CBA-1070 Moncton, NB going off

[markwa1ion@aol.com]

Below includes comments that I made on another list, but possibly of 
interest here:

<<
4.
The CBC confirmed that it would ensure that the area currently covered 
by
CBA would be served by the proposed new transmitter, or by one of its 
existing
FM transmitters that currently serve the Moncton area, namely CBAA-FM 
Newcastle
and CBAE-FM Campbellton, New Brunswick.
>>

Hmmm, (tongue firmly in cheek) does that mean they've somehow got an FM 
rig that will hit me here in metro-Boston with the same beautiful S9+50 
signal that CBA-1070 cranks in here on any non-auroral night ?

I do enjoy CBC programming, especially when they're spotlighting 
Canadian music showing Celtic, British-folk, or indigenous-peoples 
influences.

CBA was a regular button when I used to do a lot of long night drives 
to and from Cape Cod.

If the FM doesn't make the 300-mile trip (and I seriously doubt that it 
will), that means the CBC Newfies (540, 600, 640, 990) are my last 
hope. None of these is quite as strong or interference-free as good ol' 
CBA though. Bummer.

Oh yeah, someone will say "listen on the Internet". A few of you may 
have WiFi or cellular hookups that would allow you to do this in 
rush-hour traffic, but I'm not there yet. Maybe I have to get XM or 
Sirius.

And so one more free entertainment option is removed from the listening 
public. Like all those oldies and big-band stations that converted to 
extreme political talk and foreign languages. Someone please set the 
wayback machine to about '67. Boy do I sound like a total geezer!

Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA

===

FM from Nova Scotia or NB...maybe a few times a year (with a signal 
that's listen-able). I've had some killer signals the past couple of 
years at my QTH in Hingham MA. But I'm going to miss it for the same 
reasons as you Mark. I too can listen on the internet or on Sirius ( 
but the Sirius CBC programming lineup is not the same as CBA's and is 
all at different times as compared to CBA). I'll miss listening to 
"Northern Lights" on the Tivoli as I drift off to sleep.

Another Old Geezer (is 51 old?)
Keith McGinnis
Hingham MA

===

FM skip reception has always been a dodgy thing, especially when in 
vehicular motion at typical highway speed.

I should be happy that a huge "pesty" signal is being removed from 
1070, making the channel more DX-able. But I do care about programming 
content and entertainment too: there's a whole lot less of that on AM 
every day. I will miss CBA. I also miss CHTN-720 and CHNS-960 with the 
Canadian Content oldies by Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, etc. as 
well as the Celtic-influenced style of country that had sometimes been 
featured on CFCY-630, CHSJ-700, and CKBW-1000. None of the replacement 
FM's puts one iota of signal into this area. The AM's used to be 
blasters. 700 was huge at mid-day (!) anywhere near the MA coast.

Oh well, at this point CD's are becoming the main in-car entertainment 
for me other than WBZ news. With music radio becoming less relevant and 
listener choices so fragmented, I already miss the SHARED aspect of 
chatting up "what I heard today on the radio" with family, friends, 
co-workers, etc. No one talks about favorite DJ's anymore. In an 
earlier age Boston had household names like Maxanne Sartori, Charles 
Laquidara, John H. Garabedian, Arnie Ginsberg, Dick Summer, and so on. 
Each had a unique style and many playlist surprises. People would talk 
about the DJ's and the tunes in school, on job sites, and at yard 
parties. I don't see anything all that inspiring about talkshow hosts 
especially since David Brudnoy (of WBZ) "checked out" a couple of years 
back. Savage, Limbaugh ... BORING! And all the tunes are satellite fed 
with "zip" personality and minimal localization. Anything that came out 
pre-1964 (or is it pre-1974 now?) seems to be relegated to the dumper 
anyway.

With 1070, from a purely DX standpoint, Spain and other TA's on 1071 
will get substantially easier here since CBA was right on the same 
bearing as European DX. It trashed 1071 mercilessly most of the time. 
The CBA departure won't make as much difference on the 1070 Latinos 
since aurora typically takes down CBA (as well as weaker co-channel 
CHOK) to leave stuff like Venezuela's often-dominant "Mundial Zulia", 
the Colombians, Cubans, etc. more or less in the clear. Maybe Argentina 
(that I used to hear in West Yarmouth once in a while) will have a 
better chance. I guess French Guiana, another occasional '80s-era 1070 
catch from the Cape, is gone however.

Is 51 old ? When I was 17, anybody over 40 was "wicked old" (as would 
often be heard in conversations at the pizza shop across from Arlington 
High School). Now that 51 is 6 years in the rearview mirror for me, 
it's borderline kid-like.

Just "geezing along" and trying to find something half decent to 
justify turning on my AM radios.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA
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