Fw: WBIX

[Dan Strassberg]

Drat! I hit Reply, rather than Reply all.

--

Dan Strassberg
dan.strassberg@att.net
Fax: 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net>
To: Ron Bello <RBello@BelloAssoc.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: WBIX


> Both WROL and WSRO, though Class D AMs, operate full time--as does WJIB,
for
> example. WROL is licensed to operate with about 90W at night, and thanks
to
> a very good Tx location, the signal reaches essentially all of the Boston
> shoreline via a salt-water path. So WROL delivers a pretty good night
signal
> to most, if not all, of the City of Boston. WSRO runs full power (250W)
for
> the first hour after sunset, about 50W until Nashville sunset (which, in
> most months, coincides with the second hour after local sunset), and then
9W
> after that. WSRO probably also has pre-sunrise authority at something
higher
> than 9W, although I don't know at what power. WROL's PSRA is at 500W.
WBIX,
> as a daytimer, did not have authority to operate more than two hours past
> local sunset. WBIX did have (and used) a PSRA at rather low power. The
only
> other time outside of daylight hours that WBIX, as a daytimer, could
operate
> with appreciable power was between Natick (actually Framingham, I
think--the
> day site is in Framingham) sunset and Philadelphia sunset. WBIX probably
ran
> 500W--possibly with the Critical Hours pattern--during those 15 minutes
each
> day. For the next 45 minutes, the power was so low that the station became
> truly inuadible except in the immediate vicinity of the daytime
transmitter
> on Mt Wayte Ave in Framingham. During the next hour, the power was lower
> still. Therefore, the signal after Philadelphia sunset was essentially
> useless for practical purposes.
>
> Besides WROL, WSRO, and WJIB, the Boston-area daytimers that I can think
of
> that are licensed to operate full time are WJDA, WLYN, and WNSH. The
> Boston-area daytimers that I can think of that are not licensed to operate
> at night are WILD and WNTN. WILD does, however, operate at significantly
> reduced, albeit useful, power between Boston sunset and Baltimore sunset
(in
> most months, 1/2 hour after Boston sunset).
>
> WBIX was originally granted (on August 18th--following well over a month
of
> on-air testing during daylight hours) program test authority to use its
new
> night pattern at night with 330W. Sometime after that, the FCC apparently
> modified the program test authority to allow operation at or very close to
> the 2500W specified in the station's CP to add night service. The
> modification of the program test authority was probably made when the FCC
> granted WBIX's application to modify its CP by adding augmentations to the
> standard pattern to reflect the measured signal-strength values. I believe
> that grant was made on September 15. The standard patterns of most US AM
> stations are augmented. (WBIX's night and CH patterns are; its day pattern
> is not.) No broadcast engineer in his right mind would believe that a
tight
> standard pattern, such as WBIX's night pattern, could be adjusted to
produce
> the theoretical signal strengths. Nevertheless, I am unsure whether WBIX
is
> currently running the full 2500W at night. I could easily believe that the
> current night power is in the neighborhood of 1250W. The final step will
be
> granting of a license to cover, which sometimes takes a year or longer.
> Until the license is granted, WBIX may be running less than 2500W at
night.
>
> BTW, WROL filed an application last January during the the AM major-change
> filing window to change its COL to Revere and add night service with 1 kW
> from a three-tower in-line array that would be located a couple of miles
> west-northwest of the daytime transmitter site, which is on Route 107 in
> Saugus. I gather that the station's engineers thought that a triplex with
> co-owned WTTT 1150 and colocated WAZN 1470 wouldn't be practical. My
cursory
> analysis showed that a COL change to Belmont would have permitted WROL to
> operate from the WTTT site at night with just about the same 1 kW as WROL
> proposes from Revere. The WTTT towers are very nicely arranged to permit a
> night pattern quite similar to the one WROL is proposing for Revere. And
> unlike the proposed Revere operation, night operation from the WTTT site
> would not waste a large portion of the nighttime interference-free
coverage
> area over salt water.
> --
>
> Dan Strassberg
> dan.strassberg@att.net
> Fax: 1-707-215-6367
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ron Bello <RBello@BelloAssoc.com>
> To: Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net>; Boston Radio Interest
> <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 11:45 AM
> Subject: Re: WBIX
>
>
> > At 07:55 AM 9/29/2004, Dan Strassberg wrote:
> >
> > >A year ago, WBIX had announced plans to carry (IIRC) Harvard hockey but
> > >wasn't able to do it because the night signal didn't make it to the
air.
> The
> > >brokered PBP was heard instead on WROL 950 and WSRO 650.
> >
> > I am confused.....aren't both WROL and WSRO daytimers ?
> > Why go from one daytimer to another ?
> > No, WSRO's 9 watts does not cover much more than Framingham
> > and adjacent towns so it is a daytimer in reality.
> >
> >
> >
>