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I have a Sonos box hooked up to my stereo and the radio reception comes from Tunein. As of today, 96.9 and 104.1 are not available. I can receive both stations on my phone through Simple Radio which is fine at work. Is there possibly a licensing squabble between the parties over rights/streaming fees? Similar to what has happened several times between the Buffalo TV stations and cable companies over carriage fees. Particularly WIVB. This may be a temporary situation but I enjoy both stations. Not a happy camper at the present time.
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I can get 97 Rock on Tunein no problem on Google Home, so it's still there somehow . No luck on 104.1 though. It could just be their streaming is down for whatever reason though.
Am enjoying WHTT FM 104.1 out of Lockport (Buffalo) NY on the 11 year old tuner in my daily driver heading north on Hwy 400. Once I get over the rise beyond Holland Marsh it will magically become FM 104.1 Midland, ON. Both are entertaining broadcasters. No complaints from here.
Me
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Hey IG. I did a bit of research. Both stations are owned by Cumulus as is WEDG 103.3 and 1270 WHLD. 1270 and 103.3 I can receive. I will call them tomorrow to see what the problem is. Maybe it is a streaming issue with Tune in. I am not much of a techie guy.
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Here's the tunein links:
Both appear to be up an running so maybe it's a spotify thing. I _believe_ spotify uses vTuner for theri database so it could be that also.
See why terrestrial is so much easier
Turn on the radio, punch the numbers in, if you get static, it's not working .
ig.
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Well I decided to contact Cumulus Buffalo this morning to find out about the loss of 97Rock and ClassicHits104.1. The first thing I discovered is their switchboard is only open 11AM-5PM. Most companies I know are reachable 9-5. The receptionist advised me to contact "Corporate Headquarters" in Atlanta. Apparently, there was nobody at the Buffalo location who could help. The impression I received is that HO in Atlanta makes all the steaming decisions. I called and after about 20 rings I got an answering machine greeting to leave a message. No Corporate greeting with a press one for this press two for that etc. If I don't hear back, maybe I will try the email route.
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Interesting. So streaming is not a money issue?
Last edited by Radiowiz (March 23, 2018 1:42 pm)
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It seems that Tune-in radio may be using "geo-filtering" to block listeners in Canada. Good old reciva Radio app still allows access to the stations on Grace streaming radios, iphone and other devices. I suspect that they haven't been geo-blocked yet.
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Switch from your usual browser to Opera.
Opera has a VPN built in. (you still have to activate it, but at least it's there, and it's free...)
Opera Browser:
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If you haven't enabled "Sonos Radio" in the services section of the app, ensure that it appears. Then do a search within Sonos Radio for WHTT. WHTT is up and running on the Sonos Radio service. There are other Buffalo stations I believe that don't appear in Tune-In, but are in Sonos Radio. I am using the Sonos Radio service for terrestrial stations more often these days.
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It appears they geoblock any listener outside the United States. Due to copyrights and cost, a lot block streaming to just the country they are based in. The moment they stream outside the USA, the cost increases hugely. For boarder cities like Buffalo, it's foolish in my view to block these stations from the country next door, but the corp owners, don't always agree.
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tvguy wrote:
If you haven't enabled "Sonos Radio" in the services section of the app, ensure that it appears. Then do a search within Sonos Radio for WHTT. WHTT is up and running on the Sonos Radio service. There are other Buffalo stations I believe that don't appear in Tune-In, but are in Sonos Radio. I am using the Sonos Radio service for terrestrial stations more often these days.
Thanks tvguy! They are indeed in Sonos Radio. I also found them in My Tuner Radio. All good now. To radiokid: Yes a number of U,S. stations are geoblocked to Canada possibly for the reasons you stated. WLS-FM Chicago and KSHE St. Louis are two of them. My Nord VPN solves the problem.
Online!
radiokid wrote:
It appears they geoblock any listener outside the United States. Due to copyrights and cost, a lot block streaming to just the country they are based in. The moment they stream outside the USA, the cost increases hugely. For boarder cities like Buffalo, it's foolish in my view to block these stations from the country next door, but the corp owners, don't always agree.
Comes down to whether they can monetize those listeners, which they cannot.
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mace wrote:
My Nord VPN solves the problem.
I went years without a decent VPN. I, too, have Nord. I would no longer be without it. Worth every penny.
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RadioAaron wrote:
radiokid wrote:
It appears they geoblock any listener outside the United States. Due to copyrights and cost, a lot block streaming to just the country they are based in. The moment they stream outside the USA, the cost increases hugely. For boarder cities like Buffalo, it's foolish in my view to block these stations from the country next door, but the corp owners, don't always agree.
Comes down to whether they can monetize those listeners, which they cannot.
That's exactly the case. Tide can get your clothes clean, but Tide Canada and Tide USA operate on separate advertising budgets. There is no International tide ad, unfortunately. Same goes for other businesses.
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WHTT - very interesting spot for a 50k transmitter tower lol with playground right next to it.
Last edited by markow202 (May 9, 2022 3:02 pm)
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Usually if you just scroll down one of the other internet services available seem to have the stations that are geo blocked. I am listening to WHTT right now, and also could get WGRF. I don't seem to have any problems with WLS Chicago which initially says that they are not available in my area. I have no VPN. Just scroll down and try another free internet listing.
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I'm genuinely curious as to why anyone here wants to stream either of these stations.
Neither of them have much personality content outside of the morning shows, and the music mix isn't anything you can find anywhere else - except without 20 minutes of commercials every hour.
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RadioAaron wrote:
I'm genuinely curious as to why anyone here wants to stream either of these stations.
Neither of them have much personality content outside of the morning shows, and the music mix isn't anything you can find anywhere else - except without 20 minutes of commercials every hour.
I agree, I streamed them this afternoon since this post had so many views and comments and I was surprised why there was so much interest in these stations. Nothing that remarkable about either when I listened this afternoon at length. Musically both are ordinary and promos and on air were fine but again average. I don't always understand why there is so much interest in Buffalo radio. And I had no problem streaming either of them.
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paterson1 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
I'm genuinely curious as to why anyone here wants to stream either of these stations.
Neither of them have much personality content outside of the morning shows, and the music mix isn't anything you can find anywhere else - except without 20 minutes of commercials every hour.I agree, I streamed them this afternoon since this post had so many views and comments and I was surprised why there was so much interest in these stations. Nothing that remarkable about either when I listened this afternoon at length. Musically both are ordinary and promos and on air were fine but again average. I don't always understand why there is so much interest in Buffalo radio. And I had no problem streaming either of them.
I second that about WHTT and 97 Rock. Perhaps two years ago, WGRF was featuring a year from the early 70's and because I like that era I decided to tape the show ( off air) but it consisted of only tried and true formulaic rock. That was after I had listened to parts of their A to Z weekend special which actually did feature some deep tracks. The regular format however - ho hum.
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RadioAaron wrote:
I'm genuinely curious as to why anyone here wants to stream either of these stations.
Neither of them have much personality content outside of the morning shows, and the music mix isn't anything you can find anywhere else - except without 20 minutes of commercials every hour.
It's because one gets tired of 35-40% Can Con shoved deeply into the ear.
The freedom to hear music because it's good music, not because some government regulation decided for us all that something Canadian is automatically good music, whether it is or not.
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Yes Radiowiz that's what some radio people would say, but the average listener likely doesn't care or notice. And stations like Y 108, CING, CHTZ all have US listeners. We were just making the point that it was odd there was so much interest by some when WHTT and WGRF were ordinary sounding stations that didn't play anything out of the norm.
And both are available on line anyway, as are most blocked stations.
Last edited by paterson1 (May 10, 2022 9:48 am)