Ithaca's New CHR War
Oct 22, 2008 8:57:19 GMT -5
Post by beejus on Oct 22, 2008 8:57:19 GMT -5
I know Ithaca is pretty small-market, but they have one of the more interesting CHR battles brewing in the country.
Ithaca, because of it's terrain, has a limited number of radio signals. You can hear scattered Binghamton and Syracuse stations, but not with strength to get them inside buildings. So other than Cornell's WVBR, Ithaca College's WICB, and a few other Non-Comm stations, all of the local stations are owned by Saga Communications. (The FCC allows it because they believe the Syracuse and Binghamton stations can be heard enough to be considered part of the market.)
About a month back now, Finger Lakes Radio moved their station on 95.9 closer to Ithaca, down the dial to 95.5, and flipped the format to Z95-5. Ithaca's Hit Music Channel. Ithaca finally gets a CHR.
Fast-forward about a week. Saga will have nothing of this, so they take a 250 watt translator on 103.3 FM and sign on Hits 103.3. Ithaca's Hit Music Station.
How can they get away with this?
They put "Hits 103.3" on the HD-2 of one of their full-power signals, and then threw it on the translator, which so far the FCC hasn't frowned upon.
So within the span of a week, Ithaca got two CHRs. Who will win?
Give the stations a listen and see what you think. Z95-5 is commercial free until Monday I believe. Hits is in the middle of their 103 days commercial free.
Z95-5: www.z955.net
Hits 103.3: www.hits1033.com
Ithaca, because of it's terrain, has a limited number of radio signals. You can hear scattered Binghamton and Syracuse stations, but not with strength to get them inside buildings. So other than Cornell's WVBR, Ithaca College's WICB, and a few other Non-Comm stations, all of the local stations are owned by Saga Communications. (The FCC allows it because they believe the Syracuse and Binghamton stations can be heard enough to be considered part of the market.)
About a month back now, Finger Lakes Radio moved their station on 95.9 closer to Ithaca, down the dial to 95.5, and flipped the format to Z95-5. Ithaca's Hit Music Channel. Ithaca finally gets a CHR.
Fast-forward about a week. Saga will have nothing of this, so they take a 250 watt translator on 103.3 FM and sign on Hits 103.3. Ithaca's Hit Music Station.
How can they get away with this?
They put "Hits 103.3" on the HD-2 of one of their full-power signals, and then threw it on the translator, which so far the FCC hasn't frowned upon.
So within the span of a week, Ithaca got two CHRs. Who will win?
Give the stations a listen and see what you think. Z95-5 is commercial free until Monday I believe. Hits is in the middle of their 103 days commercial free.
Z95-5: www.z955.net
Hits 103.3: www.hits1033.com
