Subject: Voice-over Flubs

[kvahey@comcast.net]

Did Dick Richmond still own WMEX when the station got the Sox?

One story I heard years ago ws told to me by Sherm Feller who would
hold court in the Fenway media bar for hours after a game hoping
somebody would drive him to Milton so he could save car fare.

Sherm claimed that Tom Yawkey hated the music that HDH switched to and
they refused his request to change back. Yawkey didn't know the new
owners (Blair?) and looked for an outlet that would bring back his
standards.

There might be some truth to what Sherm said as WMEX did go MOR at
that time hiring Alan Dairy and others. Bill Lawrence from WFEA also
showed up along with Anthony Silva.

Yawkey embraced what he learned from WNAC about building a network of
smaller stations. He had to move to WHDH around 1946 as WNAC decided
to air only the Braves. So the Red Sox never have aired on WBZ.

Yawkey was frustrated by one thing as he could not listen to games in
South Carolina. WHDH solved that problem by adding WTIC to the
network.

I do know that WITS in their scramble to find a new transmitter
location looked at Foxboro. Eddie Andleman owned all the parking lots
at the old stadium and offered WITS some land. I suspect it was
impossible to make it work being that much closer to New London. Maybe
Dan can ponder if it could have worked.

On 2/27/08, Dan.Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net> wrote:
> Absolutely not! A night power increase for 1510 required a move to a
> more northerly location because of CJRS in Sherbrooke--the station
> that, as you put it, taught Woo-Woo to speak French. Sherbrooke is
> essentially due north of Boston and it had to be protected. As you
> know, the French you heard in Quebec on 1510 was NOT WMEX; it was
> CJRS. And yes, the Red Sox did indeed leave 850 for 1510 at some
> point. The move to the much weaker signal (around 1976) was bad enough
> but the timing was even worse because it coincided with the
> construction of the State St South office complex just west of the old
> 1510 transmitter in N Quincy. The new steel-frame buildings decimated
> 1510's already-execrable 5-kW night signal, making the station
> completely unlistenable even in close-in western parts of the
> market--including most of Newton, Waltham, Lexington, Arlington,
> Belmont and other places. You didn't have to go to MetroWest to be out
> of range and out of luck. WMEX (or maybe it was WITS by then)
> installed a new ground system to no avail. They next applied to
> slightly relax the pattern of their daytime 50 kW during noncritical
> hours. Not much of a relaxation was possible because of WNLC. Various
> temporary stopgaps were tried, such as simulcasts of Red Sox night
> games on 107.9 and 1330. Finally, there was the problem-plagued move
> to Waltham and 50 kW-U. The move cost millions and the big increase in
> night power coupled with the tall towers helped a lot in Newton,
> Waltham, Lexington, Arlington, and Belmont but was no help at all in
> Westwood. In addition, the day signal along the coast--on the North
> Shore, for example--suffered greatly. The old 50 kW day signal from
> Quincy reached coastal areas over a clear salt-water path; the new
> signal from Waltham had to travel over at least 15 miles of rocky,
> low-conductivity New England soil.
>
> -----
> Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> eFax 1-707-215-6367
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <kvahey@comcast.net>
> To: "Eli Polonsky" <elipolo@earthlink.net>
> Cc: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net>; "Dan.Strassberg"
> <dan.strassberg@att.net>; "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>; "Todd
> Glickman" <radio88@radio88.net>;
> <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:23 AM
> Subject: Re: Subject: Voice-over Flubs
>
>
> >
> > Did 1510 ever get 50K at night from Quincy?
> > I suspect they must have because I can't fathom the Red Sox leaving
> > HDH for a 5 KW signal. I don't understand why they left WHDH to
> > begin
> > with. The change happened after the 75 regular season with the
> > playoffs on 1510. Was it simply money? Yawkey will still alive so I
> > doubt that was a factor. Something else must have happened to anger
> > the team.
>
>