WMGX Portland to Flip Formats

[Dan Strassberg]

AFAIK, WTAO's original studios were right where WJIB's studio is
today--except the address has changed slightly. It used to be 439 Concord
Ave (a short walk from Fresh Pond Circle and not too long a walk from the
Alewife T station, which wasn't there back in the day). This is also the
transmitter site. The current address is 443 Concord Ave. Bob Bittner told
me that, after he bought what is now WJIB (AM), he picked 443 from a fairly
lengthy list of street numbers (including 439) that the building occupies. I
suspect that he didn't pick the more historic 439 simply because he didn't
know that the station had used the other street number for many years. From
the Concord Ave side, the building looks the same, except for a few coats of
paint, as it has looked ever since I moved to Boston 50 years ago. Inside,
I'm sure it has changed quite a bit. As you say, it used to house Harvey
Radio Labs and now it's a self-storage facility. I have a feeling that the
transmitters are not located in the exact spot in the building where the
original transmitter was located, but if you follow Scott Fybush's tower
Site of the Week, you know that there are very few stations that have had
the same transmitter site for decades but have not changed the locations of
the transmitter within the building--usually when they have installed newer
transmitters.

Over the years, the 740 station--under several different call signs--has had
several different studio locations, all in Cambridge. It isn't at all
strange, though, that the studio location the station has occupied more than
any other is at the transmitter site.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>
To: "John J. Francini" <francini@mac.com>; "A. Joseph Ross"
<joe@attorneyross.com>; "Stephanie Weil" <stephanie@gordsven.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 7:23 AM
Subject: Re: WMGX Portland to Flip Formats


> Harvey Radio Laboratories was the original owner of WTAO-AM (now WJIB),
> WXHR-FM (now WTKK, I think) and WTAO-TV 56.  If my memory is correct, the
> studios were located at the Cambridge-Arlington line, in the neighborhood
of
> the present Alewife T station.  I don't know whether the building is still
> standing.  The TV station went on the air in the mid-'50s as an indie, and
> was dark by 1960.  It was around 1966 that Kaiser Broadcasting and the
> Globe, in joint partnership, bought it and put it back on the air as WKBG.
> (I think they bought the radio stations, too, as it sticks in my mind that
> GE later bought the old WJIB-FM from the Globe.)
>
> -Doug
>
>
> --- Original Message -----
> From: "John J. Francini" <francini@mac.com>
> To: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>; "Stephanie Weil"
> <stephanie@gordsven.com>
> Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 1:43 AM
> Subject: Re: WMGX Portland to Flip Formats
>
>
> > Really!  I came to know of Channel 56 in the mid-to-late 60s.  When
> > did the frequency first sign on?  What were the previous owners?
> >
> > j
> >
> >
> > At 1:36 -0500 3/10/06, A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> > >On 9 Mar 2006 at 18:05, John Francini wrote:
> > >
> > >>  56- WLVI-TV (b. WKBG-TV)
> > >
> > >And previously WXHR-TV and originally WTAO-TV.
> > >
> > >--
> > >A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
> > >  15 Court Square, Suite 210                 Fax 617.742.7581
> > >Boston, MA 02108-2503                   http://www.attorneyross.com
> >
> > --
> > ----
> > John Francini <mailto:francini@mac.com>
> >
>
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> > | "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a
> disgrace; |
> > |  that two are called a law firm; and that three or more become a
> Congress.|
> > |  And by God I have had _this_ Congress!"
> |
> > |                                                       -- John Adams
> |
> >
>
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