Does anyone in the Washington, D.C. area know why Bonneville has recently
turned off the RDS and the stereo pilot pn both WWZZ and WWVZ? It also
sounds like someone has been mucking with the processing; they sound
"thinner". Is the rumored format flip finally in the works?

-Jeremy Powell

"news.verizon.net" wrote in message
...
Does anyone in the Washington, D.C. area know why Bonneville has recently
turned off the RDS and the stereo pilot pn both WWZZ and WWVZ? It also
sounds like someone has been mucking with the processing; they sound
"thinner". Is the rumored format flip finally in the works?

One could assume that they turned off the stereo in order to get better
coverage. RDS could have been turned off to get back the few-percent of
modulation it consumes.

WWZZ is a WAY-out rimshot, and has coverage problems in DC and northern
suburbs. Turning off the stereo gives them quite a few more dB signal to
noise ratio in poor signal areas.

WWVZ is only Class A, and was bought to try to help in the northwestern DC
suburbs. But it's way out on the hill west of Frederick, MD, so every
little bit of signal improvement helps - thus turn off stereo.


And don't think that I'm anti-stereo, after all I put on the first FM stereo
station in the DC area - 102.3 Bethesda. We suffered severe coverage
problems due to being just Class A, and compounded by being stereo. Rules
have changed and 102.3 now has 12-times the power we had, and a much better
antenna location at American U. They cover very well these days - in
stereo.


Long ago I characterized the present FM-stereo system as being the best mono
system among the various proposed stereo systems. By that I meant that it
degrades the mono coverage less than most of the other proposed stereo
systems. But it takes a beating in stereo coverage because of this.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message
...


One could assume that they turned off the stereo in order to get better
coverage. RDS could have been turned off to get back the few-percent of
modulation it consumes.

WWZZ is a WAY-out rimshot, and has coverage problems in DC and northern
suburbs. Turning off the stereo gives them quite a few more dB signal to
noise ratio in poor signal areas.

WWVZ is only Class A, and was bought to try to help in the northwestern DC
suburbs. But it's way out on the hill west of Frederick, MD, so every
little bit of signal improvement helps - thus turn off stereo.


Hmm...I know that the "reception issue" has plagued WWZZ for a long time and
I knew that improved reception is what drove Bonneville to turn off the
stereo on the 107.7 signal for WTOP-FM. I guess I just didn't realize that
the signal improvements were *that* significant. I hope they haven't
deluded themselves into blaming the signal rather than the format for their
current ratings situation...

I keep hearing rumors that Bonneville is looking for a broadcast signal for
their Federal News Radio brand and I suppose I was speculating that they
were tweaking "104" in preparation. It was just a thought.

- Jeremy Powell

"Jeremy Powell" wrote in message
...

I keep hearing rumors that Bonneville is looking for a broadcast signal
for
their Federal News Radio brand and I suppose I was speculating that they
were tweaking "104" in preparation. It was just a thought.

I rather doubt that WWZZ is a good candidate for Federal News Radio. FM
stations, even that one, are worth too much. AM has building penetration
problems, but 1120 might be a tolerable choice - but it may be having enough
success with brokered time to cost too much as well. Drive time coverage in
the winter would be a problem for most AM stations.... except for 980 which
must be terribly underperforming at present.