Re: WMEX/WITS/WMRE

[Dan.Strassberg@att.net]

Well, the current owners, the allegedly moribund One-on-
One Sports Network, having spent $8.5 million to buy 
WNRB about a year ago, must see some value in the 
signal. As Mark Shneyder pointed out, they have applied 
to make changes in the antenna system. I've just checked 
out what the application consists of. It's not a big 
deal, technically or cost-wise--or at least it's not 
supposed to be. Unless the neighbors who live southwest 
of the transmitter site descend en-masse on One-on-One 
with complaints of interference that One-on-One will 
have to address, the engineering and legal fees should 
represent the biggest cost.

With the co-channel New London CT station gone, One-on-
One is proposing to significantly increase WNRB's 
daytime signal to the southwest, making it the 
equivalent of roughly 19 kW vs the current 500W. The new 
day pattern, like the current one, will use the east and 
south towers. The change will be accomplished by 
reducing the percentage of power fed into the south 
tower and slightly adjusting the phase. The signal to 
the northeast will suffer slightly, but not so much that 
anyone will notice. If the FCC is on its toes, the 
station will be permitted to use the new pattern only 
during non-critical hours (from two hours after local 
sunrise to two hours before local sunset). This 
restriction is necessary to protect the dominant station 
on 1510, WLAC Nashville.

During the hours when the new pattern is in use, 
coverage of MetroWest and areas southwest of Boston 
should improve significantly. Provided that resolution 
of interference complaints doesn't prove too costly, One-
on-One should get a good return on its investment--
especially if they sell the station.

As for 1510 being a good home for WILD, if you've got a 
spare $10 to 12 million kicking around, and out of the 
goodness of your heart, you were willing to just give it 
to Mrs Nash, she might be able to arrange that. But in 
the absence of a wealthy benefactor, the source of the 
money is unclear.

> At 12:36 PM 3/22/99 -0500, SteveOrdinetz wrote:
> 
> Certainly if nothing else 1510 would be a better home for WILD. When 1150
> was doing urban a few months ago, it was getting an audience, as I heard it
> in several shops in Cambridge. But the reality is most people under 30 are
> clueless that AM even exists. Also for the most part, AM signals in Boston
> reflect the city of 30-35 years ago, when Metro-West had more cows than
> people. Also truth is today, I am hard pressed to have 5 presets on my AM
> car radio....after WBZ, WRKO and WEEI there isn't much to choose from ( my
> other 2 are WJIB and Radio Disney)

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #338
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