Louisville radio station's wimpy signals

[teebird1012]

I can get Cincinnati stations in Lexington and I'm not complaining. Much better radio in Cincy than in Lexington!! NO comparison.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by teebird1012

I can get Cincinnati stations in Lexington and I'm not complaining. Much better radio in Cincy than in Lexington!! NO comparison.

Which Cincy stations can you get in Lexington? My family lives in the SW part of town and I can get 2 Louisville stations but not any from Cincy. Seems like Cincy's signals break up around Georgetown & Paris

[genghis_ky]

First of all, your comparison isn't valid because it doesn't take antenna height into account. Go look at Chicago's "wimpy signals" and you'll find almost all of them are less than 10,000 watts.

That's because an FCC class B signal is allowed 50,000 watts with an antenna height of 150 meters above average terrain. If you go higher than 150 meters, you must reduce your power by a corresponding amount to give you the same coverage you would have had at 50,000 watts @ 150 meters.

Kentucky is Class C country, where you can have 100,000 watts at potentially up to 600 meters, but Indiana is class B country where the limit is 50,000 watts at 150 meters.

When the big Louisville FMs were contructed, the transmitter sites were usually built in the Indiana knobs to take advantage of the terrain height there. That made all of them Class B.

Your corrected list for Louisville should look like this:

100,000 (97.5)
50,000 (98.9)
50,000 (100.5)
50,000 (95.7)
50,000 (106.9)
50,000 (99.7)
50,000 (89.3
50,000 (103.1)

Originally Posted by censusdata

I found the listings for signal power for most US radio stations and it confirmed what I had thought: Louisville radio stations have some wimpy signals.

Highest Effective radiated power (signal strength) in Lexington

100,000 (91.3, 92.9, 98.1,
85,000 (94.5)
50,000 (104.5)
20,000 (100.1)

Highest Effective radiated power (signal strength) in Louisville

100,000 (97.5)
50,000 (98.9)
37,500 (100.5)
28,500 (95.7)
24,500 (106.9)
24,000 (99.7)
21,000 (89.3)

Template:Louisville Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Template:Lexington Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[genghis_ky]

The strongest FMs in Shelbyville (besides WKRD and WXLN) are:

1. WLUE 100.5 (73.0 dbU)
2. WAMZ 97.5 (67.5)
3. WQNU 103.1 (67.3)
4. WUKY Lex 91.3 (62.1)
5. WDJX 99.7 (60.2)
6. WUOL 90.5 (60.0)
7. WFPL 89.3 (60.0)
8. WVEZ 106.9 (59.9)

So of the 8 most powerful Louisville or Lexington stations coming into Shelbyville, Louisville has 7. Check it yourself:

AM FM Zip Signal by Zip Code

Originally Posted by censusdata

I can get most Lexington stations crystal clear in Shelbyville, but only a couple of Louisville stations - and Shelbyville is closer to Louisville! I can even get a couple of E-town and Meade Co stations in Shelbyville.

It seems that most TN cities have very strong radio signals. I can get several Knoxville stations in Somerset, despite the signal having to go over several large mountains. I can also get some Nashville stations well north of Mammoth Cave

[censusdata]

genghis is right that Louisville does several very strong stations signal wise. I can get 97.5, 99.7, 100.5, & 106.9 very good from Nicholasville all the way into northern Lincoln County as well as on the ridge tops in Casey County - granted those aren't exactly my favorite radios to begin with but they do add variety when traveling.

Anymore it seems that Cumulus and all those other crappy corporations running all our radio stations have decided that the Louisville and Lexington markets should be exclusively targeted toward the demographic known as "Middle Age Rednecks" Based on what they play you'd think it was 1985 in a trailer park. WLRS and WXZZ switching format from only alternative rock to a mix of alt and 1980s hair rock - Lou's plays slightly more alt, Lex's play 80% old stuff. If I'm inside I only listen to stations from Cincinnati or Chicago online.