Re: June 9 1948 Newspapers

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

At 03:03 AM 7/14/97 +0000, you wrote:
>On Sun, 13 Jul 1997, KEVIN VAHEY wrote:
>
>>  The radio log for that day was "interesting"
>> 
>>  WNAC 1260  MBS
>>  WEEI  590  CBS
>>  WBZ  1030  NBC
>>  WCOP 1150  ABC
>>  WMEX 1510  ABC
> 
>=Two= ABC affiliates in Boston?  (Plus WLAW in Lawrence?)
>  
Either the newspaper was wrong or WMEX was a secondary affiliate, which
carried programs that WCOP would not clear. I wonder if there were ratings
in those days and when a program was on WLAW and WCOP which station got the
higher ratings. For sure, WLAW had a _much_ better signal on the North Shore
and even right in the City of Boston. Also, with WEEI-590 as the CBS
affiliate, I'd think that a lot of people would never have tuned their
radios up beyond WBZ. Well, maybe some did; WNAC was past WCOP. But still,
as the affiliate of the weakest network, Mutual, WNAC couldn't have been a
huge draw.

In New York, where the network affiliates were WEAF (NBC Red) at 660, WOR
(Mutual) at 710, WJZ (NBC Blue) at 760 (pre NARBA), and WABC (CBS) at 860
(pre NARBA), there was a stigma attached to the stations higher on the dial
than WABC. (For those who are unaware--and I doubt that many people who read
this group are unaware--what is now WABC was WJZ and what is now WCBS was
WABC. ABC stood for Atlantic Broadcasting Company, which was the original
owner, but by the time I became aware of the station, it was owned by CBS.)
All the stations higher on the dial then WABC were independents, and once
you passed WNEW at 1130 (post NARBA) almost everything was foreign language
except for WQXR. (One station at the high end of the dial that broadcast in
English at least some of the time was WBYN Brooklyn, which carried the race
results and lost its license for doing so; WBYN was eventually replaced by
WNJR Newark.) It was a similar situation to the early days of UHF TV, the
early days of FM, and AM's current state of affairs. In Chicago in the 30s
and 40s, the AM dial was similar to New York's (WMAQ--NBC Red on 670, WGN
Mutual on 720, WBBM--CBS on 770 (pre NARBA) and WENR/WLS NBC Blue on 870
(pre NARBA)). 

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
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