RE: WECB bit the dust?

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 09:24 PM 5/22/2003, elipolo@earthlink.net wrote:
>WECB switched to (or added) 99.9 FM in their last few years or so. It
>was probably a "leaky cable" very low-power system, like WTBU. I don't
>think the FM is still on either though.
>
>Eli Polonsky


They added it.  And it is indeed a "leaky" radiating cable (Andrew NF2D) 
system from LPB Communications, just like WTBU's.   But they still had a 
pair of carrier-current AM's in two dorms, and the FM in one building.

WTBU's is - in theory - much more comprehensive.  They have two - still 
functioning, you can tune into them on 89.3 if you're parked next to the 
dorms - in the biggest dorms on campus: Warren Towers (700 Comm Ave) and 
the three West Campus Towers (Babcock St)   Shelton Hall (91 Bay State Rd), 
Myles Standish Hall (610 Beacon St), and Danielsen Hall (corner of Beacon & 
Mass Ave) all have carrier-current AM transmitters on 640 AM...although 
they all tend to be flaky and need frequent adjustment to achieve any sort 
of real broadcast power.   They're all pretty old.   There was one that I 
personally installed in the College of Communication building, too Actually 
in the studios, but it was screwy because the old WBUR/now WTBU studios are 
on their own trunk...and I specifically requested a 220V line off the main 
building trunk and later learned that they just tapped off the studio trunk 
(idiots).   So I think that might not be on anymore.

Audubon Court (BU South Campus, across the Pike), Hamilton House (Packard's 
Corner), The Towers (140 Bay State Rd) the GSU Student Union (Comm Ave/BU 
Central) and ~161 Bay State Rd (Brownstone) all had carrier-current 
transmitters at one point but they were either destroyed due to 
construction (GSU) or demolition (161 doesn't exist anymore) or flood 
(Towers) or were stolen (Audubon & Hamilton).

The students, from what I'm told, don't care much about the 
transmitters...it ain't easy to tune those suckers in no matter what you 
do.   They focus a lot more on their webcast, which is pretty good - esp. 
on-campus (they have a 128kbps stereo feed in addition to their 
lower-bitrate feeds for off-campus listeners).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA