• My Account
  • Your Profile
  • Member Archives
Monday, June 16, 2025
Cart / $0.00

No products in the cart.

Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links
No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
Fybush.com
No Result
View All Result

NorthEast Radio Watch 9/26/2022: MaxxCasting Makes News

Scott Fybush by Scott Fybush
September 26, 2022
in Free Content, Northeast Radio Watch
1

In this week’s issue… Toronto FM seeks boosters, NAB opposes MaxxCasting – Audacy makes Philly shifts – Another college FM surrenders license – 93Q fills openings

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*On-channel FM boosters were all over the news this past week, in several different contexts that can be confusing not only for outsiders but even for people in the industry trying to make sense of some of the new technologies promising to fill in holes in signal coverage and even to allow some split programming feeds.

The news first, and then we’ll offer some explanation and analysis in our subscribers-only section:

In Toronto, Stingray has been trying hard to make a success out of the combination of variety hits and interactive talk at its “93.5 Today Radio” (CFXJ), but one of the obstacles has been the station’s weak signal compared to its full-market competitors who broadcast from the CN Tower. Wedged in tightly between other co- and adjacent-channel stations in the region, there’s no option for a power increase on CFXJ’s main signal from downtown Toronto – but there are areas in the metro where that signal should be better if not for dense new construction and electrical noise.

Stingray was the first Canadian broadcaster to begin working with MaxxCasting, the US-based company that’s trying to improve booster technology, and last week it submitted an application for two additional 93.5 signals that will be synchronized with the main CFXJ transmitter. In North York, CFXJ-FM-2 would run 285 watts in its main lobe with a tight directional signal aimed north up the Yonge Street corridor from a condo rooftop near Yonge and Steeles, while in Mississauga, CFXJ-FM-1 would be another 285-watt DA signal aimed west down the Highway 403/Eglinton Ave. corridor from a condo rooftop off Hurontario Street.

*In New York City, Univision Radio had tried an earlier generation of on-channel boosters to improve the signal of WQBU (92.7 Garden City), the class A signal for which it had paid a record $60 million in an earlier era of station valuation. While that 92.7 signal is good over much of Queens and Nassau County from its main site right along the Long Island Expressway at the Nassau line, it was a tough catch in denser parts of Manhattan and in southern Queens, leading to the boosters near Penn Station and JFK Airport.

The 92.7 signal changed hands last year from Univision to Family Stations, which changed it to WFME-FM, and last week Family notified the FCC it was cancelling the licenses for those two boosters, leaving the main WFME-FM signal to stand on its own again. WFME-FM-1 had been just a 99-watt signal from Tenth Avenue and W. 33rd Street, while WFME-FM-2 was a directional 1250-watt signal covering a chunk of eastern Brooklyn and southern Queens.

*And on the national level, the NAB offered up a 70-page opposition to MaxxCasting’s “ZoneCasting” proposal, which would allow on-channel boosters to break away from the main transmitter to provide localized advertising, news, weather and traffic information. The NAB filing focused less on the technology behind ZoneCasting and more on the business model, citing high costs that it says would make it economically impractical, as well as raising character issues about Chris Devine, the longtime broadcaster who’s behind MaxxCasting’s parent company, GeoBroadcast Solutions.

SPRING IS HERE…

And if you don’t have your Tower Site Calendar, now’s the time!

If you’ve been waiting for the price to come down, it’s now 30 percent off!

This year’s cover is a beauty — the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. Both the towers and the landscape are gorgeous.

And did you see? Tower Site of the Week is back, featuring this VOA site as it faces an uncertain future. 

Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (buy the calendar to find out which ones!).

We still have a few of our own calendars left – as well as a handful of Radio Historian Calendars – and we are still shipping regularly.

The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025, too. Why not order both?) 

Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the new calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too! 

 

Log In

Join Now | Lost Password?

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • More
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
Previous Post

Site of the Week 9/23/2022: Boston’s Prudential Tower

Next Post

Site of the Week 9/30/2022: WRKO, Boston

Scott Fybush

Scott Fybush

Editor/Publisher, NorthEast Radio Watch and Tower Site of the Week

Related Posts

NorthEast Radio Watch 6/9/2025: Urgency Grows for Public Media
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 6/9/2025: Urgency Grows for Public Media

In this week’s issue… Public broadcasters plead for help - Connoisseur restructures leadership - Pennsylvania AM goes dark - Succession plan for veteran college radio manager

by Scott Fybush
June 9, 2025
NorthEast Radio Watch 6/2/2025: A WOW Moment for WATR
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 6/2/2025: A WOW Moment for WATR

In this week’s issue… Car dealership goes terrestrial - Lawsuit uncovers Connoisseur's attempted bids for Audacy, Cox - New newsroom for WNBC, WNJU - Remembering Buffalo's Deeb, Batavia's Platt

by Scott Fybush
June 4, 2025
Top of the Tower Podcast #064: Talking Canada with Broadcast Dialogue’s Connie Thiessen
Free Content

Top of the Tower Podcast #064: Talking Canada with Broadcast Dialogue’s Connie Thiessen

In this week's episode - It was a longer hiatus than we intended, but Top of the Tower is back with a new spring season of conversations with some of the most interesting people in radio. This week, we move north...

by Scott Fybush
May 28, 2025
NorthEast Radio Watch 5/26/2025: A Holiday Free Preview
Free Content

NorthEast Radio Watch 5/26/2025: A Holiday Free Preview

In this week’s issue… Purchase price revealed for WRCR - Lionel lands overnight gig - Another Worcester AM move - NY anchor on the air during labor - Canada flips impending

by Scott Fybush
May 26, 2025
Next Post
Transmitter room

Site of the Week 9/30/2022: WRKO, Boston

Please login to join discussion

Log In

Join Now | Lost Password?

Get Fybush.com Updates

Get Fybush.com updates emailed directly to your inbox!

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • About/Contact
    • Scott Fybush
    • Copyright Information
    • Privacy Policy
  • Fybush Media
  • Links

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.