Camden Maine station off the air due to storm damage

[revdoug1@myfairpoint.net]

I lived in west central Maine for over 30 years until my recent move to 
the coast.  The lack of adequate MPBN signal coverage in Somerset and 
Franklin Counties is something I used to complain long and loud about 
until I realized it was fruitless; no one at MPBN was listening, 
despite the fact that I and other complainants were supporting members. 
  Neither the 91.3 signal from Waterville nor the 90.1 from Portland 
nor the 90.9 from Bangor can be picked up very well north or west of 
Skowhegan.  When the Camden station went on the air several years ago, 
it only obviated the fact that MPBN's core supporters are the wealthy 
folk on the midcoast: the placing of a transmitter in Camden was 
principally a sop to them.  The subsequent proposed closing of the 
Calais station (in Washington County, Maine's poorest region) only made 
that more glaringly obvious. 

I remain an MPBN supporter, because its programming is one of very few 
alternatives offered against the dreck that characterizes much of Maine 
radio.  That having been said, however, I have to add that while MPBN 
purports to serve ALL of the State of Maine, it does not.   The Class C 
transmitter atop Sugarloaf is exactly what's needed, and if MPBN's 
trustees were really serious about their mission, they would find a way 
to see it built. 

-Doug



Quoting Garrett Wollman <wollman@bimajority.org>:
> <<On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:43:10 -0500, Aaron Read 
> <friedbagels@gmail.com> said:
>
> > I would also opine that you'd have to build either one huge
> > facility...or more likely, several quite-large facilities...to
> > adequately cover NW ME thanks to the terrain issues and extremely
> > low population density. 
>
> Most of the population of northwestern Maine probably receives an
> adequate signal from WMEA (90.1C Portland).  There are
> sparsely-populated parts in the far northwest that are terrain-blocked
> from WMEA; if you wanted to serve them, you'd probably have to build
> another class-C on Sugarloaf -- but note that WTOS-FM is operated as
> an Augusta station!
>
> (Incidentally, I'd be willing to bet that before the 107.9C2 came on
> in Skowhegan, the Rangeley Lake area got usable NPR service from WVPS. 
> Look at a topo map and note how the valleys in northern New Hampshire
> line up almost perfectly to bring the Mansfield FMs into that part of
> Maine.)
>
> -GAWollman
>