The Total FM Guide

The first Triangle Total FM Guide was published by Dave Searls two years ago. It was, for Dave, a disaster. The experience of selling copies of the guide to area stereo shops, which, in turn, sold them to the public, was “too awful to explain . . . In the long run, what was to have cleared a couple of hundred bucks for me ended up costing me much time and life expectancy.”

Dave has updated the guide for this issue of THE SUN, and written a new introduction. He emphasizes, “This is the only one of its kind. Anywhere. As far as I know, almost nobody in the popular end of the radio or hi-fi business even acknowledges the ability of FM waves to go beyond the horizon. My discovery that they do is shared only by a few thousand hobbyists and some local folks who were enlightened by the first guide.”

In preparing this new version, Dave was helped by a fancy new Mitsubishi DA-FIO tuner, courtesy of Vickers. He also used his old KLH tuner and two different antennas, a Finco FM-5 and a Jerrold QFM-9, the latter also courtesy of Vickers.

— Ed.

 

Would you use a $15,000 Porsche just to haul groceries?

Then why would you use your FM tuner or stereo receiver just to get a few local stations?

If your answer is “because that’s all I can get,” you’re wrong. You can get more. Lots more. Would you believe well over 100 different stations? It’s true.

If your answer is “because that’s all I care to hear,” then you might like to know what you’re missing.

Right now I’ll turn on the FM set. We’ll start at the bottom of the dial and see what’s interesting.

At 88.1 we’ve got a geology course. At 88.5, some bluegrass. Progressive soul on 88.9. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony on 89.1. Hard rock on 89.3. A trans-sexual interview on 89.5. The Rev. Billy Something on 90.1. Silky jazz on 90.9. Some baroque stuff on 91.5. Further on up the dial is a choice of several more classical stations, some progressive rock, and the usual assortment of religion, country, top 40, and music to snore by. A lot of junk in there, for sure, but some gems too.

Those good stations come from places like Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Va., Charleston, S.C., and Warrenton, N.C. (Warrenton, by the way, plays jazz most of the time. I mention the station because you can get it even with an ordinary radio and few people seem to know it’s there. It’s called WVSP and it’s just below WUNC on the dial.)

All you need to get those stations is a directional outdoor antenna and a means to rotate it in appropriate directions. Good antennas start at about $25. Rotators start at about $35. You can skip the rotator and use your hand to turn the antenna’s supporting pole. That’s what I do. Your hand, of course, is free. The other hardware (lead-in wire, mounting brackets) varies in price. Sometimes you can get the whole setup for $50-$80. And sometimes you can just find some junk poles and wire in an abandoned house or in the woods, which is what I did.

Look at it this way. The air is an invisible stream of FM signals coming from stations up to 300 miles away. The local stations you can grab with ease. To get the Big Ones, you’ve got to use a net. The fact is, most people don’t know about that stream. They know about the TV stream, because you need an antenna for TV. But we grew up on AM, and all we needed for that was a radio. The only AM antennas we ever see are on cars. Who ever heard of a rooftop antenna for a radio? Well, FM has more in common with TV than AM, signalwise. In fact, the FM band is right between TV channels 6 and 7. If you’re near a channel 6 TV station, you’ll hear its audio right at the bottom of the FM dial, just below 88.

FM sets, however, are a lot better than TVs at getting faint signals. In fact, if TV sets were as sensitive as FM radios, most of us would see a lot more TV stations; but TVs don’t need to be. They don’t compete on the basis of sensitivity. The TV sets with the best pictures are often among the least sensitive to weaker signals, and nobody knows the difference.

The FM story is different. FM sets compete strongly on specifications. The major hi-fi manufacturers have labored long and hard to engineer amazing improvements into their FM receiving products just to get a split-hair’s edge over competitor’s specifications. Those great specs sell tuners, receivers and radios. But when the sets get home, their fabulous performance capabilities rarely get put to use.

Even the cheapest FM tuners and receivers are pretty good. And some old ones are, too. I almost hate to admit that my setup includes a ten-year-old KLH tuner that has almost shameful specs by today’s standards. Yet that old turkey has thrilled me over the years by pulling in a total of over 400 different stations from my house in the woods near Chapel Hill.

How To Use The Guide

This guide is meant for people who have a reasonably good FM radio, tuner or receiver which is connected to a good rotatable outdoor antenna. With this arrangement you should be able to get most of the stations listed here, and probably a few more. If you live in Raleigh, the superstrong local stations and lower overall terrain will mean somewhat less range, but still dramatically better reception than you’ll get with the hunk of wire which is the standard antenna for most FM sets. Distortion will be much lower on local stations, too. Since each of the three triangle cities (I refuse to call Chapel Hill a village) is a different direction from each station’s transmitter, each city has a different listing to show where to point your antenna to get each station.

There are lots of different formats, and many are hard to categorize; but I’ve made an attempt in the listings to at least approximate what each station broadcasts most of the time. Some of the listings may be inaccurate in this regard, not only because stations frequently change formats, but because I can’t bear to listen to some of these stations for very long.

Reception is generally better in the summer months than in other seasons. Warm, air-stagnant summer mornings and post-midnight hours favor the more distant stations, like the ones in Charleston, Washington and Norfolk. Stations like those in Philadelphia only come in when closer stations have gone off the air. FM reception conditions vary a lot (though not as much as AM), so I’ve made an effort to show every station you might possibly get.

Sometimes there is rapid on-and-off fading on the more distant stations. This is due to signal reflections off airplanes. Some FM sets are more troubled by this than others. There are two ways to deal with the problem: (1) wait for it to go away; (2) get a tuner or receiver with a really good muting system (this cuts off the sound when the signal gets noise and discreetly turns it back on again when trouble is past). If you have any questions just write to me c/o THE SUN, Box 732, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

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Station Listing

Channel

These are in Megahertz (MHz), cleverly allocated in the USA so that no channel ends in an even number. Most FM sets show even channels. So if your receiver, say, has little marks every .2 MHZ on the dial (as with 88, then 4 little increments, 89), the stations should all be between the marks. Easy, huh?

Call

Stations are only required to announce their call letters once an hour. So lots of them will identify as “Q94” or “X89” or the like. One station’s call I never discovered, so I listed the “98 rock” instead.

Strength

Actual strength is a product of both watts and antenna height at a station’s transmitter. These numbers will give you an idea of comparative strength. They refer to the computed distance of fringe reception from the transmitter. Look at it this way. Medium power is around 70; Strong begins at about 80; Very strong is 95 and up; Weak is below 46; Very weak is below 30.

Antenna Direction

This tells you what approximate compass direction to aim your antenna (by hand or rotator) to best get the station. Listings are for Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh.

Format

This is an approximation of what I think each station’s format is. They may disagree, if they care. I don’t. The purpose here is to help you sort the interesting from the ordinary.

Abbreviations

pr	progressive rock	bu	bluegrass, folk
cl	classical	cm	community
p	public	n	new
r	religion	co	country
s	soul	sr	singles rock
or	oldies rock	ar	album rock
mor	middle of the road	ez	easy listening
e	ethnic	j	jazz

Other Abbreviations

L	Local
(    )	planned
x	to be changed

 

You won’t get all these stations; some are easier than others. I made an effort to list all the stations that deliver a listenable signal into some of the Triangle some of the time.

Educational Band

Chan.	Call	Str.	Antenna Direction			Location	Format
			CH	Dur.	Ral.
88.1	WKNC	42	ESE	SE	L	Raleigh	cl/pr/or
	WMPR	90	SSW	SSW	SSW	Sumter, SC	p/e/cl/j
88.3
88.5	WAMU	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	cl/bu/p/e
	WFDD	68	W	W	WNW	Winston Salem	cl/pr/p
88.7
88.9	WVPR	82	WSW	WSW	WSW	Rock Hill, SC	p/e/cl/j
	WSHA	45	ESE	SE	L	Raleigh	j/s
89.1	WVWR	109	NW	NW	NW	Roanoke, VA	cl/p/bu/j/pr
89.3	WSCI	81	SSW	SSW	SSW	Charleston, SC	p/e/cl/j
	WXYC	31	L	SW	WNW	Chapel Hill	pr
	WDCC	10	SSW	SSW	SW	Sanford, NC	pr/sr/ar/e
	WPFW	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	cm/s/j/cl
89.5	WETS	106	W	W	W	Johnson City, TN	cl/p/j/e
	WTGM	62	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	cl/p/dr
89.7	(WCPE)	46	ESE	SE	L	Raleigh	p
	WMHK	73	SW	SW	SW	Columbia, SC	r
89.9	WDAV	52	WSW	WSW	W	Davidson, NC	pr/p/cl
90.1	WCCE	33	ESE	S	WSW	Buies Creek, NC	sr/cl
	WPGT	24	ENE	ENE	NE	Roanoke Rapids	r/cl
	WGTB	49	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	pr/cl/cm
	(WVOC)	31	E	WNW	WNW	Burlington, NC	r
	WEPR	93	WSW	WSW	WSW	Greenville, SC	p/e/cl/j
90.3
90.5	WKHS	54	NNE	NNE	NNE	Worton, MD	sr/s
	WBCT	55	SW	SW	SW	Columbia, SC	pr
	WKNS	33	ESE	ESE	ESE	Kinston, NC	pr/cl
90.7	WACG	55	SW	SW	SW	Augusta, GA	cl/j/p
	WMRA	70	N	N	N	Harrisonburg, VA	pr
90.9	WVSP	73	NE	NE	NNE	Warrenton, NC	b/p/j/cm
	WETA	80	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	cl/p/j/bu
91.1
91.3	WTJU	27	N	N	N	Charlottesville	pr/cl/j
	WLTR	86	SW	SW	SW	Columbia, SC	p/e/cl/j
	WUOB	73	NW	NW	NW	Athens, OH	co/p
91.5	WUNC	80	W	WSW	WNW	Chapel Hill	p/cl/j/cm
91.7	(    )	84	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charlotte, NC	p/cl/j/cm
	WCIR	69	NW	NW	NW	Beckley, WV	p/cl
91.9	WGTS	56	NNE	NNE	NNE	Takoma Pk, MD	p/cl/r

Commercial Band

Chan.	Call	Str.	Antenna Direction			Location	Format
			CH	Dur.	Ral.
92.1	WRCM	42	SE	SE	SE	Jacksonville, NC	co
	WRSV	33	E	E	E	Rocky Mount, NC	sr
	WDYL	46	NNE	NNE	NNE	Chester, VA	r/s
	(    )	46	N	N	N	Charlottesville, VA
92.3	WCSE	69	WSW	WSW	W	Asheboro, NC	co
	WLRG	94	NW	NW	NW	Roanoke, VA	ez
92.5	WXNC	59	NE	NE	N	Henderson, NC	co
	WESC	83	WSW	WSW	WSW	Greenville, SC	ez
	WIFI	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Philadelphia, PA	ar/sr
92.7	WMJS	46	NNE	NNE	NNE	Prince Frederick	ez
92.9	WFOG	72	ENE	ENE	ENE	Suffolk, VA	ez
	WDSC	54	WSW	WSW	WSW	Dillon, SC	mor
93.1	WSEZ	61	W	W	W	Winston-Salem	r/ez/sr
	WPOC	70	ENE	ENE	ENE	Baltimore, MD	co
93.3	WITN	97	ESE	ESE	ESE	Washington, NC	sr/ar
	WMMR	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Philadelphia, PA	pr
	WBBO	43	WSW	WSW	WSW	Forest City, NC	mor
93.5	WBBC	46	NE	NE	NNE	Blackstone, VA	pr/ar/sr
	WXRY	45	SW	SW	SW	Columbia, SC	ez
93.7	WMYK	87	ENE	ENE	ENE	Elizabeth City, NC	ar/pr
	WFBC	106	WSW	WSW	WSW	Greenville, SC	sr/or
93.9	WBAG	51	WNW	W	WNW	Burlington, NC	sr
	WKYS	72	ENE	ENE	ENE	Washington, DC	ez/s/j
94.1	WLXN	48	W	W	W	Lexington, NC	mor
	WYVA	73	NE	NE	NE	Yorktown, VA	sr
94.3	WRQR	46	ESE	ESE	E	Farmville, NC	ar/pr
	WLSE	45	SE	SE	SSE	Wallace, NC	mor
	WPUB	40	SW	SW	SW	Camden, SC	co/sr
94.5	WRVQ	86	NE	NE	NE	Richmond, VA	sr
	WEAF	51	NW	NW	NW	Eden, NC	co
	WMUU	94	WSW	WSW	WSW	Spartanburg, SC	r/cl/e
94.7	WQDR	93	ESE	SE	L	Raleigh	ar
94.9	WPVR	100	NW	NW	NW	Roanoke, VA	ez
95.1	WRNS	73	SE	SE	ESE	Kinston, NC	co
	WROQ	74	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charlotte	ar/sr
	WPXI	78	S	S	S	Charleston, SC	s
95.3	WPVA	46	NE	NE	NNE	Petersburg, VA	co
	WOBR	39	E	E	E	Wanchese, NC	mor
	WQMC	40	N	N	N	Charlottesville, VA	s
95.5	WHPE	80	W	W	W	High Point, NC	r
	WPGC	72	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	sr
95.7	WKEZ	79	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	ez
	WXRC	64	W	W	W	Hickory, NC	co
95.9	WTSB	40	S	S	S	Lumberton, NC	co
	(    )	45	E	E	E	Plymouth, NC	co
96.1	WYYD	89	SE	SSE	L	Raleigh	ez
96.3	WMVA	83	NW	NW	NW	Martinsville, VA	sr/x
	WHUR	70	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	j/s
96.5	WSTS	83	S	S	SSW	Laurinburg, NC	r
	WBCI	70	NE	NE	NE	Williamsburg, VA	ez
96.7	WKRX	46	NNE	N	NNW	Roxboro, NC	co
96.9	WDBM	49	W	W	W	Statesville, NC	sr
	WEQR	67	SE	SE	SE	Goldsboro, NC	ez
	WXTC	86	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charleston, SC	ez
97.1	WASH	70	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	mor
	WQMG	66	W	W	WNW	Greensboro, NC	sr/mor
97.3	WGH		ENE	ENE	NE	Norfolk, VA	cl
	WWIL	80	SSE	SSE	SSE	Wilmington, NC	s
	WKBC	73	W	W	W	N. Wilkesboro	mor
97.5	WJLC	59	N	N	NNW	South Boston, VA	or/pr
	WCCV	71	N	N	N	Charlottesville	ar
97.7	WFLO	60	NNE	NNE	N	Farmville, VA	mor
	(WQDW)	46	ESE	ESE	ESE	Kinston, NC	r
97.9	WPEG	57	WSW	WSW	WSW	Concord, NC	co
	“Rck98”	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Baltimore, MD	ar
98.1	WQSM	80	SSE	S	SSW	Fayetteville	sr/ar
	WTVR	80	NE	NE	NNE	Richmond, VA	ez
	WBOB	59	WNW	WNW	WNW	Galax, VA	mor
98.3	WTNC	43	W	W	W	Thomasville, NC	sr
	WGOL	42	N	N	NNW	Lynchburg, VA	ar/sr
	WWDR	45	ENE	ENE	ENE	Murfreesboro, NC	ez
98.5	WSB-FM	85	WSW	WSW	WSW	Atlanta, GA	ez
	WYCR	73	N	N	N	Hanover, PA	sr
98.7	WRQK	78	W	W	WNW	Greensboro, NC	sr/s
	WMOD	72	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	ez
98.9	WSPA	107	WSW	WSW	WSW	Spartanburg, SC	ez
99.1	WNAV	73	ENE	ENE	ENE	Annapolis, MD	mor
	WSLQ	113	NW	NW	NW	Roanoke, VA	ar/sr
	WENC	59	S	S	S	Whiteville, NC	co
99.3	WRCS	46	ENE	ENE	ENE	Ahoskie, NC	sr
	WPLZ	46	NE	NE	NNE	Petersburg, VA	ez
99.5	WMFR	55	W	W	W	High Point, NC	mor
	WBKW	81	NW	NW	NW	Beckley, WV	sr
	WGAY	70	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	ez
99.7	WYFI	70	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	r
	WRKB	55	WSW	WSW	W	Kannapolis, NC	mor/r
99.9	WVBS	51	SSE	SSE	SSE	Burgaw, NC	sr
	WLOS	104	W	W	W	Asheville, NC	ez
100.1	WWOD	38	N	N	NNW	Lynchburg, VA	r
	WSCQ	46	SW	SW	SW	W. Columbia, SC	n
100.3	WGLD	76	W	W	W	High Point, NC	ez
	FWAN	57	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	e
100.5	WCMS	73	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk	co
	xWLBG	86	WSW	WSW	WSW	Laurens, SC	sr
100.7	WFMA	76	E	E	ENE	Rocky Mount	co/cl
	WQPO	54	N	N	N	Harrisonburg, VA	sr
100.9	WMFD	46	SSE	SSE	SSE	Wilmington, NC	ez
	WABZ	46	WSW	WSW	WSW	Albermarle, NC	ez
101.1	WNCB	80	WNW	W	WNW	Burlington, NC	ez
	xWWDC	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	ar
101.3	WVHR	69	ENE	ENE	ENE	Hampton, VA	mor
	WWDM	83	SSW	SSW	SSW	Sumter, SC	co/sr
101.5	WRAL	105	ESE	SE	SE	Raleigh	sr/or
101.7	WJJS	45	NNW	NNW	NNW	Lynchburg, VA	s
	WKQZ	45	S	S	S	Myrtle Beach, SC	sr
101.9	WGNC	69	WSW	WSW	W	Gastonia, NC	sr
	(    )	86	ESE	ESE	ESE	New Bern, NC
	WLIF	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Baltimore, MD	ar
102.1	WWMO	66	NW	NW	NW	Reidsville, NC	r
	WRXL	80	NE	NE	NNE	Richmond, VA	ar
102.3	WPTM	46	ENE	ENE	ENE	Roanoke Rapids	co
	WHFS	46	NNE	NNE	NNE	Bethesda, MD	pr
	WJSV	44	S	S	S	Lumberton, NC	mor/r
	WOKN	44	SE	SE	SE	Goldsboro, NC	s
102.5	WKTM	62	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charleston, SC	ar
	WKIT	75	W	W	W	Hendersonville	co
	WOLC	73	NE	NE	NE	Princess Anne, MD
102.7	WAAV	60	SSE	SSE	SSE	Wilmington, NC	ez
102.9	WOWI	73	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	s/j
	WHKY	57	W	W	W	Hickory, NC	sr
103.1	WQTI	46	SSE	SSE	S	Florence, SC	sr
103.3	WAKG	84	NW	NW	NW	Danville, VA	ez
	WESR	67	ENE	ENE	NE	Tasley, VA	mor
103.5	WEZL	60	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charleston, SC	co
	WGMS	72	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	cl
103.7	WSOC	90	WSW	WSW	W	Charlotte, NC	co
	WEZS	76	NE	NE	NNE	Richmond, VA	ez
	WSEC	61	E	E	ENE	Williamston, NC	mor
103.9	(WAKS)	46	SE	SSE	SW	Fuquay-Varina	co
104.1	WTQR	92	WNW	WNW	WNW	Winston-Salem	co
	WXTR	39	NNE	NNE	NNE	LaPlata, MD	co
104.3	WXTC	75	E	E	E	Tarboro, NC	co
	WBBQ	102	SW	SW	SW	Augusta, GA	sr
104.5	WQRK	73	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	sr/ar
	WHIS	73	WNW	WNW	WNW	Bluefield, WV	sr
104.7	WEZC	97	WSW	WSW	W	Charlotte	ez
	WSUS	61	NE	NE	NNE	Crewe, VA	co
	WBOC	71	NE	NE	NE	Ocean City, MD	ez
104.9	WVVV	46	NW	NW	NW	Blacksburg, VA	sr
	WKVL	38	ENE	ESE	ESE	Havelock, NC	sr
	WKSM	38	S	S	S	Tabor City, NC	ez
105.1	WDCG	67	NE	L	NW	Durham	co
105.3	WAGY	89	WSW	WSW	W	Gaffney, SC	co/r
	WXRI	73	ENE	ENE	ENE	Norfolk, VA	r
105.5	WFJA	36	S	SSW	WSW	Sanford, NC	co
	WSHV	42	NE	NE	NNE	South Hill, VA	mor
105.7	WFMX	74	W	W	W	Statesville, NC	co
	WAUG	(96)	SW	SW	SW	Augusta, GA	sr
105.9	WXRA	70	NNE	NNE	NNE	Woodbridge, VA	co
106.1	WXYY	56	E	ESE	E	Wilson, NC	mor
106.3	WMNA	44	NW	NW	NW	Gretna, VA	mor/co
	WSTN	41	SSW	SSW	SSW	Florence, SC	sr
106.5	WSFL	85	ESE	ESE	ESE	Bridgeton-New Bern, NC	sr
	WRDX	57	WSW	WSW	W	Salisbury, NC	sr
	WRFK	64	NE	NE	NNE	Richmond, VA	cl/p
106.7	WEZR	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Manassas, VA	ez
	WDIX	82	SSW	SSW	SSW	Orangeburg, SC	s
106.9	WMIT	107	W	W	W	Mt. Mitchell, NC	r/cl
107.1	WDBS	46	NE	L	NW	Durham	pr/cl/bu
	WRRZ	46	SSE	SSE	SSE	Clinton, NC	mor
	WIOZ	46	SSW	SSW	SW	Southern Pines	mor
107.3	WMAL	73	NNE	NNE	NNE	Washington, DC	ar
107.5	WKZL	(80)	WNW	W	WNW	Winston-Salem	pr
	WEXM	60	ENE	ENE	ENE	Exmore, VA	sr
107.7	WNCT	82	ESE	ESE	E	Greenville, NC	co
107.9	WBT	91	WSW	WSW	WSW	Charlotte, NC	ez
	WFSI	66	NE	NE	NE	Annapolis, MD	r