RE:WBRS Brandeis Radio?

[elipolo@earthlink.net]

> Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 03:37:04 -0400
> From: "Joseph Pappalardo" <joepappalardo2001@yahoo.com>
> Subject: WBRS Brandeis Radio?
>
> Has anyone ever picked up WBRS (Brandies) 100.1FM from within 
> the city of Boston?
> Can you hear them anywhere within the city?
> I have never heard them...I always pick up The Fox in Worcester.
> Anyone know about this school station?

I've heard WBRS since they came on the air in 1968, but I grew up in 
Newton, just a few miles away from Brandeis. They were originally 
on 91.7, but moved to 100.1 in the late 1980's, always claiming 
something like approximately only 35 or 40 watts ERP. (Radio-
Locator says 25). The Brandeis campus is on a hill in Waltham with 
a direct view of Boston 10 miles away. 

WBRS can be heard weakly in downtown Boston, but it all depends 
on exactly where you are. Their signal hashes it out in town with 
WWFX "The Fox" from Worcester, you'll hear one or the other in 
different spots. Of course, you also have to have a receiver with 
good enough selectivity to reject splatter from third-adjacent WZLX 
and intermod from the other Prudential transmitters.

WBRS actually comes in very listenably in the westernmost Boston 
neighborhood Brighton, and quite well in suburbs adjacent to their 
Waltham location such as Newton, Watertown and Belmont. Those 
are the only areas where they overcome Worcester fairly solidly, 
though they can be heard spotty and fighting with Worcester in many 
other suburbs around those.

Due to Brandeis being on an east facing hill and because WWFX is 
even stronger to the west, WBRS hasn't gone much west of Route 
128 since the Worcester station raised it's power in the mid 90's. 
They're completely covered by "The Fox" by the west end of adjacent 
Weston.

Where I live now in Somerville and in the surrounding towns such 
as Cambridge and Arlington, WBRS is audible, but weak and spotty 
and I hear them or Worcester depending on my antenna orientation. 
I have also picked up WBRS in the car in places you wouldn't expect 
such as Logan Airport, and up on the North Shore (Lynn, Saugus, 
Revere, Malden), south on 128 through Needham and Dedham, and 
weak in Boston neighborhoods such as W. Roxbury and Dorchester.

WBRS doesn't seem to be on the air full-time these days, and WWFX 
dominates 100.1 when they're off.

Eli Polonsky



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