WWBZ

[Glenn Spatola]

I am truly amazed that they were allowed to use the WWBZ call letters in an 
area where WBZ is well known, and where its signal easily reaches!  That's 
bound to confuse some listeners.


Glenn

> Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 23:05:05 -0400
> From: Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>
> To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
> Subject: Re: WWBZ 700, WFNX 99.9 "vote for format"
> Message-ID: <5386A3E1.30003@fybush.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> 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.