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WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
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MWmetalhead
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WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by MWmetalhead » Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:15 pm

...so reports WOOD-TV. That sucks. Nice upgrades were completed not that long ago.



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Ben Zonia
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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by Ben Zonia » Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:01 pm

I assume you mean WOOD-FM 106.9. What kind of upgrades did they do?

It's always been confusing when they changed 105.7 into WSRW.


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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by MWmetalhead » Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:45 pm

Correct, with TX site in middle of Muskegon County.

Not sure of the exact upgrades, but about 18 months ago, I began noticing a major improvement in signal strength in eastern Kent County along with improved processing.

106.9 from Spring Arbor used to wreak havoc with WOOD-FM in the Lake Odessa area along I-96. That no longer seems to be an issue.

The HD signal also got out impressively well following the upgrade. Noticeably better than sister station WSNX.



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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by bosco » Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:48 pm

This is the Muskegon transmitter site, 106.9, now WOOD-FM. I worked for them on a contract basis for a few years , some 20+ years ago. This is a broadcast engineers 2nd worse nightmare. Only thing worse is getting called that the station is off the air, and you drive to the site, to find the tower down. Their engineer, Rich, is a good guy, and will take care of this properly. What a mess.



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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by wsummers » Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:56 pm




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48125er
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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by 48125er » Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:34 am

I’ll see if I can get WSAE here in Greenville, maybe I can get 107.1 from Saginaw.

105.3 suffered a similar debacle in 2017 or 18 if I recall



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Ben Zonia
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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by Ben Zonia » Tue Jun 22, 2021 2:52 am

bosco wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:48 pm
This is the Muskegon transmitter site, 106.9, now WOOD-FM. I worked for them on a contract basis for a few years , some 20+ years ago. This is a broadcast engineers 2nd worse nightmare. Only thing worse is getting called that the station is off the air, and you drive to the site, to find the tower down. Their engineer, Rich, is a good guy, and will take care of this properly. What a mess.
The late Bill Sanderson got that very call in the middle of the night when the WCRZ tower was sabotaged and collapsed.

The obvious solution would be for WOOD-FM and WSNX to have auxiliaries at each other's tower site rather than just at the same site. They could have a single broadband antenna for the AUXes on each tower. That's what stations do in Detroit and the other big cities. Otherwise, in other disasters like the two scenarios mentioned, the stations are off or at low power for months. They're close enough to have substantial AUXes at each other's sites.

I guess the obvious obstacle in these cases is getting corporate to spend the money to prepare for this.


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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by MWmetalhead » Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:30 am

Indeed, it will be interesting to see how close (or not) WOOD-FM is to full power once the station returns to the air.

If we're talking Class A or even B1 type power, the signal in the heart of the market will not be any good.



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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by Ben Zonia » Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:01 am

I can't remember why 104.5 and 106.9 can't collocate. 104.5 is short spaced to WILZ under Section 73.215, and 106.9 is close to being short spaced to WCKC. But the two towers have the advantage of it being possible to use the other as an AUX or STA if necessary. They might be able to rig up a low power STA at the WTKG site. I just remembered that when they were authorized, they could not be closer than 40 miles to WTNR 107.3 and WVGR 104.1. Under Docket 80-90 and subsequent related Dockets, that requirement increased to 46 miles. The 400 kHz restriction caused WMRR 101.7 to almost be pushed into Lake Michigan when WBFX 101.3 wanted to move its tower to the old WLAV-FM tower. Pathfinder bought 101.7 to do it. Section 73.207 went from 40 to 43 miles and then 44 miles for WMRR to be Class B1.


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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by andymuskegon » Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:39 am

i have a better idea. give 104.5 and 106.9 back to the city of license


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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by jesusjenny » Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:55 pm

Yes. I think many have forgotten that both of these were Muskegon based stations until Iheart snagged them 20+ years ago and turned them into GR stations basically and turned Muskegon into a wasteland flanker. Obviously 104.5 first and then later 106.9.



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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by Ben Zonia » Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:18 pm

I believe that the towers were already there. I'll look for the History Cards. They might have done some bay mounting optimization, but it only has to get a few miles before it hits Lake Michigan. It's the formats that have abandoned Muskegon. Just about every station optimized their TL so that it was 40 miles from the Second Adjacents and maximized land coverage. Actually it was 39.5 miles, rounding to 40 in many many cases in Zone I. WOOD 1300 should have long ago done proof radials and let the nulls out in the Daytime if they could. Also, situations on the first adjacent on 1290 Greenfield, WI and cochannel 1300 LaGrange, IL might be improved. They bought out WHGR 1290 and turned in the license when they probably could have used measured radials to not overlap. I don't know why people keep using M-3. WLS 890 did extensive site testing when they tried to move to Addison. Look at WKPR 4000 watts nondirectional on 1440 and WION 4700 watts nondirectional on 1430. They used measured radials. Those are online with the applications.

WQWQ/WSNX was always there. Put up a higher tower next to it. WMUS-FM/WOOD-FM moved, but it was well before IHM bought it as I recall. Not on the History Card, so it was after 1980 or so.

Found this note on CDBS.

BPH-19820517AU Granted and built in 1983

CP TO CHG. TL: .35 MI. S OF M-46 (APPLE AVE.) & .12 E OF
HILTON PARK RD., MUSKEGON, MI,CHG. HAAT: 483' H&V & MAKE
CHGS. IN ANT. SYS. 43 13 47 86 05 05
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION UNDER SECTION 1.1305


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MWmetalhead
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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by MWmetalhead » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:04 pm

WSNX changed its primary focus to Grand Rapids in 1996, when the station was still under Goodrich ownership. For a spell, the studios were on Horizon Dr. near I-96 and 28th Street.

Given the fact the station sold for $10 million and witnessed large gains in Kent County listenership following that shift in strategy, I'd say it was a wise move.



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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by andymuskegon » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:36 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:04 pm
WSNX changed its primary focus to Grand Rapids in 1996, when the station was still under Goodrich ownership. For a spell, the studios were on Horizon Dr. near I-96 and 28th Street.

Given the fact the station sold for $10 million and witnessed large gains in Kent County listenership following that shift in strategy, I'd say it was a wise move.
however, it doesn't negate the fact that all that's left in muskegon xmitter wise gets out to coopersville effectively. this entire community lost it's out of market reach and that's considered a win?


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Re: WOOD-FM transmitter fried by lightning strike

Post by MWmetalhead » Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:21 pm

The economy of Muskegon County doesn't warrant multiple 50 kW blowtorches hypertargeting the area.

Look at Benton Harbor / St. Joe. The class B behemoth there (99.9) changed its focus to South Bend years ago. The "local" stations are all Class A (6,000 watts equivalent or less).

Mt. Pleasant - similar story with WCEN-FM.

Best comparable case might be Jackson, where 94.1 and 106.1 shifted attention (and studios) to Lansing decades ago. Until a series of AM translators signed on within the last decade, WKHM-FM was the ONLY commercial FM station with a primary focus on Jackson and with studios there.

Livingston County - 250,000 residents - only one commercial FM station is licensed to the whole county. That would be 93.5 WHMI.



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