Re: Rt 30 Dow site?

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

At 09:39 PM 6/19/97 +0000, you wrote:

>The former Dow site is north of Route 30; east of Oak St.; and west of the
>Natick town line.

Don't you mean north of Rt 30, east of Rice Rd, and west of the Natick line?
According to the detailed map of greater Framingham I'm looking at, the name
of Oak St changes to Rice Rd when the street crosses Route 30 (or possibly
when it crosses into Wayland from Natick). I never knew that there was any
land zoned for industrial uses in Wayland. Anyhow, if Fairbanks is still
proposing a three-tower array on an east-west line, it looks as if there is
enough land there. (Of course, I haven't been out there to look for houses
and such :-) The area bounded on the south by Route 30, on the west by Rice
Rd, on the north by Wayland Hill Rd, and on the east by the Natick line
appears to measure over 2000 ft from west to east. The three-tower array
that Fairbanks proposed at Mt Wayte Ave would have required 683 ft from the
tip of the ground system of the west tower to the tip of the ground system
for the east tower, assuming that the ground system wasn't cut short to fit
the property, which is often the case.

I had wondered (and still wonder) whether the FCC didn't nix WKOX's Mt Wayte
proposal because of the relatively close tower spacing, which consulting
engineers cite as a cause of unstable patterns. The towers were to be 60
degrees apart, which is certainly not all that uncommon, but up to a point,
farther apart is apparently better. If we assume that the proposed patterns
from Wayland would look like those that were proposed from Mt Wayte, it
appears that a change in WKOX's COL might be in order. Considering the night
pattern's deep null to the west and the very high level of interfering
signals on 1200 at night, I'd say WKOX could not put an interference-free
nighttime signal over much of Framingham from the Wayland site. I think
we're talking WKOX (Wellesley-)BOSTON. How fortuitous that WBPS kept Dedham
as its COL! Had WBPS made good on its proposed change of COL, Wellesley
would be "taken".

>Maybe Dan & Co. can explain possible scenarios if the town and ultimately
>the FCC approve the new location for WKOX. Would the new location for the
>station be more valuable to a Bloomberg or a Westinghouse:CBS Radio, etc.?
>Would patterns be enhanced that much for Fairbanks to get a return on such
>an "investment"?
>Maybe they're looking ahead to the new services coming down the road?
>Regards,

When they started this whole power-increase deal in 1995, Fairbanks' plan
was a talk station. Gene Burns was the cornerstone of that idea. With the
decline of talk in the past year of so, and Burns' apparent unavailability,
I'd say that that idea is probably dead. I think it is still Fairbanks' plan
to shed the property at the best possible price once the CP is issued and
the zoning approvals have been received. I guess CBS is still the most
likely purchaser. Note that the new site is closer to Boston. I haven't run
the numbers, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were possible to put 10 mv/m
at the waterfront from the Wayland site. That would be particularly true if
the property were big enough to move the towers apart further and Wayland
didn't balk at illuminated towers. With towers 120 degrees apart, it might
be feasible to put up half-wave towers like those WKOX uses currently. This
would effectively almost double the station's power. I have no idea what CBS
would do with the signal, but I guess they may still be looking for another
signal on which to run sports. Whether this would turn into a sports station
like WEEI, I have no clue.

As for the current WKOX site, WJLT still has an application on file to move
to the former Unisys property on Route 117 in Sudbury and build a pair of
250-ft towers (which would have to be illuminated). This would allow WJLT to
increase to 40 kW, directionalized to the northeast. The proposed towers are
just tall enough that WRPT could share the array. I don't understand why
Langer believes that Sudbury will buy this proposal, since Fairbanks had no
luck with its proposal for WKOX (and the WKOX towers would not have been
illuminated). However, WJLT could use the existing WKOX array to increase
its power somewhat, maybe to as much as 10 kW, and WJLT could also probably
get somewhere in the neighborhood of 50W at night from that site. If one
tower could be moved slightly, the allowable power might be somewhat higher.
The WKOX towers are on a 36-degree line. Langer's proposal for Sudbury puts
the towers on a 45-degree line.

Finally, if WKOX's current Mt Wayte site winds up unused for AM, I'd say
that it has a bright and extrmely prosperous future as the site of all
manner of cellular and PCS antennas.

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

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V1 #73
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