Brattleboro-Keene Market

[Doug Bassett <dbassett@sover.net>]

It was suggested by someone on this list recently that I
write up a "snapshot" of the Burlington market, similar to
the ones posted recently revolving around Portsmouth and
Springfield. Being over 150 miles from Burlington and
totally unfamiliar with the radio scene there, I'll leave
that to someone else for now. Instead I have prepared a
brief overview of a market which I am more familiar with:
The Brattleboro-Keene market. Corrections and comments are
welcomed and encouraged.

AM

1220 WKBK Keene (1000w day/ 145w night). A mix of local and
satellite news and talk programming. ABC affiliate.
<http://www.wkbkwxod.com/>

1290 WKNE Keene (5000w DA1). Walking the line between oldies
and standards, Keene's first station is all news in AM
drive. CBS affiliate. Boston Red Sox baseball. Part of the
four station group known as "Central New England Radio"
which includes WKNE-FM and WKVT AM/FM.

1450 WTSA Brattleboro (1000w). One-on-one Sports. Boston
Celtics and some local high school sports. Known as "The Big
T" during the 1950's, "Green Mountain Country" in the
1980's, and now "Sportsradio 1450". On the air in 1950,
Brattleboro's first station.

1490 WKVT Brattleboro (1000w). Satellite talk. All news in
AM drive (simulcast with co-owned WKNE 1290). CBS and CNN
affiliate. Boston Red Sox baseball. Was once a MOYL station,
now known as "News-Talk 1490". On the air in 1959.

FM

90.7 WEVN Keene (1500w 938' DA). New Hampshire Public
Radio's Cheshire County outpost.

92.7 WKVT-FM Brattleboro (1800w 610'). Classic rock known as
"The Tri-State Rocker". Live during AM and PM drive,
Wednesday (blues) and Friday (oldies) evenings, and weekend
mornings. Satellite the rest of the time. Was "lite hits" in
the early eighties. <http://www.wkvt.com/>

96.3 WLPL Walpole. In the Construction Permit stage for
years now, the owner of this would-be station is having
trouble locating space for a tower. Don't hold your breath
for this station to hit the air.

96.7 WTSA-FM Brattleboro (5200w 135'). Live during AM and PM
drive as well as weekend mornings (Oldies Saturdays and jazz
Sundays). Satellite hot AC the rest of the time. Hourly NBC
news as well as local news during live dayparts.
Brattleboro's heritage full service AC. "Number One in
Windham County... by a lot!" according to their newspaper
ads.

98.7 WXOD Winchester (1750w 614'). "Oldies 98 point 7"
pretty much says it all. Paul Harvey as well as news from
co-owned WKBK, in addition to the music you'd expect to hear
on an oldies station. It sounds (and probably is) locally
programmed most of the time. <http://www.wkbkwxod.com/>

100.7 WVAY Wilmington (135w 1460'). AAA "The River".
Simulcasts WRSI (95.3 Greenfield) most of the time; live and
local on the weekends. Translator serving the Stratton
Mountain area on 104.7. <http://www.wrsi.com/>

101.5 WSSH Marlboro (120w 745'/ CP 2600w 344'). "Wish FM" is
part of a two station simulcast of satellite delivered soft
AC. On the air August 1996.

103.7 WKNE-FM Keene (12000w 991'/ backup 18000w 610'). "FM
103 point 7" is live local CHR and has been for years and
years. Killer signal.

104.9 WYRY Hinsdale (1550w 456'). "Hot Country 104 point 9"
was "Y-105" until a few months ago. This satellite country
station began life as "Your Easy Favorite" with soft AC in
the late eighties. <http://www.wyry.com/> (Just an "Under
Construction" message here for now.)

106.5 W294AB Keene. Translator for rocker WHDQ (106.1
Lebanon).

107.1 WZSH Bellows Falls (1150w 531'). The other half of
"Wish FM", along with a Keene translator at 105.5. Was WBFL
until 1996 as country, rock and AAA, in that order.

Omitted from this listing are the various religious
translators scattered throughout the FM band. FM stations
from Springfield, Worcester, Boston, and the Upper Valley
can also be heard in some parts of the area, depending on
which hill you're on.

I hope to be able to provide some more historical
information on these stations in the future. This is a
project that I've been thinking of doing for a couple of
years now, and I now have the time to put it all together.
If anyone has any information regarding the history of these
or any other broadcast stations in Windham and Cheshire
Counties, I would appreciate it if you'd pass it along to
me. I'll be doing some digging on my own as well.

Doug Bassett
West Brattleboro, Vt.
<dbassett@sover.net>

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