87.7 FM 22 Oct 2017

[ChrisSmolinski]

While driving back from the hamfest, I decided to try 87.7 and 87.9 FM, hoping I might hear a pirate. Instead I heard what sounded like two commercial stations on 87.7. One was fading in and out and was in Spanish, the other was a Christian station in English, with an ID of Wow 101.5 (or was it Wow 105.1?). I did a little searching online, and could not find anything that sounded like that station. We've had a bit of FM DX lately, so it could have been some distance away. I am not even 100% sure about the Wow part.

I know there's a few licensed stations that are on TV Channel 6, the audio frequency (87.75 MHz IIRC). And there are two in the DC area, so maybe the Spanish station was one of them? The other one could have been a translator of a regular FM station I guess, but again I can't find anything. I am not hearing it here at home, but I do not really have a proper FM antenna.  Next time I am in the car I can try again and see what I hear.

[skeezix]

WOWZ 101.5 / 87.7

Independent and locally-owned, WOW broadcasts from the popular resort island and tourist destination of Chincoteague, Virginia. WOW’s 6,000 watt signal extends across the entire Route 13 corridor from the lower Eastern Shore of Virginia to Crisfield, Snow Hill and Princess Anne. WOW has Lower Delmarva covered!

WOWZ-FM - 101.5 MHz. Chincoteague, VA
WOWZ-LP - 87.7 MHz. Salisbury MD

Seaching the FCC's site under FM Query results in nothing as that starts at 87.9 (there are only two stations licensed on 87.9, PBS station in CA and a church in NV).

Searched under TV and they showed up as a translator on channel 6.
https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=wowz-lp

Ran a search for all LPTV/TX on channel 6 and came up with 84. Some are multiple records of stations (APP/LIC/CP).

[ChrisSmolinski]

Perfect, thanks! Now to see if I hear them again, or it was just unusual propagation.

[ThaDood]

         Sure that it wasn't one of those Part #15 transmitters for transferring audio from SAT, or smart phone, to a car stereo tuned to 87.7FM? I've caught a bunch of those driving around on 88.1FM while trying to either hear the local LPFM, or Marshall UNI's WMUL college station. And, if they are driving with ya, then they can give the impression of being a larger station. Passing thought....