WCRN, higher power, and the Red Sox

[Dan Strassberg]

No! The WVEI information is backwards! This is an error in the FCC's CDBS. I
brought the problem to Entercom's attention a couple of years ago and they
chose to ignore it. To fix what you see at radio-locator.com, just flip the
pattern 180 degrees about the axis of the towers (80.2 degrees). However, if
you have a plot of the augmented pattern, fixing it is not so easy because,
although the unuagmented pattern is flipped, the augmentations are not. The
result is a pattern plot that is a complete mess and is not easily
corrected. If WVEI's night coverage were what you see at radio-locator (or
in any plot based on the CDBS data) the station could not be licensed to
Worcester because the transmitter site is west of Worcester (as is WCRN's,
but WCRN's is about 10 miles further west) and WVEI's radiation minima
appear (erroneously) to lie to the east of the transmitter site (that is to
say, over Worcester). In fact, the minima lie west of Worcester.

WVEI and WCRN have rather similar night patterns but WCRN covers a lot more
real estate because of its higher power, lower frequency, and very likely a
lower NIF. I don't know what WVEI's NIF is, but from what I've heard people
say, 1440 is pretty noisy around here at night. WCRN's NIF is about 10.5
mVm, which means that when it runs the full 50 kW at night (I don't think
they are doing that yet; most likely they are running 12.5 kW; the FCC
customarily limits directional AMs to 1/4 of the proposed power until a
license to cover is granted), its NIF contour will reach Framingham. The
signal should be easily listenable to 128 and still pretty good--except for
the awful fades--quite far inside of 128.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@mail.com>
To: "BostonRadio Mailing List"
<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 12:12 PM
Subject: WCRN, higher power, and the Red Sox


> An article from Worcester Business Journal talks about the addition of the
Red Sox to WCRN. A chart
> shows the station's lackluster ratings under the talk format, but it is
hoped the addition of
> the Red Sox and the new 50 kW signal at night will help.
>
>
http://wbjournal.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1342&Itemid
=142
>
> The arrangement is that Entercom's WVEI 1440 and WCRN will both carry the
Sox, but Entercom
> pockets the ad dollars. WCRN gets the Sox to make the station more well
known and help in
> the ratings. Why two stations? Check out their night patterns on
radio-locator.com
>
> WVEI (night) pushes to the west, NW, and SW at night. The WCRN (night)
chart--admittedly for the current
> signal only--shows them pushing to the east, NE, and SE. (I don't know why
the WCRN
> page at radio-locator doesn't show the 50kW night pattern) This will help
the listeners
> in MetroWest as both WRKO and WEEI (WEEI will be doing Wed night games or
Friday
> nights or something) push north-south after dark.
>
>