Obstacles while Traveling the Radio Dial

    Yep, it's another one of those posts again.  I wish I didn't have so many problems with listening to the radio, but I do.  There are four local FM stations that I listen to frequently, all of them Top 40.  The one I listen to the most is WQHY 95.5.  It was once the largest radio station in the region, but I'm not sure about that any more.  As I have mentioned many times before, I have a hard time listening to it at my store with my boombox radio. (I should get a newer model with precise digital tuning, but then such models don't have a tape deck or CD player.)  For some reason, I keep getting intense static, but only for that one station. I've had many, many theories as to why this happens (e.g. boosted signals from nearer stations, interference from a moved light fixture in the parking lot, improved ceiling ballasts light fixtures, random vehicles parked outside, the new VOID phone service), but the problem just seems to be getting worse lately.  If the antenna isn't set at the exact right position, I get barely any signal, unless I am holding it.  Just a background static that I can almost can hear something.  When I don't get it just right, I get the public radio station before Q95 or the contemporary Christian station just after.  I can't get either one that good on my car radio, even when parked as close as possible to my store radio.  What is worse is that I sometimes get a country station or a classic pop (not rock, pop) station instead, and neither one is that close to Q95 on the dial.  It doesn't help that they may have changed music services again recently.  While the local DJs sound the same, the ones from the service have changed, and I am not sure why.  Some of the features have also been changed, leading me to think that they are using an entirely different service, but I can't be positive. My next favorite station has probably been WIFX 94.3.  I first heard it at a clothing store somewhere between Dorton and Jenkins in the mid-80s.  I liked the dance music show being played and got my mom to tune to it in the car.  It has been a preset ever since.  In the past few years, The FOX began to concentrate on more recent music, instead of a wider selection of years and with a fair selection of hip-hop/rap songs, especially compared to Q95.  I mean, the Q almost never has rap, even on the songs whose most common version has a rap segment, and it is fairly common to hear a song from twenty years ago, if not thirty.  Over the last few months, the FOX had a little more contemporary crossover country songs, but since I liked a few of them, I didn't mind it that much.  Last Monday, the FOX started playing all country. Technically, they are airing the Highway 23 country music programming from a different station owned by the same company, but it is still all country.  And while they play some recent hits, enough to get my hopes up that they have returned to their regular line-up, the station's primary focus is regional artists, many not yet widely known. The FOX still has their Fox News update, although they are frequently up to a day behind, and UK. sports, I mostly listed to them for the music. I am hoping that by Christmas or soon after that they return to their previous format. I guess WHLW 94.7 would be the next oldest station I regularly listen to.  It is mostly a preset due to its weather coverage; it is the station to get alerts first, usually.  KLITE has a fairly good selection of current music, slightly more hip-hop to country ratios, although Thursday afternoons are throwback selections.  However, ever since I got my new car in 2019, I have had interference issues.  In many places during my commute, I can barely get a signal, only for my return trip to have a slightly better chance at hearing it.  I believe both elevation and foliage have an effect, beyond just simple proximity.  It is a weaker signal and somewhat far away.  The most recent of my current stations for every day listening is WZLK 107.5.  I have only been listening to this station since I opened my store.  ZRock leans more towards hip-hop/rap Top 40 more than country Top 40.  If I wanted to, I could easily get the station on my store radio, but I don't like its mix of songs enough to listen to it all day, especially since it doesn't offer things like news or weather alerts.  Still, I listen to The Kidd Kraddick Show most weekday mornings, so I have to problems with the station overall.  However, I get the same interference problems in the morning as I do with KLITE.  Worse, the problems persist longer and continue for the same section of the evening commute. Considering that I am closer to its radio tower during those stretches, I can only guess that my car's panel antenna construction might be the cause, but I can't be quite sure.  I only started noticing this with my new car, so I could be right, although I never could get that signal from as far away as I could with the previous three. At least I have a temporary reprieve due to a Sirius XM free trial for the next few days.  Sure, it is limited to the "clean language" music channels and a few others, but at least I can get a clear signal most of the time, and I know where most of the few "dead-air" spots are. Then, a week or so from now, is is back got the static.