Re: NorthEast Radio Watch 5/22: Back to Boston

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

At 06:12 AM 5/22/97 +0000, you wrote:

>There's also a pretty
>credible rumor that ARS will move 1150 to the WRKO transmitter site in
>Burlington, demolish the three AM towers and the FM backup tower on
>the WNFT site in Lexington, and build a taller FM tower there that can
>be leased out by subsidiary American Tower Systems.  That could be
>profitable enough by itself to make WNFT's profitability irrelevanbt,
>in fact...time will tell.
>
Making the tall stick into a communications tower and leasing it to all
comers, I can believe--but replacing it with taller version, or adding a
second, taller tower is, I think, unlikely. I can't believe that Lexington
would approve a taller tower on the site. Certainly, there would be a
drawn-out legal battle before such a change would be approved. After all,
we're talking about a very historic community and a site only a mile or so
from where Paul Revere passed on his famous ride.

As for moving 1150 to Burlington, I think that could happen. With the old
CHSJ long gone from 1150 (and about to be gone from 700 as well), I don't
think there is anything to the east to stop WNFT from directionalizing that
way. (I need to check, but there may be a few stations to the northeast.) I
think a power increase is definitely possible--maybe to 50 kW-D, probably to
something less than 50 kW at night. I also think that we might see the
resurrection of a business format on 1150. ARS flirted with that when they
secured an option to buy WBNW. With Ottmar saying that he will hold on to
WPNW _at least_ for one more year, maybe ARS will wind up with business
stations in Boston and Providence. Just because Greater Media didn't make a
go of business on 1150, you can't assume that ARS would be unsuccessful with
a business format on the same frequency. And with 1200 seemingly out of the
picture, ARS might want 1150 as a way to lock down the talk formats in this
town, just they way Greater Media added WROR to WMJX to lock down AC.
Certainly, WADN (which has just added Bruce Williams at night) doesn't
provide the mutual fund capital of the world with a credible business signal.

BTW, I checked out the Concord Ave site a few weeks back. Greater Media
certainly made some (relatively inexpensive) improvements there in an
apparent effort to "fatten up" the property for a sale. All of the towers
look newly painted. The crumbling walkway from the TX building to the three
AM towers appears to have been rebuilt. The antenna tuning houses look as if
they have new roofs. There's a new cedar-rail fence around the base of the
tall tower, and the underbush, which had grown to a height of probably four
feet or more over the AM ground system, has been cleared. Looks very
respectable. Moreover, as part of WNFT's tests of digital radio, Greater
Media finally installed NRSC filters at 1150. So, for the first time since
WADN went on the air in 1989, I can listen to WADN without hearing 1150's
splatter. Too bad WADN is no longer worth listening to. 

- -------------------------------
Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

------------------------------