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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 13, 2019 6:07:05 GMT -6
I spent about 20 minutes trying to get the streaming on the website to run before I finally gave up. When are stations going to learn that these custom webpage players crap just doesn't work? Any decent MP3 player written in the last 20 years can play an MP3 stream. Just do that. It's not difficult. Few people are going to put that much effort into listening to a station.
The other thing I think is weird is that I didn't see any mention at all on either the website or in their advertising about it being available on 99.5 HD2, which has a much bigger range. It seems like iHeart doesn't see much of a future for IBOC.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 13, 2019 6:22:06 GMT -6
And for those keeping score at home, the station has been officially relicensed at its new/old frequency of 99.1 with its new/old callsign of K256AE. I honestly didn't think it would get the old callsign back but this makes my job a little easier.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 14, 2019 0:56:04 GMT -6
Here's another idea for iHeart. 99.1's signal doesn't get out of the immediate Salt Lake area and iHeart has 570AM which is being completely ignored. Put the Easy format on 570. Sure it's an AM, but having the AM option is better than white noise. Am I missing anything here?
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Feb 14, 2019 18:12:26 GMT -6
Remember when KNRS went to 105.7, now 105.9, and, I don't think it was too long after that 570 became Freedom 570? I want to say the call letters were KACP? (I always thought those would have been cool call letters for a progressive talk station called 570 K-Chat. KACP K-Chat Progressive, but anyway). That format didn't last very long and they went back to a simulcast with KNRS FM. I wonder if fans of Beck, Limbaaugh, Hanity, Ramsey, Noory etc. just prefer AM. Maybe some of them are old enough that they have those old rotery push button radios that only have AM. That seems hard to fathom in this day and age but, and this is total speculation on my part, when you couldn't get El Rushbow on AM anymore, maybe they received complaints so they switched it back. Heck, maybe they should move Easy to 105.9. Maybe not. That's iHeart's premier talk talent (slight pun intended) so they might not want them relegated to just the AM dial, especially since there are radios that don't even have AM anymore. Again, pure speculation.
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Post by David on Feb 14, 2019 18:32:53 GMT -6
Here's another idea for iHeart. 99.1's signal doesn't get out of the immediate Salt Lake area and iHeart has 570AM which is being completely ignored. Put the Easy format on 570. Sure it's an AM, but having the AM option is better than white noise. Am I missing anything here? Have you seen a breakdown of the AM ratings vs. FM for KNRS? I know that 570 has an excellent signal in Northern Utah both day & night thanks to its low dial position, but the FM signal is marginal there. Still, I wouldn't mind being able to hear Easy 99.1 up north, because 99.1 FM is occupied by what sounds like a distant country station in NE Ogden, and I rarely listen to KNRS except for Kim Komando's show. Putting Easy 99.1 on 570 would be akin to returning the frequency to its "KLUB 57" roots, which was an easy listening/MOR station for many years before the station started simulcasting KISN 97 in the late 1980's.
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Post by Timmy on Feb 15, 2019 8:24:30 GMT -6
I listened to 99.1 on my commute home yesterday. I drive from 106th south to Alpine Hwy... I thought I heard the tx was on Lake Mt. So I expected the signal to be weak in Sandy and get stronger as I headed up the Point and down into the Thanksgiving Pt area... but as soon as I made my way around the point, the signal just fell off entirely. Was I wrong in thinking the 99.1 tx is on Lake Mt? I thought recently, 99.1 was used to repeat 97.1 and cover the shadowed areas past the point, like Eagle Mtn and Alpine/Highland, etc... Am I way off or did something change?
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 17, 2019 2:28:05 GMT -6
Yes, Freedom 570 was KACP. I find it hard to believe that there are any significant number of AM only radios. FM only is more likely, especially when you factor in cell phones. 570 AM does get out further than 105.9 FM (570 covers all the way to the Idaho border for example) but they don't sell those numbers so it really doesn't make a lot of difference. It makes a lot more sense to just simulcast the FM than to program an entirely different format. The only cost is maintaining the AM transmitter site. There's no additional cost for acquiring programming, running it, trying to sell additional airtime and so on. That way they keep the station on the air for a minimal cost and if something comes up (like this: hint) it's available. I suppose the additional listeners couldn't hurt when selling to a national buyer, but it's really beside the point.
Moving Easy to 105.9 might be possible in the future but I don't see it now. Right now it's a complete unknown. On the other hand you do have a format that's doing well already in place. Rightly or wrongly the opinion in the broadcasting industry is that the future of radio is squarely on FM. That's why you have AM stations all over the country falling all over themselves to get on FM, whether it's a full power simulcast or a translator. That was the reason KSL and KNRS moved to FM over a decade ago, even though they're on pretty solid AM signals as well. Besides, if I was going to replace an iHeart FM with Easy it would be Rock 106.7, which is pretty ironic considering that station (at 106.5) had that format years ago. Easy has to prove itself first though.
David, I don't subscribe to Nielsen so no I don't have the AM vs FM breakdowns. The translator you're hearing is K256BB licensed to North Ogden. It translates Kix 96 KKEX.
Timmy, K256AE hasn't been on Lake Mountain for years. They had to go silent when what was then KUDE moved from 103.9 to 99.1 back in 2016 I believe. In the last couple of years before K256AE was kicked off it was indeed simulcasting ZHT. iHeart knew it was only a matter of time before it would have to go off the air but they needed something to put on it (see above.) That only lasted something like a year and a half.
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Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Feb 25, 2019 15:33:53 GMT -6
Sounds like iHeart is trying to feed 99.1 via 99.5 HD2 again. 99.1 is breaking up badly but is totally in sync with 99.5 HD2.
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Post by amanuensis on Feb 25, 2019 17:28:56 GMT -6
I have about given up listening to 99.1. It has more bad signal quality days than good. And I am liking the play list less than I thought I would, given the format. Too many sappy love songs and too much from the 90's and later.
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