Herald: Music fee hikes could scuttle WJIB

[Aaron Read]

Well I'm not an engineer, but I play one at my job!  :-)

But if you're going to digress...WERS, WMBR and WZBC are audible over a 
pretty wide stretch of the Boston area.  Likewise, WUML and WUMD are 
also audible over wide areas north and south (respectively) of 
Boston...and can be heard in many parts of Boston proper if you've got a 
good receiver & antenna (and in WUML's case, if WMFO is off the air).

So that's approximately FOUR signals that are audible in many of the 
stations the remaining 13 signals are broadcasting in.  Granted, most of 
the 13 do not overlap...but even in a worst-case scenario you're looking 
at a minimum of two or three, probably more like four to six, stations 
that are mostly playing similar "freeform" or "block programming" 
formats.  Just in any one given area.

Compare that to (AFAIK) just ONE station (WJMN) playing a format that 
(allegedly) caters to African-American interests.

In fact, other than sports/news/talk...name me a format that has four to 
six signals overlapping in the same point.  The only one that comes 
close is rock/alternative and that's only because WAAF is simulcasting 
on WKAF (which I wager many on this list would deem a tragedy given what 
happened to WBOT/WILD).

The bottom line is that the freeform format is vastly over-represented 
in the Boston area.  Seriously, is there another market in the country 
where there's so many signals devoted to that style?  NYC is the only 
one I can think of and I'm not sure even they have quite as many.

--------------------------
Aaron Read
readaaron@friedbagels.com
Boston, MA 02446-2204

http://friedbagels.blogspot.com




Garrett Wollman wrote:
> <<On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:42:21 -0500, Aaron Read <readaaron@friedbagels.com> said:
> 
>> But the Greater Boston area has at least 17 stations (WYAJ, WZLY,
>> WERS, WMBR, WZBC, WMFO, WRBB, WIQH, WBMT, WRPS, WBIM, WUML, WUMD,
>> WMWM, WXPL, WDJM and WHHB) that are pretty much devoted to the
>> freeform or quasi-freeform/block-form format.
> 
> Spoken like an engineer....
> 
> No more than five of these are listenable at any one location, and
> that's just within a few blocks of Northeastern.  Outside of the inner
> city, you're looking at no more than three.  Most places have only
> one.
> 
> -GAWollman
> 
> 
>