Is it time for WTBS to make a comeback on 88.1?

[Dan.Strassberg]

I gather that since there was no WTBS in a service other than TV, WMBR
has had the option of trying to get Time-Warner to agree to the use of
the call-sign on FM in Cambridge for quite a long time. That must mean
that either the WMBR board never realized they had the option, wasn't
interested in trying, or had inside info that any such attempt was
doomed to fail.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
To: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@gmail.com>
Cc: "BRI" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: Is it time for WTBS to make a comeback on 88.1?
> Kevin Vahey wrote:
>> How does the WMBR board feel about this? Obviously these calls
>> would
>> be snapped up quickly. Scott would WMBR get first crack at them
>> since
>> they were the previous owner?
>
> Nope - once you give up a set of calls, they're out in the wild, as
> it were, for anyone to grab. That's why broadcast owners with lots
> of licenses often "park" calls in small markets if they think they
> might use them again, or if they think the competition might want to
> grab them. WNEW, no longer in use in New York, now resides on a CBS
> FM station outside West Palm Beach. WXRK, during its brief
> retirement when New York's 92.3 became "Free FM," went to Cleveland,
> only to be returned to 92.3 in NYC when Free FM died earlier this
> year.
>
> Time Warner can't do that with WTBS - channel 17 in Atlanta is its
> one and only broadcast license, so when they change the calls there,
> the "WTBS" callsign will be up for grabs to the first applicant.
>
> s