![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
WTMD radio (the prog/indie-ish music station I found a while back) is normally on 89.7 HD, but was rebroadcasting off of 105.5 FM (very weak rebroadcasting signal of 38 watts). The station was sort of receivable by car radio on the way to and from work. Last week the 105.5 FM signal suddenly improved - I could hear them clearly the whole way. The only problem was, they were playing bluegrass music. At first I thought this was just a special program, but then it never reverted back to being a prog station.
Not again. First WHFS and now WTMD (and I just found them this year). At least I like bluegrass to some extent.
Anyway, I asked what happened. Their response is below. They are now rebroadcasting at 89.7 FM, so Baltimore & Ellicott city can hear them perfectly with or without HD. They also stream from http://www.wtmd.org, which is probably how I'll get them from now on.
Excuse to use disgruntled emoticon:
>:[
==========================================================================
Helen,
Thank you so much for writing.
We're bumming about the loss of 105.5 in Northern Virginia too. WTMD was contacted by the owner of that small "translator" station several months ago. A translator station is a very low power station, in this case 38 watts-compared to WTMD's 10,000 watts, that must, by FCC regulations, rebroadcast another station. The owner of the station made such a request to WTMD and we agreed.
A few weeks ago, the owner of the station expressed a desire to increase the power of his station to 250 watts. Sounds great of course, but the FCC regulations in that class of translator stations requires the owner to rebroadcast a station from the market, not from out of market. So WTMD could no longer be broadcast on 105.5. We value our relationship with WAMU too, and while we are bummed for WTMD and our listeners, we are thrilled that Bluegrass has a home on the air.
Unfortunately, we did not have as much notice as we would have liked to inform our listeners.
Let me know if I can help answer any other questions.
Thanks for listening and your support!
=======================================================================
Not again. First WHFS and now WTMD (and I just found them this year). At least I like bluegrass to some extent.
Anyway, I asked what happened. Their response is below. They are now rebroadcasting at 89.7 FM, so Baltimore & Ellicott city can hear them perfectly with or without HD. They also stream from http://www.wtmd.org, which is probably how I'll get them from now on.
Excuse to use disgruntled emoticon:
>:[
==========================================================================
Helen,
Thank you so much for writing.
We're bumming about the loss of 105.5 in Northern Virginia too. WTMD was contacted by the owner of that small "translator" station several months ago. A translator station is a very low power station, in this case 38 watts-compared to WTMD's 10,000 watts, that must, by FCC regulations, rebroadcast another station. The owner of the station made such a request to WTMD and we agreed.
A few weeks ago, the owner of the station expressed a desire to increase the power of his station to 250 watts. Sounds great of course, but the FCC regulations in that class of translator stations requires the owner to rebroadcast a station from the market, not from out of market. So WTMD could no longer be broadcast on 105.5. We value our relationship with WAMU too, and while we are bummed for WTMD and our listeners, we are thrilled that Bluegrass has a home on the air.
Unfortunately, we did not have as much notice as we would have liked to inform our listeners.
Let me know if I can help answer any other questions.
Thanks for listening and your support!
=======================================================================