Re: WMEX starts Monday

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

It certainly will be good to have Burns back on the air 
in Boston, doing a show just for this market! BTW, I 
heard J-Light announce today, for the first time, that 
they would be moving to 650 "very soon." Although I have 
heard announcements on 650 about their move up the dial 
to "a new, more powerful signal," the only change on 
1060 had been in the legal ID. 

Bell must be absolutely ecstatic about his time slot 
<g>. Although the station's earliest signoff is 6:15 in 
December, the power after Philadelphia sunset (usually 
15 minutes after local sunset) has, so far at least, 
been so low that he will be lucky if, in December and 
January, any part of his program (other than the first 
few minutes) reaches Route 9 to the north and downtown 
Framingham to the south. My guess (and I could be way 
off) is that 1060 has been running about 20W ND from 
Philadelphia sunset until signoff (two hours after local 
sunset). And it seems as though the the pre-sunrise 
power is even lower, notwithstanding the fact that most 
daytimers are granted higher power before sunrise than 
after sunset.

It's possible that, thanks to its new directional 
antenna, the station, after it receives a license to 
cover its CP, will be granted a PSSA and a PSRA using 
higher power. I've tried to calculate what pre-sunrise 
and post-sunset power might be allowed, and my most 
optimistic calculation is around 5 kW. That should be 
enough to satisfy Bell and to forestall any application 
for full-time. Being able to operate with 5 kW or 
something close from 6:00 AM to sunrise and for two 
hours after sunset would be worth a lot more than a 
license to operate all night with 150W or so.

> Today's Boston Herald has an article by Dean Johnson
> saying that the new "NewsTalk 1060", WMEX, will debut
> next Monday. They will only be a daytimer (at least
> for now?) with ex- WRKO talk hosts Marge Clapprood
> weekdays from 10 till noon, Jerry Williams
> from noon to 2 pm and Gene Burns from 2 to 4 pm.
> Upton Bell follows from 4 pm to signoff.
> 
> Burns will do the show from San Francisco via an
> ISDN line.
>