Breaking new ground

NCPR has put up a lot of new sticks (transmitters, for the radio-jargon impaired) over the last few years. Mostly to fill in holes in our broadcast area that result from the vagueries of terrain, from wilderness regulations, and from protecting the frequencies of our radio neighbors. The biggest remaining hole--sort of like a cavity in a molar that you keep poking at with your tongue--is in the eastern Adirondacks and along the NY shore of Lake Champlain. No combination of horsetrading and technical wizardry would allow us to site a transmitter in New York that would serve the deserving (but NCPR-deprived) communities of Westport, Port Henry and Essex. And so it remained for many years.

Today we announce the launch of transmitter WXLQ, broadcasting at 90.5 fm from Bristol, Vermont. This "filling" in the NCPR smile will serve thousands of new families on the New York side of the lake, as well as provide a better alternative signal to listeners in New York and Vermont on the south and eastern fringes of coverage by NCPR's 88.1 fm transmitter in Peru, NY. This expansion of our service area was made possible in part through friendly negotiation with our neighboring public radio service, Vermont Public Radio. We thank them. Thanks also to the Essex Community Fund, administered by the Adirondack Community Trust, and to two volunteers who provided assistance with signal assessment, Ed French and Carole Slatkin, both of Essex, NY. If you happen to know people in the new broadcast region, please help us to spread the word.

Photo: Tim from Wells Communications, installs a new antenna on an existing tower for WXLQ.