Re: Wee Eye

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

At 08:12 AM 6/17/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>You need a signal that covers your metro. Whether it's 50k or 5k is
>irrelevant.
>
>
>The "metro" of 590 Boston is not equal to 850 Boston.  If you are talking
>ADI in this instance, the 850 signal pulls in sub-markets that 590 simply
>cannot, particularly after dusk (Metrowest, Merr. Valley, So. Shore).  These
>areas are critical in the business sense.  If you are inside the 128 belt,
>then you pull both signals in equally well.
>
Unless you are in an area where electrical noise requires greater signal
strength for a listenable signal, 590 is the better signal in all of the
areas you listed except MetroWest. During the day in MetroWest, 850 has the
better signal from Natick to Marlboro. (Actually, the 850 signal is a _lot_
stronger not just in MetroWest but all the way from Needham to Brookline.
Still, the 590 signal is strong enough within 128 that you don't hear many
complaints about it.) After sunset, however, it's a tossup once you get west
of Natick. Neither nighttime signal is acceptable in that area. On the South
Shore at night, 590 has the better signal in every respect. Not only is the
signal actually stronger thanks to the salt water path from Medford, but the
co-channel interference is also less, thanks to the strange goings on at CKVL.

When it was negotiating to buy the intellectual property of the then
WEEI-590, ARS started a quite effiective campaign in the local press of
smearing the 590 signal. ARS may have been able to negotiate better terms
for itself through this ploy, but the ultimate beneficiary was probably
Salem. If you make up a lie and repeat it often enough, a lot of people seem
to believe it--especially when the subject is a radio station's signal quality. 

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