Expanded Service to the FM Band
WKYK and WTOE have been approved by the FCC to broadcast on the FM Band
- The distance and exact location of where the signal can be received is closely calculated by the FCC in the crowded FM band.
- The FM stations can operator at their full designated power 24 hours a day
- WKYK FM 104.7
- WTOE FM 101.1
- Both stations will simulcast the audio from their AM stations
Advantages of FM:
- Full bandwidth Stereo Audio
- Meta-Data (Song title and artist information displayed – coming soon)
- Hyper Radio (Already approved by the FCC – New Future Hyper Radios will automatically find the web based audio when the FM signal fades allowing listeners to seamlessly travel anywhere and continue listening.
When:
- WKYK is on the air on FM 104.7 right now!
- WTOE hopes to be on the air on FM 101.1 by Spring of 2020
Lots of Changes during the past 12 months
During tower maintenance and painting last year structural issues were discovered on the WTOE broadcast tower. This was the original tower constructed when the station went on the air in December of 1955. After 63 years of service, on Wednesday October 3rd 2018 the tower was cut down to be replaced. WTOE remained on the air using a temporary tower until a new tower was installed several weeks later.
New On Air Broadcast Computers Installed:
WKYK and WTOE were some of the first stations to begin storing and playing audio on computer hard drives, many many years ago. The recently installed custom computers were actually our 4th On Air system. The most recent replacements were “On Air” for about 15 years. The new setup includes a running hot standby backup system for each station.
Other Changes:
- New Audio Equipment
- New FM Transmitters
- New FM Antennas
- New FM Transmitter Facility
- New Standby Emergency Generators installed
- Hundreds of new wires
- New audio processing equipment
- New audio switchers and routers
- Hundreds of hours editing and tweaking thousands of songs
- New Stereo Control Room for the WTOE FM
- Expanded and Updated web streaming service
- New Production Room used for live broadcast during the WTOE control room installation
- New Air Fiber Link private network for audio and data delivery- from WKYK to Phillips Knob FM Tower, to Woodys knob in Spruce Pine for the WTOE FM Antenna and down to WTOE AM transmitter site.
