Most powerful radio station in the world coming toFitchburg???????

[Peter Murray]

Applying some literary license, I suspect "most powerful" is intended
to mean that the station wields power, similarly to the "The most
powerful station in the most powerful city" slogan of the "new"
WMAL-FM (105.9, Woodbridge VA), with a signal that is decidedly not
the zenith of ERP.

The stations broadcasting from the top of Empire *do* cover the most
population of any station in the USA, with the crown going to WQHT
(97.1 New York), with 6700W @408m. Audience = power...

-Peter

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 9:52 PM, Dave Doherty <dave@skywaves.net> wrote:
> To determine the "biggest" FM station, you have to include the effects of
> effective radiated power and antenna height above average terrain (ERP in kW
> @ HAAT in meters).
>
> The FCC uses the concept "reference distance" which is the result of a
> calculation that takes both parameters and produces a distance to the 60 dBu
> contour.
>
> Based on the reference distance, the North American FM coverage winner is
> KVYB in Santa Barbara. 105 kW @ 905 m produces a 60 dBu reference distance
> of 103.9 km.
>
> By contrast, WXNY is a mere 6 kW @ 415 m. The reference distance is only
> 52.3 km, about half that of KVYB.  On the same mast at 4TS, three stations
> (WQHT, WPLJ, and WCBS-FM) are operating with 6.7 kW @ 408 m, generating a 60
> dBu reference distance of 52.9 km, slightly greater than that of WXNY.
>
> Based on raw power, not only is WXNY not even remotely the most powerful
> station in the world, there are 6,169 FM stations in the US with more power,
> and 471 more in Canada and Mexico.
>
> All told, there are 28 FM stations in North America with greater than 100 kW
> ERP.
>
> The most powerful FM station in North America is 380 kW CFPLFM in London,
> ON. With an antenna height of 270 m AAT, the reference distance is 83.3 km.
> Height matters, and they don't have anywhere near as much as KVYB.
>
> The highest common site in North America is Sandia Crest, serving the
> Albuquerque and Santa Fe area. The stations there are about 1260 m AAT ,
> with 60 dBu reference distances around 92 km for the Class C stations that
> are derated from 100 kW to around 20 kW based on the height.
>
> WHOM on Mt Washington has 48 kW @ 1141 m AAT.  The 60 dBu reference distance
> is 99.9 km.
>
> The most powerful US station is WBCT in Grand Rapids with 320 kW at 238 m
> AAT, for a 60 dBu reference distance of 78.7 km.
>
> Now if you're talking population, any station in NY or LA has an edge, but
> with other stations on 4TS having larger reference distances, WXNY doesn't
> even win that battle.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Mario Gonzalez Jr.
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 7:23 PM
> To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
> Subject: Re: Most powerful radio station in the world coming
> toFitchburg???????
>
>
> I'm curious about stations that on the air proclaim themselves as the
> most powerful station in the world.  X96.3 (WXNY-FM) in New York says
> the following in Spanish at the top of each hour.  "From the top (point)
> of the Empire State Building with the most powerful signal in the world.
> this is X96.3 ...."  I laugh every time I hear this proclamation!
>
> I see that WHOM says that they have the largest FM coverage in USA on
> their website.
>
> Are there any other claims by radio stations of the most powerful
> station, etc.?
>
> Mario
>
>
>