From ashboy1951@gmail.com Tue Jun 4 16:05:48 2019 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2019 16:05:48 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC Message-ID: I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in Lawrence back in 1953 and moved WNAC from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two stations or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual property and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and purposes become defunct? -Doug Drown From dlh@donnahalper.com Wed Jun 5 00:32:01 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 00:32:01 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in Lawrence > back in 1953 and moved WNAC > from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two stations > or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual property > and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and > purposes become defunct? Beware:? the answer to this is complicated!!!? It also started with WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June of 1950.? Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence.? The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel Bradford.? Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on Brookline Ave.? Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. Others found work at other stations--? in the early 1950s, there were still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From dlh@donnahalper.com Wed Jun 5 00:45:39 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 00:45:39 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC, PS In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <426813d8-36d8-1def-eb71-9f7b1771eb10@donnahalper.com> A clarification-- I should have mentioned that the Lawrence Eagle Tribune and WLAW were both operated by Alexander Rogers; it was Alexander (the father) who put WLAW on the air in 1937, with the help of other members of the Rogers family, including his son Irving. (The Hildreth & Rogers company name was more historical than actual-- Frank Hildreth had died way back in 1909.) ? But when Alexander died in 1942, his son Irving took over, and it was he who made the decision to sell WLAW in 1953. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From Supersport@Maine.RR.Com Wed Jun 5 15:16:15 2019 From: Supersport@Maine.RR.Com (Supersport ~ Scratchy 45s & Beyond) Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2019 15:16:15 -0400 Subject: Boston-Radio-Interest Digest, Vol 23, Issue 49 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <16b29120418.27f4.ac4e18591c77d00685fa6fd032d485ec@Maine.RR.Com> We are so gifted to have Donna on this list and be a local broadcast historian. I always enjoy reading her posts. John --- Original message --- From: boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org Sent: June 5, 2019 12:00:00 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Boston-Radio-Interest Digest, Vol 23, Issue 49 > > Send Boston-Radio-Interest mailing list submissions to > > boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > https://lists.BostonRadio.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-radio-interest > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > boston-radio-interest-owner@lists.BostonRadio.org > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of Boston-Radio-Interest digest..." > > > > > > > > ---------- > > Today's Topics: > > > > 1. WLAW - WNAC (Doug Drown) > > 2. Re: WLAW - WNAC (Donna Halper) > > 3. Re: WLAW - WNAC, PS (Donna Halper) > > > > > > > > ---------- > > WLAW - WNAC > > From: Doug Drown ashboy1951@gmail.com > > Date: Jun 4, 4:05 PM > > To: Boston Radio Group boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org > > > > I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in Lawrence > > back in 1953 and moved WNAC > > from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two stations > > or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual property > > and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and > > purposes become defunct? > > > > -Doug Drown > > > > > > > > > > ---------- > > Re: WLAW - WNAC > > From: Donna Halper dlh@donnahalper.com > > Date: Jun 5, 12:32 AM > > To: Doug Drown ashboy1951@gmail.com, Boston Radio Group > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org > > > > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in Lawrence > >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC > >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two stations > >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual property > >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and > >> purposes become defunct? > > > > > > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with > > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for > > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John > > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June > > of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell > > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's > > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment > > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of > > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > > Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, > > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > > Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > > Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were > > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > > > > -- > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------- > > Re: WLAW - WNAC, PS > > From: Donna Halper dlh@donnahalper.com > > Date: Jun 5, 12:45 AM > > To: Doug Drown ashboy1951@gmail.com, Boston Radio Group > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org > > > > A clarification-- I should have mentioned that the Lawrence Eagle > > Tribune and WLAW were both operated by Alexander Rogers; it was > > Alexander (the father) who put WLAW on the air in 1937, with the help of > > other members of the Rogers family, including his son Irving. (The > > Hildreth & Rogers company name was more historical than actual-- Frank > > Hildreth had died way back in 1909.) But when Alexander died in 1942, > > his son Irving took over, and it was he who made the decision to sell > > WLAW in 1953. > > > > -- > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------- > > _______________________________________________ > > Boston-Radio-Interest mailing list > > Boston-Radio-Interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > > https://lists.BostonRadio.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-radio-interest From scott@fybush.com Wed Jun 5 14:51:55 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 14:51:55 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Strictly from the FCC's point of view, the license continuity was by frequency. If you look at the FCC history cards for WRKO, you'll see that they start with WLAW in 1937 and show a sale on June 17, 1953 to General Teleradio, Inc. and a call change the same day to WNAC. Likewise, if you look at the history cards for 1260 (now WBIX), you'll see that they start with WNAC (the earliest entries are 1931, but of course the history went back to 1922) and show a sale on June 17, 1953 to Vic Diehm and Associates and a call change the same day to WVDA. So if you use the license records, it was considered a dual sale - General bought WLAW from Hildreth & Rogers and simultaneously sold WNAC to Diehm. But the WNAC intellectual property obviously didn't come with the sale - it stayed with General and went from 1260 to 680. (And WNAC-FM/WNAC-TV of course remained unchanged through all of this, while WLAW-FM was surrendered.) From the listener perspective, of course, WNAC simply "moved" from 1260 to 680 and WVDA came on as a new station on 1260, just as happened again four decades later with WEEI and WHDH and 590 and 850. If you follow the FCC license records, the station we now call WEEI 850 is the same license that was WHDH, with a sale and a call change in the 1990s. And what we now call WEZE 590 is the same license that was WEEI, with a sale and a call change in the 1990s. I don't think anyone played a toilet flushing when WLAW went away, though. On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in Lawrence >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two stations >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual property >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and >> purposes become defunct? > > > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in >> Lawrence >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two >> stations >> or an acquisition?? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual >> property >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and >> purposes become defunct? > > > Beware:? the answer to this is complicated!!!? It also started with > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June > of 1950.? Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > Bradford.? Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > Brookline Ave.? Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > Others found work at other stations--? in the early 1950s, there were > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > From ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu Wed Jun 5 18:36:59 2019 From: ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu (Sean Smyth) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 18:36:59 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: What frequency was WLAW-FM on? On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 5:31 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > Strictly from the FCC's point of view, the license continuity was by > frequency. If you look at the FCC history cards for WRKO, you'll see > that they start with WLAW in 1937 and show a sale on June 17, 1953 to > General Teleradio, Inc. and a call change the same day to WNAC. > > Likewise, if you look at the history cards for 1260 (now WBIX), you'll > see that they start with WNAC (the earliest entries are 1931, but of > course the history went back to 1922) and show a sale on June 17, 1953 > to Vic Diehm and Associates and a call change the same day to WVDA. > > So if you use the license records, it was considered a dual sale - > General bought WLAW from Hildreth & Rogers and simultaneously sold WNAC > to Diehm. But the WNAC intellectual property obviously didn't come with > the sale - it stayed with General and went from 1260 to 680. (And > WNAC-FM/WNAC-TV of course remained unchanged through all of this, while > WLAW-FM was surrendered.) > > From the listener perspective, of course, WNAC simply "moved" from 1260 > to 680 and WVDA came on as a new station on 1260, just as happened again > four decades later with WEEI and WHDH and 590 and 850. If you follow the > FCC license records, the station we now call WEEI 850 is the same > license that was WHDH, with a sale and a call change in the 1990s. And > what we now call WEZE 590 is the same license that was WEEI, with a sale > and a call change in the 1990s. > > I don't think anyone played a toilet flushing when WLAW went away, though. > > On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in > Lawrence > >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC > >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two > stations > >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual > property > >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents > and > >> purposes become defunct? > > > > > > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June > of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > > > On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in > >> Lawrence > >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC > >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two > >> stations > >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual > >> property > >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and > >> purposes become defunct? > > > > > > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with > > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for > > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John > > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June > > of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell > > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's > > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment > > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of > > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > > Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, > > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > > Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > > Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were > > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > > > -- Sent from my iPhone From scott@fybush.com Wed Jun 5 19:03:37 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 19:03:37 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: 93.7. If you look at the center tower of WRKO in Burlington, you can still see the remains of the pylon antenna. On Wed, Jun 5, 2019, 6:37 PM Sean Smyth wrote: > What frequency was WLAW-FM on? > > On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 5:31 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > >> Strictly from the FCC's point of view, the license continuity was by >> frequency. If you look at the FCC history cards for WRKO, you'll see >> that they start with WLAW in 1937 and show a sale on June 17, 1953 to >> General Teleradio, Inc. and a call change the same day to WNAC. >> >> Likewise, if you look at the history cards for 1260 (now WBIX), you'll >> see that they start with WNAC (the earliest entries are 1931, but of >> course the history went back to 1922) and show a sale on June 17, 1953 >> to Vic Diehm and Associates and a call change the same day to WVDA. >> >> So if you use the license records, it was considered a dual sale - >> General bought WLAW from Hildreth & Rogers and simultaneously sold WNAC >> to Diehm. But the WNAC intellectual property obviously didn't come with >> the sale - it stayed with General and went from 1260 to 680. (And >> WNAC-FM/WNAC-TV of course remained unchanged through all of this, while >> WLAW-FM was surrendered.) >> >> From the listener perspective, of course, WNAC simply "moved" from 1260 >> to 680 and WVDA came on as a new station on 1260, just as happened again >> four decades later with WEEI and WHDH and 590 and 850. If you follow the >> FCC license records, the station we now call WEEI 850 is the same >> license that was WHDH, with a sale and a call change in the 1990s. And >> what we now call WEZE 590 is the same license that was WEEI, with a sale >> and a call change in the 1990s. >> >> I don't think anyone played a toilet flushing when WLAW went away, though. >> >> On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: >> > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: >> >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in >> Lawrence >> >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC >> >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two >> stations >> >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual >> property >> >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents >> and >> >> purposes become defunct? >> > >> > >> > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with >> WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for >> ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John >> Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and >> that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; >> but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June >> of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in >> 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers >> was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain >> the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. >> The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was >> having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell >> the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's >> owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased >> WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment >> got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of >> both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel >> Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, >> which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on >> Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. >> Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were >> still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... >> >> >> On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: >> > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: >> >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in >> >> Lawrence >> >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC >> >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two >> >> stations >> >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual >> >> property >> >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents >> and >> >> purposes become defunct? >> > >> > >> > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with >> > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage >> for >> > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." >> John >> > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and >> > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; >> > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June >> > of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in >> > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers >> > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain >> > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. >> > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was >> > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to >> sell >> > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. >> WNAC's >> > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased >> > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its >> equipment >> > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best >> of >> > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel >> > Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new >> WNAC, >> > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on >> > Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. >> > Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were >> > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... >> > >> > -- > Sent from my iPhone > From ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu Wed Jun 5 19:32:14 2019 From: ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu (Sean Smyth) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 19:32:14 -0400 Subject: Scott Fybush for the Globe on the futures of WBUR and WGBH Message-ID: I?d post this even if Scott didn?t write it, because it?s a pretty good analysis. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/06/04/wbur-and-wgbh-have-reimagined-public-radio-what-next/9297TxEBhjQUUKHLJEVTXN/story.html The commenters aren?t too thrilled with Mr. Fybush?s reference to ?bird songs,? though. -- Sent from my iPhone From scott@fybush.com Wed Jun 5 21:53:11 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 21:53:11 -0400 Subject: Scott Fybush for the Globe on the futures of WBUR and WGBH In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Which is funny, because all I actually *said* was that in the Robert J. era, WGBH wasn't a competitor against WBZ or WBUR for the news audience. And it wasn't. I passed no judgement on whether or not Morning Pro Musica was valuable programming. (It was.) On Wed, Jun 5, 2019, 9:27 PM Sean Smyth wrote: > I?d post this even if Scott didn?t write it, because it?s a pretty good > analysis. > > > https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/06/04/wbur-and-wgbh-have-reimagined-public-radio-what-next/9297TxEBhjQUUKHLJEVTXN/story.html > > The commenters aren?t too thrilled with Mr. Fybush?s reference to ?bird > songs,? though. > -- > Sent from my iPhone > From joe@attorneyross.com Thu Jun 6 01:15:39 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2019 01:15:39 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <24bf9bfa-f488-4771-b5e7-5da8d88d45a0@attorneyross.com> Shortwave? On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in >> Lawrence >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two >> stations >> or an acquisition?? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual >> property >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents and >> purposes become defunct? > > > Beware:? the answer to this is complicated!!!? It also started with > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage > for ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying > "no." John Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the > mid-to-late-1940s, and that caused him to abandon the effort to > improve WNAC's dial position; but his executive staff carried on the > fight after Shepard died in June of 1950.? Meanwhile, the Rogers > family, which put WLAW on the air in 1937 (co-owned back then by > Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers was president), was finding > it increasingly more expensive to maintain the station, which by then > had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence.? The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune > (which the Rogers family also owned) was having financial problems, > and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell the radio station in May > 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's owners-- the Yankee > Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased WLAW. Meanwhile, the > old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment got sold to Victor > Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of both stations-- > he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel Bradford.? > Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, which > already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > Brookline Ave.? Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > Others found work at other stations--? in the early 1950s, there were > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From kvahey@gmail.com Thu Jun 6 02:06:35 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2019 02:06:35 -0400 Subject: WLAW - WNAC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: So can I assume WLAW-FM was deleted and the Lawrence allocation remained silent until WCCM decided to launch a FM? On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 7:10 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > 93.7. > > If you look at the center tower of WRKO in Burlington, you can still see > the remains of the pylon antenna. > > On Wed, Jun 5, 2019, 6:37 PM Sean Smyth wrote: > > > What frequency was WLAW-FM on? > > > > On Wed, Jun 5, 2019 at 5:31 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > > > >> Strictly from the FCC's point of view, the license continuity was by > >> frequency. If you look at the FCC history cards for WRKO, you'll see > >> that they start with WLAW in 1937 and show a sale on June 17, 1953 to > >> General Teleradio, Inc. and a call change the same day to WNAC. > >> > >> Likewise, if you look at the history cards for 1260 (now WBIX), you'll > >> see that they start with WNAC (the earliest entries are 1931, but of > >> course the history went back to 1922) and show a sale on June 17, 1953 > >> to Vic Diehm and Associates and a call change the same day to WVDA. > >> > >> So if you use the license records, it was considered a dual sale - > >> General bought WLAW from Hildreth & Rogers and simultaneously sold WNAC > >> to Diehm. But the WNAC intellectual property obviously didn't come with > >> the sale - it stayed with General and went from 1260 to 680. (And > >> WNAC-FM/WNAC-TV of course remained unchanged through all of this, while > >> WLAW-FM was surrendered.) > >> > >> From the listener perspective, of course, WNAC simply "moved" from 1260 > >> to 680 and WVDA came on as a new station on 1260, just as happened again > >> four decades later with WEEI and WHDH and 590 and 850. If you follow the > >> FCC license records, the station we now call WEEI 850 is the same > >> license that was WHDH, with a sale and a call change in the 1990s. And > >> what we now call WEZE 590 is the same license that was WEEI, with a sale > >> and a call change in the 1990s. > >> > >> I don't think anyone played a toilet flushing when WLAW went away, > though. > >> > >> On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > >> > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > >> >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in > >> Lawrence > >> >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC > >> >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two > >> stations > >> >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual > >> property > >> >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents > >> and > >> >> purposes become defunct? > >> > > >> > > >> > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with > >> WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage for > >> ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." John > >> Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > >> that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > >> but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in June > >> of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > >> 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > >> was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > >> the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > >> The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > >> having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to sell > >> the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. WNAC's > >> owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > >> WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its equipment > >> got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best of > >> both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > >> Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new WNAC, > >> which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > >> Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > >> Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were > >> still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > >> > >> > >> On 6/5/2019 12:32 AM, Donna Halper wrote: > >> > On 6/4/2019 4:05 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > >> >> I have an historical question: When General Tire purchased WLAW in > >> >> Lawrence > >> >> back in 1953 and moved WNAC > >> >> from 1260 to WLAW'S 680 frequency, was it more a merger of the two > >> >> stations > >> >> or an acquisition? Did General obtain any of WLAW's intellectual > >> >> property > >> >> and hire any of its on-air staff, or did the station for all intents > >> and > >> >> purposes become defunct? > >> > > >> > > >> > Beware: the answer to this is complicated!!! It also started with > >> > WNAC, which had been trying to get a better frequency & more wattage > >> for > >> > ages and ages, but the FRC and then later the FCC kept saying "no." > >> John > >> > Shepard 3rd had lots of health problems in the mid-to-late-1940s, and > >> > that caused him to abandon the effort to improve WNAC's dial position; > >> > but his executive staff carried on the fight after Shepard died in > June > >> > of 1950. Meanwhile, the Rogers family, which put WLAW on the air in > >> > 1937 (co-owned back then by Hildreth & Rogers, of which Irving Rogers > >> > was president), was finding it increasingly more expensive to maintain > >> > the station, which by then had studios in Boston as well as Lawrence. > >> > The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (which the Rogers family also owned) was > >> > having financial problems, and Irving Rogers decided it was time to > >> sell > >> > the radio station in May 1953. What ended up was a bit of a swap. > >> WNAC's > >> > owners-- the Yankee Network division of General TeleRadio, purchased > >> > WLAW. Meanwhile, the old WNAC frequency (1260) and some of its > >> equipment > >> > got sold to Victor Diehm, who turned it into WVDA. Diehm got the best > >> of > >> > both stations-- he also got WLAW's Boston studio, then in the Hotel > >> > Bradford. Meanwhile, WLAW's 680 (and 50,000 watts) became the new > >> WNAC, > >> > which already had a studio complex for AM, FM, shortwave, and TV, on > >> > Brookline Ave. Some of the old WLAW air staff did get hired by WNAC. > >> > Others found work at other stations-- in the early 1950s, there were > >> > still a lot of radio stations on the air in Boston... > >> > > >> > > -- > > Sent from my iPhone > > > From wollman@bimajority.org Sun Jun 9 00:24:30 2019 From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2019 00:24:30 -0400 Subject: Scott Fybush for the Globe on the futures of WBUR and WGBH In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <23804.35326.328506.451385@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> < said: > The commenters aren?t too thrilled with Mr. Fybush?s reference to ?bird > songs,? though. Not having been a WGBH aficionado, reading this piece was the first time it clicked for me that the band name "Birdsong at Morning" was actually a reference to something. It makes sense: one of the members is (was?) music producer Darleen Wilson, who worked at WGBH. (The other member of the band was UMass-Lowell professor Alan Williams, who had previously been in Knots and Crosses with Carol Noonan.) -GAWollman From scott@fybush.com Sun Jun 9 00:30:13 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2019 00:30:13 -0400 Subject: Scott Fybush for the Globe on the futures of WBUR and WGBH In-Reply-To: <23804.35326.328506.451385@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> References: <23804.35326.328506.451385@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: And just like that, I've learned something new and interesting! On Sun, Jun 9, 2019, 12:25 AM Garrett Wollman wrote: > < > said: > > > The commenters aren?t too thrilled with Mr. Fybush?s reference to ?bird > > songs,? though. > > Not having been a WGBH aficionado, reading this piece was the first > time it clicked for me that the band name "Birdsong at Morning" was > actually a reference to something. It makes sense: one of the members > is (was?) music producer Darleen Wilson, who worked at WGBH. (The > other member of the band was UMass-Lowell professor Alan Williams, who > had previously been in Knots and Crosses with Carol Noonan.) > > -GAWollman > > > From aerie.ma@comcast.net Mon Jun 10 10:44:15 2019 From: aerie.ma@comcast.net (Jim Hall) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 10:44:15 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia Message-ID: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for "New (or Nueva) England (or InglatErra)/TelemUndo" whereas WHDH-TV in Boston has the entry "sequentially assigned to former sister station WHDH (AM), We Have Digital History" (I point out that if the call letters were 'sequentially assigned' they had no meaning, and I doubt the word "digital" was much in use in 1929 when WHDH started up). I almost expect WBZ to be listed as "We Battle Zombies" From dlh@donnahalper.com Mon Jun 10 12:07:33 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 12:07:33 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for > radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For > example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for > "New (or Nueva) I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with regard to radio history.? The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of contention.? Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the call letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back in the old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call letters must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an ongoing battle, sad to say.? And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead haddock..." ;-) -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From gary@garysicecream.com Mon Jun 10 12:05:26 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 12:05:26 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> I had always heard that since WHDH started on Cape Ann and a fish company was somehow involved that the callsign stood for "We Haul Dead Haddock". Gary F. Gary's Ice Cream - Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College - classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Jim Hall Sent: Monday, June 10, 2019 10:44 AM To: Boston Radio Mailing List Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for "New (or Nueva) England (or InglatErra)/TelemUndo" whereas WHDH-TV in Boston has the entry "sequentially assigned to former sister station WHDH (AM), We Have Digital History" (I point out that if the call letters were 'sequentially assigned' they had no meaning, and I doubt the word "digital" was much in use in 1929 when WHDH started up). I almost expect WBZ to be listed as "We Battle Zombies" From gary@garysicecream.com Mon Jun 10 12:56:22 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 12:56:22 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <038801d51fad$6f972f80$4ec58e80$@garysicecream.com> "We Have Dandy Halibut" instead? Gary F. Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Donna Halper Sent: Monday, June 10, 2019 12:08 PM To: Jim Hall ; Boston Radio Mailing List Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries > for radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > why). For example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call > letters stand for "New (or Nueva) I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with regard to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the call letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back in the old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call letters must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an ongoing battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead haddock..." ;-) -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From dlh@donnahalper.com Mon Jun 10 14:01:41 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 14:01:41 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: On 6/10/2019 12:05 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > I had always heard that since WHDH started on Cape Ann and a fish company > was somehow involved that the callsign stood for "We Haul Dead Haddock". It was started in Gloucester, by the Matheson family, who did not own a fish company as far as I know.? The father, John J. Matheson, had indeed been a captain on a fishing vessel many years earlier, but by the time WEPS (1926) and WHDH (1929) went on the air, the family ran a radio and electronics shop.? WHDH made its debut in June 1929, and soon opened a Boston studio in the Hotel Touraine. But because the city of license was still Gloucester, the station had promised to serve the fishing community; so every day, in the midst of the music and news and sports from Boston, there would be a program for the Gloucester and Cape Ann fishermen, and that may be where the joke originated. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From 011010001@interpring.com Mon Jun 10 14:29:50 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 14:29:50 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > I had always heard that since WHDH started on Cape Ann and a fish company > was somehow involved that the callsign stood for "We Haul Dead Haddock". I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. Rob From richard@chonak.com Mon Jun 10 15:41:43 2019 From: richard@chonak.com (Richard Chonak) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:41:43 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society --RC On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: > > I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we > play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. > > > Rob From jibguy@aol.com Mon Jun 10 15:57:09 2019 From: jibguy@aol.com (jibguy) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:57:09 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia Message-ID: We're all quite lucky to have Donna with us, who knows and has researched all of these good broadcasting tidbits. Three cheers for Donna!
-------- Original message --------
From: Donna Halper
Date:06/10/2019 2:01 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Gary's Ice Cream , 'Jim Hall' , 'Boston Radio Mailing List'
Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia
On 6/10/2019 12:05 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > I had always heard that since WHDH started on Cape Ann and a fish company > was somehow involved that the callsign stood for "We Haul Dead Haddock". It was started in Gloucester, by the Matheson family, who did not own a fish company as far as I know. The father, John J. Matheson, had indeed been a captain on a fishing vessel many years earlier, but by the time WEPS (1926) and WHDH (1929) went on the air, the family ran a radio and electronics shop. WHDH made its debut in June 1929, and soon opened a Boston studio in the Hotel Touraine. But because the city of license was still Gloucester, the station had promised to serve the fishing community; so every day, in the midst of the music and news and sports from Boston, there would be a program for the Gloucester and Cape Ann fishermen, and that may be where the joke originated. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From dave@skywaves.net Mon Jun 10 18:29:53 2019 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 18:29:53 -0400 Subject: [Possible Spam(low)]-Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <001501d51fdc$06afac20$140f0460$@skywaves.net> Hi, Jim - Where do you connect with this on Wikipedia? I tried searching several strings including "call sign meanings" and didn't find any sort of community-based list. I have a bunch of these, just don't know where to post them. -d -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of Jim Hall Sent: Monday, June 10, 2019 10:44 AM To: Boston Radio Mailing List Subject: [Possible Spam(low)]-Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for "New (or Nueva) England (or InglatErra)/TelemUndo" whereas WHDH-TV in Boston has the entry "sequentially assigned to former sister station WHDH (AM), We Have Digital History" (I point out that if the call letters were 'sequentially assigned' they had no meaning, and I doubt the word "digital" was much in use in 1929 when WHDH started up). I almost expect WBZ to be listed as "We Battle Zombies" From joe@attorneyross.com Mon Jun 10 19:04:08 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:04:08 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <24c33510-5172-afdb-db09-1172c539533b@attorneyross.com> Well, sometime in the 1960s, WPLM was using the slogan "We Play Lovely Music," so it's not much of a stretch. On 6/10/2019 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > >> I had always heard that since WHDH started on Cape Ann and a fish >> company >> was somehow involved that the callsign stood for "We Haul Dead Haddock". > > I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we > play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. > > > Rob > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com Mon Jun 10 16:23:08 2019 From: walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com (Paul B. Walker, Jr.) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 14:23:08 -0600 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: Out here in Laramie, WY we have a station still with it's boston area connection call letters.. KCGY 95.1 On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:20 PM Richard Chonak wrote: > WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: > > https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society > > --RC > > > On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > > I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we > > play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. > > > > > > Rob > From kvahey@gmail.com Mon Jun 10 20:33:19 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 20:33:19 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: WBZ was Wyoming Blasting and Zoning :) On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 8:09 PM Paul B. Walker, Jr. < walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com> wrote: > Out here in Laramie, WY we have a station still with it's boston area > connection call letters.. KCGY 95.1 > > On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:20 PM Richard Chonak wrote: > > > WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: > > > > https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society > > > > --RC > > > > > > On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > > > > I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we > > > play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. > > > > > > > > > Rob > > > From joe@attorneyross.com Mon Jun 10 23:22:06 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 23:22:06 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <44b624c8-9e75-cb76-6646-30708016758b@attorneyross.com> I thought it was Westinghouse Broadcasting Zombies. On 6/10/2019 8:33 PM, Kevin Vahey wrote: > WBZ was Wyoming Blasting and Zoning :) > > > > On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 8:09 PM Paul B. Walker, Jr. < > walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Out here in Laramie, WY we have a station still with it's boston area >> connection call letters.. KCGY 95.1 >> >> On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:20 PM Richard Chonak wrote: >> >>> WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: >>> >>> https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society >>> >>> --RC >>> >>> >>> On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: >>>> I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we >>>> play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. >>>> >>>> >>>> Rob -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From joe@attorneyross.com Tue Jun 11 00:17:13 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:17:13 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <8c9b3ef2-dbbd-9a20-818e-61bc716aab3a@attorneyross.com> I think the most comprehensive list of call letter origins is at https://www.qsl.net/n2jac/jota2k/Call%20Letter%20Origins.htm . On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for > radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For > example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for > "New (or Nueva) > > England (or InglatErra)/TelemUndo" whereas WHDH-TV in Boston has the entry > "sequentially assigned to former sister station WHDH (AM), We Have Digital > History" (I point out that if the call letters were 'sequentially assigned' > they had no meaning, and I doubt the word "digital" was much in use in 1929 > when WHDH started up). I almost expect WBZ to be listed as "We Battle > Zombies" > > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu Mon Jun 10 23:20:08 2019 From: ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu (Sean Smyth) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 23:20:08 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: Eddie was the voice of my childhood. He?s probably a big reason why I got into the line of work I did. On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 11:17 PM Kevin Vahey wrote: > WBZ was Wyoming Blasting and Zoning :) > > > > On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 8:09 PM Paul B. Walker, Jr. < > walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Out here in Laramie, WY we have a station still with it's boston area > > connection call letters.. KCGY 95.1 > > > > On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:20 PM Richard Chonak > wrote: > > > > > WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: > > > > > > https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society > > > > > > --RC > > > > > > > > > On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > > > > > > I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like > "we > > > > play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. > > > > > > > > > > > > Rob > > > > > > -- Sent from my iPhone From bwelch1957@verizon.net Tue Jun 11 10:27:16 2019 From: bwelch1957@verizon.net (Bill Welch) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 10:27:16 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <09B18757-EF28-4F63-A33A-FCB32361BDCB@verizon.net> Correct for WGBH WGBX stands for Great Blue Experimental WGBY stands for Great Blue Yonder. And a planned station on Mt Greylock was going to be WGBW Great Blue West Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 10, 2019, at 3:41 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: > > WGBH claims their letters stand for Great Blue Hill: > > https://www.wgbh.org/support/2018/03/28/great-blue-hill-society > > --RC > > >> On 6/10/19 2:29 PM, Rob Landry wrote: >> >> I always thought "we haul dead haddock" was a back-formation, like "we play lousy music" for WPLM, or "God bless Harvard" for WGBH. >> >> >> Rob From dlh@donnahalper.com Tue Jun 11 17:03:57 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:03:57 -0400 Subject: WGBH call letters In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: Actually, the WGBH call letters are much older than most people realize. While it's true they later stood for Great Blue Hills, they originally were assigned sequentially, back in January 1925. The first company to own them was the Fall River (MA) Herald newspaper, which put a 10-watt portable station on the air using those WGBH call letters.? It was common to use and re-use call letters.? For example, WBCN originally belonged to a newspaper in Chicago in the mid-1920s: the requested calls stood for their slogan, "World's Best Community Newspaper."? Years later, the calls were picked up in Boston as part of the Concert Network stations (WBCN was the Boston station, as we all know, along with WHCN in Hartford, and several others). -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From dlh@donnahalper.com Tue Jun 11 17:42:21 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:42:21 -0400 Subject: WGBH call letters In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <071082f2-c7c3-2ac7-6169-79de8e5becb1@donnahalper.com> On 6/11/2019 5:15 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > If I'm not mistaken, WSSH, the calls that were adopted by the former > WLLH-FM back in the '70s, were also the calls held by a radio station > in Boston that was owned by Tremont Temple Baptist Church decades and > decades ago.? I think the letters stood for something, but I don't > recall what. The original call letters of WSSH were indeed owned by the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, whose slogan was Strangers' Sabbath Home-- hence WSSH. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From ashboy1951@gmail.com Tue Jun 11 17:54:54 2019 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:54:54 -0400 Subject: WGBH call letters In-Reply-To: <071082f2-c7c3-2ac7-6169-79de8e5becb1@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> <071082f2-c7c3-2ac7-6169-79de8e5becb1@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: As a Baptist, I should have remembered that. ? The church still uses that slogan. On Tue, Jun 11, 2019 at 5:42 PM Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/11/2019 5:15 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > > If I'm not mistaken, WSSH, the calls that were adopted by the former > > WLLH-FM back in the '70s, were also the calls held by a radio station > > in Boston that was owned by Tremont Temple Baptist Church decades and > > decades ago. I think the letters stood for something, but I don't > > recall what. > > > The original call letters of WSSH were indeed owned by the Tremont > Temple Baptist Church, whose slogan was Strangers' Sabbath Home-- hence > WSSH. > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > From ashboy1951@gmail.com Tue Jun 11 17:15:49 2019 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:15:49 -0400 Subject: WGBH call letters In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <035701d51fa6$524fc790$f6ef56b0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: If I'm not mistaken, WSSH, the calls that were adopted by the former WLLH-FM back in the '70s, were also the calls held by a radio station in Boston that was owned by Tremont Temple Baptist Church decades and decades ago. I think the letters stood for something, but I don't recall what. -Doug On Tue, Jun 11, 2019 at 5:05 PM Donna Halper wrote: > Actually, the WGBH call letters are much older than most people realize. > While it's true they later stood for Great Blue Hills, they originally > were assigned sequentially, back in January 1925. The first company to > own them was the Fall River (MA) Herald newspaper, which put a 10-watt > portable station on the air using those WGBH call letters. It was > common to use and re-use call letters. For example, WBCN originally > belonged to a newspaper in Chicago in the mid-1920s: the requested calls > stood for their slogan, "World's Best Community Newspaper." Years > later, the calls were picked up in Boston as part of the Concert Network > stations (WBCN was the Boston station, as we all know, along with WHCN > in Hartford, and several others). > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > From 011010001@interpring.com Wed Jun 12 09:09:46 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:09:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early '90's. But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) for several years as a full service station in Waltham before adopting the classical format in 1950-51. Rob On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). For >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for >> "New (or Nueva) > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with regard > to radio history.? The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of > contention.? Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the call > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back in the > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a > slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call letters > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to > Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an ongoing > battle, sad to say.? And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead haddock..." > ;-) > > -- > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > From kenwvt@gmail.com Wed Jun 12 09:56:14 2019 From: kenwvt@gmail.com (Ken VanTassell) Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:56:14 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. -Ken On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're Classical > Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early '90's. > > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) for > several years as a full service station in Waltham before adopting the > classical format in 1950-51. > > > Rob > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries for > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and why). > For > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand for > >> "New (or Nueva) > > > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with > regard > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of > > contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the > call > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back > in the > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a > > slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call > letters > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to > > Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an > ongoing > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > haddock..." > > ;-) > > > > -- > > > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > > From ashboy1951@gmail.com Wed Jun 12 12:36:21 2019 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:36:21 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: Wonder what he thought the K stood for? On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell wrote: > When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told the > class that all the station call signs that started with W were all owned by > Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > > -Ken > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> > wrote: > > > > > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're Classical > > Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early '90's. > > > > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) for > > several years as a full service station in Waltham before adopting the > > classical format in 1950-51. > > > > > > Rob > > > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > > > > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries > for > > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > why). > > For > > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand > for > > >> "New (or Nueva) > > > > > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with > > regard > > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of > > > contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the > > call > > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back > > in the > > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a > > > slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call > > letters > > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to > > > Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although > > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an > > ongoing > > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > > haddock..." > > > ;-) > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > > > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > > > > > From joe@attorneyross.com Wed Jun 12 17:28:47 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A. Joseph Ross) Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:28:47 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> My father thought the W stood for Washington.? When I saw that some stations' call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for California. On 6/12/2019 12:36 PM, Doug Drown wrote: > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell wrote: > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told the >> class that all the station call signs that started with W were all owned by >> Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. >> >> -Ken >> >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> >> wrote: >> >>> I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're Classical >>> Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early '90's. >>> >>> But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the >>> format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) for >>> several years as a full service station in Waltham before adopting the >>> classical format in 1950-51. >>> >>> >>> Rob >>> >>> On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: >>> >>>> On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: >>>>> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of entries >> for >>>>> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and >> why). >>> For >>>>> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters stand >> for >>>>> "New (or Nueva) >>>> I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially with >>> regard >>>> to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent area of >>>> contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan for what the >>> call >>>> letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned back >>> in the >>>> old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls with a >>>> slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what the call >>> letters >>>> must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who contribute to >>>> Wikipedia are not media historians, so their contributions (although >>>> well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is an >>> ongoing >>>> battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead >>> haddock..." >>>> ;-) >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> Donna L. Halper, PhD >>>> Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies >>>> Lesley University, Cambridge MA >>>> -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459-2004 617.367.0468 ? Fx: 617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From 011010001@interpring.com Thu Jun 13 15:32:21 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 15:32:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio stations were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. These stations were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = didah and N = dahdit. When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. After the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among various countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, and W (the British got G, M, V, and Z). Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All four are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for broadcasting stations. Rob On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > My father thought the W stood for Washington.? When I saw that some stations' > call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for > California. From sids1045@aol.com Thu Jun 13 16:09:12 2019 From: sids1045@aol.com (Sid Schweiger) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 20:09:12 +0000 (UTC) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <7261889.1049488.1560456552377@mail.yahoo.com> "When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K." My understanding is that it was radio's early experimenters who started using call signs (a scheme originated by telegraph stations) prefixed with "W"...for "wireless." From raccoonradio@gmail.com Thu Jun 13 16:44:53 2019 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:44:53 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of the Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for example?) On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio stations > were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. These stations > were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = didah and N = > dahdit. > > When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of > adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. After > the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among various > countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, and W (the > British got G, M, V, and Z). > > Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All four > are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for > broadcasting stations. > > > Rob > > On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > > > My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some > stations' > > call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for > > California. > From bob.bosra@demattia.net Thu Jun 13 19:47:14 2019 From: bob.bosra@demattia.net (Bob DeMattia) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 19:47:14 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: Ham Radio callsigns have few geographics restrictions. Callsigns can begin in A, K, N, or W regardless of their location. The digit has some meaning with sequentially assigned callsigns where the digit is assigned by one of ten areas: 1 - The New England States 2 - NY/NJ 3 - PA/MD/DE and so on. There are also a few special prefixes like KH6 for Hawaii. KL7 for Alaska, and some others for American Samon, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, etc. However, people who request vanity callsigns can choose almost any prefix and digit that they want. Bob - K1IW On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 7:22 PM Bob Nelson wrote: > Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of the > Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for example?) > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > > > > My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio stations > > were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. These stations > > were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = didah and N = > > dahdit. > > > > When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of > > adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. After > > the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among various > > countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, and W (the > > British got G, M, V, and Z). > > > > Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All four > > are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for > > broadcasting stations. > > > > > > Rob > > > > On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > > > > > My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some > > stations' > > > call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for > > > California. > > > From gary@garysicecream.com Thu Jun 13 20:41:29 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 20:41:29 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> No. Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being the New England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N" or "AA" in the U.S. However if someone with a "1" call moves to another part of the country they do not have to change. If a ham would like a different letter or number in their call they can request it as a "Vanity Callsign" (no charge). I started off as sequentially assigned "KB1PNT" but when I upgraded to General (and later Extra Class) I went vanity to "W1GFF" (my initials). Technically as an extra I could go to a 1x2 call.....but W1GF is an active callsign for someone else. So I kept my 1x3 call. Always happy to answer Ham (amateur radio) questions....I am the leader of the Billerica/Chelmsford VE Testing Team (we do open testing on the 2nd Thursday of every month). Gary F. Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Bob Nelson Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 4:45 PM To: Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> Cc: Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of the Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for example?) On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio > stations were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. > These stations were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = > didah and N = dahdit. > > When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea > of adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. > After the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among > various countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, > and W (the British got G, M, V, and Z). > > Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All > four are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for > broadcasting stations. > > > Rob > > On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > > > My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some > stations' > > call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for > > California. > From kc1ih@mac.com Thu Jun 13 20:16:31 2019 From: kc1ih@mac.com (Larry Weil) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 20:16:31 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: No! Larry Weil Hudson, FL Sent from my iPhone, so please excuse the brevity. > On Jun 13, 2019, at 4:44 PM, Bob Nelson wrote: > > Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of the > Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for example?) > >> On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: >> >> >> My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio stations >> were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. These stations >> were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = didah and N = >> dahdit. >> >> When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of >> adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. After >> the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among various >> countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, and W (the >> British got G, M, V, and Z). >> >> Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All four >> are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for >> broadcasting stations. >> >> >> Rob >> >>> On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: >>> >>> My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some >> stations' >>> call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for >>> California. >> From scott@fybush.com Thu Jun 13 19:39:48 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 19:39:48 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: No... the number traditionally designated the geographic district (1 is New England, 2 is NY and NJ, etc) and the prefix can be K, W, N or AA-AL. I'm K2SDF, for instance. On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 7:22 PM Bob Nelson wrote: > Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of the > Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for example?) > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > > > > My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio stations > > were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. These stations > > were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A = didah and N = > > dahdit. > > > > When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea of > > adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. After > > the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among various > > countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, and W (the > > British got G, M, V, and Z). > > > > Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All four > > are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for > > broadcasting stations. > > > > > > Rob > > > > On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > > > > > My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some > > stations' > > > call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for > > > California. > > > From dlh@donnahalper.com Thu Jun 13 23:53:56 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 23:53:56 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> On 6/13/2019 8:41 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > No. Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being the New England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N" or "AA" in the U.S. Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no N's or AA's.? The original ham calls were people's initials before 1912. After the Radio Act of 1912, ham call letters were divided up by region with a number at the beginning (as Gary noted, the 1 was for New England; 2 was New York/New Jersey area, 3 was the Middle Atlantic states, etc). A typical ham call had 2 letters, and they were assigned sequentially. Gradually, as more hams got licensed, the government went to 3 call letters.? Thus, the late great Eunice Randall, our first female announcer, began as ER, then in 1921, she was assigned 1 CDP.? In 1927, more changes occurred, thanks to the Radio Act of 1927 (which established the Federal Radio Commission, later the Federal Communications Commission).? That's when ham stations got the W at the beginning of the call letters.? Irving Vermilya, founder of New Bedford radio station WNBH was originally 1-ZE, but in 1927, he became W1-ZE.? For years, you could tell if someone had been a ham for a long time because they often kept their old 2 letter calls, except now they had that W (or K) at the beginning.? Irving Vermilya could have gotten new call letters, but he liked his old 1ZE, and kept his chose to use his original call letters till his untimely death in 1964.? Today, hams have more options-- including AAs and N's or they can request an old call, if nobody else is using it. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Jun 14 01:10:55 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 01:10:55 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: Wow, that's interesting. I was just wondering why some old callsigns began with numbers.? So that's why! On 6/13/2019 11:53 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/13/2019 8:41 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: >> No.? Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New >> England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being >> the New England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N"? or >> "AA" in the U.S. > > Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no > N's or AA's.? The original ham calls were people's initials before > 1912. After the Radio Act of 1912, ham call letters were divided up by > region with a number at the beginning (as Gary noted, the 1 was for > New England; 2 was New York/New Jersey area, 3 was the Middle Atlantic > states, etc). A typical ham call had 2 letters, and they were assigned > sequentially. Gradually, as more hams got licensed, the government > went to 3 call letters.? Thus, the late great Eunice Randall, our > first female announcer, began as ER, then in 1921, she was assigned 1 > CDP.? In 1927, more changes occurred, thanks to the Radio Act of 1927 > (which established the Federal Radio Commission, later the Federal > Communications Commission).? That's when ham stations got the W at the > beginning of the call letters.? Irving Vermilya, founder of New > Bedford radio station WNBH was originally 1-ZE, but in 1927, he became > W1-ZE.? For years, you could tell if someone had been a ham for a long > time because they often kept their old 2 letter calls, except now they > had that W (or K) at the beginning.? Irving Vermilya could have gotten > new call letters, but he liked his old 1ZE, and kept his chose to use > his original call letters till his untimely death in 1964.? Today, > hams have more options-- including AAs and N's or they can request an > old call, if nobody else is using it. > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From 011010001@interpring.com Fri Jun 14 08:14:24 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:14:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 13 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > Ham Radio callsigns have few geographics restrictions.? Callsigns can begin > in A, K, N, or W regardless of their location. > The digit has some meaning with? sequentially assigned callsigns where the > digit is assigned by one of ten areas: > 1 - The New England States > 2 - NY/NJ > 3 - PA/MD/DE > and so on. Yes, but unlike broadcasting stations, ham station licenses aren't tied to any particular location. The number will indicate where the licensee was located when his or her license was granted, but if he or she moves, the call sign will not change. I am WB2AVC, having received that call sign when I was living in upstate New York in 1975, but I've been living in the Boston area for more of the last forty years. Rob From 011010001@interpring.com Fri Jun 14 08:19:48 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:19:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: The oldest ham radio club in America is the Harvard Wireless Club, founded in 1909, before there were assigned call signs. After World War I (during which time all non-military stations were closed down) it was granted the call sign 1AF; its original license was signed by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in (if I remember right) 1921. It became W1AF a few years later and still has that call sign. Rob On Thu, 13 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/13/2019 8:41 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: >> No. Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New >> England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being the New >> England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N" or "AA" in the >> U.S. > > Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no N's or > AA's.? The original ham calls were people's initials before 1912. After the > Radio Act of 1912, ham call letters were divided up by region with a number > at the beginning (as Gary noted, the 1 was for New England; 2 was New > York/New Jersey area, 3 was the Middle Atlantic states, etc). A typical ham > call had 2 letters, and they were assigned sequentially. Gradually, as more > hams got licensed, the government went to 3 call letters.? Thus, the late > great Eunice Randall, our first female announcer, began as ER, then in 1921, > she was assigned 1 CDP.? In 1927, more changes occurred, thanks to the Radio > Act of 1927 (which established the Federal Radio Commission, later the > Federal Communications Commission).? That's when ham stations got the W at > the beginning of the call letters.? Irving Vermilya, founder of New Bedford > radio station WNBH was originally 1-ZE, but in 1927, he became W1-ZE.? For > years, you could tell if someone had been a ham for a long time because they > often kept their old 2 letter calls, except now they had that W (or K) at the > beginning.? Irving Vermilya could have gotten new call letters, but he liked > his old 1ZE, and kept his chose to use his original call letters till his > untimely death in 1964.? Today, hams have more options-- including AAs and > N's or they can request an old call, if nobody else is using it. > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > From bob.bosra@demattia.net Fri Jun 14 08:19:28 2019 From: bob.bosra@demattia.net (Bob DeMattia) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:19:28 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, many amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system legacy. University stations like MIT (W1XM), WPI (W1YK), and Yale (W1YU), began as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. -Bob On Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 12:31 AM Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/13/2019 8:41 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > No. Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New > England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being the New > England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N" or "AA" in the > U.S. > > Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no N's > or AA's. The original ham calls were people's initials before 1912. > After the Radio Act of 1912, ham call letters were divided up by region > with a number at the beginning (as Gary noted, the 1 was for New > England; 2 was New York/New Jersey area, 3 was the Middle Atlantic > states, etc). A typical ham call had 2 letters, and they were assigned > sequentially. Gradually, as more hams got licensed, the government went > to 3 call letters. Thus, the late great Eunice Randall, our first > female announcer, began as ER, then in 1921, she was assigned 1 CDP. In > 1927, more changes occurred, thanks to the Radio Act of 1927 (which > established the Federal Radio Commission, later the Federal > Communications Commission). That's when ham stations got the W at the > beginning of the call letters. Irving Vermilya, founder of New Bedford > radio station WNBH was originally 1-ZE, but in 1927, he became W1-ZE. > For years, you could tell if someone had been a ham for a long time > because they often kept their old 2 letter calls, except now they had > that W (or K) at the beginning. Irving Vermilya could have gotten new > call letters, but he liked his old 1ZE, and kept his chose to use his > original call letters till his untimely death in 1964. Today, hams have > more options-- including AAs and N's or they can request an old call, if > nobody else is using it. > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies > Lesley University, Cambridge MA > > From 011010001@interpring.com Fri Jun 14 08:23:47 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:23:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, many > amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system legacy. > University stations like MIT (W1XM),? WPI (W1YK),? and Yale (W1YU), > began as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. I think MIT is actually W1MX. Call sign suffixes beginning with X used to be reserved for "experimental" radio stations. Rob From bob.bosra@demattia.net Fri Jun 14 08:40:13 2019 From: bob.bosra@demattia.net (Bob DeMattia) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:40:13 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: Yes, I transposed 1MX. W1XM is also affiliated with MIT but I do not believe it is from the 1920's. The W1MX website also claims that it is the oldest station in the country, but there are writings that state that Harvard inspired 1MX, who in turn inspired 1YK. Due to technical problems at 1MX, 1YK was the first of the two to be on the air. -Bob On Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 8:23 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: > > > On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > > > Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, many > > amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system legacy. > > University stations like MIT (W1XM), WPI (W1YK), and Yale (W1YU), > > began as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. > > I think MIT is actually W1MX. Call sign suffixes beginning with X used to > be reserved for "experimental" radio stations. > > > Rob From 011010001@interpring.com Fri Jun 14 08:51:44 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:51:44 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 13 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no N's > or AA's. When I was licensed in the mid '70's, there were no vanity calls. Real old timers had KnXX or WnXX; slightly less old folks had KnXXX or WnXXX, and recently licensed hams were all WAnXXX or WBnXXX (except for Novice licensees, who were all WNnXXX). I wondered how the Boy Scouts managed to get K2BSA, because there was no provision in the Rules at the time for call signs to be assigned other than sequentially. Rob From jjlehmann@comcast.net Fri Jun 14 08:33:24 2019 From: jjlehmann@comcast.net (Jeff Lehmann) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 08:33:24 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <00d601d522ad$5d028330$17078990$@comcast.net> MIT has both W1MX and W1XM. Jeff Lehmann - N1ZZN -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Rob Landry Sent: Friday, June 14, 2019 8:24 AM To: Bob DeMattia Cc: Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, > many amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system legacy. > University stations like MIT (W1XM), WPI (W1YK), and Yale (W1YU), > began as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. I think MIT is actually W1MX. Call sign suffixes beginning with X used to be reserved for "experimental" radio stations. Rob From dlh@donnahalper.com Fri Jun 14 11:29:08 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 11:29:08 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <9f4eed60-520c-fa8b-14fb-09b980229d1a@donnahalper.com> On 6/14/2019 8:40 AM, Bob DeMattia wrote: > Yes, I transposed 1MX.? W1XM is also affiliated with MIT but I do not > believe it is from the 1920's. > Actually, the MIT ham radio station 1XM absolutely was around in the early 1920s; there were articles about it in Radio News, circa 1922. (It got re-named as W1XM in 1927, when the W's got added to ham calls.) But the battle over who was first precedes the early 1920s-- little 1XE, which went on to? become greater Boston's first commercial station (re-named WGI in February 1922), was on the air in January 1916, having received its license in the autumn of 1915, based on the records I've found.? 1XE was operated by several folks from the ham radio club at Tufts.? (By the way, I wrote an article about the history of 1XE/WGI, the AMRAD station, in last year's Antique Wireless Review.) -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Jun 14 19:06:44 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A. Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:06:44 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <157f4b30-eb0b-d58e-b2dd-6cd0e0a60315@attorneyross.com> Kinda like cell phone numbers. Is there any significance to having one or two letters before the number? On 6/14/2019 8:14 AM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > On Thu, 13 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > >> Ham Radio callsigns have few geographics restrictions.? Callsigns can >> begin >> in A, K, N, or W regardless of their location. >> The digit has some meaning with? sequentially assigned callsigns >> where the >> digit is assigned by one of ten areas: > >> 1 - The New England States >> 2 - NY/NJ >> 3 - PA/MD/DE >> and so on. > > Yes, but unlike broadcasting stations, ham station licenses aren't > tied to any particular location. The number will indicate where the > licensee was located when his or her license was granted, but if he or > she moves, the call sign will not change. I am WB2AVC, having received > that call sign when I was living in upstate New York in 1975, but I've > been living in the Boston area for more of the last forty years. > > > Rob > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459-2004 617.367.0468 ? Fx: 617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Jun 14 19:10:09 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A. Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:10:09 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <99f9eded-5b4e-a51c-0872-46a55015a968@attorneyross.com> I think I remember once reading that WQXR in New York was originally an experimental station, with the call W2XR.? The original founders played classical music on the station and developed a following.? When they decided to go for a commercial license, they replaced the 2 with a Q so as to have as small a change as possible. On 6/14/2019 8:23 AM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: > >> Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, >> many amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system >> legacy. University stations like MIT (W1XM),? WPI (W1YK),? and Yale >> (W1YU), began as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. > > I think MIT is actually W1MX. Call sign suffixes beginning with X used > to be reserved for "experimental" radio stations. > > > Rob > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459-2004 617.367.0468 ? Fx: 617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Jun 14 19:12:31 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A. Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:12:31 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <67cf7f63-6a51-aca1-514c-3859cb324289@attorneyross.com> Maybe the person at the FCC or FRC was a former scout. On 6/14/2019 8:51 AM, Rob Landry wrote: > > > On Thu, 13 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > >> Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no >> N's or AA's. > > When I was licensed in the mid '70's, there were no vanity calls. Real > old timers had KnXX or WnXX; slightly less old folks had KnXXX or > WnXXX, and recently licensed hams were all WAnXXX or WBnXXX (except > for Novice licensees, who were all WNnXXX). > > I wondered how the Boy Scouts managed to get K2BSA, because there was > no provision in the Rules at the time for call signs to be assigned > other than sequentially. > > > Rob > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459-2004 617.367.0468 ? Fx: 617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From bob.bosra@demattia.net Fri Jun 14 22:28:27 2019 From: bob.bosra@demattia.net (Bob DeMattia) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 22:28:27 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: > > How they got K2BSA is explained here: https://k2bsa.net/radio-station/ > > It's a long story, so I won't cut and paste it. > > Start from the paragraph that begins "But as luck(?) would have it" about > halfway down the page. > > -Bob > >> >> From raccoonradio@gmail.com Fri Jun 14 04:49:25 2019 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 04:49:25 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: One famed radio personality who had a ham radio license (several call signs over the years) was Jean Shepherd (WOR; "A Christmas Story") K2ORS http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/jean-shepherd-k2ors.484229/ --Bob Nelson On Friday, June 14, 2019, A Joseph Ross wrote: > Wow, that's interesting. I was just wondering why some old callsigns began > with numbers. So that's why! > > On 6/13/2019 11:53 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > >> On 6/13/2019 8:41 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: >> >>> No. Ham is sequentially assigned based on the area...for example New >>> England is usually a K with a "1", or a W with a "1"....."1" being the New >>> England designator. Ham calls can also start with an "N" or "AA" in the >>> U.S. >>> >> >> Long, long ago-- way back before Gary or I were born-- there were no N's >> or AA's. The original ham calls were people's initials before 1912. After >> the Radio Act of 1912, ham call letters were divided up by region with a >> number at the beginning (as Gary noted, the 1 was for New England; 2 was >> New York/New Jersey area, 3 was the Middle Atlantic states, etc). A typical >> ham call had 2 letters, and they were assigned sequentially. Gradually, as >> more hams got licensed, the government went to 3 call letters. Thus, the >> late great Eunice Randall, our first female announcer, began as ER, then in >> 1921, she was assigned 1 CDP. In 1927, more changes occurred, thanks to >> the Radio Act of 1927 (which established the Federal Radio Commission, >> later the Federal Communications Commission). That's when ham stations got >> the W at the beginning of the call letters. Irving Vermilya, founder of >> New Bedford radio station WNBH was originally 1-ZE, but in 1927, he became >> W1-ZE. For years, you could tell if someone had been a ham for a long time >> because they often kept their old 2 letter calls, except now they had that >> W (or K) at the beginning. Irving Vermilya could have gotten new call >> letters, but he liked his old 1ZE, and kept his chose to use his original >> call letters till his untimely death in 1964. Today, hams have more >> options-- including AAs and N's or they can request an old call, if nobody >> else is using it. >> >> > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > From ecps92@earthlink.net Fri Jun 14 19:42:38 2019 From: ecps92@earthlink.net (~Bill) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:42:38 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <001501d5230a$db74fce0$925ef6a0$@net> Larry and Rob are correct, No. Amateur Radio call signs also contain a number and were broken by Region with that Numeric, but with the push for so many vanity call signs the FCC removed that. The old system [see here] http://www.radioing.com/hamradio/callareas.html Hence my: N 1 for New England KUG - Sequential assignment The guy who took the exam with me got N1KUF as his last name began with a C and mine a D As the Chief Examiner submitted our names Alphabetically Bill - N1KUG Boston, Mass Cruise Ship Frequencies http://scanmaritime.com/ -----Original Message----- From: Larry Weil [mailto:kc1ih@mac.com] Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 8:17 PM To: Bob Nelson Cc: Rob Landry; Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia No! Larry Weil Hudson, FL Sent from my iPhone, so please excuse the brevity. > On Jun 13, 2019, at 4:44 PM, Bob Nelson wrote: > > Isn't ham radio the opposite of traditional broadcast...those west of > the Mississippi start with W and those east start with K (KA1ABC for > example?) > >> On Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 3:33 PM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote: >> >> >> My understanding is that the first call signs adssigned to radio >> stations were military, and began with A for Army and N for Navy. >> These stations were not broadcasters and used Morse code, in which A >> = didah and N = dahdit. >> >> When additional call signs needed to be assigned, somone had the idea >> of adding an extra dash to the prefixes: didahdah = W, dahdidah = K. >> After the war (World War I), when the alphabet was divided among >> various countries for call sign allocation, the U.S. claimed A, N, K, >> and W (the British got G, M, V, and Z). >> >> Today the U.S. still has N, K, W, and AA through (AL? I forget). All >> four are used for ham radio call signs, but only K and W are used for >> broadcasting stations. >> >> >> Rob >> >>> On Wed, 12 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: >>> >>> My father thought the W stood for Washington. When I saw that some >> stations' >>> call letters started with K, I asked him, and he said it stood for >>> California. >> From Kaimbridge@Gmail.com Sat Jun 15 14:01:39 2019 From: Kaimbridge@Gmail.com (Kaimbridge M. GoldChild) Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2019 18:01:39 +0000 Subject: [B-R-I] Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia Message-ID: On Friday, June 14, 2019, Bob Nelson wrote: > One famed radio personality who had a ham radio license (several call signs > over the years) was Jean Shepherd (WOR; "A Christmas Story") K2ORS > > http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/jean-shepherd-k2ors.484229/ And let us not forget the one and only late Arthur William Bell III, a.k.a. Art Bell?: W6OBB, [ex?KN3JOX (upgraded to K3JOX shortly after), then W2CKS]; 4F1AB (Philippines) ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Bell#Amateur_radio ~Kaimbridge~ -- -- -- Wiki?Sites Contribution History Pages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge math.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge rosettacode.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge ***** Void Where Permitted; Limit 0 Per Customer. ***** From dave@skywaves.net Sat Jun 15 17:21:46 2019 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2019 17:21:46 -0400 Subject: [B-R-I] Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000a01d523c0$565fce70$031f6b50$@skywaves.net> Arthur Godfrey was K4LIB -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of Kaimbridge M. GoldChild Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2019 2:02 PM To: Boston Radio Interest Subject: [B-R-I] Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia On Friday, June 14, 2019, Bob Nelson wrote: > One famed radio personality who had a ham radio license (several call signs > over the years) was Jean Shepherd (WOR; "A Christmas Story") K2ORS > > http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/jean-shepherd-k2ors.484229/ And let us not forget the one and only late Arthur William Bell III, a.k.a. Art Bell?: W6OBB, [ex?KN3JOX (upgraded to K3JOX shortly after), then W2CKS]; 4F1AB (Philippines) ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Bell#Amateur_radio ~Kaimbridge~ -- -- -- Wiki?Sites Contribution History Pages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge math.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge rosettacode.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge ***** Void Where Permitted; Limit 0 Per Customer. ***** From gary@garysicecream.com Wed Jun 12 12:47:27 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:47:27 -0400 Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> Kresgees Gary F. Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Doug Drown Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM To: Ken VanTassell Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia Wonder what he thought the K stood for? On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell wrote: > When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told > the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all > owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > > -Ken > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> > wrote: > > > > > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early '90's. > > > > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) > > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before > > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > > > > > > Rob > > > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > > > > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > > >> entries > for > > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > why). > > For > > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > > >> stand > for > > >> "New (or Nueva) > > > > > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially > > > with > > regard > > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > > > for what the > > call > > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned > > > back > > in the > > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what > > > the call > > letters > > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > > > contributions (although > > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is > > > an > > ongoing > > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > > haddock..." > > > ;-) > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > > > University, Cambridge MA > > > > > > From gary@garysicecream.com Sun Jun 16 12:44:46 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 12:44:46 -0400 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I worked there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). Gary F. Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Don Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' ; 'Ken VanTassell' Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? Or did it stand for nothing at all? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary's Ice Cream" To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > Kresgees > > Gary F. > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > garysicecream.com > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > icecreamcollege.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > On Behalf Of Doug > Drown > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > To: Ken VanTassell > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell wrote: > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told >> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all >> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. >> >> -Ken >> >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> >> wrote: >> >> > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early >> > '90's. >> > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the >> > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) >> > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before >> > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. >> > >> > >> > Rob >> > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: >> > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of >> > >> entries >> for >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and >> why). >> > For >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters >> > >> stand >> for >> > >> "New (or Nueva) >> > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially >> > > with >> > regard >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan >> > > for what the >> > call >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned >> > > back >> > in the >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what >> > > the call >> > letters >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their >> > > contributions (although >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is >> > > an >> > ongoing >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead >> > haddock..." >> > > ;-) >> > > >> > > -- >> > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley >> > > University, Cambridge MA >> > > >> > >> > > --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From raccoonradio@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 15:16:09 2019 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 15:16:09 -0400 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. "The WITS' End of the Dial" A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) with the caption The WITlesS Wonders On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I worked > there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). > > Gary F. > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > garysicecream.com > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > icecreamcollege.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Don > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? > > Or did it stand for nothing at all? > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" > To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" > > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Kresgees > > > > Gary F. > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > garysicecream.com > > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > > icecreamcollege.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > > On Behalf Of Doug > > Drown > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > > To: Ken VanTassell > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell > wrote: > > > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told > >> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all > >> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > >> > >> -Ken > >> > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> > >> wrote: > >> > >> > > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the > early > >> > '90's. > >> > > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > >> > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) > >> > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before > >> > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > >> > > >> > > >> > Rob > >> > > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > >> > > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > >> > >> entries > >> for > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > >> why). > >> > For > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > >> > >> stand > >> for > >> > >> "New (or Nueva) > >> > > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially > >> > > with > >> > regard > >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > >> > > for what the > >> > call > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned > >> > > back > >> > in the > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what > >> > > the call > >> > letters > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > >> > > contributions (although > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is > >> > > an > >> > ongoing > >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > >> > haddock..." > >> > > ;-) > >> > > > >> > > -- > >> > > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > >> > > University, Cambridge MA > >> > > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > From astelle.donald@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 12:13:44 2019 From: astelle.donald@gmail.com (Don) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 12:13:44 -0400 Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? Or did it stand for nothing at all? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary's Ice Cream" To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > Kresgees > > Gary F. > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > garysicecream.com > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > icecreamcollege.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > On Behalf Of Doug > Drown > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > To: Ken VanTassell > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell wrote: > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told >> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all >> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. >> >> -Ken >> >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> >> wrote: >> >> > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the early >> > '90's. >> > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the >> > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) >> > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before >> > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. >> > >> > >> > Rob >> > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: >> > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of >> > >> entries >> for >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and >> why). >> > For >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters >> > >> stand >> for >> > >> "New (or Nueva) >> > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially >> > > with >> > regard >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan >> > > for what the >> > call >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned >> > > back >> > in the >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what >> > > the call >> > letters >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their >> > > contributions (although >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is >> > > an >> > ongoing >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead >> > haddock..." >> > > ;-) >> > > >> > > -- >> > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley >> > > University, Cambridge MA >> > > >> > >> > > --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From dlh@donnahalper.com Sun Jun 16 15:47:09 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 15:47:09 -0400 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <49e1f57e-d4da-09d2-5369-d138fa66befc@donnahalper.com> We may never know if WSMN was a requested call, unless someone has access to old FCC files.? The earliest call letter sequence for WSM- (WSMA, WSMB, WSMC, etc) stopped at WSMK, way back in 1924 (call letters were either assigned sequentially, or you could request them... for a fee).? So unlike some call letters we know about, the WSMN calls were not recycled from earlier stations that had gone dark.? WSMN took to the air? with a dedication ceremony on *9 March 1958*, at 1590 AM; its first full day of broadcasting was on the 10th.? It referred to itself as a Nashua station at that time, rather than a Salem station; and yes, the advertising slogan it used for all the newspaper ads was Weather, Sports, Music, News. (But as I said, I don't know if those were requested calls.? It may be the sales department created the slogan for the call letters they were given.) -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From dlh@donnahalper.com Sun Jun 16 15:52:34 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 15:52:34 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names Message-ID: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> I know that WMEX had various deejays who used House Names, and I am trying to sort some of them out.? For example, if I recall correctly, around 1958 or 1958, "Dan Donovan" was Arthur McTague (later best known as traffic helicopter guy Kevin O'Keefe). But there were other Dan Donovans-- wasn't Harvey Blaine one of them? And who became Dan Donovan after McTague left, circa 1960? -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From joe@attorneyross.com Sun Jun 16 18:25:00 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:25:00 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> I think there were lots of Dan Donovans. Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest straw would be on as Dan Donovan.? The next day, whoever was there as Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan.? He described coming to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job.? Richmond said that for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan.? When he was done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. Mel Miller was on the Reunion Weekend, and he said he was also Melvin X. Melvin.? I think there were several Melvin X. Melvins, but I wonder whether there were several Mel Millers. I taped part of the Reunion Weekend, and I think I probably have an edited version somewhere on a cassette. On 6/16/2019 3:52 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > I know that WMEX had various deejays who used House Names, and I am > trying to sort some of them out.? For example, if I recall correctly, > around 1958 or 1958, "Dan Donovan" was Arthur McTague (later best > known as traffic helicopter guy Kevin O'Keefe). But there were other > Dan Donovans-- wasn't Harvey Blaine one of them? And who became Dan > Donovan after McTague left, circa 1960? > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From markwats@comcast.net Sun Jun 16 18:41:11 2019 From: markwats@comcast.net (Mark Watson) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:41:11 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> A. Joseph Ross wrote: Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest straw would be on as Dan Donovan. The next day, whoever was there as Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan. He described coming to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job. Richmond said that for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan. When he was done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. Johnny Dark seems to have also been a house name at several stations back in the day. There was a Johnny Dark on WRKO back in the 1970's, wonder if it was the same guy who was Johnny Dark at WMEX? Mark Watson From markwats@comcast.net Sun Jun 16 18:56:11 2019 From: markwats@comcast.net (Mark Watson) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:56:11 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? Message-ID: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> AM radio news from Lowell finds that WCAP is said to be moving it's studios out of the only place they've been since they signed on in 1951. According to the landlord, who owns the building and the Cappy's Copper Kettle Bar at 243-245 Central Street, WCAP owner Sam Poulten gave notice of moving out as the Copper Kettle and the building have been put up for sale. I've heard from a few folks that they are staying downtown, moving to Market Street. There are 2 buildings under renovation that have been reported as the new home of the station. Will work to find out more information on this move and update as I learn more. Meanwhile as Scott Fybush reported a few weeks ago, Gois Broadcasting applied to the FCC to permanently turn off the WLLH Lowell transmitter and change the city of license to Lawrence, stating they've lost the lease on the Lowell transmitter site, located on City of Lowell owned property on the banks of the Merrimack River on the VFW Highway. This would bring to an end the synchronous operation of WLLH which dates back to 1937. The translator on 95.1 which was transmitting from the Lowell transmitter site has moved to Wood Hill in Andover, putting a better signal into Lawrence. I should note the Lowell transmitter has been off since this past Tuesday. Nothing in the FCC database stating that the request to shut off Lowell has been granted. Mark Watson From markwats@comcast.net Sun Jun 16 20:00:17 2019 From: markwats@comcast.net (Mark Watson) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 20:00:17 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> Kevin Vahey wrote: >Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at >Market and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved >to Woburn which would be 1986. The WLLH tower on the roof of the Giant Store building at 4 Broadway, corner of Dutton Street was taken down in 1986 after both WLLH & WSSH moved their studios, WSSH as mentioned to Woburn and WLLH moved to studios in the newly built Lowell Hilton hotel, which later became the Sheraton Inn Riverfront. Then they moved to 44 Church Street for the last few years of Arnold Lerner?s ownership. WXPO studios were on Dutton near Market, just a block away from the Giant Store. I knew about the RF issues that wreaked havoc with WXPO?s cameras but didn?t know that CBS had RF issues at the Ed Sullivan Theater. How did CBS get around that? Mark Watson From kvahey@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 19:51:15 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 19:51:15 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> Message-ID: Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at Market and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved to Woburn which would be 1986. That WLLH transmitter helped doom WXPO-TV as the studio cameras were almost useless because of RF interference from WLLH. It was a design flaw by Marconi as CBS had the same issue at Studio 50 ( today The Ed Sullivan Theater ) from RF generated by the NY subway. On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 7:29 PM Mark Watson wrote: > AM radio news from Lowell finds that WCAP is said to be moving it's studios > out of the only place they've been since they signed on in 1951. According > to the landlord, who owns the building and the Cappy's Copper Kettle Bar at > 243-245 Central Street, WCAP owner Sam Poulten gave notice of moving out as > the Copper Kettle and the building have been put up for sale. I've heard > from a few folks that they are staying downtown, moving to Market Street. > There are 2 buildings under renovation that have been reported as the new > home of the station. Will work to find out more information on this move > and > update as I learn more. > > > > Meanwhile as Scott Fybush reported a few weeks ago, Gois Broadcasting > applied to the FCC to permanently turn off the WLLH Lowell transmitter and > change the city of license to Lawrence, stating they've lost the lease on > the Lowell transmitter site, located on City of Lowell owned property on > the > banks of the Merrimack River on the VFW Highway. This would bring to an end > the synchronous operation of WLLH which dates back to 1937. The translator > on 95.1 which was transmitting from the Lowell transmitter site has moved > to > Wood Hill in Andover, putting a better signal into Lawrence. I should note > the Lowell transmitter has been off since this past Tuesday. Nothing in the > FCC database stating that the request to shut off Lowell has been granted. > > > > Mark Watson > > From kvahey@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 20:43:03 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 20:43:03 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> Message-ID: CBS first used Norelco's at Studio 50 but switched to Marconi and that did not address the issue. The Marconi Mark VII's always had a washed out look as it was a 4 tube design. WXPO got the cameras at a discount as the new RCA TK-44 which was a 3 tube plumbicon Norelco clone and RCA was promising a quick delivery. WSMW in Worcester went that route and the cameras were fine. WXPO had other issues including a transmitter location that was suspect and by the time the Chief Engineer was replaced there was no money left to fix the issues. A major part of the station's plan was to become a local production house for commercials but the RF issues made that impossible as other stations refused to air commercials taped in Lowell. http://eyesofageneration.com/the-heart-of-the-magnetic-field-problems-for-cbs-studio-50in-one-of-todays-ea/ On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 8:00 PM Mark Watson wrote: > Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > > >Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at >Market > and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved >to Woburn > which would be 1986. > > > > The WLLH tower on the roof of the Giant Store building at 4 Broadway, > corner of Dutton Street was taken down in 1986 after both WLLH & WSSH moved > their studios, WSSH as mentioned to Woburn and WLLH moved to studios in the > newly built Lowell Hilton hotel, which later became the Sheraton Inn > Riverfront. Then they moved to 44 Church Street for the last few years of > Arnold Lerner?s ownership. WXPO studios were on Dutton near Market, just a > block away from the Giant Store. I knew about the RF issues that wreaked > havoc with WXPO?s cameras but didn?t know that CBS had RF issues at the Ed > Sullivan Theater. How did CBS get around that? > > > > Mark Watson > > > > > > > > > From dlh@donnahalper.com Sun Jun 16 21:02:33 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 21:02:33 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: On 6/16/2019 6:41 PM, Mark Watson wrote: > Johnny Dark seems to have also been a house name at several stations back in the day. There was a Johnny Dark on WRKO back in the 1970's, wonder if it was the same guy who was Johnny Dark at WMEX? Funny story there. Johnny Dark was his real name-- after he changed it.? Johnny was really Al Bennett Jr., and he got his start on WHIL as Al Bennett in 1953.? He came back to Boston in 1960 and had been using "Johnny Dark" already-- in fact, in Baltimore, he became so well known with that name that he legally changed it and till the day he died, he was known as Johnny Dark. But Mac Richmond wanted him to be Dan Donovan, and so he briefly did use that name.? And yes, there were at least 4 other Dan Donovans. The one at the WROR Rock and Roll reunion that Joe Ross mentioned was a later Dan Donovan-- I believe his real name was Jim Tyrell, and he was Dan in the early 70s. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From gary@garysicecream.com Sun Jun 16 21:48:14 2019 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 21:48:14 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <03a501d524ae$bb203fe0$3160bfa0$@garysicecream.com> How many Fenway's were there (besides the park)? Gary F. Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida icecreamcollege.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Donna Halper Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 9:03 PM To: Mark Watson ; 'A Joseph Ross' ; boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Re: Dan Donovan and House Names On 6/16/2019 6:41 PM, Mark Watson wrote: > Johnny Dark seems to have also been a house name at several stations back in the day. There was a Johnny Dark on WRKO back in the 1970's, wonder if it was the same guy who was Johnny Dark at WMEX? Funny story there. Johnny Dark was his real name-- after he changed it. Johnny was really Al Bennett Jr., and he got his start on WHIL as Al Bennett in 1953. He came back to Boston in 1960 and had been using "Johnny Dark" already-- in fact, in Baltimore, he became so well known with that name that he legally changed it and till the day he died, he was known as Johnny Dark. But Mac Richmond wanted him to be Dan Donovan, and so he briefly did use that name. And yes, there were at least 4 other Dan Donovans. The one at the WROR Rock and Roll reunion that Joe Ross mentioned was a later Dan Donovan-- I believe his real name was Jim Tyrell, and he was Dan in the early 70s. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From DMoisan@davidmoisan.org Sun Jun 16 20:36:43 2019 From: DMoisan@davidmoisan.org (David Moisan) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:36:43 +0000 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <23fd8198fb154775b07e1e672dc0187a@davidmoisan.org> A memory popped up: Clif and Claf were Clif Keane and Larry Clafin, sportswriters, who had a (weekly? Nightly?) show, and who also were on the pregame show when WITS had the Sox. Sadly, one day, when they were in their pregame show, Larry Clafin suffered a massive heart attack and died. That was it. I don't remember what happened afterwards, but as we know, WITS did not have the Sox contract for much longer after that. -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Bob Nelson Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM To: Gary's Ice Cream Cc: (newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. "The WITS' End of the Dial" A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) with the caption The WITlesS Wonders On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I worked > there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). > > Gary F. > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and > Florida icecreamcollege.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Don > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? > > Or did it stand for nothing at all? > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" > To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" > > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Kresgees > > > > Gary F. > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and > > Florida icecreamcollege.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > > On Behalf Of > > Doug Drown > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > > To: Ken VanTassell > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell > wrote: > > > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher > >> told the class that all the station call signs that started with W > >> were all owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > >> > >> -Ken > >> > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry > >> <011010001@interpring.com> > >> wrote: > >> > >> > > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the > early > >> > '90's. > >> > > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with > >> > the format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran > >> > WCRB(AM) for several years as a full service station in Waltham > >> > before adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > >> > > >> > > >> > Rob > >> > > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > >> > > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > >> > >> entries > >> for > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them > >> > >> (and > >> why). > >> > For > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > >> > >> stand > >> for > >> > >> "New (or Nueva) > >> > > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, > >> > > especially with > >> > regard > >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > >> > > for what the > >> > call > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially > >> > > assigned back > >> > in the > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's > >> > > what the call > >> > letters > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > >> > > contributions (although > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes > >> > > is an > >> > ongoing > >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > >> > haddock..." > >> > > ;-) > >> > > > >> > > -- > >> > > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > >> > > University, Cambridge MA > >> > > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > From raccoonradio@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 22:43:00 2019 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 22:43:00 -0400 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <23fd8198fb154775b07e1e672dc0187a@davidmoisan.org> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> <23fd8198fb154775b07e1e672dc0187a@davidmoisan.org> Message-ID: Thanks for the info; I looked up Clif and Claf online (didn't hear them, only heard about them) and found a Sons of Sam Horn messageboard thread about the passing of Clif Keane in April of 2003. It mentioned that Jerry Williams had also just died, One post said that the nicknames Clif and Claf inspired the names of "Click and Clack. the Tappet Brothers", Tom and Ray Magliozzi of the WBUR-produced Car Talk. "Larry Claflin died of a heart attack while the show was still going strong," said one post. (That was in 1981; UPI reported "Claflin, stricken moments before going on the air for a sports talk show, worked since 1978 at WITS, the flagship station of the Boston Red Sox radio network." WITS call letters were on 1510 from 1978 to 1983. In 1981 they moved the transmitter to Waltham and boosted to 50,000 watts day and night but some areas still had problems getting them . As it was in 1978, the poor 1510 signal at night meant WWEL-FM 107.9 picked up Red Sox night games to help out. Larry Claflin Jr wrote for the Salem News, I believe. On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 9:50 PM David Moisan wrote: > A memory popped up: Clif and Claf were Clif Keane and Larry Clafin, > sportswriters, who had a (weekly? Nightly?) show, and who also were on the > pregame show when WITS had the Sox. > > Sadly, one day, when they were in their pregame show, Larry Clafin > suffered a massive heart attack and died. That was it. I don't remember > what happened afterwards, but as we know, WITS did not have the Sox > contract for much longer after that. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest < > boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of Bob > Nelson > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream > Cc: (newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest < > boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org> > Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. > "The WITS' End of the Dial" > > A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) > with the caption The WITlesS Wonders > > On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream > wrote: > > > > > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I > worked > > there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the > > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). > > > > Gary F. > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and > > Florida icecreamcollege.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Don > > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM > > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < > > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' > > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < > > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> > > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? > > > > Or did it stand for nothing at all? > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" > > To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" > > > > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" > > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM > > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > > > > Kresgees > > > > > > Gary F. > > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and > > > Florida icecreamcollege.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > > > On Behalf Of > > > Doug Drown > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > > > To: Ken VanTassell > > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > > > > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell > > wrote: > > > > > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher > > >> told the class that all the station call signs that started with W > > >> were all owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > > >> > > >> -Ken > > >> > > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry > > >> <011010001@interpring.com> > > >> wrote: > > >> > > >> > > > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the > > early > > >> > '90's. > > >> > > > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with > > >> > the format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran > > >> > WCRB(AM) for several years as a full service station in Waltham > > >> > before adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > Rob > > >> > > > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > > >> > > > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > > >> > >> entries > > >> for > > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them > > >> > >> (and > > >> why). > > >> > For > > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > > >> > >> stand > > >> for > > >> > >> "New (or Nueva) > > >> > > > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, > > >> > > especially with > > >> > regard > > >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > > >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > > >> > > for what the > > >> > call > > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially > > >> > > assigned back > > >> > in the > > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's > > >> > > what the call > > >> > letters > > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > > >> > > contributions (although > > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes > > >> > > is an > > >> > ongoing > > >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > > >> > haddock..." > > >> > > ;-) > > >> > > > > >> > > -- > > >> > > > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > > >> > > University, Cambridge MA > > >> > > > > >> > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > --- > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > > > > > > > > From dlh@donnahalper.com Sun Jun 16 23:05:06 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 23:05:06 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <03a501d524ae$bb203fe0$3160bfa0$@garysicecream.com> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> <03a501d524ae$bb203fe0$3160bfa0$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <168f85bc-f54d-77d6-d4f8-822fb80ce149@donnahalper.com> On 6/16/2019 9:48 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > How many Fenway's were there (besides the park)? Probably at least three, and maybe four; but the only ones I know about were Ed Hider (alias Eddie Mitchell on other stations) and Jack Gale. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From kvahey@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 18:52:43 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:52:43 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: Donna I know the Dan Donovan at WMEX in 1962 would later do country at WCOP ( 1968 or so ) but I can't recall his name On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 6:26 PM A Joseph Ross wrote: > I think there were lots of Dan Donovans. > > Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in > which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in > Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest > straw would be on as Dan Donovan. The next day, whoever was there as > Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan. He described coming > to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job. Richmond said that > for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan. When he was > done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan > Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. > > Mel Miller was on the Reunion Weekend, and he said he was also Melvin X. > Melvin. I think there were several Melvin X. Melvins, but I wonder > whether there were several Mel Millers. > > I taped part of the Reunion Weekend, and I think I probably have an > edited version somewhere on a cassette. > > > On 6/16/2019 3:52 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > > I know that WMEX had various deejays who used House Names, and I am > > trying to sort some of them out. For example, if I recall correctly, > > around 1958 or 1958, "Dan Donovan" was Arthur McTague (later best > > known as traffic helicopter guy Kevin O'Keefe). But there were other > > Dan Donovans-- wasn't Harvey Blaine one of them? And who became Dan > > Donovan after McTague left, circa 1960? > > > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > From joe@attorneyross.com Mon Jun 17 00:12:40 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:12:40 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <168f85bc-f54d-77d6-d4f8-822fb80ce149@donnahalper.com> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> <03a501d524ae$bb203fe0$3160bfa0$@garysicecream.com> <168f85bc-f54d-77d6-d4f8-822fb80ce149@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <5649bbf9-7e17-908f-b94b-36189d151cdc@attorneyross.com> I remember him as Eddie Mitchell on WCOP.? When WCOP suddenly (or so it seemed) dropped the rock & roll format, Ed Mitchell disappeared from WCOP and almost immediately turned up as Fenway on WCOP.? It was obvious who it was because Ed Mitchell's shtick, including his sidekick Bruno, was now on the Fenway show. On 6/16/2019 11:05 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > On 6/16/2019 9:48 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: >> How many Fenway's were there (besides the park)? > > Probably at least three, and maybe four; but the only ones I know > about were Ed Hider (alias Eddie Mitchell on other stations) and Jack > Gale. > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From astelle.donald@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 20:32:40 2019 From: astelle.donald@gmail.com (Don) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 20:32:40 -0400 Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: >>WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. I remember hearing promost citing the W as standing for weather......as in Weather, Information, Talk, Sports. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Nelson" To: "Gary's Ice Cream" Cc: "(newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest" Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. "The WITS' End of the Dial" A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) with the caption The WITlesS Wonders On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I worked > there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). > > Gary F. > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > garysicecream.com > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > icecreamcollege.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Don > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? > > Or did it stand for nothing at all? > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" > To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" > > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Kresgees > > > > Gary F. > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > garysicecream.com > > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > > icecreamcollege.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > > On Behalf Of Doug > > Drown > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > > To: Ken VanTassell > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell > wrote: > > > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told > >> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all > >> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > >> > >> -Ken > >> > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> > >> wrote: > >> > >> > > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the > early > >> > '90's. > >> > > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > >> > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) > >> > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before > >> > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > >> > > >> > > >> > Rob > >> > > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > >> > > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > >> > >> entries > >> for > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > >> why). > >> > For > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > >> > >> stand > >> for > >> > >> "New (or Nueva) > >> > > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially > >> > > with > >> > regard > >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > >> > > for what the > >> > call > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned > >> > > back > >> > in the > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what > >> > > the call > >> > letters > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > >> > > contributions (although > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is > >> > > an > >> > ongoing > >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > >> > haddock..." > >> > > ;-) > >> > > > >> > > -- > >> > > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > >> > > University, Cambridge MA > >> > > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > From tgordo49@gmail.com Sun Jun 16 16:49:44 2019 From: tgordo49@gmail.com (Tim Gordon) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 16:49:44 -0400 Subject: lost radio host? Message-ID: Until about a year ago I enjoyed the Saturday night 80's night show on WXLO 104.5 FM with Chuck Perks as the host. Now they have someone else who is not as good IMHO. Anyone know why, or what's become of Chuck? From gspatola@gmail.com Mon Jun 17 01:29:21 2019 From: gspatola@gmail.com (Glenn Spatola) Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 22:29:21 -0700 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names Message-ID: There were indeed lots of Dan Donovans, and a few Fenways, but as I recall, not many Melvin X. Melvins. IMHO, the longest running and by far the best Melvin X. Melvin was Joe Jeffries, aka J.J. Jeffrey!! Glenn Spatola Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:25:00 -0400 From: A Joseph Ross To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Re: Dan Donovan and House Names Message-ID: <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed I think there were lots of Dan Donovans. Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest straw would be on as Dan Donovan.? The next day, whoever was there as Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan.? He described coming to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job.? Richmond said that for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan.? When he was done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. Mel Miller was on the Reunion Weekend, and he said he was also Melvin X. Melvin.? I think there were several Melvin X. Melvins, but I wonder whether there were several Mel Millers. I taped part of the Reunion Weekend, and I think I probably have an edited version somewhere on a cassette. boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > From kvahey@gmail.com Mon Jun 17 02:32:39 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 02:32:39 -0400 Subject: Clif and Claf and WITS - Was WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: The show came to be when Steve Fredricks was offered a job at his hometown WCAU in Philadelphia. The station was still operating from the WMEX transmitter site in North Quincy ( the move to Waltham was around 1980 ) WMEX only got the Red Sox contract because Tom Yawkey was angered in 1975 when WHDH went to a soft Top 40 format and he called WMEX ( who for years was his tenant at 70 Brookline Ave ) to see if they wanted the Red Sox contract starting with the 1975 playoffs as long as they would switch the format to MOR. Dick Richmond said yes knowing the station's value skyrocketed overnight with the Red Sox deal. WMEX almost got Jess Cain to do mornings until Blair Radio who now owned WHDH offered Jess a blank check. Dick Richmond then sold WMEX to Cincinnati based Mariner Communications ( who owned WLW ) and the Ohio people had no clue about how bad the 1510 night signal was. This was the era when Boston baseball fans discovered WWEL at 107.9 who carried the 1510 signal at night. Meanwhile, Clif and Claf became the extended Red Sox pregame show and it was outrageous radio for the 70's. The postgame Red Sox show was hosted by a young Glenn Ordway and it was vicious. On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 1:39 AM Don wrote: > > >>WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. > > I remember hearing promost citing the W as standing for weather......as in > Weather, Information, Talk, Sports. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob Nelson" > To: "Gary's Ice Cream" > Cc: "(newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest" > > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM > Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. > "The WITS' End of the Dial" > > A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) with > the caption The WITlesS Wonders > > On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream > wrote: > > > > > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I > worked > > there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the > > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). > > > > Gary F. > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > garysicecream.com > > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > > icecreamcollege.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Don > > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM > > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < > > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' > > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < > > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> > > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? > > > > Or did it stand for nothing at all? > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" > > To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" > > > > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" > > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM > > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > > > > Kresgees > > > > > > Gary F. > > > Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA > > > garysicecream.com > > > Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida > > > icecreamcollege.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest > > > On Behalf Of > Doug > > > Drown > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM > > > To: Ken VanTassell > > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List > > > > > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia > > > > > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for? > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell > > wrote: > > > > > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told > > >> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all > > >> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. > > >> > > >> -Ken > > >> > > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> > > >> wrote: > > >> > > >> > > > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're > > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the > > early > > >> > '90's. > > >> > > > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the > > >> > format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) > > >> > for several years as a full service station in Waltham before > > >> > adopting the classical format in 1950-51. > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > Rob > > >> > > > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: > > >> > > > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: > > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of > > >> > >> entries > > >> for > > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and > > >> why). > > >> > For > > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters > > >> > >> stand > > >> for > > >> > >> "New (or Nueva) > > >> > > > > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially > > >> > > with > > >> > regard > > >> > > to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent > > >> > > area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan > > >> > > for what the > > >> > call > > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned > > >> > > back > > >> > in the > > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls > > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what > > >> > > the call > > >> > letters > > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who > > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their > > >> > > contributions (although > > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is > > >> > > an > > >> > ongoing > > >> > > battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead > > >> > haddock..." > > >> > > ;-) > > >> > > > > >> > > -- > > >> > > > > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley > > >> > > University, Cambridge MA > > >> > > > > >> > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > --- > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > > > > > > > From raccoonradio@gmail.com Mon Jun 17 04:49:19 2019 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 04:49:19 -0400 Subject: lost radio host? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I just did a search; saw something about him being on Cape Country 104 but then saw this from All Access last month: "CHUCK PERKS becomes OM for Country WORC (98. NASH ICON), in addition to his current role as PD of Classic Hits sister WWFX (100 FM THE PIKE). " On Sunday, June 16, 2019, Tim Gordon wrote: > Until about a year ago I enjoyed the Saturday night 80's night show on WXLO > 104.5 FM with Chuck Perks as the host. Now they have someone else who is > not as good IMHO. Anyone know why, or what's become of Chuck? > From 011010001@interpring.com Mon Jun 17 08:03:37 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 08:03:37 -0400 (EDT) Subject: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 16 Jun 2019, Don wrote: >>> WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. > I remember hearing promost citing the W as standing for weather......as in > Weather, Information, Talk, Sports. Yes, but some people said the call letters really stood for "What Is This S**t?". Rob From dlh@donnahalper.com Mon Jun 17 11:03:18 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:03:18 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2091f89a-0c34-212e-5c3c-453ac8640806@donnahalper.com> On 6/17/2019 1:29 AM, Glenn Spatola wrote: > There were indeed lots of Dan Donovans, and a few Fenways, but as I recall, > not many Melvin X. Melvins. IMHO, the longest running and by far the best > Melvin X. Melvin was Joe Jeffries, aka J.J. Jeffrey!! According to Jack Gale (who said in his book that working for WMEX-- and Mac Richmond-- was among the worst experiences of his life), one of the Melvin X Melvins was Jim McKrell.? And yes, in addition to J.J. Jeffries, another was the late Tom Shovan. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From astelle.donald@gmail.com Mon Jun 17 11:40:19 2019 From: astelle.donald@gmail.com (Don) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:40:19 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names References: <2091f89a-0c34-212e-5c3c-453ac8640806@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <2E606601AFBC4031B6B3E80C0B030E78@ownerd8aa55a4d> > According to Jack Gale (who said in his book that working for WMEX-- and > Mac Richmond-- Was this the book: "Same Time, Same Station"? --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From 011010001@interpring.com Mon Jun 17 11:30:23 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:30:23 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <99f9eded-5b4e-a51c-0872-46a55015a968@attorneyross.com> References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <0e4b448f-7d25-feb9-ec0a-53f556903fe1@attorneyross.com> <017901d52249$e89280d0$b9b78270$@garysicecream.com> <990289e2-ca46-5e46-d1c3-4f45efd98964@donnahalper.com> <99f9eded-5b4e-a51c-0872-46a55015a968@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: Yes, that's right. Rob On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, A. Joseph Ross wrote: > I think I remember once reading that WQXR in New York was originally an > experimental station, with the call W2XR.? The original founders played > classical music on the station and developed a following.? When they decided > to go for a commercial license, they replaced the 2 with a Q so as to have as > small a change as possible. > > > On 6/14/2019 8:23 AM, Rob Landry wrote: >> >> >> On Fri, 14 Jun 2019, Bob DeMattia wrote: >> >>> Just like commericial like the commercial callsigns WBZ, WGY, WLS, many >>> amateur callsigns of today still have the 1920's callsign system legacy. >>> University stations like MIT (W1XM),? WPI (W1YK),? and Yale (W1YU), began >>> as 1XM, 1YK, and 1YU respectively. >> >> I think MIT is actually W1MX. Call sign suffixes beginning with X used to >> be reserved for "experimental" radio stations. >> >> >> Rob >> > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459-2004 > 617.367.0468 ? Fx: 617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > From dlh@donnahalper.com Mon Jun 17 11:52:11 2019 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:52:11 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <2E606601AFBC4031B6B3E80C0B030E78@ownerd8aa55a4d> References: <2091f89a-0c34-212e-5c3c-453ac8640806@donnahalper.com> <2E606601AFBC4031B6B3E80C0B030E78@ownerd8aa55a4d> Message-ID: <83795b55-857f-2440-272f-6aa11c08dbfc@donnahalper.com> On 6/17/2019 11:40 AM, Don wrote: > >> According to Jack Gale (who said in his book that working for WMEX-- >> and Mac Richmond-- > > Was this the book:? "Same Time, Same Station"? Yes, it was.? Still available from used book stores. I believe he died in early 2018, after a long deejay and music industry career. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From jjlehmann@comcast.net Mon Jun 17 13:25:59 2019 From: jjlehmann@comcast.net (Jeff Lehmann) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 13:25:59 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> References: <11200ec3-93e8-dbd3-4584-a920906a889b@donnahalper.com> <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> <008301d52494$9a0e0ef0$ce2a2cd0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: I?m not sure if either of those are the same as the Johnny Dark that worked at WHTT here in Boston and WNBC in New York during the 80s. He?s also a ham, who I talked to on 75 meters on a regular basis about 15 years ago. His call is W4FUN, real name Dennis Tallyn. Jeff Lehmann > On Jun 16, 2019, at 6:41 PM, Mark Watson wrote: > > A. Joseph Ross wrote: > > Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest straw would be on as Dan Donovan. The next day, whoever was there as Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan. He described coming to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job. Richmond said that for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan. When he was done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. > > Johnny Dark seems to have also been a house name at several stations back in the day. There was a Johnny Dark on WRKO back in the 1970's, wonder if it was the same guy who was Johnny Dark at WMEX? > > Mark Watson > > From joe@attorneyross.com Tue Jun 18 01:00:55 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 01:00:55 -0400 Subject: Dan Donovan and House Names In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8a8ab0ea-2350-0507-7842-9531dc9b5712@attorneyross.com> And at least one of the Melvin X. Melvins occasionally also called himself Melvin X. Ugly. On 6/17/2019 1:29 AM, Glenn Spatola wrote: > There were indeed lots of Dan Donovans, and a few Fenways, but as I recall, > not many Melvin X. Melvins. IMHO, the longest running and by far the best > Melvin X. Melvin was Joe Jeffries, aka J.J. Jeffrey!! > > Glenn Spatola > > > Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:25:00 -0400 > From: A Joseph Ross > To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > Subject: Re: Dan Donovan and House Names > Message-ID: <2ffb13e8-a564-2c4c-d57e-b74365e9b6b8@attorneyross.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed > > I think there were lots of Dan Donovans. > > Sometime in the mid-1980s, WROR had a Rock & Roll Reunion Weekend, in > which Arnie Ginsburg said they were having a Dan Donovan convention in > Fenway Park, and they were drawing straws, and the one with the shortest > straw would be on as Dan Donovan.? The next day, whoever was there as > Dan Donovan said that he was the last Dan Donovan.? He described coming > to Boston and going to see Max Richmond about a job.? Richmond said that > for his audition, he could go on that day as Dan Donovan.? When he was > done, he was given the slot permanently, and the guy who had been Dan > Donovan was turned into Johnny Dark and moved to the overnight shift. > > Mel Miller was on the Reunion Weekend, and he said he was also Melvin X. > Melvin.? I think there were several Melvin X. Melvins, but I wonder > whether there were several Mel Millers. > > I taped part of the Reunion Weekend, and I think I probably have an > edited version somewhere on a cassette. > > boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From joe@attorneyross.com Tue Jun 18 01:07:44 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 01:07:44 -0400 Subject: Clif and Claf and WITS - Was WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia In-Reply-To: References: <02e901d51f9a$fc9b04a0$f5d10de0$@comcast.net> <859f1670-82fa-bcd9-245e-1f8ae415fe54@donnahalper.com> <065001d5213e$85a48ba0$90eda2e0$@garysicecream.com> <035c01d52462$cf47c5c0$6dd75140$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <399bd68b-5c12-73fb-96ea-9b64abaf5e83@attorneyross.com> And WMEX/WITS got the radio contract around the same time that WSBK 38 got the Red Sox television contract.? At the time, where my parents lived in Bedford, neither station came in particularly well.? My father, who was the baseball fan in the family, wondered why a big league team was dealing with minor-league stations. When I was in law school, I was driving home one night, listening to WMEX on the car radio, and just as I turned off the main road to the residential streets where we lived, the signal faded out.? I also used to have trouble listening to Arnie's Night Train show. On 6/17/2019 2:32 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote: > The show came to be when Steve Fredricks was offered a job at his hometown > WCAU in Philadelphia. > > The station was still operating from the WMEX transmitter site in North > Quincy ( the move to Waltham was around 1980 ) > > WMEX only got the Red Sox contract because Tom Yawkey was angered in 1975 > when WHDH went to a soft Top 40 format and he called WMEX ( who for years > was his tenant at 70 Brookline Ave ) to see if they wanted the Red Sox > contract starting with the 1975 playoffs as long as they would switch the > format to MOR. Dick Richmond said yes knowing the station's value > skyrocketed overnight with the Red Sox deal. > > WMEX almost got Jess Cain to do mornings until Blair Radio who now owned > WHDH offered Jess a blank check. > > Dick Richmond then sold WMEX to Cincinnati based Mariner Communications ( > who owned WLW ) and the Ohio people had no clue about how bad the 1510 > night signal was. This was the era when Boston baseball fans discovered > WWEL at 107.9 who carried the 1510 signal at night. > > Meanwhile, Clif and Claf became the extended Red Sox pregame show and it > was outrageous radio for the 70's. > > The postgame Red Sox show was hosted by a young Glenn Ordway and it was > vicious. > > > > > > > On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 1:39 AM Don wrote: > >>>> WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. >> I remember hearing promost citing the W as standing for weather......as in >> Weather, Information, Talk, Sports. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Bob Nelson" >> To: "Gary's Ice Cream" >> Cc: "(newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest" >> >> Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM >> Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia >> >> >> WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports. >> "The WITS' End of the Dial" >> >> A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?) with >> the caption The WITlesS Wonders >> >> On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream >> wrote: >> >>> Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I >> worked >>> there in the 70's. Across the street, WOTW stood for the >>> original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy). >>> >>> Gary F. >>> Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA >>> garysicecream.com >>> Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida >>> icecreamcollege.com >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Don >>> Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM >>> To: Gary's Ice Cream ; 'Doug Drown' < >>> ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' >>> Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' < >>> boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> >>> Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia >>> >>> What did WSMN stand for? Salem, Manchester, Nashua? >>> >>> Or did it stand for nothing at all? >>> >>> >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Gary's Ice Cream" >>> To: "'Doug Drown'" ; "'Ken VanTassell'" >>> >>> Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'" >>> >>> Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM >>> Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia >>> >>> >>>> Kresgees >>>> >>>> Gary F. >>>> Gary?s Ice Cream ? Chelmsford Creamery, Inc. Chelmsford, MA >>>> garysicecream.com >>>> Ice Cream College ? classes in Massachusetts and Florida >>>> icecreamcollege.com >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: Boston-Radio-Interest >>>> On Behalf Of >> Doug >>>> Drown >>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM >>>> To: Ken VanTassell >>>> Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List >>>> >>>> Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia >>>> >>>> Wonder what he thought the K stood for? >>>> >>>> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell >>> wrote: >>>>> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher told >>>>> the class that all the station call signs that started with W were all >>>>> owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him. >>>>> >>>>> -Ken >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're >>>>>> Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the >>> early >>>>>> '90's. >>>>>> >>>>>> But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with the >>>>>> format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran WCRB(AM) >>>>>> for several years as a full service station in Waltham before >>>>>> adopting the classical format in 1950-51. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Rob >>>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote: >>>>>>>> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of >>>>>>>> entries >>>>> for >>>>>>>> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them (and >>>>> why). >>>>>> For >>>>>>>> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters >>>>>>>> stand >>>>> for >>>>>>>> "New (or Nueva) >>>>>>> I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia, especially >>>>>>> with >>>>>> regard >>>>>>> to radio history. The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent >>>>>>> area of contention. Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan >>>>>>> for what the >>>>>> call >>>>>>> letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially assigned >>>>>>> back >>>>>> in the >>>>>>> old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls >>>>>>> with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's what >>>>>>> the call >>>>>> letters >>>>>>> must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who >>>>>>> contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their >>>>>>> contributions (although >>>>>>> well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes is >>>>>>> an >>>>>> ongoing >>>>>>> battle, sad to say. And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead >>>>>> haddock..." >>>>>>> ;-) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Donna L. Halper, PhD >>>>>>> Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley >>>>>>> University, Cambridge MA >>>>>>> >>>> >>> >>> --- >>> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. >>> https://www.avast.com/antivirus >>> >>> >>> >>> >> -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From kvahey@gmail.com Tue Jun 18 03:09:32 2019 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 03:09:32 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: <516383121.1965321.1560791124278@mail.yahoo.com> References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> <516383121.1965321.1560791124278@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Jay I would be curious about Pete Fasciano's memories of the Mark VII's at WXPO. The original CE at WXPO was a man named Charles Brown and he made a number of critical errors but in fairness, the ownership group was looking to cut corners. He was long gone as the station prepared to launch and a brilliant CE was hired from Channel 18 in Hartford (Howard Frost) but ownership was tapped and needed revenue from being on the air, which never came. The core issue was Channel 50 was allocated to Manchester and thus the main studio was the transmitter in Windham. Had the WXPO transmitter been another 50 to 100 feet higher the station may have gained traction. The signal for some reason boomed into the Back Bay and Allston but not in Cambridge or Somerville. On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 1:05 PM wrote: > Hello- > > Having spent my career in NYC at NBC, ABC, and also briefly at Studio 50 > (Ed Sullivan), I'd like to comment on your statement about 4 tube cameras > producing a"washed out look." > > With the exception of the Norelco PC-60/70 and the legacy RCA TK-41 and > TK-26 (telecine) cameras, all new live and telecine cameras of the 1960s > were of a 4 tube design. That included RCA, GE, EMI, and Marconi. Philips > experimented with 4 tube, but was satisfied with the 3 tube design. > > It is possible to set the black level of a 4 tube camera's luminance > channel just like any other camera. At CBS, they preferred a more pastel > look, and this was accomplished by setting the RGB channels at about 10% > positive pedestal. This technique is documented on the CBS Retired > Engineers Website. > > The issue at Studio 50 was its close proximity next to the subway rotary > converter station that influenced camera registration. Good registration in > one part of the studio was different if the camera was moved. Even the > control room monitors had to be shielded. I might add that other stages in > NY and LA had similar problems..production was instructed not to shoot in > those areas. > > Norelco eventually came up with better shielding for the so called "PC-69" > cameras at CBS, but the emotions had already overcome any meaningful > solution, so they were replaced with Mark VIIs from Marconi. CBS had these > cameras installed at WBBM and KNXT also. This was a large, very heavy head > with apparently better shielding. See Jim Herschel's comments on "Eyes Of A > Generation" website. Jim was at Philips during that period and has first > hand knowledge of the problem. Later, he joined CBS, designing mobile units. > > In the early 1990s , I had to produce source material fior the ATTC at > Studio 50, and brought the lab's Gauss meter along, but it was not an > issue, as the subway station was converted to solid state. > > You can observe 3 tube and 4 tube cameras at the Museum of Broadcast > Technology in Woonsocket, RI. > > Jay Ballard > ex NBC Engineering Lab, ABC Engineering Lab > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kevin Vahey > To: Mark Watson > Cc: Boston Radio Group > Sent: Sun, Jun 16, 2019 9:08 pm > Subject: Re: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? > > CBS first used Norelco's at Studio 50 but switched to Marconi and that did > not address the issue. > > The Marconi Mark VII's always had a washed out look as it was a 4 tube > design. WXPO got the cameras at a discount as the new RCA TK-44 which was a > 3 tube plumbicon Norelco clone and RCA was promising a quick delivery. WSMW > in Worcester went that route and the cameras were fine. > > WXPO had other issues including a transmitter location that was suspect and > by the time the Chief Engineer was replaced there was no money left to fix > the issues. > > A major part of the station's plan was to become a local production house > for commercials but the RF issues made that impossible as other stations > refused to air commercials taped in Lowell. > > > http://eyesofageneration.com/the-heart-of-the-magnetic-field-problems-for-cbs-studio-50in-one-of-todays-ea/ > > > On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 8:00 PM Mark Watson wrote: > > > Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > > > > > > >Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at > >Market > > and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved >to Woburn > > which would be 1986. > > > > > > > > The WLLH tower on the roof of the Giant Store building at 4 Broadway, > > corner of Dutton Street was taken down in 1986 after both WLLH & WSSH > moved > > their studios, WSSH as mentioned to Woburn and WLLH moved to studios in > the > > newly built Lowell Hilton hotel, which later became the Sheraton Inn > > Riverfront. Then they moved to 44 Church Street for the last few years of > > Arnold Lerner?s ownership. WXPO studios were on Dutton near Market, just > a > > block away from the Giant Store. I knew about the RF issues that wreaked > > havoc with WXPO?s cameras but didn?t know that CBS had RF issues at the > Ed > > Sullivan Theater. How did CBS get around that? > > > > > > > > Mark Watson > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From tk41c@aol.com Mon Jun 17 13:05:24 2019 From: tk41c@aol.com (tk41c@aol.com) Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:05:24 +0000 (UTC) Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <516383121.1965321.1560791124278@mail.yahoo.com> Hello- Having spent my career in NYC at NBC, ABC, and also briefly at Studio 50 (Ed Sullivan), I'd like to comment on your statement about 4 tube cameras producing a"washed out look." With the exception of the Norelco PC-60/70 and the legacy RCA TK-41 and TK-26 (telecine) cameras, all new live and telecine cameras of the 1960s were of a 4 tube design.? That included RCA, GE, EMI, and Marconi. Philips experimented with 4 tube, but was satisfied with the 3 tube design. It is possible to set the black level of a 4 tube camera's luminance channel just like any other camera. At CBS, they preferred a more pastel look, and this was accomplished by setting the RGB channels at about 10% positive pedestal. This technique is documented on the CBS Retired Engineers Website. The issue at Studio 50 was its close proximity next to the subway rotary converter station that influenced camera registration. Good registration in one part of the studio was different if the camera was moved.? Even the control room monitors had to be shielded. I might add that other stages in NY and LA had similar problems..production was instructed not to shoot in those areas.?Norelco eventually came up with better shielding for the so called "PC-69" cameras at CBS, but the emotions had already overcome any meaningful solution, so they were replaced with Mark VIIs from Marconi. CBS had these cameras installed at WBBM and KNXT also. This was a large, very heavy head with apparently better shielding. See Jim Herschel's comments on "Eyes Of A Generation" website.? Jim was at Philips during that period and has first hand knowledge of the problem. Later, he joined CBS, designing mobile units. In the early 1990s , I had to produce source material fior the ATTC at Studio 50, and brought the lab's Gauss meter along, but it was not an issue, as the subway station was converted to solid state. You can observe 3 tube and 4 tube cameras at the Museum of Broadcast Technology in Woonsocket, RI. Jay Ballardex NBC Engineering Lab, ABC Engineering Lab -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Vahey To: Mark Watson Cc: Boston Radio Group Sent: Sun, Jun 16, 2019 9:08 pm Subject: Re: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? CBS first used Norelco's at Studio 50 but switched to Marconi and that did not address the issue. The Marconi Mark VII's always had a washed out look as it was a 4 tube design. WXPO got the cameras at a discount as the new RCA TK-44 which was a 3 tube plumbicon Norelco clone and RCA was promising a quick delivery. WSMW in Worcester went that route and the cameras were fine. WXPO had other issues including a transmitter location that was suspect and by the time the Chief Engineer was replaced there was no money left to fix the issues. A major part of the station's plan was to become a local production house for commercials but the RF issues made that impossible as other stations refused to air commercials taped in Lowell. http://eyesofageneration.com/the-heart-of-the-magnetic-field-problems-for-cbs-studio-50in-one-of-todays-ea/ On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 8:00 PM Mark Watson wrote: > Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > > >Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at >Market > and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved >to Woburn > which would be 1986. > > > > The WLLH tower on the roof of the Giant Store building at 4 Broadway, > corner of Dutton Street was taken down in 1986 after both WLLH & WSSH moved > their studios, WSSH as mentioned to Woburn and WLLH moved to studios in the > newly built Lowell Hilton hotel, which later became the Sheraton Inn > Riverfront. Then they moved to 44 Church Street for the last few years of > Arnold Lerner?s ownership. WXPO studios were on Dutton near Market, just a > block away from the Giant Store. I knew about the RF issues that wreaked > havoc with WXPO?s cameras but didn?t know that CBS had RF issues at the Ed > Sullivan Theater. How did CBS get around that? > > > > Mark Watson > > > > > > > > > From 011010001@interpring.com Wed Jun 19 10:52:12 2019 From: 011010001@interpring.com (Rob Landry) Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2019 10:52:12 -0400 (EDT) Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> <516383121.1965321.1560791124278@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: On Tue, 18 Jun 2019, Kevin Vahey wrote: > The core issue was Channel 50 was allocated to Manchester and thus the main > studio was the transmitter in Windham. Had the WXPO transmitter been > another 50 to 100 feet higher the station may have gained traction. The > signal for some reason boomed into the Back Bay and Allston but not in > Cambridge or Somerville. That would be those pesky hills north of Boston. They were helpful for the colonials besieging the British in 1775, but for FM's north of town they present challenges. 99.5, during the four years I had to do with it, had a very inconsistent signal in the city because of those hills. Rob From aerie.ma@comcast.net Wed Jun 19 11:09:46 2019 From: aerie.ma@comcast.net (Jim Hall) Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:09:46 -0400 Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> <516383121.1965321.1560791124278@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <04bc01d526b1$08fb6e20$1af24a60$@comcast.net> I remember watching WXPO-TV in my apartment in Back Bay, just using rabbit ears. The picture was a bit fuzzy, but didn't have the multipath problem the Boston stations had in Back Bay. I used to watch Channel 11 from Durham for PBS programs because I'd see two or 3 versions of everything on Channel 2 with reflections from the Hancock and Prudential towers. On Tue, 18 Jun 2019, Kevin Vahey wrote: > The core issue was Channel 50 was allocated to Manchester and thus the > main studio was the transmitter in Windham. Had the WXPO transmitter > been another 50 to 100 feet higher the station may have gained > traction. The signal for some reason boomed into the Back Bay and > Allston but not in Cambridge or Somerville. From ecps92@earthlink.net Wed Jun 19 19:18:36 2019 From: ecps92@earthlink.net (~Bill) Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2019 19:18:36 -0400 Subject: WPLM brings back "Lost 45s" Message-ID: <047a01d526f5$52b7adf0$f82709d0$@net> Just got an email from a friend on the Cape, and he mentioned WPLM will begin to host the "Lost 45s" on Sundays 6p-9p starting this weekend Bill - N1KUG Boston, Mass Cruise Ship Frequencies http://scanmaritime.com/ From joe@attorneyross.com Sun Jun 23 00:32:50 2019 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2019 00:32:50 -0400 Subject: Jerry Williams lawsuit Message-ID: I just came across the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the lawsuit between WMEX and WBZ over Jerry Williams' non-compete contract.? It's at http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/357/357mass106.html . -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? Fax:617.507.7856 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From Kaimbridge@Gmail.com Tue Jun 25 22:41:30 2019 From: Kaimbridge@Gmail.com (Kaimbridge M. GoldChild) Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 02:41:30 +0000 Subject: [B-R-I] The Musical Chairs Repack Has Begun Message-ID: <2b36ab19-61fc-5e4f-acec-dd3be5c45d07@Gmail.com> As NERW reported this week ( https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20190624 ), the new phase of the DTV Repack officially began last Saturday (Jun.22), with the first affection, locally, apparently already being felt: WBPX:68 (and, as they channel share, WDPX:58) has made the move (sometime between Saturday and today...I was up in The Lakes Region for a couple of days) from RF-32 to RF-22, with an accompanying xmtr move from one of the Rt.128-Newton towers to WUNI:66?s Hudson tower. Also, tonight ?NBC10 Boston? aired an advisory about needing to rescan on Aug.1st?though I guess the message has been out for a couple of weeks: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/An-Important-Message-for-Over-the-Air-Viewers-of-NBC10-Boston-511253811.html ~Kaimbridge~ -- -- -- Wiki?Sites Contribution History Pages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge math.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge rosettacode.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge ***** Void Where Permitted; Limit 0 Per Customer. ***** From markwats@comcast.net Wed Jun 26 20:20:46 2019 From: markwats@comcast.net (Mark Watson) Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 20:20:46 -0400 Subject: Loren Owens To Exit WROR, Final Loren & Wally Show Friday Message-ID: <012a01d52c7e$2ca57500$85f05f00$@comcast.net> Changes at WROR which spells the end of the long running Loren & Wally Morning Show this Friday. After this past Monday's show, Hank Morse, who spent 20 years as part of the show as traffic reporter as well as fill in host/co-host and fill in news reader was let go. Hank posted on his Facebook page that he was told the reason for his dismissal is the station is going in a different direction. Today it was announced that Loren Owens will be exiting the station after a final Loren & Wally show this Friday. Reportedly the departure is not Loren's idea, but it's a nice gesture on Beasley's part to allow a proper finale for the show which started back in 1981 or 82. Loren has been on 105.7 and all it's various formats & call letters since 1981. Wally Brine retired a couple of years back but still made occasional appearances on the show. Would be nice to have him be a part of Friday's finale if he's available on short notice. No word on the fate of sidekicks Lauren Beckham Falcone and "Lung Boy" (Brian Bell) but my guess is if they aren't retained as part of the new morning show or moved to another daypart they too may be exiting with Loren. Will the replacement for Loren & Wally be local or syndicated? Mark Watson From tk41c@aol.com Wed Jun 26 15:43:47 2019 From: tk41c@aol.com (tk41c@aol.com) Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 19:43:47 +0000 (UTC) Subject: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? In-Reply-To: <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> References: <008f01d52496$b20d0630$16271290$@comcast.net> <00b001d5249f$a8f3fd20$fadbf760$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <633484951.270040.1561578227939@mail.yahoo.com> All- The problem at the Sullivan Theater was not RF related, but electromagnetic interference from the large rotary converter nearby.? As I said earlier, even the monitors in the control room were shielded. It must have been emotional, as CBS replaced the Norelcos with the Marconi MK VIIs where they lasted until Teletape bought TK-46s for "Kate and Allie." The Marconis were large and heavy, with apparently better shielding. Later, the converter was replaced with a solid state (rectifier) power supply. As noted in an "Eyes of a Generation" post Philips eventually improved the shielding on the PC-69s at Sullivan, but by then, it was too late.? At its peak, The Ed Sullivan Show had an enormous audience on Sundays..possibly 30MM viewers,? The "PC-69" designation for CBS came from the two cable camera head used in the PC-60 with the new modular PC-70 CCU. Jay Ballard? -----Original Message----- From: Mark Watson To: 'Kevin Vahey' Cc: 'Boston Radio Group' Sent: Sun, Jun 16, 2019 8:03 pm Subject: RE: WCAP On The Move, WLLH Lowell Going Dark? Kevin Vahey wrote: >Mark, when was the transmitter moved from the 'Giant Building' at >Market and Dutton? I'm thinking it was around the time WSSH moved >to Woburn which would be 1986. The WLLH tower on the roof of the Giant Store building at 4 Broadway, corner of Dutton Street was taken down in 1986 after both WLLH & WSSH moved their studios, WSSH as mentioned to Woburn and WLLH moved to studios in the newly built Lowell Hilton hotel, which later became the Sheraton Inn Riverfront. Then they moved to 44 Church Street for the last few years of Arnold Lerner?s ownership. WXPO studios were on Dutton near Market, just a block away from the Giant Store. I knew about the RF issues that wreaked havoc with WXPO?s cameras but didn?t know that CBS had RF issues at the Ed Sullivan Theater. How did CBS get around that? Mark Watson From michaeldmalone@hotmail.com Wed Jun 26 13:19:07 2019 From: michaeldmalone@hotmail.com (Michael Malone) Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 17:19:07 +0000 Subject: [B-R-I] The Musical Chairs Repack Has Begun In-Reply-To: <2b36ab19-61fc-5e4f-acec-dd3be5c45d07@Gmail.com> References: <2b36ab19-61fc-5e4f-acec-dd3be5c45d07@Gmail.com> Message-ID: Despite WBPX moving closer to where I reside in Spencer, MA I no longer receive them since the move (rescanned, zippo). I was able to receive them previously. It will be interesting to note how many stations I can receive OTA after all the machinations of the repack are finished. My suspicion is I will be receiving far fewer stations. Curious about NBCBoston, I receive them on 15.1 which they co-share with WGBX on "real" channel 43. Which of the many OTA signals that they utilize is moving on August 1? I don't see that mentioned on the page. Mike ________________________________ From: Boston-Radio-Interest on behalf of Kaimbridge M. GoldChild Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 10:41 PM To: Boston Radio Interest Subject: [B-R-I] The Musical Chairs Repack Has Begun As NERW reported this week ( https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20190624 ), the new phase of the DTV Repack officially began last Saturday (Jun.22), with the first affection, locally, apparently already being felt: WBPX:68 (and, as they channel share, WDPX:58) has made the move (sometime between Saturday and today...I was up in The Lakes Region for a couple of days) from RF-32 to RF-22, with an accompanying xmtr move from one of the Rt.128-Newton towers to WUNI:66?s Hudson tower. Also, tonight ?NBC10 Boston? aired an advisory about needing to rescan on Aug.1st?though I guess the message has been out for a couple of weeks: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/An-Important-Message-for-Over-the-Air-Viewers-of-NBC10-Boston-511253811.html ~Kaimbridge~ -- -- -- Wiki?Sites Contribution History Pages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge math.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge rosettacode.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge ***** Void Where Permitted; Limit 0 Per Customer. ***** From scott@fybush.com Sat Jun 29 09:04:44 2019 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2019 09:04:44 -0400 Subject: [B-R-I] The Musical Chairs Repack Has Begun In-Reply-To: References: <2b36ab19-61fc-5e4f-acec-dd3be5c45d07@Gmail.com> Message-ID: The primary NBC Boston signal is now WYCN-CD 15.1, which maintains its channel share with WGBX when WGBX moves from RF 43 to RF 32. WBTS 8.1 (RF 46) will go away - that license is being moved down to Providence, presumably for Telemundo. WNEU is moving south from NH to Needham and from RF 34 to 29. It's not at all clear that NBC Boston will continue to be seen over WNEU, though - I think it will be just Telemundo when it moves. On Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 9:45 PM Michael Malone wrote: > Despite WBPX moving closer to where I reside in Spencer, MA I no longer > receive them since the move (rescanned, zippo). I was able to receive them > previously. It will be interesting to note how many stations I can receive > OTA after all the machinations of the repack are finished. My suspicion is > I will be receiving far fewer stations. > Curious about NBCBoston, I receive them on 15.1 which they co-share with > WGBX on "real" channel 43. Which of the many OTA signals that they utilize > is moving on August 1? I don't see that mentioned on the page. > Mike > > ________________________________ > From: Boston-Radio-Interest < > boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> on behalf of > Kaimbridge M. GoldChild > Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 10:41 PM > To: Boston Radio Interest > Subject: [B-R-I] The Musical Chairs Repack Has Begun > > As NERW reported this week ( https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20190624 ), the > new phase of the > DTV Repack officially began last Saturday (Jun.22), with the first > affection, locally, > apparently already being felt: WBPX:68 (and, as they channel share, > WDPX:58) has made the > move (sometime between Saturday and today...I was up in The Lakes Region > for a couple of > days) from RF-32 to RF-22, with an accompanying xmtr move from one of the > Rt.128-Newton > towers to WUNI:66?s Hudson tower. > Also, tonight ?NBC10 Boston? aired an advisory about needing to rescan on > Aug.1st?though I > guess the message has been out for a couple of weeks: > > > > https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/An-Important-Message-for-Over-the-Air-Viewers-of-NBC10-Boston-511253811.html > > ~Kaimbridge~ > > -- -- -- > Wiki?Sites Contribution History Pages: > > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge > math.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge > wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge > rosettacode.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Kaimbridge > > ***** Void Where Permitted; Limit 0 Per Customer. ***** > >