On Monday afternoon, Windham-based radio station WRIP 97.9 began broadcasting in the Stamford area, thanks to a new translator that picks up WRIP's signal and re-broadcasts it on 104.5 FM.
WRIP's Joe Loverro told the Watershed Post that staffers at the station have been looking forward to expanding into new territory.
"It's been in the works for some time," he said. "We've been looking forward to this. We were marginal in Stamford, but now we have a good strong signal there."
Loverro said that the signal seems to be broadcasting better to the west and south. The mountains in the region interfere with radio signals, which makes it challenging for a station to serve a large territory.
"Especially for FM signals, the mountains can really shade a signal," he said. "We have to have a simultaneous transmitter on Hunter Mountain, because between Windam and Hunter there was a mountain that impeded our signal."
After just two days of broadcasting, Loverro says the station is hearing from people in the greater Stamford area who are delighted to have another station on the radio dial. Stamford also gets decent signal from WIOX, a community radio station based in Roxbury that launched in August of 2010, but is otherwise mostly devoid of radio options.
"We've heard from a bunch of people out there already, thanking us for being there," said Loverro.
WRIP mostly plays music. But during the Irene and Lee floods, the station was devoted to flood information, and became a lifeline for local residents who had no other source of news.
Hat tip to WGXC for blogging about WRIP's new translator.
