Re: WQDY 1230 Calais

[rjoc@webtv.net (Rod O'Connor)]

This came as a bit of a surprise to me. 
I haven't been down to Calais for a few months. But whenver I drove by
their short stubby tower, right off Route 1, I often wondered how much
longer WQDY AM would continue to simulcast their FM. They have been
airing the RedSox again this season, according to their listing in the
BangorDaily News, and they had been airing live Calais City Council
meetings. Don't know if they still are. I always thought they could have
spun their AM off into a separate format such as Adult Stnadards,
Country Gold, Talk or something skewing an older audience.

Scott brings up the old CHSJ 700. Perhaps Mr. McVicar was referring to
CFBC 930 Saint John's Oldies 930, which is still on the air and puts a
good groundwave signal down the Fundy coastline into Eastern Maine.
In addition to CHTD 98.1 Saint Stephen still has low-power 50watt AM
translator on 980 re-broadcasting CBC Radio-1 from Saint John. The
transmitter is located in a small concete shed and feeds into a
long-wire antenna suspended between two old telephone poles along
theEast bank of the Saint Croix River, about a half-mile south of Saint
Stephen, and nearly directly across the river from the WQDY AM tower.

WSHD 91.7 Eastport operates on a very sporadic schedule, and is off-air
more often than on.  This is actually a bit of a shame, as with proper
manpower and guidance this station could provide a valuable service to
the local Passamaquoddy Community at Pleasant Point, as well as the
surrounding communities. It is mostly run by students at Shead High
School.

It should be noted that most Saint John FM stations do put in a good
signal in the Calais area, as do the 3 Saint John/Fredericton TVstations
(CBC Channel 4, CTV Channel 9, Global UHF 21) So it's not as though
residents are totally isolated. Although if it's a wide variety of
Maine/US programming, then the arguments are valid.

I better get down there soon and grab a picture of the WQDY tower before
it is taken down. It's one of the few AM/FM/TV towers in the area  I
don't have a picture of. I do have some pics of the WCRQ/WMED
transmitter site on Conant Hill in Meddybemps.

Rod O'Connor
Southwest Harbor, Maine