Its all to do with interference. Suppose a transmitters covering a certain city has to provide, say 2mV per metre for good reception. Any station on the same frequency must then provide LESS then -40dB (1/100) of 2mV in that city, else it would be interfering with the required signal. So this means that that frequency can only be reused over 100 miles away, so if the next city is only 50 miles away , a different frequency must be used.
Very specialised aerials can accomplish this, with 90 % of the transmitters power being spread around it but with very sharp nulls in certain directions (> 40 dBs) to overcome the interfering effect, so the frequency can be re-used at a much closer range. The MF Saffron Green Station (north of London) has three such nulls. one pointing towards Birmingham I can't remember which other two stations are involved.
Frank