Re: WHRB

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie1@yahoo.com>]

     As a very young "radio-junkie" (age 10 in 1970) I
talked to many engineers in the Boston area.  WHRB was
one of my "regulars".  One of the staff announcers at
WHRB was Michael Callowich (sp) who told me that WHRB
switched to stereo and 3,000 watts on the day the Red
Sox won the '67 Pennant.  Yes, WHRB's signal was not
stellar quality in the Randolph area, but it was very
listenable.  The "Orgies" (tm) were always a treat to
this young listener.  I still get the Program Guide to
this day !
     When WBRU/95.5 in Providence went to 20,000 watts
in 1973, it "did a number" on WHRB's signal (just 19
air miles from Cambridge).  But, at the time, WHRB was
not really worried as long as long as they "covered
Cambridge". (No joke) 
     WHRB-FM made to the air on 107.1, thanks in part
due to the failure of the late WBKA-FM
(107.1/Brockton) which left the air in 1948. (It only
operated for about a year).  Those Class A's (at the
time) were limited to 800 watts at 300 feet.  Based
upon the receivers at the time, they must have been
very LOCAL !! (Can you say....NUMB ?). But with WHRB
at 90 watts in the beginning, hearing it in Bedford
was quite a feat indeed !
     BTW: WBET-FM/97.7 in Brockton (who bought the
physical assets of WBKA AM/1450 and FM/107.1, but not
the license of the FM) was one of the last Class A's
to make the grade to 3,000 watts in 1971. They did not
go to stereo until 11/1/76. Today, they are WCAV with
6,000 watts from a very tall tower in Abington. 
They've "come along way, baby".

- -Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
 Whitman, Massachusetts         

> On Mon, 21 Jun 1999, A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> 
> > I remember at the time having trouble receiving
> WHRB in Bedford.  I didn't 
> > understand such things that well in 8th grade.  I
> knew from the newspapers 
> > that a station was there, but I couldn't receive
> it.  Once, I got WHRB 
> > just barely at 107.1.  When I called the station
> to ask about it, they 
> > said it was because of interference from WBZ, and
> they were going to move 
> > to 95.3 soon.
> 
> WHRB only ran 90 watts when it signed on, and its
> transmitting antenna was
> on top of Dudley Hall, on the site of the present
> Holyoke Center in
> Harvard Square. By the summer of 1967 they were up
> to 250 watts from
> Holyoke Center itself, and in the fall of that year
> they went stereo with
> 3 kW, but horizontally polarized.  They didn't add
> circular polarization
> until 1980.
> 
> Bedford was quite a stretch for WHRB even in the
> seventies; almost all the
> station's program guide subscribers lived in Boston
> or Cambridge, as I
> recall.
> 
> Rob Landry
> umar@nerodia.wcrb.com
>  
> 
> 

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