WCRN adds Red Sox, and the "Sweet Caroline" story

[Dan Strassberg]

Where did you see or hear 50,000 watts of NIGHTTIME power? I'd like to see
or hear it for myself--especially if the source was a promo on WCRN or
something on WCRN's Web site. If WCRN does get the 50-kW night signal on the
air, it definitely will fix WRKO's nighttime coverage problems in MetroWest.
The WCRN transmitter is about 10 miles west of downtown Worcester and the
night signal will beam almost due east. The 10.55 mV/m NIF contour will
extend to Framingham. (I can't remember whether or not most of Framingham
will lie within the NIF but at least some of it will.) Except for fading,
which is really annoying on WCRN from before sunset until after sunrise, the
signal should be better than WRKO's, at least as far as Route 128. Areas
west of the WCRN transmitter in Leicester may not receive as good a signal
as they do from WTAG, however.

If WCRN picks up the Sox, that will put an end to the speculation about
107.3 carrying them. Now that 107.3 has a separate Boston signal on 97.7,
Entercom COULD have kept the rock on 97.7 during the games and put the Sox
on 107.3 to cover MetroWest. However, having the games on 830 (assuming the
power increase gets built), will be a big boost for AM in MetroWest. Because
of first-adjacent WEZE, WTAG really hasn't been an alternative for many
MetroWest listeners.

Anyone remember Tom Russell, who did AM drive on the old WEEI 590 for many,
many years (and later worked for the Mass Lottery)? I believe he lived in
Hopkinton. He would often complain on the air that his wife and kids
couldn't listen to his program because the interference from another
station. That station was WTAG and the problem cut both ways. Few people
listen to WTAG in Hopkinton either because of the interference from what is
now WEZE.

--

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@gmail.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>; "Tim Davisson"
<kd8gz@hotmail.com>; <busnrail@yahoo.com>; <raccoonradio@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:08 AM
Subject: WCRN adds Red Sox, and the "Sweet Caroline" story


> WCRN 830 Worcester's big announcement is...they are taking over for WTAG
as
> Red Sox affiliate next year (with "50,000 watts of NIGHTTIME power!).
> That should
> help to the west since WRKO goes directional at night.
>
> http://www.wcrnradio.com
>
> Thanks--and just clicked on their site...So WTAG loses rights after
> all these years.
>
> It was mentioned that hearing "Sweet Caroline" as part of the WCRN
> promos was a good clue. By the way I thought I read in one paper that
> the tradition of the Sox playing that song during the middle of the
> 8th inning goes back to the fact that a Sox employee's wife gave birth
> to a girl named Caroline; the song was played in her honor, and it
> caught on...even appearing in the movie "Fever Pitch" as the crowd
> chants So Good! So
> Good! Along with it.
>
> Yet a quick websearch drags up an article in the paper whose parent
> company owns 17 per cent of the team, and el Globo says that the
> Fenway park "DJ" started to play it and it just caught on with the
> crowd. (It was on a list of older rock songs that other stadia played
> as well.) I read somewhere online that the Mets also picked
> up the tradition of playing the tune, and I remember hearing it at a
> minor league park in Ohio last year. Somewhere out there is that
> little article I read (maybe as part of a "baseball notes" article)
> saying that the birth of a daughter to a Red Sox employee is the real
> reason why...
>
> Ah! And here it is (adding "daughter" to the yahoo search was the
> key). And again it comes from the Globe:
> the Red Sox had an employee named Billy Fitzpatrick who worked with
> them from 1984-2003, and in Dec. 1998 Billy's daughter Caroline was
> born. " At a Red Sox game the following summer, with Billy nearby in
> the control room, former public address announcer Ed Brickley
> requested that ''Sweet Caroline" be played." Fenway
> Park "DJ" Amy Tobey did, and noticed the Sox fans seemed to enjoy it.
> For a time, it was only played when the Sox were leading or if it was
> a close game (kind of like the Angels' "Rally Monkey" bit or the Sox'
> own Rally Karaoke guy, Kevin Millar) but reaction to it was "so
> strong" that it became a regular fixture
> just before the Sox came up in the bottom of the 8th.
>
> And now you know...the rest of the Story!