WBUR Buys 92.7 WMVY

[scott@fybush.com]

>  If you go to radio-locator.com and enter WMVY, it lists 93.9 and 100.7 as
> still being used as translators for
>  WMVY. Radio-locator is usually johnny-on-the-spot with stations that are
> no longer on-the-air, then they
>  blow the list of translators for WMVY.
>

Radio-Locator, like many free sources of information, is worth about what
you pay for it.

A big chunk of what they do is automated. If something changes in the FCC
database - callsign, technical parameters - it gets reflected right away
in Radio-Locator. The data they use to construct coverage maps comes right
out of CDBS, and is as good (or as bad) as what the FCC has at any given
moment. (This also explains why their Canadian listings are so atrociously
bad; they're using the data reported to the FCC for international
coordination purposes, which isn't expected to be a precise reporting of
what's really on the air in Canada.)

Some of what they do is not automated. Formats have been an issue there
for years, because something in their database links format to callsign
and keeps that link there even when the callsign changes. Look up
"WNOW-FM" in Radio-Locator and it will give you the correct technical and
ownership information for 92.3 in New York City, but the format
information, slogan and website will be those for 105.3 in Gaffney, South
Carolina, where the WNOW-FM calls were in use until just a few weeks ago.
And yes, the New Hampshire noncomm CP that just grabbed the WXRK calls is
listed in Radio-Locator as top-40 "Now FM," complete with streaming links
to New York's 92.3. Radio-Locator knows this is an issue, and either
doesn't know how to fix it or doesn't really want to be bothered.

I had thought R-L was using FCC data to list translator stations' parents,
but that appears not to be the case. CDBS correctly shows the 100.7
translator with WCIB as its parent, but it shows the 93.9 as being fed by
WNCK Nantucket. R-L obviously doesn't have it that way, which tells me
that they're doing translator parents manually, and are behind the curve
on those.

I *think* R-L's designation of silent stations comes mostly from CDBS, but
some of it may be manual as well. They're not always as quick to show new
stations as being on the air as they should be if they were automatically
looking for a license to cover to be granted.