Licensed to non-actual locations

[Roger Kirk]

On 30 Jan 2008 kvahey@comcast.net wrote:
>> I am reminded of the ill fated WXPO Channel 50 that was licensed to
>> Manchester but never had as much as a PO Box there. The station was
>> based in Lowell but the FCC would not approve a second COL so 70
>> percent of programming had to come from the transmitter in Windham
>> which was less than 15 air miles from Manchester. In the long run it
>> didn't matter as we couldn't pick up the signal in Lowell as the
>> transmitter was poorly designed. The defacto owner of the station Neil
>> Cortel argued with the FCC that 50 should be a Lowell outlet but.
>>
>> Still ranks as the greatest fiasco in Boston area broadcasting.
>>     
> To fully appreciate the fiasco-ness (fiascosity?) of WXPO-TV Channel 50, one must contemplate placement of a film island on a 2nd-floor balcony constructed of flexing wood, freezing and bursting (twice) of the TX heat exchanger (filled only with water) on top of Morrison Hill in sub-zero weather, the Lowell Studio's proximity to a 1 Kw AM transmitter and refusal of the Lowell Sun to sell advertising to them.  Other than that, it was just your plain, old, garden-variety fiasco.
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