FCC grants WJLT application for 2 kW-D

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

According to today's FCC actions, if all goes well, at 
some point, WLJT (650) will be moving to the 890 TX site 
on Sewell St in Ashland and increasing power to 2 kW-D 
DA-D using all five towers. The new pattern sends nearly 
all signal to the east. The signal "behind" the array 
(actually in a 180-degree arc that includes Framingham 
to the north) will be equivalent to about 60W give or 
take, vs the 250W ND the station currently sends out 
from the WKOX site, three miles to the north. Grace 
Broadcasting, the successor to Great Commission 
Broadcasting, the former lessee of 1060, is leasing 650 
from Alex Langer--with an option to buy. Grace also owns 
WNEB in Worcester.

Just so Joseph Gallant won't think he has a lock on wild 
speculation on this list, here's my take on what is 
likely to happen: Mega will buy WNEB from Grace and flip 
WNEB to SS. Grace will then lease WSRO from Langer--also 
with an option to buy. Grace will use a substantial 
portion of the proceeds of the WNEB sale to exercise its 
option on WJLT and also on WJLT's TX move and power 
increase. The FCC will approve WSRO's application to 
increase to 7 kW-D/5 kW-N DA-2 from the station's new 
site in Hudson. With some modifications of its proposed 
day pattern, WSRO can put a decent daytime signal into 
both Worcester and Lowell. Thus, Grace will get back 
(during the day) the Worcester signal it loses with the 
sale of WNEB, and will add Lowell and environs to its 
service area. There is no Christian station in Lowell, 
so Lowell should become a lucrative market for Grace. 
The improvement in the WJLT signal in Boston will be 
equivalent to a 50-times power increase. Since WJLT can 
already be heard better in Boston with 250W on 650 than 
it could be with its former 500W on 1060, Grace will be 
going head-to-head with America's largest commercial 
Christian broadcaster, Salem Communications, and will 
have a station only 60 kHz away from Salem's WEZE.

WSRO and WJLT make an excellent combo. The new patterns 
produce little signal overlap. Together, the two 
stations will nicely cover Boston, MetroWest, Worcester, 
and parts of the Merrimac Valley during the day. Of 
individual Boston AMs, only WBZ, WRKO, and WEEI can say 
as much. Without WJLT, however, WSRO with its new 
daytime signal that will protect WBET, is an economic 
basket case--a station that can't possibly make money by 
itself.