WHEB-750, BANGOR 750, 1240-CAPE COD (was:I guess holiday music works)

[Dan.Strassberg]

The CP has call letters assigned--WRME (probably meant to stand for
Radio Maine; alas, if the station is ever constructed and the call
letters aren't changed, it will be known to most people as Wormy). The
day pattern would obviously not be a problem--it's 50 kW ND. The night
pattern (synthesized with a rather standard four-tower parallelogram
array) is basically a teardrop with the max field (~70 kW ND
equivalent) to the southeast--specifically, at 138 degrees. There is a
decent minor lobe to the northwest, equivalent to almost 5 kW ND with
the local maximum at 313 degrees. I do not know what the NIF is but
the distance from WSB is 1119 miles, suggesting that the NIF would be
respectable. WCRN is 1086 miles from WCCO and WCRN's NIF is about 10.5
mV/m.

As for no overlap of second-adjacent 2.5 and 25 mV/m contours, that
rule was changed probably 25 years ago. The current rule is no overlap
of 5 mV/m contours. Hence we have WCRN so close to WEEI. There was
also the granted (but never built) CP to move what later became WJIB
to what became the 890 site in Ashland. From there, 740 would have run
2.5 kW using a five-tower teardrop pattern having its maximum to the
east. The lobes behind thay pattern were appreciable, however. Had
there been prohibited overlap between the 740 and WVNE, the FCC would
not have granted the CP.

Since WRME is not on the air, I suspect that the usual FCC hassles
related to eliminating the community's first local service would not
apply if Bob were to buy the allocation and move it to Bath to upgrade
WJTO. On 750, WJTO could remain a Class D but would receive a lot less
interference from WSB than it receives from CKAC. But on 750, WJTO
would have to protect WVNE by day. I assume that could be done with
two towers and the present 1 kW. The problem is that the signal in
Portland would be severely degraded, so I think Bob would find the
idea unacceptable. A pattern that protected WVNE by day would,
however, protect WSB to some extent at night and would therefore allow
WJTO to run somewhat more than the 8W at night that I estimate it
would be allowed if it ran ND at night on 750.

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Jibguy@aol.com>
To: <hykker@wildblue.net>;
<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: WHEB-750, BANGOR 750,1240-CAPE COD (was:I guess holiday
music works)


> In a message dated 1/9/2010 11:16:55 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> hykker@wildblue.net writes:
>
> Again, even if the CP could be had for a song the actual (1)
> buildout
> and (2) operating costs of a signal that would likely serve a lot of
> moose would be prohibitive.  Haven't seen the proposed pattern, but
> like most new AM allocations, I'd guess that it avoids most human
> population centers.
> -----------------------------------------------
>    True, it is a worthless CP, and I understand it has been up for
> sale
> for awhile now. One thing Bangor does not need is a 50kw AM station.
> I do
> not believe it can be moved to the coast with high power since
> WJTO-730 would
> be in the way.  750's 2.5mv/m cannot touch WJTO's 25 mv/m. So if 750
> were
> moved to the coast east of Bangor, that's a possibility,  but there
> are few
> people there.  If 750 were moved south or southeast to the coast,
> then WJTO
> would be a big problem, and so would 760-Worcester and
> 740-Cambridge.  If
> anyone were to ever construct 750-Bangor, they better plan on doing
> it as a
> tax-loss.
>    Then there are those who might say "moved WJTO-730 to 750." While
> that
> would help nighttime service (virtually non-existent now on 730),
> moving it
> to 750 would still have the same restrictions with 740 as 730 now
> has in
> daytime. Presently, WJTO-730 has a killer signal in Portland, and
> quite good on
> Cape Cod, so best to leave it as is.
>    Around 1990, the then out-of-state-owners (James & Hunter
> Communications) of WJTO filed an app with the FCC for 10kw days and
> 500w at night, using
> 5 towers; all crammed onto the then-11-acres WJTO property on the
> ocean
> inlet. FCC accepted it, but local zoning folks would not have
> approved it.
> James & Hunter went into bankruptcy around the same time (the JTO
> app probably
> helped in that regard) and WJTO and WKRH-FM were both off the air
> for 11
> months.
>    As to WHEB-750; true, the tower came down in exhange for a taller
> FM
> tower. However, 750 could have stayed on the taller tower with
> skirting along
> the FM tower... something that the then-owners figured was too
> expensive and
> not worth it at the time. Cost for that would have been around $25k;
> something that I certainly would have been willing to do. But then
> again, I see
> more value of AM daytimers on low frequencies than most bigger
> operators do.
>    As to 1240 on Cape Cod, it went up for sale for $200k back in the
> pit
> of the 90's recession. No bites, therefore Ernie Boch figured he'd
> donate it
> to BU. I thought that price was way too high.... had he just wanted
> $50k for
> it, I would have bit. Would be nice to have a WJIB repeater on Cape
> Cod.
> But rebroadcasting WBUR on it, as is being done presently, is a
> superior use
> for the 1240 station too.
> ---------BB