Re: How many "trimulcasts" out there?

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>Rory Francisco wrote:
>
>The WDRC trimulcast sounds like it's satellite, though, since the DJ's
>never mention any call letters (they just say "on your Original Hits
>station") followed by a recorded announcement like "AM 1360, WDRC."  Most
>trimulcasts tend to use one name, like Y-107, for all three stations.

        Based on my listening, they are using the separate recorded
identifiers for each station at the end of songs both when they're live and
when they're using the satellite (which they do, mostly from 6 p.m. to 5
a.m.). The live DJ counts on the identifiers firing for all three stations
at once and comes in when the WDRC one is over. The live DJs also sometimes
mention all three stations in the course of their announcing, although as
you say they mostly use the generic "original hits" liners that go with
their satellite service. But that's OK because the call letters are getting
mentioned at just about every break. It's another way of doing a
trimulcast.
        As a DXer, I wish more satellite stations would use those
identifiers at the end of songs. I have presumed that the satellite feed
carries a cue tone to fire them (there's always a pause before the
satellite DJ comes in at the times when there's an availability for the
stations to do this). I find it hard to figure why a station would NOT use
these opportunities to mention its calls, frequency, or whatever positioner
it is using.

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