worthy competition - was Boom Boom

[Linc Reed-Nickerson]

At night in Unity, Maine, where I miss-spent the summers of my teenage years, WPTR was what every kid listened to!  Even in Actom, MA WPTR and WKBW were often listened to.  OK, which one was Union9-9272 and which one was TT4-5107... Dave Dougherty will know.  Got to visit the WKBW transmitter circa 1976, but not WPTR, although I've driven by it on the throughway many times, as recently as 3 years ago.  Yes, Kid Rock (All Summer Long) makes me think of my teen summers in Unity, wonder what became of Donna (who is now 67)?

I find the comments about the viability of the "worthy competitor" very interesting.  Manchester, New Hampshire was a good example, with WKBR (then 1240) being the top station in the market, even at 250 watts!  

The change to 1250 and 5kW probably did little but generate additional expense (although possibly more revenue because of the higher power).  Some claimed they lost listeners when the shifted frequency because 1250 on the river had better coverage in some areas than the DA on the granite shelf on Goffstown Back Road.  They had to add a 5th tower to modify the daytime pattern a year or so after it was built.  Too bad the original 1240 site is now gone, because it might have made sense to go back to 1240 in recent times, if it would still fit.  WFTN in Franklin might be the stopper, but with ground conductivity in NH being what it is it might have fit.  1250 to 1240 would be a minor change per the current FCC policies.

And remember when WTAO was a significant player in Boston in the early 1950's?

Speaking of ground conductivity, it's so bad on the Oregon Coast 820 with a 1kW has about a 20 mile radius, 1kW on 1230 in Burns on the other hand has a 75 mile radius.  According to FCC conductivity maps, both locations are the same, but having made measurements I know the away from the shore in Oregon the conductivity is 0.5 to 0.1.  If your transmitter is in from the coast, as many on the Oregon coast are, you don't get much help from the seawater conductivity.  There's a 50kW in Reedsport, OR that doesn't have the coverage of my 1230 in Burns!

Linc

-----Original Message-----
From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of Doug Drown
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 6:55 AM
To: Dave Doherty; Dan.Strassberg
Cc: =?utf-8?b??=
Subject: Re: Boom Boom Brannigan passes on

That Drum real estate ad was really clever.  Little WSNY positioned 
itself as a worthy local competitor to WGY.  Though in the '60s and 
'70s when visiting in Schenectady I was fixated on WPTR and WTRY, I did 
listen to WSNY occasionally and found that it was a well-run station.   
There were many such stations in middle-market cities, little bantams 
that held up well to the big guys.  I think of WNEB in Worcester from 
my adolescence --- 1230 kHz, 1 kw daytime, 250 at night, a CBS 
affiliate with a format geared toward middle- to older-aged adults.  It 
had good DJs, good local news and sports coverage, all in all doing a 
fine job competing against full-service NBC powerhouse WTAG and the two 
hotly competitive Top 40 stations, WAAB and WORC.   -Doug

Quoting "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>:
> I remember Edwardson and Putney from WGY in my college days (early to
> mid '50s). In those days, though, Steve Fitz was on little WSNY, a
> 250W Class IV on 1240. WSNY sounded amazingly professional for such a
> small station--its signal reached the entire Capital District by day
> but was competitive only in Schenectady and adjoining communities,
> such as Rotterdam. Weak signal or not, WSNY appeared to have sold out
> its entire schedule month after month, year after year. Always ~17
> minutes of commercials per hour from sign-on to sign-off. Most of the
> commercials were locally produced. Many used jingle packages that were
> designed for specific types of businesses (furniture stores, variety
> stores etc) and could be tailored to specific businesses simply by
> inserting the advertiser's name, address, and phone number. Some ads
> used proprietary jingles, however. The one that I guess I will never
> forget was for W Baldwin Drum Real Estate: "Drum's along the
> Mowhawk/with his eye on pro-per-teee." Ended with the beat of a
> tom-tom over which was whispered W Baldwin Drum...W Baldwin Drum... W
> Baldwin Drum... Very memorable. Probably moved a lot of houses and
> farms. 
>
> -----
> Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> eFax 1-707-215-6367
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
> To: "D. A." <donald_astelle@yahoo.com>;
> <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>; "Doug Drown"
> <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>
> Cc: <JPolsinelle@firstcardinal.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 10:17 PM
> Subject: Re: Boom Boom Brannigan passes on
>
>
> >I met Boom-Boom in 1968 or maybe 1969 at the WPTR studios. Another
> >WPTR DJ, Roy Urbinas, who eventually wound up in Plattsburgh and may
> >have originally hailed from there, cut a couple of voicers for me,
> >and Roy introduced us. Boom Boom was an interesting character, very
> >pleasant, and the first "Boss Jock" I ever met. 
> >
> > Not long after, I worked summers as a tech at WGY, pushing buttons
> > and whatnot for Bill Edwardson, Jack Shannon, Harry Downey, Earl
> > Pudney, and Steve Fitz. 
> >
> > -Dave Doherty
> >
>