Re: WMEX/WITS/WMRE

[Bill Piacentini <billpi@ll.mit.edu>]

At 09:19 AM 3/17/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Or is that WMRE/WITS - I don't exactly remember.  On the subject of the 1510
>frequency, can anyone fill me in on the reason for moving the transmitting
>site from Quincy to Waltham. [snip]
Dan Strassberg, in answer to NORIAC [remember Re: MESSAGE ID: 1EC610858?]
on 7/30/97 @ 0221GMT, gave this list the definitive story on 1510's move to
Waltham:
[remember ARS still owned WRKO on 7/30/97!]

The big problem for WITS (aside from WWKB and WTOP) was not WNLC, which you 
might assume from the very short distance between the stations. Rather, the 
problem was the AM 1510 in Sherbrooke, PQ. Sherbrooke is due north of 
Boston. WITS's TX was located in Squantum (AKA, N Quincy), due south of 
downtown Boston. Because of the Sherbrooke station, improving the signal 
over Boston necessitated relocating the TX, and the site had to be pretty 
much where it wound up--in Waltham, on the Belmont line. The site is in the 
proper direction from Boston (mostly west--a little north) and is the right 
distance from downtown (about eight airline miles). But that's the end of 
the good news. The soil conductivity is poor. The area is quite built up, 
which necessitated the expenditure of a fortune on interference abatement. 
The rent on the land is high, and after the TX was built, the owner of the 
industrial park built a large four-story office building right on top of the 
ground system. Shortly before the move, the Squantum site had developed very 
similar problems. An office park was built immediately to the west. The 
buildings really screwed up the already pathetic 5-kw nighttime signal 
except in downtown Boston and on the North Shore, which continued to receive 
a decent signal thanks to the clear salt-water path.
Anyhow, the last time I checked, even though the Sherbrooke station had been 
silent for several years, the allocation still existed. That meant that the 
night pattern had to stay as it was. I don't know if that situation has 
changed in the meantime. If Sherbrooke were to cease to be an issue, the 
nighttime signal to the north, which is pathetic, could be improved. By day, 
the pattern is a cardioid (with a little null fill-in to the southwest) 
oriented on a 45-degree azimuth. In the absence of Sherbrooke, the night 
pattern could be quite similar, except without the null fill-in.
As for the stations in New Jersey, if they left the air, it would do nothing 
in particular for WNRB. WNRB must protect WLAC Nashville. Take away the 
Jersey stations (one of which just moved to 1510 after Westinghouse bought 
their facility on 1000 to allow improvement of WINS), and it still would not 
be possible to improve the signal to the west and southwest.
Given the relaxation in the rules on signal over the COL, moving the TX 
further west is theoretically possible. but finding suitable land would be 
impossible. A move back to the South Shore would make sense if the 
Sherbrooke problem could be made to disappear. But again, finding a suitable 
tract of land would probably take a longer time than the AM band has left to 
live. If CBS and ARS weren't competitors, the WRKO site would be a possibility.

Whew. I don't think Dan would want to type all that again!

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