WGBH-FM Adding RI Coverage?

[Laurence Glavin]

WGBH-FM in Boston takes NPR News at the top of the hour, and throughout the daytime at least
runs about two or three minutes of locally-oriented news just like competitor WBUR. I've noticed
lately when I've used WGBH (I choose between WBUR's "On Point" or WGBH's "Diane Rehm Show"
depending on subject and guests) that the local news segment contains a Rhode Island news story or
maybe more than one. Sometimes there's a Massachusetts tie-in, like the recently appointed Police
Superintendent in Portsmouth, RI who is currently a Boston Police Ossifer. But most Rhode
Island stories are strictly of interest to RI denizens, like the tainted water in Kent County. WGBH-FM's
transmitter of course is south of Boston with about 100K so it comes in well in RI. But the
Providence market has at least two news-talk stations (WPRO-AM & WHJJ-AM); I don't know
how much news intrudes into Providence FMs. Is it possible that WGBH-FM is hedging its bets
by trying to appeal to a broader population base than WBUR which seems to "own" Boston for news?