No Subject

The RCI site is someplace every radio nut should visit someday.  Upon
our arrival, we were greeted by a friendly employee who promptly
fetched an engineer, who gave us an extensive tour of every nook and
cranny of the building.  It's a wonderfully well-maintained site, and
we're relieved to hear that funding for RCI seems to have stabilized
of late.  They really do enjoy having visitors, and asked us to
encourage all of you to go visit, so: go visit.  You won't be sorry.

After RCI it was on to Moncton, where we headed for the CBA (1070)
transmitter (which was itself at Sackville until about 1970).  On the
way there, our attention was grabbed by a building on the side of the
road with a big green sign reading "CBAF 1300 kcs Radio-Canada."  Yep,
that's right: the former CBAF AM site.  The towers are long gone, but
the building, tower bases, and STL tower remain.  After gawking at
that, we drove to the very tall 1070 tower, then into town for a
studio visit.

The CBC complex in Moncton is really the Radio-Canada complex, since
almost everything that's produced there is for the French-language
services.  We saw both sides of the building, including the nifty new
digital control room being built for CBA's Information Morning
program.

We also saw Moncton's other studio buildings, as well as the
transmitter site of CKCW (1220), and then hit the road for
Fredericton, where we spent the night.

*Tuesday morning started on a bad note -- a nail in the tire of the
NERW-mobile prompted a visit to the local tire place, where we had to
wait for a bit while the damage was repaired.

Back on the road, it was a whirlwind tour of Fredericton's stations,
including the inexplicable CIHI (1260) -- a station whose pattern
nulls to the south, yet is located north of town.  As a result, "C-hi"
is heard on two FM repeaters as well.

Fredericton's lone local French-language station, CJPN (90.5), was
found in the local French community centre, and we found CBZ not far
away.  

We also stopped by the studios of the commercial stations, CIHI, CKHJ
(105.3), and CIBX (106.9).  CIBX is the former CFNB (550), but all
that remains of CFNB is some old equipment in a display case in the
studio lobby.  As for bumper stickers, "the guy who has them is out
right now."  

And then it was on to the border, with a stop at the old CFNB site,
which still stands, complete with the huge "CFNB" calls on the
building south of town.

Crossing the border at St. Stephen/Calais, we headed to the
Meddybemps, Maine transmitter site of WMED-FM/TV (89.7/13) and the new
WCRQ (102.9).  It wasn't as tall as we had expected, but was easily
accessible and had call letters on the door, so we'll settle.

Trying to continue our complete trip of U.S. 1, we headed north
through Danforth and not much else before reaching Houlton, where we
listened to WHOU (100.1), which was live and local, then went back
into New Brunswick to see the site of CJCJ (920) in Woodstock.  The
border guard at the I-95 crossing in Houlton was amused to learn that
we'd only been in Canada for twenty minutes or so -- so much so that
he started laughing and let us right through.

There was no sign of the old WHGS (1340), so we drove north to
Monticello, where we stopped at the transmitter of WREM (710). Owner
Al Weiner has filled the land next door to the station with all manner
of antiquated broadcast equipment and other machinery.  No sign yet of
Weiner's shortwave station, which will be built next door.

We drove past Mars Hill, site of WMEM (106.1/10) and WQHR (96.1), and
then up to Presque Isle for a very pleasant visit with Andy Soule at
the cramped but functional building that's home to WQHR, WBPW (96.9),
and WOZI (101.7).  We also saw the WEGP (1390) site south of town, the
college station, WUPI (92.1), which was not on the air, and of course
WAGM-TV (Channel 8), complete with the "CBS-NBC-ABC" sign out front
(though almost everything seems to be CBS these days).  There was
little local programming to be heard -- WQHR and WBPW are local in
morning drive, WCXU (97.7 Caribou) and WCXX (102.3 Madawaska) are
local for much of the day, and everyone else is on the bird.

In Caribou, we saw the brick building that houses religious WFST
(600), but there was nobody home, so we headed north to a cabin in
Madawaska for the night, where we watched the WAGM newscast before
settling in.  News in market number 201...need we say more?

*On Wednesday morning, we began by heading for the end of the road --
or at least the end of U.S. 1 in Fort Kent.  After taking the
obligatory photos, it was off to WUFK (92.1), which was not on the
air, and Maine Public Radio's WMEF (106.5), the most northerly station
in New England, which was on.  There was no sign of the tower of the
now-deleted WLVC (1340).

Returning to Madawaska, we admired the view of the St. John River
valley from the WCXX site before heading across to Edmundston, New
Brunswick.

Driving up on Tuesday, we had noted that Edmundston's CJEM (570) had
turned on its FM transmitter on 92.7.  Imagine our surprise when, upon
stopping by CJEM, the station manager told us Tuesday afternoon had
been the very first time the FM had been on the air.  A moment of
history...and your NERW team was there for it!  The CJEM-FM signal is
quite impressive, covering all the way down to Presque Isle.  We saw
the AM site, which will go dark in about two months.