Re: WMVU AM 900 Nashua NHon late

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

At 11:40 AM 5/6/98 -0400, you wrote:

>Is this a
>comon practice in New England?
>
I'd say that more stations operate legally than don't, but noncomplaint
operations are certainly common.

Last night I heard what I presume to be WNNW (I don't think it was WPMZ) on
with what I imagine to be 5 kW-ND until 9:00 PM. The signal was certainly
_way_ stronger than their normal daytime signal here, and it was completely
fade-free for an hour. At 9:00 they unceremoniously dumped the program with
no legal (not even one in SS, as far I could tell) and killed the carrier a
few minutes later. Until the carrier went away, WBT was once again nothing
but a memory. I doubt that WNNW's PSSA extends until 9:00 in May. (It
probably goes to 8:30 or 8:45--roughly Charlotte sunset.) In any event, the
PSSA is certainly not for full power, nor is it likely to be for ND
operation (though that is certainly a possibility). My guess is that instead
of cutting power at sunset, they are switching to ND. That way, if somebody
complains and the FCC says something to them, Costa can say "Oh my, did WE
do that? I'm terribly sorry. The engineer responsible for the setup
obviously got confused."

Operating ND is certainly in WNNW's interest (unless they get caught). The
target audience lives in Lawrence and the station is directionalized away
from Lawrence. I believe that later this summer, Costa is going to move WNNW
to 800, which he now also owns. He will then switch around the programming
of 1110 and his other station--on 1490 in Haverhill. I think 1490, which is
currently SS, will get the WCCM calls and will broadcast in EE at least part
of the day. This appears to me to be a ploy to mollify the public. WCCM is a
Lawrence station and 1490 doesn't have much of a signal in Lawrence. After
six months or so, Costa can say, "You see, we tried programming in English
but it didn't make money. We couldn't afford to keep it on the air." At that
point, he will blow out the EE, fire the WCCM staffers, and return 1490 to
full-time SS.

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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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