Re: Dual Frequency Day & Night

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

From:    dan.strassberg@att.net
To:      "Sean Smyth" <Sportswriter@dejazzd.com>
Subject: Re: Dual Frequency Day & Night
Date:    Fri, 30 Nov 2001 14:53:38 +0000

Actually, WBIV was moving _down_ the dial and, for a 
time, broadcast on 890 days and 1060 nights. Also, for a 
time the station IDed as WBIV Natick _and_ WBMA Dedham. 
This was a dual ID heard on _one_ frequency, that is, 
the ID was heard on 890 during the day, and if anyone 
could pick it up, on 1060 at night. There is or was an 
audio clip of such an ID at the Boston Radio Archives.

Turns out that, as odd as this sounded, the ID by no 
means set a precedent. Such dual IDs had been heard 
decades earlier when stations (usually ones that shered 
time on the same frequency) were merging. I think that 
in the 20s or 30s, before WODA and WAAM in the New York 
area merged to form WOV (now WADO), the owning companies 
had merged (as WODAAM Corp). But the FCC took its time 
about allowing the two stations to combine, so according 
to what I read, they IDed as WODA and WAAM. I think 
that, just as with WBIV and WBMA, the COLs were 
different and the idea of depriving a comunity of a 
broadcast service probably dominated the FCC's 
deliberations. In the case of WODA and WAAM, however, 
both stations operated on the same frequency at 
different times, although each station may have had its 
own transmitter site.

--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367

> When what was then WBIV was moving up the dial from 1060 to 890 seven or
> eight years ago, it used to broadcast daytime programming on 1060 and
> nighttime programming on 890. They did this for a couple months while
> transitioning between the frequencies.
>