WBZ HD speculation & HD future

[Mark Casey]

If WBZ does see a profitable future in covering more of New England than the 
Boston area, then maybe HD radio would be a cost effective vehicle.

Then you've got to speculate as to how large an HD radio audience there will 
be.

The way it looks now is that HD FM will continue to expand and might just 
attract a decent number of listeners in the next few years. The HD FM signal 
is good. I don't know it if has the same range as the main FM analog signal. 
Maybe someone on this list can answer that question.

However, the future of HD AM looks pretty bleak. The HD AM range is small. I 
can't get a steady signal on WTIC HD, within sight of the towers (22 miles 
away). The HD AM proponents want to be able to crank up the power in the 
sidebands, but that will make worse an already bad adjacent channel 
interference situation. That problem is mostly at night, but the example now 
rears its' ugly head nearly every night when KDKA HD clobbers WBZ only 80 or 
90 miles west of Boston.

So, here's my crazy plan: WBZ goes on HD FM signals throughout New England. 
Daytime programming splits every 10 minutes during the Boston traffic and 
weather segments and regional news and weather is inserted for those HD 
stations more than 50 miles from Boston. Top regional stories are run once 
an hour on all stations. And, maybe a partnership with NECN would work well 
for both WBZ and NECN. I think it would sell.

There is one good point for WBZ being available, at least, in Western Mass. 
That is that folks in Western Mass want to hear state news. Locals like WHYN 
do not do a good job of covering state news. Which is probably why WBZ still 
shows up in Western Mass ratings. Not many regular listeners will put up 
with the scratchy signal that 'BZ has out here--unless WBZ has some news 
that no other local Western Mass outlet has--which it does. Just my opinion, 
but I think that the regional news on FM HD would sell in the other New 
England states, too. And, that the entertainment portion of WBZ's broadcast 
schedule, Dan Rae, and Steve Lavelle, etc., and sports, would do well also.

Mark Casey, K1MAP
Hampden, MA



From: "Dan.Strassberg"

Subject: Re: WBZ morning signal skywave interference & 500kw speculation


Has WBZ given up on promoting itself as NEW ENGLAND's most listened-to
radio station? If not, they are at least paying lip service to serving
portions of New England outside of the immediate Boston market. I
realize that they might not be trying to get business from parts of
New England like the Connecticut Valley, but there is an outside
chance that they might be interested in attracting such business. If
so, being on an HD-n subchannel in Hartford or Springfield could make
sense.

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