Re: WUPI/WUPY?

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

Hi Dan:
     WKOX-FM (105.7) actually signed-on in 1959 as the
FM counterpart of WKOX.  It was designed to be
operated as a suburban operation, not really aimed
toward the bigger Boston market. In fact, their
antenna was actually side mounted AWAY from Boston! 
(Snob factor.... :)).
     WVCA-FM (104.9) signed-on as an 800 watt Class A
in 1964 as, of all things, a Top-40 Rock and Roll
station using an old WCRB transmitter.  WVCA-FM came
into being as result of a compromise with the FCC. 
Simon Geller applied for 1410 AM in Gloucester as did
Jack Sullivan for 1410 in Brockton.  In order to speed
things up, after a long battle, a compromise was
reached with Sullivan getting 1410 (WOKW) in 1961 and
Simon was given 104.9 FM as a consolation prize. (What
a prize indeed!).  Simon however soon realized that an
FM stand-alone in 1964 would not be a money maker.  In
fact he ditched the Top-40 format in 1967 and began
playing public domain Symphonic music to avoid the
ASCAP and BMI fees.  The rest was history. 


Cheers,

-Pete   
--- dan.strassberg@att.net wrote:
> Peter: You're forgetting that the move of WVCA (now
> WBOQ)
> from 107.1 to 104.9 could not have happened if WUPY
> had 
> remained. And WVCA could not have gotten its
> original 
> 107.1 alocation had WHRB-FM not moved from 107.1 to 
> 95.3. Moreover, I don't think that WAAF could have
> been 
> licensed if WHRB had stayed on 107.1. Talk about
> domino 
> effects!
> 
> But I find it very odd that the FCC would have
> licensed 
> a Class B on 105.3 in Lynn. WVCA was and WBOQ is a
> Class 
> A. Now, 104.9 was originally a Class A channel, so 
> nothing but Class A stations were permited on 104.9.
> But 
> my impression is that if Class Bs had been permited
> on 
> 104.9 back when Geller moved WVCA to 104.9, WVCA
> still 
> couldn't have been a B because of first-adjacent
> WPJB 
> (FM), which was a full B.
> 
> I believe that one of the reasons that WHRB was able
> to 
> move to 95.3 is that, although WBRU (or whatever the
> 
> calls of the Providence 95.5 were back then--I don't
> 
> think it was connected with Brown U in those days)
> was a 
> B, it did not have the maximum Class B facilities, 
> whereas WPJB did.
> 
> Also, although WKOX-FM probably did not even exist
> as a 
> CP when WUPY was granted, I think an allocation of a
> 
> Class B on 105.7 in Framingham was part of the FCC's
> 
> table of alocations from the git-go. Lynn is too
> close 
> to Framingham for a second-adjacent full Class B,
> and 
> when the allocation table was first published, I
> don't 
> think the FCC envisioned the grant of FMs that could
> not 
> increase to the full facilities for the station
> class.
> 
> This suggests that, decades before Docket 80-90,
> WUPY 
> was a drop-in. All very curious.
> --
> dan.strassberg@att.net
> 617-558-4205
> eFax 707-215-6367
> >     The demise of WUPY did have domino effect on
> the
> > Boston FM allocations especially with suburban
> FM'er
> > WKOX-FM/105.7 (now WROR-FM) in Framingham.  Like
> WUPY,
> > WKOX-FM was a minimum Class B facility.  WKOX-FM
> > eventually was able to power up to 50,000 watts
> (ERP)
> > from the WKOX/1190 tower on Mt. Wayte Ave in
> > Framingham.  Like WUPY, WKOX-FM was an early
> convert
> > to FM Stereo in 1963.  The WKOX-FM programming was
> > mainly Symphonic for the affluent western suburbs
> like
> > Wellesley, Weston etc.......
> 


=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

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