WCRN speculation

[Dan Strassberg]

WCRN may not be for sale but I think that if Entercom were to acquire it,
they'd be more likely to pair it with 680 than with 850. The reason is that,
at least at night, the 680 signal is weaker to the west than the 850
signal--until you reach Marlborough, where neither signal is likely to be
listenable at night, but the 680 signal is slightly stronger (because
attenuation vs distance occurs more rapidly at the higher carrier
frequency).

If 830 and 850 were in a simulcast and both stations ran IBOC, I think you'd
have the interesting phenomenon of a region (east of Framingham and west of
Needham) where neither signal could be received--at least in the digital
mode--even though both stations were carrying the same program.

Even if 830 and 850 were not simulcasting, the area where neither one could
be received in digital mode would still exist, but the irony of the HD Radio
system failing because of interference between two stations carrying the
same program would be lacking. The problem is that HD Radio requires that
both digital sidebands be present and not be receiving much interference. If
stations on second-adjacent channels cover the same area, the upper digital
sideband of the station on the lower frequency and the lower digital
sideband of the station on the higher frequency both occupy the (supposedly
unoccupied) channel in the middle. In this case WCRN's upper digital
sideband and WEEI's lower digital sideband would both occupy the spectrum
between 835 and 845 kHz--that is, the spectrum allocated to 840. HD Radio
receivers can't handle such situations. With luck, the receiver would "fall
back" to analog mode, but it also might produce no audio output.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Smyth" <sean.smyth@yahoo.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:09 PM
Subject: WCRN speculation


> Earlier this week, I speculated that WCRN's (830 Worcester) picking up
> the Red Sox might be a sign Entercom could be acquiring 830. My
> thinking: Why would Entercom allow a station pursuing an upgrade, one
> that could be a competitor to WRKO's format, join the network -- unless
> there would be some benefit for WRKO?
>
> This morning, I received an e-mail from the WCRN folks saying, point
> blank, the station is not on the market.
>
> Still, in theory, I think an 830/850 combo could be enticing down the
line.
>
>
>
>
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