Re: Exciting news

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

>Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 07:57:55
>To: "Mark" <markwats@netway.com>
>From: Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>
>Subject: Re: Exciting news
>
>At 09:59 PM 12/8/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>Dan Strassberg wrote:
>>
>> WADN has adopted really historic calls that
>>> haven't been heard in this market in (I think) three years, and has
>>brought
>>> back a call sign that perhaps as many as half a dozen people took note of
>>> when it was on a signal that somebody outside of E Acton could hear. As
>>of
>>> 12/1, WADN is no more; it's now WBNW 1120.                               
>>                                                     I read that in the
>>Boston Herald one day last week,a brief 3 or 4 sentence blurb on the
>>tv/radio page mentioning their switch to business news(which took place
>>months ago quietly) as well as the new calls,and the fact that they did
>>some "antenna work"so that they can be heard in more of the Greater Boston
>>area.How can they do that without causing problems to 3 adjacent WNFT on
>>1150?They made no mention of the WBNW calls being used on 590 a few years
>>back.Also on the same day in the Sports section of the Herald,tv/radio
>>sports listings,they had a U Mass basketball game listed as being carried
>>on WCAP(980) and WATD(1120).I forgot to post that when I saw it last
>>week,but since it was not a big deal outside of E.Acton (or maybe S.Maynard
>>also) I guess I shouldn't feel bad.<g>                                     
>
>Barry Armstrong, the financial advisor who hosts the 9:00 to 11:00 AM
segment and who bought the station (in the name of his wife, Susan) about
six months ago, said on the air a month or more ago that they were "working
on the signal." He said that the engineer he had hired had told him that the
station was, in effect, running at only half of its authorized power. A few
weeks after that, I talked with Ed Shannon who does, or did, the only music
show--on weekend mornings. Ed told me that nobody at the station could
figure out what the engineer was doing; he appeared to just be cutting weeds
at the TX site. Having recently visited the site, I put two and two together
and I assume that the work involved repairs or improvements to the ground
system. Any modifiecations to the ground system, such as installation of
additional radials, should have required a CP, and I have noted no
applications or grants in the daily summaries of FCC Mass Media Bureau
actions at the FCC Web site.
>
>As an AM TX location, the site is a disaster, however, and could well have
been in need of repairs. What I did not realize when I first visited the
site right after WADN originally signed on in 1989 is that the area
immediately to the east and south is a gravel pit! I guess that digging for
gravel had not gone on for quite a while before the station was constructed
but apparently resumed in the last few years. Near the towers is an old
dilapidated building, whose foundation sat entirely below ground level in
1989. So much gravel has since been removed that the foundation, which is at
least 4' high, is now completely exposed. Worse for the ground system, all
of the topsoil on the property to the south and east of the towers has been
removed, so that the signal must travel for thousands of feet over gravel,
which has to be as poor a conductor as is found in nature. The only worse
environment I can imagine would be a rooftop-mounted antenna atop a low
building (a warehouse, for example) surrounded by much taller buildings.
>
>What I was unable to determine during my most recent visit was whether the
gravel mining had actually impinged on the ground system. I would guess that
it had not. In any event, based on my unscientific listening tests, it is
conceivable that the work they did made some marginal improvements in the
daytime signal, but as of last night and the night before, the night signal
was at least as bad as I had ever heard it. I live 12.4 miles almost exactly
due east of the site, and the pattern is directionalized due east at night.
The equivalent power to the east at night is just about 4 kW. For the past
two nights, the signal has been not merely unlistenable, it has been mostly
inaudible on my SuperRadio III with the radio tuned for maximum signal from
1120. Unfortunately, at my location, turning the radio to maximize the
signal from 1120 also nearly maximizes the signal from 1150, so I can often
improve the S/N by orienting the radio differently. Last night, however, if
I turned the radio any way except the way I had it, 1120 became completely
inaudible. If this is the best they can do, they really should put a bullet
in the station's head and sell the frequency to Costa, who I'm sure, would
love to move WNNW to 1120, where it could operate full time and probably put
a listenable nighttime signal into Lawrence.
>

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