WUNR

[Dan.Strassberg]

AFAIK, WUNR has been licensed to Brookline and has had the same
technical facilities from the same transmitter location since it
originally signed on in 1947: 5 kW-U DA-1 from two more-than-half-wave
towers in the Oak Hill section of Newton. The CP, which is under
construction at the original site, is for 20 kW DA-1 from five towers.
Three of the towers will be shared with WKOX (50 kW-U DA-2) and five
towers day/four night will be shared with WRCA (25 kW-D/17 kW-N DA-2).
Since the new towers are only about 116 degrees at 1600, whereas the
old ones were, IIRC, 205, the power increase will be a lot less
impressive than the raw numbers suggest. Also the new pattern is much
narrower than the old. WUNR needs to protect first-adjacent-channel
stations in Nashua NH and W Warwick RI and, because of the "ratchet
rule," which requires reductions in interference to existing stations,
it must reduce radiation to the north and south. The new 20-kW pattern
will send most signal to the east in a fairly narrow arc focused on
inner-city Boston, which is the target market for WUNR's brokered
ethnic programming. The same statements are true for WRCA, which, in
addition, is moving south from Waltham to the Newton site, and will
take major signal hits day and night to the northwest of Boston.

At some point in WUNR's 60-year existence, co-channel WWRL New York
City, the major source of nighttime interference to WUNR,
upgraded--from a 250 ND Class IV (on a Class III channel) licensed to
the Queens nighborhood of Woodside--first to 5 kW DA-2 licensed to New
York and more recently to 25 kW-D/5 kW-N DA-2. The first WWRL upgrade
(in the mid '50s, I think), probably reduced interference to
WUNR--which may still have been WVOM or WBOS (AM) at the time. From a
technical standpoint, until WUNR gets its CP on the air, the WWRL
upgrades and a number of changes to the 1600 station in E Longmeadow
were probably the most significant events to affect WUNR since it was
built.

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don A" <donald_astelle@yahoo.com>
To: "BRI" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 12:50 PM
Subject: WUNR


>
> When I was growing up north of Boston in the 60's and 70's....I woul
> occaisionally see WUNR listed among the Boston stations.  Try as I
> might...I could *never* (I mean never!) pick up that station.
>
> Not that there was anything to listen to on WUNR that even remotely
> interested me.  ;-)
>
> I believe sometime in the 70's I saw a coverage map that had the
> signal coming from west of Boston...and over Boston and then
> straight out to sea. (Almost like a "V" shape.)  Next to virtually
> no signal going North or South.
>
> I find lately when I hit 'scan' on the car radio that it actually
> stops at 1600AM...and I can actually hear the station.  (Not that I
> understand anything.)   ;-)
>
> Here is their current pattern:
>
> http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WUNR&service=AM&status=L&hours=U
>
> That signal doesn't look half bad (compared to the map I saw in the
> 70's.)
>
> I know WUNR has a CP out right now and have or about to upgrade
> their facilities....But, did they do an upgrade of their facilities
> sometime between the 70's and now to open up more coverage to the
> North and South?
>
> Have they always been 5KW?
>
> Just curious....
>
> D
>
>
>