WHIL

[Dan.Strassberg]

WNAC in Squantum was, in fact, WNAC/WAAB in Squantum, right? A
Blaw-Knox diamond tower, I'm told. And yes, it was an antediluvian AM
diplex! Could it have been the very first AM diplex? Dunno! At one
point, KSFO and KFRC in San Francisco were diplexed, and that was more
technically challenging than diplexing stations on 1230 (WNAC pre
NARBA) and 1410 (WAAB pre NARBA). KFRC and KSFO were only 50 kc apart,
8.2% of the higher frequency (610). 180 (1410-1230) is 12.77% of 1410.
OTOH, I believe the WNAC/WAAB diplex could have predated the KFRC/KSFO
diplex by a decade or more. Given the frequency stability of the
crystal oscillators of the day, 12.77% in 1931 might have been as much
of a challenge as 8.2% a decade later.

When WORL or WBSO transmitted from the Wellesley/Needham area, was the
station really licensed to Boston? And what power was it running? I
thought it was a 1-kW daytimer. Rules on CoL coverage have changed
over the years, but I find it hard to believe that 1 kW ND from the
Wellesley area could have covered Boston with anything like today's 5
mV/m minimum. WEEI, which sends the equivalent of more than 100 kW ND
toward Boston, delivers only about 35 mV/m to downtown Boston. 1 kW ND
at 950 would have delivered only about 3 mV/m. Maybe the rule in those
days was only 2 or 2.5 mV/m over the CoL. That probably would have
worked. Or maybe the FCC waived the rule. Or maybe WORL had already
increased to 5 kW--an upgrade that I didn't think took place until the
station's move to Saugus in 1947 or 1948.

As for personalities at WORL, I didn't arrive in Boston until the
summer of 1956, so I never heard anybody who was on the air on WORL or
its predecessor, WBSO, when the program I knew as the 950 Club was the
920 Club. That would have been before the end of March 1941, when
NARBA reworked the AM band and moved most stations up the dial by
various amounts. Most stations on 920, including WORL/WBSO, moved to
950. Donna simply isn't old enough to have listened to the program
when it was the 920 Club. She would have to have been born no later
than 1941 to have caught the program when it aired on 920. That would
make her 70 now. Moreover, she would have been only six weeks old when
NARBA transformed what had been the 920 Club into the 950 Club;>)

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Hall" <chris2526@comcast.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 6:01 PM
Subject: WHIL


Tarlow owned in full or part of the following stations: 100% of WHIL
AM/FM under the name Conant Broadcasting
WGUY Bangor
KUTY Palmdale, Ca
WARE Ware, Mass
WLOB AM/FM Portland
There may have been more but these are what I come up with off the top
of my head

As for WORL the transmitter building and tower base are still there,
it is now a residential property
on the main road from Needham to Wellesley, if you are looking at the
tower field from behind the WEEI/WHDH
transmitter building you can see the road and at the time see the
tower.
I have a picture of the brand new WHDH site in 1948 and the tower is
clearly visable in the background.
Anyone have pictures of WMEX in Squantam? , I have lots of pix of old
WNAC in Squantam and new WNAC
3 tower array in Quincy.