WBIX sold...

[Dan Strassberg]

The 24-hour facilities are at least partially built. The expiration of the
CP has been "tolled," a legal term meaning that the clock has been
stopped--which was essential because the official expiration occurred almost
a year ago. Rumor has it that WAMG 890, from whose site 1060 will operate at
night, has been doing proofs to establish that the work done so far for 1060
has not materially affected the 890 patterns. It must be six months ago now,
that the WBIX Web site posted an "album" of 17 photos of the construction
work done at the site in preparation for the diplex. From the photos, I'd
guess that Alex Langer and the Bleidts have spent at least $500,000 on the
facilities--and that doesn't count legal and engineering fees. Several
months back, the station was regularly airing announcements that said, "if
you are experiencing difficulty with reception, it is because our engineers
are working on our new night signal." Similar announcements had aired months
earlier when soil-conductivity measurements were probably being made. During
the second round of announcements, I never heard the station operating at
reduced power. Mark Mills has said on his PM-drive show that the night
signal would be on by fall--but then, that's what the station had said for
the last three years. So my question is the fall of what year?

The reason that the 2500W night operation may now be feasible whereas it was
not for the 15 or so years that a succession of owners tried to make it work
is that the FCC has changed the formulas for calculating the protected
contours of Class A AMs, such as KYW, which is the dominant station on 1060.
The new contours encompass much less area than the old ones did. Hence WBIX
need not tune its night array quite as closely as was previously required.
Still, if you look at the proposed (unaugmented) pattern, radiation must be
suppressed over an arc of almost 180 degrees. In the deepest minima, the
equivalent power is only about 800 MICROwatts. Needless to say, the
augmented equivalent power will be a lot greater. Based on the fact that the
station at one time had applied for or held a CP for 3.3W ND night, my guess
is that if the augmented power is in the vicinity of 3.3W, the station will
eventually get a license to cover.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Hakim Madjid <hmadjid@yahoo.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:12 AM
Subject: WBIX sold...


> According to the business section of today's Boston
> Globe, (Wednesday 6/9/04), WBIX 1060 has been sold by
> Bleidts. The lucky buyer is one Chris Egan, the
> offspring of EMC's co founder Richard Egan.
>
> Globe Reporter Wendy Lee writes:
>
> "Egan, the president and cofounder of Carruth Capital
> LLC, a commercial real estate management and
> investment company, said he plans to expand the
> station's 15 hours of daytime broadcasting to 24 hours
> a day by this fall. Egan said he plans to hire more
> salespeople and launch a summer and fall marketing
> program, which will target the business community
> through breakfasts and financial planning seminars."
>
> OKAAAAYYYY...
>
> The one part I remain skeptical about is the 24 hour
> operation. Then again given the elder Egan's strong
> ties to the Bush administration (Egan Sr. is a big
> GOP/Bush backer, and was appointed Ambassador to
> Ireland for his efforts. Currently, the elder Egan
> currently serves on some sort of Presidential
> technology adisory panel) ya never know...doesn't hurt
> to have friends in high places...
>
>
>
>
> =====
> 73, de Hakim (N1ZFF)
>
>
>
>
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