Re: WSRO Sale...

[Dan.Strassberg@att.net]

WSRO has a CP to move to the WAMG site and has had it for over a year. Adding 
the station to the existing facilities at 75 (I believe that's the number) 
Concord Ave, Lexington, should NOT be a big deal AT ALL. I suspect that the 
biggest issue is whether the ATU networks will fit inside the existing ATU 
buildings at the base of each tower. Those buildings are quite large for ATU 
buildings so my guess is that it will not be necessary to reconstruct them. 
Even though they are small unobtrusive structures (nice looking, too--brick 
with slate rooves), if reconstruction were required, I can imagine the Town of 
Lexington dragging its heels over the building permit long enough for the CP to 
run out.

As for the reason for the lower day power (and the daytime directional pattern 
aimed northwest--AWAY--from Boston; it's first adjacent WBET in Brockton. There 
was big-time overlap between WSRO and WBET when WSRO ran 5 kW ND days from 
Marlboro. That's already gone with the low-power STA operation from Hudson and 
it won't return with the move to Lexington. WSRO's equivalent daytime power to 
the south and east will be about 100W. The signal to the northwest will be 
substantial, though--equivalent to close to 5 kW ND. The 3.4-kW night signal 
will be aimed in the opposite direction--southeast TOWARD Boston. The night 
pattern will closely resemble WAMG's.

As an aside, WSRO was originally 1 kW DA-D from a transmitter site on the east 
side of Marlborough (Curtis Ave). The pattern (a two-tower cardioid nulled to 
the northeast and with maximum radiation to the southwest) protected WNBP, 
which was then co-channel with WSRO, and also protected as WBET. When WNBP 
moved to 1450 and became a full-timer, WSRO was able to increase power and go 
full-time from a new site on Fitchburg St on the north side of Marlboro. In 
fact, WSRO should not have been granted 5 kW ND days from Fitchburg St because 
the operation caused prohibited overlap with WBET.

Arthur Liu's companies do a lot of programming that targets (actually, I should 
say lease a lot of time to independent producers whose programs target) various 
Asian nationalities. I believe that the town of Lexington, in which the 
transmitter will be located and toward which the day signal will be directed, 
has the largest population of Chinese extraction in Massachusetts outside of 
Boston proper. Moreover, Lexington's Chinese-American community is 
extraordinarily wealthy and very highly educated, including many, many faculty 
members from MIT and Harvard as well as staff members from MIT Lincoln Lab, 
which is across town from 75 Concord Ave.

It looks to me as if Liu will make back his $1.8 million very rapidly. WSRO is 
likely to become one of his most valued properties outside of the New York 
market, where I believe he owns 930, 1430, and 1480. Also, if you think about 
WSRO's new day and night coverage and how it will complement WLYN's, it appears 
that Liu will have a fairly decent two-station cluster in metro Boston. As a 
bonus, 1470 is relatively close on the AM dial to 1360.
--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367
> On 31 Oct 2002 at 23:10, Sean Smyth wrote:
> 
> > I believe the higher night power may have had something to do with WNBP
> > (or what is now WNBP) switching from 1490 to 1470 back in the 1980s. Dan
> > explained this in detail here at one point, and I can't recall it from the
> > top of my head. I believe WSRO might have had to move its transmitter at
> > some point, thus a power adjustment was in order (again, I could be
> > wrong).
>  
> Are you sure it was 1490?  I know it's a low-power frequency, but I can't 
> believe there could 
> be a 1490 in Newburyport when there's one in Haverhill.