WBIX going Catholic

[Scott Fybush]

On 7/12/2010 11:15 AM, Dan.Strassberg wrote:
> So what does Holy Family have on WHIC? Some Protestant stations are
> pretty lively, but there are a lot that, like WEZE, are deadly dull.
> The same is likely true of Catholic stations.

WHIC (and its sister station WLOF in Buffalo) are largely EWTN 
programming, as are most of the Catholic stations that have been growing 
like crazy in the last few years.

I am not a frequent listener, and am ill-qualified to render a judgment 
on their programming.

> OTOH, Holy Family did build out WHIC's CP, which may or may not mean
> that they would do the same with WBIX's CP to move its day site to
> Ashland and, despite an increase in daytime power to 50 kW, give up a
> large chunk of daytime coverage in order to save the cost of renting
> the separate day site. Also, how is WHIC's technical operation? WBIX
> will be pretty complex even if it can operate from one site. Requires
> an owner who is really committed to maintaining the facilities.

Holy Family had to build out WHIC's CP - they'd already lost the old 
1460 site and were operating on a very temporary lease at the 950 site a 
mile or so to the west. The WHIC facility is a pretty simple one: a 
3-tower 5 kW (equivalent) DA-N.

They did a nice job on it, and it actually gets out better than the old 
facility did.

At the same time, I've heard all kinds of rumors about Holy Family not 
having a lot of cash in the bank, so where they're getting $1 million in 
cash to buy WBIX and operate it is somewhat beyond me.

s