Hartford FM

[n1lzc@juno.com (Mark Casey)]

West Peak in Meriden is the location for these Hartford area station,
most of which, by
the way, are on separate towers  100-200 feet apart. 
WPKT  90.5  NPR   (Meriden)
WWYZ  92.5  Country   (Waterbury)
WZMX   93.7  70's     (Hartford)
WKSS  95.7  CHR   (Hartford-Meriden)
WHCN  105.9   Classic Rock (Hartford)
WDRC-FM  102.9  Oldies  (Hartford)
Did I miss anyone?
Most of the Hartford licensed stations started up there, some dating back
to the 40's
The story of the oldest licensed FM is a tangled web between WDRC, (was
off fora 
while inthe 50's),WZMX (now on WDRC's original freq.), and WHCN (an owner
at one
time in the 50's-this gets real messy). Radio World had a series on this
last year or
the year before and I'm not sure it's sorted out yet!
Anyway, WKSS was the only Meriden station but was on early enough to get
the dual
COL designation and at that time, and even today, to an extent, Meriden
wasn't a suburb of Hartford or New Haven but a sizable city 50,000, in
its own right. I believe
Meriden still has a daily paper.
Oops!
WM??  104.1 Modern Rock  (Waterbury)
It's a great site, being a 1000+ ft hill in an area where most everything
else is 50-300
except for a couple of like bumps East and West. City grade coverage to
Hartford, Waterbury and almost New Haven.
Someone broadcasted from atop West Peak at one time too, it might have
been one
of the stations or CH 53 (Waterbury). There is still an old piano in the
93.7/90.5
transmitter building.
Take a look at the ratings and you'll find each station has about the
same share in Hartford & New Haven markets, while the  Hartford stations
that have TX sites in 
Farmington (WRCH) or Avon(WTIC,WCCC) have larger Hartford shares, smaller
New Haven shares and decent audiences in Springfield Too!!
It's true that the kid on the corner with his boombox, and that busy mom
with a Radio
Shack radio in the kitchen doesn't want to listen to Mr. Scratchy no
matter how good the format is!!

Lots of positive responses on the discussion group night on Ham radio.
More to come soon!
Thanks
Mark Casey
near Springfield  

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