98.9 is being sold

[ChrisWL1980]

If I'm not mistaken, 91.3 WCSG was the first non-comm religious station in West Michigan, signing on in 1973. At that time, I think the only other local station in the non-comm portion of the FM band was Grand Valley's 88.5 WSRX (WGVU-FM) which I believe only ran 10 watts of power then.

I think 89.3 WXYB (WGNB) came on about 1988 or '89. The rest of the non-comms were added in the mid- to late '90s or later. 99.3 WJQK may have been the first to introduce a "contemporary Christian" type format (at least on FM; I think 1480 AM tried it earlier) as WCSG was largely talk, teaching, classical and easy listening music in its early years.

MW forgot 91.7 WMCQ (comes in pretty well in the GR metro; it's licensed to Muskegon but its tower is in Newaygo County southwest of Grant). 1260 WPNW also has a second translator at 98.9 in Holland/Zeeland itself.
I have no trouble picking up WUGN whenever I visit friends in GR. In fact, I seem to recall that WUGN used to even have a listing in Grand Rapids phone directories in the '80s and '90s.

[Ben Zonia]

It seems like WCSG 91.3 was the first NCE-FM band station in the Grand Rapids Area to get a substantial ERP. By the time they applied, WKZO-TV was considered to be the CBS station in the market, and WJIM-TV 6 only had marginal viewership. That and the fact that 91.3 is near the upper edge of the NCE-FM allowed that. I remember that WEHB and WGNR only had very small ERP when they went on the air. It seems like WGNR was just 9 watts when it started.

WJIM-TV 90.5 was allowed very close to WJIM-TV, because of the interference ratio, and WUOM 91.7 was very close to the top of the NCE-FM Band, with with high ERP. WDET, WFBE, WMUK, and WVGR were all in the Commercial part of the band 92-108 MHz, and were not subject to Channel 6 restrictions near the Grade B contour. If you look at some History Cards, you'll see that one or more of those applied first for 88-92 MHz, but were objected to by Channel 6.

WEMU had to put a WJIM-TV/WLNS translator in Ann Arbor to get the interference population counts down.

[rugratsonline]

WEMU had to put a WJIM-TV/WLNS translator in Ann Arbor to get the interference population counts down.

If only to appease the station and the FCC, as Ann Arbor was within the Detroit market.

[Ben Zonia]

WEMU had to put a WJIM-TV/WLNS translator in Ann Arbor to get the interference population counts down.

If only to appease the station and the FCC, as Ann Arbor was within the Detroit market.

The translator was authorized when WLNS 6 was still analog and still on physical Channel 6.

Ann Arbor was well within the Grade B analog contour of WLNS.

https://www.fccdata.org/?lang=en&appid= ... acid=74420

Since there was no Commercial frequency available, they had to go to the translator exception. WDET, WFBE, WVGR, and WMUK were authorized when 92-108 MHz frequencies were still available. WEMU was only 10 watts TPO when it was first authorized, so the interference count was very small. Note the opposition filed by Gross Telecasting when they upgraded.

WEMU History Card.

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/ ... r_id=70255

[MWmetalhead]

WLNS-TV's analog signal stunk in Ann Arbor; I can attest to that. I do recall hearing audio bleed over from either WCBN or WEMU, too.

The translator on channel 67 was pretty useless. Snowy picture and fuzzy audio just two miles from the TX site.

[Ben Zonia]

WLNS-TV's analog signal stunk in Ann Arbor; I can attest to that. I do recall hearing audio bleed over from either WCBN or WEMU, too.

The translator on channel 67 was pretty useless. Snowy picture and fuzzy audio just two miles from the TX site.

The WLNS signal was probably very dependent on the exact receiving location. On the North Campus, near the top of the terrain that they were going to put the WUOM-TV tower, being on one side of a building or another determined whether residents watched NBC on WDIV Channel 4 or WILX Channel 10. In an apartment I sublet on Fuller Rd., there was a big hill behind it, and you could get WWCK 105.5 on the North side of the building, and WXEZ, what's now WQQO 105.5 on the other side up the hill. WUOM 91.7 is not line of sight into parts of Ann Arbor also.

The Longley Rice Map, WLNS, though on physical channel 14 now, shows huqe differences in signal in different parts of Ann Arbor. Channel 6 would have some, though not nearly as much variation. Zoom way in and put the Open Street Map. You'll see more than 40 dB variation in different parts.

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php ... te=1&map=Y

WKAR-FM would be a good model for the signal of the old physical Channel 6.

https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php ... beb7&map=Y

[ftballfan]

It seems like WCSG 91.3 was the first NCE-FM band station in the Grand Rapids Area to get a substantial ERP. By the time they applied, WKZO-TV was considered to be the CBS station in the market, and WJIM-TV 6 only had marginal viewership. That and the fact that 91.3 is near the upper edge of the NCE-FM allowed that. I remember that WEHB and WGNR only had very small ERP when they went on the air. It seems like WGNR was just 9 watts when it started.

WJIM-TV 90.5 was allowed very close to WJIM-TV, because of the interference ratio, and WUOM 91.7 was very close to the top of the NCE-FM Band, with with high ERP. WDET, WFBE, WMUK, and WVGR were all in the Commercial part of the band 92-108 MHz, and were not subject to Channel 6 restrictions near the Grade B contour. If you look at some History Cards, you'll see that one or more of those applied first for 88-92 MHz, but were objected to by Channel 6.

WEMU had to put a WJIM-TV/WLNS translator in Ann Arbor to get the interference population counts down.

In Kent County, I wouldn't have been surprised if more people watched WWTV for CBS (especially Rockford/Sparta and points north) than WJIM.

Also, according to the history cards, WMUK started on 91.1 with low power in 1951 before moving to 102.1 in 1955.

[ChrisWL1980]

WITI had to have been something of a headache in the western fringes of the WJIM-TV/WLNS coverage area, especially during the summer tropo season.
I was never once able to pick up the channel 67 translator signal when I lived in Saline, for what that's worth. Of course, my rabbit ears often had trouble getting in Detroit VHFs. Toledo stations came in better, though we had Detroit on cable. Meanwhile, the WLNS audio on 87.75 came in better than the TV station did.