WWBZ 700, WFNX 99.9 "vote for format"

[Jibguy@aol.com]

Perhaps the callsign WWBZ could be put on the FM, to act as an oversized  
translator for the Sports Hub, with CBS renting it from Steve.    Perhaps a 
Worcester area Class A FM would be next.   Saga likes  translators, so why 
not CBS?
 
Hard to imagine how the Athol FM or 700 could make any money on their own,  
especially with distant ownership.  Renting as a simulcast makes more  
sense. 
 
On a related note,  if WJTO in Bath wasn't so entrenched with "WJTO"  for 
sooo long now (50 years), I would have grabbed the WTUB callsign that 700  
had.   W"TUB-Bath".  
 
----BB
 
 
 
In a message dated 5/28/2014 11:07:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
scott@fybush.com writes:

On  5/28/2014 3:07 PM, Bob Nelson wrote:
> Was thinking of same thing..the  use of "WWBZ" calls on 700 may have a
> purpose..

No.

No,  no, no, no, a thousand times no.

While speculating about the meaning of  the calls may fill the daily hot 
air quotient on the message boards, there  is absolutely no reason to 
think that CBS is in any way involved here, and  plenty of reasons to 
think it isn't.

While it's just barely within  Worcester County, and thus within the 
Worcester radio market, that little  AM daytimer doesn't serve enough 
population to move the ratings needle  even a hair within the entire 
market. 700 might, on a good day, get 25,000  people, total, within the 5 
mV/m contour in which it's possible to draw  ratings. Maybe. And that's 
in a market with 400,000+ people 12+ in the  metro.

Do you really think CBS, which cumes something like  600,000-700,000 
people on a good book for WBZ-FM, is going to contract  with a competitor 
to put Sports Hub programming on a signal that might  perhaps add another 
1000 or 2000 listeners who aren't even in (or  especially near) the 
Boston ratings market? Especially on a daytimer that  can't carry most 
Bruins or Celtics games?

It doesn't make a lick of  sense.

It makes much more sense to assume Silberberg grabbed the WWBZ  calls 
just because he could. Maybe he was hoping CBS would  cease-and-desist 
him to get a bit of publicity. But why should CBS care?  Sports Hub 
doesn't even call itself "WBZ" except once, very quickly, at  the top of 
the hour. And WBZ(AM) doesn't have any real reason to care  about 
Worcester-market ratings, since it can't sell to most Worcester  
advertisers at Boston-market ad rates. Even if it did, any confusion  
with "WWBZ" in a diary-based market such as Worcester would probably  
fall in WBZ's favor, anyway.

If "WWBZ" means anything at all, it  might mean Steve is parking calls 
that he'll use on FM as "the Buzz." But  even that mild speculation is 
probably more than this story is  worth.