to launch ESPN radio on 105.1 (formerly Hot AC Alive 105, which had been at 104.9).    Brewer might decide to defend WJTT by launching their own CHR on one of those two signals to take some shares back from The Mountain.   Who knows.   All I know, is that The Mountain is one of the best sounding CHR's in the region right now, and the ratings are proving it.       Should be fun to see how the market adjusts and shakes out.   

[rtetro]

I was told that Electric is not yet on the new system granted by the CP.  That may or may not be true.

They could have had main transmitter problems.  This would mean they were operating on their Auxiliary transmitter and antenna.  If I remember correctly, the Auxiliary is only 20kw into a non-directional Dielectric DCRM two-bay antenna.  Chuck Lawson and I installed that auxiliary system a few years ago after installing a new Continental 35kw transmitter with new a four (?) bay directional Dielectric DCRM antenna when BBC purchased the station.   The auxiliary transmitter we installed replaced an old RCA transmitter that was the original WIKQ 94.9 rig.

By the way, those Dielectric DCRM antennas are incredible...probably the best FM antennas I've ever worked with.  (That's saying a lot from someone who always swore by ERI rototillers).  The DCRM's are so broadband that the resulting linearity provided an incredibly clean high-end that you could never get on the old WIKQ RCA antenna.

[BRH]

Since I made the original post, I've noticed that Electric 94.9's signal seems to be back to normal now in the past few weeks.  There must've been an issue with the transmitter as you mentioned, because for a week or two they were staticy and breaking up more in Knoxville.   Now they are covering all the way out across west Knoxville and down into Loudon County (until that stupid WLNT-LP translator at 94.9 near Sweetwater starts to interfere with them below Lenoir City).    But anyway,  it's great to have them back at full power.    On my commute to work from Sweetwater to Knoxville,  I listen to CHR WDOD "96-5 The Mountain"  Chattanooga until I get to west Knoxville and then flip to WAEZ "Electric 94.9" then.  Both of those are far better CHR's than Knoxville's "Star 102.1", so I'm glad that they reach into the Knoxville area.   Electric 94.9 especially has a great signal into Knoxville.   I hope the new CP doesn't hurt their Knoxville coverage (although I'm sure they'd like to boom more power in the other direction towards Bristol and SW Virginia, where they get spotty in the upper end of the Tri-Cities metro.  But with WSLC  "Star Country" Roanoke at 94.9, I'm guessing they can't put much more power in that direction).