54 dBu indicates good reception on radios with maginal antennas. With better quality FM anennas, such as car antennas, reception can still be good within the white areas in range of the broadcast signal. Terrain has a strong impact in areas at distance from the radio tower. Relative to the location of the tower, radios on the “shadowed” side of a hill may get poor reception, while radios on the “sunny” side of adjacent hills may have good reception.