Some of the people who read this article on a regular basis know that I have a hobby of listening to radio stations from beyond the line of sight. It’s called DXing, an old telegraph word meaning distance.
When I started that hobby more than 50 years ago in Hazelton, the nearest FM radio stations were in Bismarck and there were two of them. The next closest was KOLY in Mobridge. That was it, so you can imagine why I used all kinds of ideas to bring more radio stations to the dial.
Today, it’s a completely different story and it kind of reminds me of history lessons about the days when the Federal Communications Commission was launched.
From 1920 until 1934, when the FCC began, radio stations that went on the air basically chose their frequency. Some of them that were reasonably close together in distance would sometimes choose the same frequency which caused one station overriding the other and vice versa.
The FCC changed all that and assigned AM frequencies to radio stations in order to protect all of them.
Unfortunately today, with better equipment, we’re beginning to see that problem with FM radio and it is sometimes becoming annoying, even here in North Dakota.
I’ll provide some examples. There are three FM radio stations operating on 96.1 FM that can be heard in many parts of North Dakota. Williston has one, Grand Forks has one and Brandon, Manitoba has one. Where I live, CKX in Brandon is the dominant station, but sometimes KQHT in Grand Forks comes in better. Rarely do I get KYYZ in Williston and oddly that is technically the closest tower to my location.
The frequency 101.5 is another situation just like the previous example. CBK is actually a Regina radio station but broadcasts from a transmitter in Warmley, Saskatchewan, which is 104 miles almost due north of my location. KSSS is also on 101.5 in Bismarck, which is 155 miles southeast. And, depending on weather conditions, I may get one or the other or both.
Those kinds of examples are becoming the norm, but more recently low-power FM stations have been popping up and becoming dominant on some frequencies. To give you an example of this, there’s a low-power Christian station on 91.9 in Minot called K220. There’s also a low-power French station called CBKF in Bellegarde, Saskatchewan on 91.9. That station is 74 miles north and K220 is 26 miles southeast. And again, depending on weather conditions, I may get either or, when in reality I should always be getting K220 because it is so much closer. Sometimes one will fade out and the other becomes listenable.
Dickinson has a radio station operating on 92.1 FM called KZRX. It’s slogan is “Rockin’ the Western Edge.” There’s also a station on 92.1 in Regina called CHMX, so if you happen to be living in the right location in northwest North Dakota, you could be getting one or the other, or both depending on the weather conditions and altitude.
There are examples of this all over the place. But have no fear, there is a solution.
A number of commercial radio stations in Fargo, Valley City and Minot have converted to high definition and have picked up subcarriers, some of which used to have their own dedicated frequency. That means if you have a traditional radio, you won’t be getting the multiple stations that I’ve been describing.
All of the Prairie Public Radio stations are HD, but it’s just now becoming a commercial commodity and it is beginning to alleviate some of the multiple frequency issues.
But most commercial stations in North Dakota are slow to respond to HD. It might be expensive, I don’t know, but HD has better sound quality as well, so it’s definitely a benefit.
Last year in December, KHTZ in Minot was broadcasting classic hits on HD1, Christmas music on HD2 and country music on HD3. Some of the Fargo stations are doing much the same.
KRVX in Valley City is received at my location. I can’t get it in HD, but I do get the traditional signal. It has HD2, but it will never travel as far as traditional KRVX because digital radio is not designed to travel beyond 40 or 50 miles, depending on tower height.
But, it is a solution and hopefully more stations will pick up HD to make FM a better listening experience once again.
