99.1 Translator to be "Cleveland's New Rock Alternative 99X"?

[Capulet]

It's a lame signal with a niche format CBS abandoned. How much revenue can this generate?
I see it as a value added sales tool. Spend 3K on 100.7 and we'll throw in some freebies on 99.1.

[wffm78]

It doesn't have to generate that much revenue.   Almost no overhead...PD is same guy for MMS and Kiss, no personalities or music director (all premium choice), and can be sold in combo with Kiss and MMS.  They can sell all the $10 spots they want...so long as they cover the electric bill...it's all gravy!  if it helps bring in more buys for the other 2 main stations...all the better!   And, they get the nice effect of bringing back a format that a significant part of the market misses having on regular FM.

[DrC]

How does it actually cover in that direction?  Also, I wonder how it was possible to modify the specified ERI FM-100 (normally, a 'non-directional' antenna bay) to comply with that unusual envelope, which also pulls down to 40 watts towards the east and southeast.   

I drive from Mayfield Heights (I-271 & Wilson Mills) to Aurora each day, and now have heard their reception on that route without tropo DX chopping them up. 

99.1 *barely* exists - is nonexistent for all intents and purposes if not for a very fleeting blip here and there - at I-271 & Wilson Mills.  I have a tolerance for distant signal listening, but it just wasn't there.  On a very good car radio.  Would be surprised if there isn't a null to the northeast, too.  Even driving onto 271, where the elevation would supposedly help, doesn't help until the Brainard/Cedar exit at the absolute earliest. 

99.1 comes in fine (on a car radio) farther south in Solon, Twinsburg, and Aurora.  Was sitting in a parking lot in Bainbridge yesterday (basically at intersection of Summit/Portage/Geauga/Cuyahoga counties) and their signal came in like a local - no static or dropouts or any of that.  For some reason, their signal is very scratchy on my Grundig portable (which pulls in the CLE college stations fine) on the second floor of my house in Reminderville.  I think if I worked harder with the antenna, I could probably do better. 

One of my coworkers said they get the station OK downtown, but it was staticy on Wednesday.  Think that's more a symptom of that day's DX than anything. 

[Scott Fybush]

Listening report from section 555, row G at Progressive Field during the day game yesterday (go Tribe!): 99.1 didn't exist at all on a mediocre receiver (the tuner section of a C. Crane Witness), but was adequately audible on an Insignia NS-HD01.

Not sure how much I'd read into yesterday's FM reception conditions - there was a lot of choppy trop adding noise to the band all along the lakeshore from Buffalo to Cleveland.

[SixOnTheFloor]

I spend most of my time in the western suburbs (Parma, Strongsville, Brooklyn) and have been getting 99x just fine on my car radio.  They basically picked up right where radio923 left off, mostly active-leaning post 1991 alt rock...not as good as say a CD101, but still better than what we had before....which was nothing.  Nice to see somebody making good use of what has been a dead spot on the CLE radio dial for a long time.

[jdc42]

hello cleveland,
 i look at radio-locator website and see a translator at 106.1 and it says on there it is for solon ohio and it is a signal booster or translator for wkdd 98.1 fm in akron/caton ohio. is 106.1 fm on the air right now and what is it playing?? thanks for the help.
 

[MarkW]

I know I'm dreaming...but wouldn't it have been nice to hear Alt Rock on 98.1 FM instead of this flea-powered translator? 

[Buckeyes2001]

Reception report from the west:

While driving between Lorain and Avon on Friday, 99.1 is a total mish-mash of WFRO and 99X in Lorain, with WFRO being slightly more dominant. Driving through Sheffield Village, it's about 50/50 between the 2 signals, both continuously flip-flopping. By the time you reach Route 83 in Avon, 99X becomes the dominant signal but WFRO it still fighting it quite a bit. Within a mile of Cuyahoga County line around Lear Rd., 99X is almost listenable but WFRO still makes waves and cuts in here and there.

[CleveFan]

From what it looks like on the 99X coverage map, it looks like there are a lot of cities that won't get the new station.

From the west: Westlake and Bay Village in Cuyahoga County, along with Lorain and Medina County is not likely to get good reception.

From the east: Euclid, Solon, Mayfield Heights, South Euclid, Lyndhurst, Gates Mills, Pepper Pike, Hunting Valley, Chagrin Falls, Bentleyville and Moreland Hills in Cuyahoga County, along with Lake, Geauga, Portage and Summit County also not likely to get a good signal.

CC is really pushing the online stream and iHeartRadio app where 99X is likely to come in great, along with 100.7 HD-2.  However, there are a lot of fans who want to get the station on FM analog without a problem, which is not likely for now.

Who knows?  Maybe if the music ever gets big again, WMMS could swap music formats putting Alternative on 100.7 and a Classic/Alternative hybrid on 99.1 and 100.7 HD-2.  Then again, even that's not likely, but again, who knows?

[Buckeyes2001]

Would either 93.5 MHz, 96.9 MHz, or even 103.7 MHz be better frequency choices for the new station as opposed to 99.1? Seems like there wouldn't be the co-channel interference issues like there are on 99.1 with WFRO at least in Lorain County.