From geo.allen@comcast.net Mon Oct 12 12:07:54 2020 From: geo.allen@comcast.net (George Allen) Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 12:07:54 -0400 Subject: update on WGBH RF-5 power increase Message-ID: <202010121641.09CGfNDq057655@isfahel.bostonradio.org> See https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076f91744bb0cc017477e7d6da3f2d This STA is dated 9/15/20, replacing the one that expired several months ago. It looks like it hasn't been granted yet. At the bottom of that page is a link to "WGBH-TV_STA_request_ENG_09-04-2019.pdf", which has a nice summary of how we got here, including this on why digital low-band VHF is problematic, similar to what Scott Fybush posted here July 15: Problems with digital low-band VHF reception experienced by other stations have been widely publicized since the digital transition in 2009. It has been established that indoor reception is difficult for digital low band VHF stations such as WGBH-TV due to the longer wavelength signal's inability to readily pass through buildings (the windows are smaller than the wavelength size), the ineffectiveness of many indoor antennas (many of which were designed to emphasize the shorter wavelengths for UHF reception), and high levels of manmade and environmental noise. See also https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?facid=72099 and of course the rabbitears.info page: https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=72099 Does anyone have any info on when this might actually happen? -- George [a cable cutter in Swampscott] From kvahey@gmail.com Thu Oct 15 22:39:37 2020 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:39:37 -0400 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more Message-ID: On October 6th the tower that was used as a backup transmitter for WBZ-AM in Allston was dismantled. My research indicates the tower was erected around 1950 as a backup to the taller tower used by Channel 4 and was only used when there was an ice buildup on the taller tower. That tower collapsed during Hurricane Carol in 1954 and the small tower was used by Channel 4 until they were able to use the old WEEI-FM tower in Medford before moving to Needham in 1957. The tower was then used as a backup for WBZ-AM. The tower had to be taken down to clear space for the new Channel 4 studios which will replace the current facility built in 1948. From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Oct 16 16:28:45 2020 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2020 16:28:45 -0400 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <7df774a5-d303-61fb-c80b-2f0079a3ac5d@attorneyross.com> My family moved to Allston in the summer of 1949, when I was 4 1/2 years old.? I do remember seeing the two towers at that time, though I didn't know at first what they were.? I think both towers were probably erected together, along with the WBZ building, which was erected to provide television studios when WBZ-TV opened in 1948.? I think I remember hearing on one of the WBZ-TV anniversary celebrations (mostly back when Westinghouse was the owner) that WBZ-TV started out using temporary studios somewhere until the Soldier's Field Road building was ready.? I also remember seeing, in one of those anniversary specials, an excerpt from remarks by Mayor James Michael Curley when the station went on the air in June 1948. My parents bought our first TV set sometime in the fall of 1949.? I remember the day it was delivered, and when it was turned on, all that was on was the test pattern, and then some sort of station sign-on (all I remember from that was a "Westinghouse" sign, which I couldn't read at the time, but they were still using it by the time I was able to read it).? Then there came Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, which my father had seen when he visited his brother in Connecticut, and then Howdy Doody. We moved to Albany, NY just after Thanksgiving 1953 and moved back to the Boston area in May 1957.? I remember Hurricane Carol.? It was the first hurricane that I was aware of, and I remember seeing the wreckage of the big WBZ-TV tower on TV in Albany.? When we came to Boston in the spring to visit the grandparents, I remember seeing the stub of the tower from up on the Commonwealth Avenue hill in Brighton. On 10/15/2020 10:39 PM, Kevin Vahey wrote: > On October 6th the tower that was used as a backup transmitter for > WBZ-AM in Allston was dismantled. > > My research indicates the tower was erected around 1950 as a backup to > the taller tower used by Channel 4 and was only used when there was an > ice buildup on the taller tower. That tower collapsed during Hurricane > Carol in 1954 and the small tower was used by Channel 4 until they > were able to use the old WEEI-FM tower in Medford before moving to > Needham in 1957. > > The tower was then used as a backup for WBZ-AM. > > The tower had to be taken down to clear space for the new Channel 4 > studios which will replace the current facility built in 1948. -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From ashboy1951@gmail.com Fri Oct 16 07:51:30 2020 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2020 07:51:30 -0400 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: So what will WBZ use for backup now? I live in midcoast Maine, and can recall brief several occasions in recent years when the station had to use diminished power for its signal. On Fri, Oct 16, 2020 at 3:34 AM Kevin Vahey wrote: > On October 6th the tower that was used as a backup transmitter for > WBZ-AM in Allston was dismantled. > > My research indicates the tower was erected around 1950 as a backup to > the taller tower used by Channel 4 and was only used when there was an > ice buildup on the taller tower. That tower collapsed during Hurricane > Carol in 1954 and the small tower was used by Channel 4 until they > were able to use the old WEEI-FM tower in Medford before moving to > Needham in 1957. > > The tower was then used as a backup for WBZ-AM. > > The tower had to be taken down to clear space for the new Channel 4 > studios which will replace the current facility built in 1948. > From richard@chonak.com Sat Oct 17 18:42:02 2020 From: richard@chonak.com (Richard Chonak) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2020 18:42:02 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name Message-ID: WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September.? In this video, the speaker says: "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhBPnqTrvY More info on the move is at: https://www.wgbh.org/beyondbroadcast From scott@fybush.com Sat Oct 17 19:33:10 2020 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2020 19:33:10 -0400 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are becoming exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't own its own tower sites, it becomes harder (or at least more expensive) for them to, say, diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. But the need for an off-site backup is also less critical than it once was. If AM 1030 goes off the air, there's still streaming and 107.9-HD2 and the iHeart app. If it's an extended outage, there's 1200 or 680 or 97.7 that could be pressed into service. The likelihood of an extended outage is small. There are two redundant transmitters out at Hull and they'll likely move the DX10 from Allston out there as a tertiary backup rig. All that extensive tower work a few years ago that necessitated semi-regular use of Allston was done for a reason: those 80-year-old towers are now in solid shape for another generation. (And some of the switching to Allston was as much just for convenience as out of necessity; much of that work could have been done with one tower hot and the other grounded, like you'd do at most AM DAs, but as long as Allston was there, why not use it?) On Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 1:29 PM Doug Drown wrote: > So what will WBZ use for backup now? I live in midcoast Maine, and can > recall brief several occasions in recent years when the station had to use > diminished power for its signal. > > On Fri, Oct 16, 2020 at 3:34 AM Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > On October 6th the tower that was used as a backup transmitter for > > WBZ-AM in Allston was dismantled. > > > > My research indicates the tower was erected around 1950 as a backup to > > the taller tower used by Channel 4 and was only used when there was an > > ice buildup on the taller tower. That tower collapsed during Hurricane > > Carol in 1954 and the small tower was used by Channel 4 until they > > were able to use the old WEEI-FM tower in Medford before moving to > > Needham in 1957. > > > > The tower was then used as a backup for WBZ-AM. > > > > The tower had to be taken down to clear space for the new Channel 4 > > studios which will replace the current facility built in 1948. > > > From mamros@mit.edu Sun Oct 18 21:27:27 2020 From: mamros@mit.edu (Shawn Mamros) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:27:27 +0000 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: , Message-ID: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> Scott wrote: >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are becoming >exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't own its own tower >sites, it becomes harder (or at least more expensive) for them to, say, >diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if iHeart doesn't? -Shawn From scott@fybush.com Sun Oct 18 21:51:42 2020 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:51:42 -0400 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> Message-ID: A couple of years ago, iHeart sold its tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge, which is now one of the big national players in the tower rental business, alongside American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA. On Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 9:27 PM Shawn Mamros wrote: > Scott wrote: > >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are becoming > >exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't own its own tower > >sites, it becomes harder (or at least more expensive) for them to, say, > >diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. > > I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if iHeart > doesn't? > > -Shawn > From dave@skywaves.net Mon Oct 19 00:02:25 2020 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:02:25 -0700 Subject: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> Message-ID: <004001d6a5cc$a803a190$f80ae4b0$@skywaves.net> It's a "lease-back" arrangement: - I own something of value, and you want to buy it. I sell it to you for a fixed sum today, and I lease it from you in perpetuity. The upside for the broadcaster is that they get a big cash payment and/or several years of cash income, shed the responsibility for tower maintenance, and shed the FCC/FAA responsibilities for tower lighting and painting. The downside is that the tower they owned is now a guaranteed cost center. Not that there wouldn't have been costs along the way, but the buyer would have to pay for catastrophes. In the American Tower Corp (ATC) model, ATC owns the tower, antennas, transmission lines, and combiner. All you have to do is pay for installation services like tuning the combiner, and plug your transmitter into the combiner. From then on, you just pay a monthly fee. It's transmission as a service. -d -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of Scott Fybush Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2020 6:52 PM To: Shawn Mamros Cc: Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more A couple of years ago, iHeart sold its tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge, which is now one of the big national players in the tower rental business, alongside American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA. On Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 9:27 PM Shawn Mamros wrote: > Scott wrote: > >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are > >becoming exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't own > >its own tower sites, it becomes harder (or at least more expensive) > >for them to, say, diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. > > I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if > iHeart doesn't? > > -Shawn > From ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu Sat Oct 17 22:05:55 2020 From: ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu (Sean Smyth) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2020 22:05:55 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I've never understood why brands spend a decent amount of money to make such a minor change. Caveat: I'm not in marketing. On Sat, Oct 17, 2020 at 7:17 PM Richard Chonak wrote: > WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in > September. In this video, the speaker says: > > "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of > the things associated with broadcast are now going away." > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhBPnqTrvY > > More info on the move is at: > > https://www.wgbh.org/beyondbroadcast > > > -- Sean Smyth Editor. Writer. Communicator. 617-448-3117 Twitter: @smythsays LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansmyth/ From kvahey@gmail.com Mon Oct 19 01:57:39 2020 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:57:39 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> Message-ID: When you look at Boston radio history it is fascinating how signals evolved on AM - I am excluding the daytimers from this 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in what would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 680 WLAW/WNAC/WRKO - The owners of WLAW obviously found an excellent engineering consultant to pull off the upgrade to 50kw and moving the transmitter to Burlington. 850 WHDH - Same playbook as WLAW with the upgrade to 50kw and building the transmitter in what was rural Needham. They became a player thanks to sports and Bob and Ray 1030 WBZ - Moving to Hull from Millis before WWII solved most issues in the city and while they were a true 1-A clear channel they became directional by choice and thus had the strongest nighttime signal in the Northeast. 1150 WCOP - Transmitter moved from Allston to Lexington in 1947 and their 5kw signal was very strong downtown but very weak on the North Shore which doomed them in their Top 40 years, 1260 WNAC/WVDA/WEZE - A solid 5kw signal and as WEZE they were the top-rated station in the city in the mid-'60s. 1510 WMEX - A decent 5kw signal by day - at night if you were only a few miles from the coast not so much On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 11:29 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > > A couple of years ago, iHeart sold its tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge, > which is now one of the big national players in the tower rental business, > alongside American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA. > > On Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 9:27 PM Shawn Mamros wrote: > > > Scott wrote: > > >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are becoming > > >exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't own its own tower > > >sites, it becomes harder (or at least more expensive) for them to, say, > > >diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. > > > > I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if iHeart > > doesn't? > > > > -Shawn > > From billsmithmailsort@gmail.com Sun Oct 18 21:43:22 2020 From: billsmithmailsort@gmail.com (Bill Smith) Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:43:22 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name Message-ID: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> William Pierce is rolling in his grave. At 15 ips > On Oct 17, 2020, at 6:42 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: > > WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September. In this video, the speaker says: > > "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhBPnqTrvY > > More info on the move is at: > > https://www.wgbh.org/beyondbroadcast > > > From dlh@donnahalper.com Mon Oct 19 13:01:24 2020 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 13:01:24 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> References: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> Message-ID: <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com> On Oct 17, 2020, at 6:42 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: >> WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September. In this video, the speaker says: >> >> "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." I find the premise for this change somewhat bizarre, but that's a story for another day.? My big problem with the new name is this: because we are more international now, thanks to streaming, many programs or segments that were locally produced do wind up on YouTube or on the station website for the world to watch.? That's what I see as a problem with using "GBH"--? in England and other British-influenced countries, as any crime program will demonstrate,? "GBH" stands for Grievous Bodily Harm, and is widely used as a term for an assault.? I wonder if anyone at the US ad agency considered whether their fancy new identifier means something different in the US than it does overseas... -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From martinjwaters@yahoo.com Mon Oct 19 13:14:05 2020 From: martinjwaters@yahoo.com (Martin Waters) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:14:05 +0000 (UTC) Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> References: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> Message-ID: <340768080.1114728.1603127645663@mail.yahoo.com> ? ? ?I don't get it. Everybody knows that public broadcasting in Boston is Channel 2 and WBUR, so who cares about all this. They could save more space if they just call it BH or H.? ? ?Also, if the TV is trying to prevent people from finding records of all the legal cases from when it mistreated program hosts and other employees, it won't work because the foundation name is keeping its W.? ? ?OTOH: IRC, call signs beginning with G are assigned to the United Kingdom. So, this seems appropriate, especially for the TV, as nearly all its entertainment programming is from Britain.? ? Another thought: If we rename it Wicked Great Blue Hill, do you think they will change back?? ? Thank you. I'll be here all week. Please tip your waiter. On Monday, October 19, 2020, 12:53:58 PM EDT, Bill Smith wrote: William Pierce is rolling in his grave. At 15 ips? > On Oct 17, 2020, at 6:42 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: > > WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September.? In this video, the speaker says: > > "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhBPnqTrvY > > More info on the move is at: > > https://www.wgbh.org/beyondbroadcast > > > From brian_vita@cssinc.com Mon Oct 19 15:06:59 2020 From: brian_vita@cssinc.com (Brian Vita) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 15:06:59 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com> References: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <027801d6a64b$09b7d950$1d278bf0$@cssinc.com> No one's commented on the explainer that stated that the part of the calls after the W designated the location. It was my understanding that the remaining letters in the call were either arbitrary or requested by bore no relation to the location. As I understood, most broadcasters got the calls and then figured out what to do with them. Brian Vita CJazzChannel.com Rockinatthedrivein.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Donna Halper Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 1:01 PM To: Bill Smith ; Richard Chonak Cc: Boston Radio Interest Board Subject: Re: WGBH promotes its change of name On Oct 17, 2020, at 6:42 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: >> WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September. In this video, the speaker says: >> >> "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." I find the premise for this change somewhat bizarre, but that's a story for another day. My big problem with the new name is this: because we are more international now, thanks to streaming, many programs or segments that were locally produced do wind up on YouTube or on the station website for the world to watch. That's what I see as a problem with using "GBH"-- in England and other British-influenced countries, as any crime program will demonstrate, "GBH" stands for Grievous Bodily Harm, and is widely used as a term for an assault. I wonder if anyone at the US ad agency considered whether their fancy new identifier means something different in the US than it does overseas... -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From kvahey@gmail.com Mon Oct 19 16:27:03 2020 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 16:27:03 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> Message-ID: My head hurts after reading KOA vs WHDH https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/319/239 On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 1:34 PM wrote: > > I've always been interested in the KOA/WHDH case from way back when. For those unfamiliar, WHDH was originally a daytime station. In 1941 they were authorized to go full time, which brought a lawsuit from KOA in Denver and NBC on KOA's Class IA status being compromised. The case is online thanks to the law school at Cornell. Just search "KOA vs WHDH". > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Kevin Vahey > Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 1:58 AM > To: Scott Fybush ; Donna Halper > Cc: Boston Radio Group > Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more > > When you look at Boston radio history it is fascinating how signals evolved on AM - I am excluding the daytimers from this > > 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in what would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 > 680 WLAW/WNAC/WRKO - The owners of WLAW obviously found an excellent engineering consultant to pull off the upgrade to 50kw and moving the transmitter to Burlington. > 850 WHDH - Same playbook as WLAW with the upgrade to 50kw and building the transmitter in what was rural Needham. They became a player thanks to sports and Bob and Ray > 1030 WBZ - Moving to Hull from Millis before WWII solved most issues in the city and while they were a true 1-A clear channel they became directional by choice and thus had the strongest nighttime signal in the Northeast. > 1150 WCOP - Transmitter moved from Allston to Lexington in 1947 and their 5kw signal was very strong downtown but very weak on the North Shore which doomed them in their Top 40 years, > 1260 WNAC/WVDA/WEZE - A solid 5kw signal and as WEZE they were the top-rated station in the city in the mid-'60s. > 1510 WMEX - A decent 5kw signal by day - at night if you were only a few miles from the coast not so much > > > > > > > > On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 11:29 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > > > > A couple of years ago, iHeart sold its tower portfolio to Vertical > > Bridge, which is now one of the big national players in the tower > > rental business, alongside American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA. > > > > On Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 9:27 PM Shawn Mamros wrote: > > > > > Scott wrote: > > > >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are > > > >becoming exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't > > > >own its own tower sites, it becomes harder (or at least more > > > >expensive) for them to, say, diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one WRKO tower. > > > > > > I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if > > > iHeart doesn't? > > > > > > -Shawn > > > > From billohno@gmail.com Mon Oct 19 16:15:35 2020 From: billohno@gmail.com (Bill O'Neill) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 20:15:35 +0000 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: <027801d6a64b$09b7d950$1d278bf0$@cssinc.com> References: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com>, <027801d6a64b$09b7d950$1d278bf0$@cssinc.com> Message-ID: I doubt that the purpose of the message was to offer an accurate history; rather, a downplaying of calls as a branding. There was also inaccuracy with regard to the W and K prefixes. As I viewed this, all I could do was imagine the brain room moment when it was discussed. To me, ?GBH? sounds more like something on my annual physical exam blood test. But, alas, I?m not in marketing. Bill O?Neill ________________________________ From: Boston-Radio-Interest on behalf of Brian Vita Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 3:06:59 PM To: 'Donna Halper' ; 'Bill Smith' ; 'Richard Chonak' Cc: 'Boston Radio Interest Board' Subject: RE: WGBH promotes its change of name No one's commented on the explainer that stated that the part of the calls after the W designated the location. It was my understanding that the remaining letters in the call were either arbitrary or requested by bore no relation to the location. As I understood, most broadcasters got the calls and then figured out what to do with them. Brian Vita CJazzChannel.com Rockinatthedrivein.com -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Donna Halper Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 1:01 PM To: Bill Smith ; Richard Chonak Cc: Boston Radio Interest Board Subject: Re: WGBH promotes its change of name On Oct 17, 2020, at 6:42 PM, Richard Chonak wrote: >> WGBH has posted a briefing about the brand redesign that was launched in September. In this video, the speaker says: >> >> "We are moving from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming. All of the things associated with broadcast are now going away." I find the premise for this change somewhat bizarre, but that's a story for another day. My big problem with the new name is this: because we are more international now, thanks to streaming, many programs or segments that were locally produced do wind up on YouTube or on the station website for the world to watch. That's what I see as a problem with using "GBH"-- in England and other British-influenced countries, as any crime program will demonstrate, "GBH" stands for Grievous Bodily Harm, and is widely used as a term for an assault. I wonder if anyone at the US ad agency considered whether their fancy new identifier means something different in the US than it does overseas... -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From richard@chonak.com Mon Oct 19 18:27:27 2020 From: richard@chonak.com (Richard Chonak) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 18:27:27 -0400 Subject: WGBH promotes its change of name In-Reply-To: <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com> References: <82F27843-7F48-4D9A-9AAD-E8F7A633F76C@gmail.com> <43c8d2b0-f44d-9582-530f-ab407adbdb49@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: On 10/19/20 1:01 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > That's what I see as a problem with using "GBH"--? in England and > other British-influenced countries, as any crime program will > demonstrate,? "GBH" stands for Grievous Bodily Harm, and is widely > used as a term for an assault.? I wonder if anyone at the US ad agency > considered whether their fancy new identifier means something > different in the US than it does overseas... > This might end up in the annals of international marketing gaffes like Chevrolet's "Nova". The brain trust on Western Ave. needs to watch out for Gross Branding Hazards. --RC From rickkelly@gmail.com Tue Oct 20 10:17:48 2020 From: rickkelly@gmail.com (Rick Kelly) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 10:17:48 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> Message-ID: You'll really get a headache reading about WXKW on 850 v WHDH and KOA. Rick Kelly On Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 4:34 PM Kevin Vahey wrote: > My head hurts after reading KOA vs WHDH > > https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/319/239 > > On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 1:34 PM wrote: > > > > I've always been interested in the KOA/WHDH case from way back when. For > those unfamiliar, WHDH was originally a daytime station. In 1941 they were > authorized to go full time, which brought a lawsuit from KOA in Denver and > NBC on KOA's Class IA status being compromised. The case is online thanks > to the law school at Cornell. Just search "KOA vs WHDH". > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest < > boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of Kevin > Vahey > > Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 1:58 AM > > To: Scott Fybush ; Donna Halper > > Cc: Boston Radio Group > > Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more > > > > When you look at Boston radio history it is fascinating how signals > evolved on AM - I am excluding the daytimers from this > > > > 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South > Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in what > would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 > > 680 WLAW/WNAC/WRKO - The owners of WLAW obviously found an excellent > engineering consultant to pull off the upgrade to 50kw and moving the > transmitter to Burlington. > > 850 WHDH - Same playbook as WLAW with the upgrade to 50kw and building > the transmitter in what was rural Needham. They became a player thanks to > sports and Bob and Ray > > 1030 WBZ - Moving to Hull from Millis before WWII solved most issues in > the city and while they were a true 1-A clear channel they became > directional by choice and thus had the strongest nighttime signal in the > Northeast. > > 1150 WCOP - Transmitter moved from Allston to Lexington in 1947 and > their 5kw signal was very strong downtown but very weak on the North Shore > which doomed them in their Top 40 years, > > 1260 WNAC/WVDA/WEZE - A solid 5kw signal and as WEZE they were the > top-rated station in the city in the mid-'60s. > > 1510 WMEX - A decent 5kw signal by day - at night if you were only a few > miles from the coast not so much > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 11:29 PM Scott Fybush wrote: > > > > > > A couple of years ago, iHeart sold its tower portfolio to Vertical > > > Bridge, which is now one of the big national players in the tower > > > rental business, alongside American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA. > > > > > > On Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 9:27 PM Shawn Mamros wrote: > > > > > > > Scott wrote: > > > > >I doubt they'll invest in a new off-site AM backup. Those are > > > > >becoming exceedingly rare, and especially now that iHeart doesn't > > > > >own its own tower sites, it becomes harder (or at least more > > > > >expensive) for them to, say, diplex a 10 kW WBZ signal into one > WRKO tower. > > > > > > > > I may have missed this, but... who owns the towers in Hull now, if > > > > iHeart doesn't? > > > > > > > > -Shawn > > > > > > > > From martinjwaters@yahoo.com Wed Oct 21 00:44:02 2020 From: martinjwaters@yahoo.com (Martin Waters) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 04:44:02 +0000 (UTC) Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Kevin Vahey wrote:> > 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in what would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 ? ? It's always been a mystery to me that two stations both started around 1925 ended up on first adjacent channels despite being located so close to one another. It's hard to figure why in those early days, when frequency assignments were shuffled around often and there were few stations on the air yet, some other arrangement was not made. From kvahey@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 01:59:43 2020 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 01:59:43 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: WTAG was owned by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and they obviously had political clout in Washington with the old FRC and then the FCC. Worcester at the time was the second-largest city in New England and still is today and civic and political leaders there resented Boston. That is the reason the Mass Turnpike when first built in 1957 did not have a direct Worcester exit. What baffles historians is that WTAG was granted the TV license for Channel 5 and they then decided they didn't want it. Was getting a network affiliation for a Channel 5 in Worcester an issue? Worcester had a vibrant AM market into the mid-'70s - WBZ was the only Boston station that factored. In 1975 that was shattered when WPJB-FM in Providence flipped to Top 40 and the station became huge in Central Massachusetts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ofUxEJIZRQ https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWLI&service=FM On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 12:44 AM Martin Waters wrote: > Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > > 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South > Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in what > would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 > > It's always been a mystery to me that two stations both started around > 1925 ended up on first adjacent channels despite being located so close to > one another. It's hard to figure why in those early days, when frequency > assignments were shuffled around often and there were few stations on the > air yet, some other arrangement was not made. > From gspatola@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 02:03:22 2020 From: gspatola@gmail.com (Glenn Spatola) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 23:03:22 -0700 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did the 7pm to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? (That was shortly after the Tom Clayton days.) Glenn Spatola From ashboy1951@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 09:04:29 2020 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 09:04:29 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: WTAG was, under the Telegram & Gazette and later under Knight, a 5 kw regional station that operated as though it were a 50 kw clear channel station --- a class act in every respect, with an excellent news staff (including a Boston bureau), a longtime NBC affiliation, engaging air personalities, and a strong signal that easily covered the whole county plus well into western Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont ("NBC for Worcester and all of Central New England"). All that having been said, during the period of its newspaper ownership the station made a couple of colossal blunders by not pursuing the Channel 5 allocation and then, ten years later, selling off WTAG-FM, which became WSRS and almost immediately became a huge success with its new Muzak-connected format. In short: great management but lacking in foresight. A bit of an enigma. Go figure. On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 3:47 AM Kevin Vahey wrote: > WTAG was owned by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and they obviously had > political clout in Washington with the old FRC and then the FCC. > > Worcester at the time was the second-largest city in New England and still > is today and civic and political leaders there resented Boston. That is the > reason the Mass Turnpike when first built in 1957 did not have a direct > Worcester exit. > > What baffles historians is that WTAG was granted the TV license for Channel > 5 and they then decided they didn't want it. Was getting a network > affiliation for a Channel 5 in Worcester an issue? > > Worcester had a vibrant AM market into the mid-'70s - WBZ was the only > Boston station that factored. > > In 1975 that was shattered when WPJB-FM in Providence flipped to Top 40 and > the station became huge in Central Massachusetts. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ofUxEJIZRQ > > https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWLI&service=FM > > > > > > On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 12:44 AM Martin Waters > wrote: > > > Kevin Vahey wrote: > > > > > > 590 WEEI - Covered the market well plus the Merrimack Valley and South > > Shore - Only 5kw but at 590 that wasn't an issue - The weakness was in > what > > would become Metro West because of WTAG at 580 > > > > It's always been a mystery to me that two stations both started > around > > 1925 ended up on first adjacent channels despite being located so close > to > > one another. It's hard to figure why in those early days, when frequency > > assignments were shuffled around often and there were few stations on the > > air yet, some other arrangement was not made. > > > From dlh@donnahalper.com Wed Oct 21 13:20:38 2020 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:20:38 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> On 10/21/2020 2:03 AM, Glenn Spatola wrote: > Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did the 7pm > to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? I vaguely recall him. WLLH's airstaff circa 1973 featured Dave Bailey, along with Bob Sherman, Jack Peterson, Bob Raymond, and Van Christopher.? In the mid-1970s, Didn't Bailey also host a "swap shop" program on WLLH? -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From ericsound@aol.com Wed Oct 21 14:28:51 2020 From: ericsound@aol.com (ericsound@aol.com) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 14:28:51 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <027a01d6a7d8$06e7aff0$14b70fd0$@aol.com> As I'm reading this I happen to be on the phone with Ron Frizzell who was in sales at WLLH at that time. According to Ron, Bailey (whom I later worked with when he was at Ron's stations in Maine) did overnights at LLH. Ron says that the "swap shop" show was done by Jack Peterson. E Mark Ericson -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Donna Halper Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 1:21 PM To: Glenn Spatola ; boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org Subject: Re: Dave Bailey, WLLH On 10/21/2020 2:03 AM, Glenn Spatola wrote: > Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did > the 7pm to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? I vaguely recall him. WLLH's airstaff circa 1973 featured Dave Bailey, along with Bob Sherman, Jack Peterson, Bob Raymond, and Van Christopher. In the mid-1970s, Didn't Bailey also host a "swap shop" program on WLLH? -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From Chuckigo@maine.rr.com Wed Oct 21 16:44:43 2020 From: Chuckigo@maine.rr.com (Chuck Igo) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 16:44:43 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <202010212116.09LLGSnH044117@isfahel.bostonradio.org> David G. Bailey (DGB) landed on 970 WCSH in the late 70?s/early 80?s, handling evenings on the AC/Top 40 hybrid of WCSH and then into afternoons through the transition to ?The Music of Your Life? as WYNZ. He then when to work for the state of Maine in the youth facility?s communications center. I know he was living on his boat during most of that time and, from what I understand from one of his former co-workers with whom I spoke just last year, finally headed south to warmer waters & climes. --Chuck Igo On 10/21/2020 2:03 AM, Glenn Spatola wrote: > Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did the 7pm > to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? On 10/21/2020 1:58pm, Donna Halper wrote: >>I vaguely recall him. WLLH's airstaff circa 1973 featured Dave Bailey, along with Bob Sherman, Jack Peterson, Bob Raymond, and Van Christopher.? In the mid-1970s, Didn't Bailey also host a "swap shop" program on WLLH? From dlh@donnahalper.com Wed Oct 21 17:34:44 2020 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 17:34:44 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From gary@garysicecream.com Wed Oct 21 18:14:14 2020 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:14:14 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <074d01d6a7f7$835450b0$89fcf210$@garysicecream.com> Interesting......it never happened in the years I was there. Dan Guy was program director in 1976.....and also worked at Gary's Ice Cream. 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: Donna Halper Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 5:35 PM To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: Dave Bailey, WLLH On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From w1tag@charter.net Wed Oct 21 19:57:02 2020 From: w1tag@charter.net (John Andrews) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 19:57:02 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Doug, Just some thoughts on WTAG-TV and WTAG-FM, based on my time with WTAG-AM and dusty old files I recovered at the time of the sale to Knight in 1987: There were four incarnations of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette going after a TV slot. The most famous was Channel 5, and they actually had the construction permit in hand at the end of WWII into (I believe) 1946. The obvious reason for giving it up was that they couldn't arrange a network affiliation. Of course, the TV networks didn't amount to much in 1946, and a lot of local programming would have been needed, given the absence of syndication, movies, etc. But there were other reasons. We have to be careful in applying our knowledge of what later happened to the situation the T&G found itself in! 1. The Channel 5 construction permit was for ridiculously low power, 16kW ERP, if memory serves. This would not have served the Boston market with a transmitter site in Paxton. They were pinned down by another station (on Long Island?) at the time, and it looked like no power increase was possible. Of course, things turned out differently. 2. WTAG became a CBS affiliate during WWII, partly due to CBS Radio's program schedule at the time, and because, unlike NBC, they allowed some FM simulcasting. So, the WTAG folks paid the most attention to CBS at the time of the Channel 5 decision. And CBS was convinced that color and monochrome TV would use incompatible systems, and that color would be done on UHF, leaving the VHF channels for B&W. Of course, the color would be done with the old CBS "color wheel" arrangement. Not wishing to be burdened with a monochrome signal, the WTAG folks saw less value in Channel 5. As we know, that situation went in a whole different direction shortly after. 3. Installation of TV facilities in the old 18 Franklin Street building was going to be quite a project. I have seen the blueprints for the proposed facility. One of the major problems was the afternoon Evening Gazette run on the old press setup, which was basically under the the proposed TV studios. Let's just say that they would have to have shock-mounted the whole facility at no small cost. A milder version of that had been done two floors up for WTAG in 1939, but this would have been a bigger project. Also, there was no possibility of a microwave shot from there to the Paxton site on Little Asnebumskit Hill, so another rooftop would have had to have been rented. All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough to fault their judgement. To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. Regarding WTAG-FM, a couple of thoughts. First, the decision to sell WTAG-FM to Knight Quality Stations was entirely made by the board of directors of the Telegram & Gazette. With the possible exception of Robert Booth, the WTAG radio people were not consulted. The directors of the T&G were certainly not radio people, and this was primarily a financial decision. To illustrate the depth of their radio knowledge, one of them later referred to WTAG-FM as "that short-wave station." Second, clearly WTAG-FM (and W1XTG which preceded it starting in 1940) never made any money. Depending on FCC and network rules, various levels of simulcasting were possible over the years. Toward the end of the T&G ownership, considerable capital expenses were made for a new transmitter, conversion to stereo, and remote control of the Paxton site. I never realized, however, the depth of the financial losses until we had to clean out some storage space in 1987. I came across a set of ledger books for WTAG-FM which clearly showed years of applying failed WTAG-AM activities to the FM side. While the books were properly kept, and nothing really nefarious was done, the board of directors must have only seen financial summaries that did not attribute the losses. I'm sure this colored their opinion of the viability of WTAG-FM. Third, the newspaper business was going through a big upheaval in the early 1960's. Unions had just come in, and there was a long strike by the folks that ran the Linotype machines right around that time. Major capital investments were being made with an uncertain future. Anyway, those are a few of the things that must have gone into the decision to sell WTAG-FM. It was a stupid move by any measure, and they should have dug into not only the local situation but the already-started move to FM within the industry. But they chose not to take their heads out of the sand, and later paid the price as FM won out in the 1970's. The WTAG folks were appalled when the decision was announced. Norman Knight got a good deal, and was willing to weather some non-prosperous years right after. He deserves credit for that, and for his eventual moves with WSRS. Hope this helps, and that my memory hasn't wandered too far from reality. John Andrews On 10/21/2020 9:04 AM, Doug Drown wrote: > WTAG was, under the Telegram & Gazette and later under Knight, a 5 kw > regional station that operated as though it were a 50 kw clear channel > station --- a class act in every respect, with an excellent news staff > (including a Boston bureau), a longtime NBC affiliation, engaging air > personalities, and a strong signal that easily covered the whole county > plus well into western Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont ("NBC for > Worcester and all of Central New England"). All that having been said, > during the period of its newspaper ownership the station made a couple of > colossal blunders by not pursuing the Channel 5 allocation and then, ten > years later, selling off WTAG-FM, which became WSRS and almost immediately > became a huge success with its new Muzak-connected format. > > In short: great management but lacking in foresight. A bit of an enigma. > Go figure. From markwats@comcast.net Wed Oct 21 21:31:20 2020 From: markwats@comcast.net (Mark Watson) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:31:20 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <019301d6a813$0fd8a6b0$2f89f410$@comcast.net> On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. On 10/21/2020 3:21 PM Donna Halper wrote: >In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." In the Fall of 1976, WLLH was still a top 40 station, with the positioner "Your Information Station". Dave Bailey was doing the 7:00 PM-12 Midnight shift Monday-Friday, with the Swap Shop from 7:00 to 7:30. Dave Bailey left the station not long after this point in 1976 and was replaced by Mike Baltoumas, later shortening his on air name to Michael B. In early 1977 they shifted to more of a Hot AC format, still using the "Your Information Station" positioner. The Swap Shop was expanded to an hour and ran from 7:30 to 8:30 PM, followed by a 90 minute talk show "Dialogue 14" hosted by Roger Durkin. By Spring 1978 they flipped back to top 40 with newly hired PD Jack Diamond, with a new positioner "The AM Album Station". They would play the long versions of top 40 hits. The Swap Shop & Dialogue 14 shows were dropped. The AM Album Station was short lived, as Diamond was gone by early 1979, the album station positioner was dropped and they continued along with the top 40 format with Dan Guy as PD. They remained top 40 until the Spring of 1980, when they went AC with new PD Mike Colby. Regarding the auction show Gary mentioned, I remember that weekly show, this was when they were Adult Standards (positioner "Music, Memories & More") by day and brokered Spanish at night. This was the format that ran until Arnold Lerner sold the station and it went Spanish. Mark Watson From dave@skywaves.net Thu Oct 22 00:46:12 2020 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:46:12 -0700 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <002f01d6a82e$44bd0a90$ce371fb0$@skywaves.net> It's possible that some or all of the missing records still exist at the WTAG AM site. The late Dan Kelleher gave me a tour of the place a few years ago. They still had logs from WW2, and cabinets full of old records. I was involved in radio and TV in the Albany NY area from 1967 to 1972. Even then, the future was not clear. WFLY in Troy went rock during that time, and that made up my mind that FM was the future. A lot of people I knew and worked with thought otherwise. WGY (AM) alone was taking down something like 75% of the market's radio revenue as late as 1971. Their WGFM was dismal. "Music Only for a Woman" was one format they tried. Even as a na?ve 20-year-old, that one gave me the creeps. When I moved to NJ in 1973, the FM future was manifest. WHTZ was the first game changer I found, and I subsequently discovered WNEW-FM, WPLJ and WPIX-FM during my time there. A young Don Imus was holding down mornings at WNBC, with Wolfman Jack in the late afternoon/early evening shift. They kept WNBC going for a while. When I found WINS had switched from rock ("1010 WINS Forever") to an all-news format to compete with WCBS, I knew all was lost for music on AM. WABC was holding on, and I loved the personalities, but I hated the way the music sounded when I could hear it on FM somewhere else. The personalities, in the end, could not overcome the limitations of the medium, and AM was doomed to news and talk. -d -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of John Andrews Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 4:57 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Re: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more Doug, Just some thoughts on WTAG-TV and WTAG-FM, based on my time with WTAG-AM and dusty old files I recovered at the time of the sale to Knight in 1987: There were four incarnations of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette going after a TV slot. The most famous was Channel 5, and they actually had the construction permit in hand at the end of WWII into (I believe) 1946. The obvious reason for giving it up was that they couldn't arrange a network affiliation. Of course, the TV networks didn't amount to much in 1946, and a lot of local programming would have been needed, given the absence of syndication, movies, etc. But there were other reasons. We have to be careful in applying our knowledge of what later happened to the situation the T&G found itself in! 1. The Channel 5 construction permit was for ridiculously low power, 16kW ERP, if memory serves. This would not have served the Boston market with a transmitter site in Paxton. They were pinned down by another station (on Long Island?) at the time, and it looked like no power increase was possible. Of course, things turned out differently. 2. WTAG became a CBS affiliate during WWII, partly due to CBS Radio's program schedule at the time, and because, unlike NBC, they allowed some FM simulcasting. So, the WTAG folks paid the most attention to CBS at the time of the Channel 5 decision. And CBS was convinced that color and monochrome TV would use incompatible systems, and that color would be done on UHF, leaving the VHF channels for B&W. Of course, the color would be done with the old CBS "color wheel" arrangement. Not wishing to be burdened with a monochrome signal, the WTAG folks saw less value in Channel 5. As we know, that situation went in a whole different direction shortly after. 3. Installation of TV facilities in the old 18 Franklin Street building was going to be quite a project. I have seen the blueprints for the proposed facility. One of the major problems was the afternoon Evening Gazette run on the old press setup, which was basically under the the proposed TV studios. Let's just say that they would have to have shock-mounted the whole facility at no small cost. A milder version of that had been done two floors up for WTAG in 1939, but this would have been a bigger project. Also, there was no possibility of a microwave shot from there to the Paxton site on Little Asnebumskit Hill, so another rooftop would have had to have been rented. All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough to fault their judgement. To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. Regarding WTAG-FM, a couple of thoughts. First, the decision to sell WTAG-FM to Knight Quality Stations was entirely made by the board of directors of the Telegram & Gazette. With the possible exception of Robert Booth, the WTAG radio people were not consulted. The directors of the T&G were certainly not radio people, and this was primarily a financial decision. To illustrate the depth of their radio knowledge, one of them later referred to WTAG-FM as "that short-wave station." Second, clearly WTAG-FM (and W1XTG which preceded it starting in 1940) never made any money. Depending on FCC and network rules, various levels of simulcasting were possible over the years. Toward the end of the T&G ownership, considerable capital expenses were made for a new transmitter, conversion to stereo, and remote control of the Paxton site. I never realized, however, the depth of the financial losses until we had to clean out some storage space in 1987. I came across a set of ledger books for WTAG-FM which clearly showed years of applying failed WTAG-AM activities to the FM side. While the books were properly kept, and nothing really nefarious was done, the board of directors must have only seen financial summaries that did not attribute the losses. I'm sure this colored their opinion of the viability of WTAG-FM. Third, the newspaper business was going through a big upheaval in the early 1960's. Unions had just come in, and there was a long strike by the folks that ran the Linotype machines right around that time. Major capital investments were being made with an uncertain future. Anyway, those are a few of the things that must have gone into the decision to sell WTAG-FM. It was a stupid move by any measure, and they should have dug into not only the local situation but the already-started move to FM within the industry. But they chose not to take their heads out of the sand, and later paid the price as FM won out in the 1970's. The WTAG folks were appalled when the decision was announced. Norman Knight got a good deal, and was willing to weather some non-prosperous years right after. He deserves credit for that, and for his eventual moves with WSRS. Hope this helps, and that my memory hasn't wandered too far from reality. John Andrews On 10/21/2020 9:04 AM, Doug Drown wrote: > WTAG was, under the Telegram & Gazette and later under Knight, a 5 kw > regional station that operated as though it were a 50 kw clear channel > station --- a class act in every respect, with an excellent news staff > (including a Boston bureau), a longtime NBC affiliation, engaging air > personalities, and a strong signal that easily covered the whole > county plus well into western Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont > ("NBC for Worcester and all of Central New England"). All that having > been said, during the period of its newspaper ownership the station > made a couple of colossal blunders by not pursuing the Channel 5 > allocation and then, ten years later, selling off WTAG-FM, which > became WSRS and almost immediately became a huge success with its new Muzak-connected format. > > In short: great management but lacking in foresight. A bit of an enigma. > Go figure. From obrienron2@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 23:31:23 2020 From: obrienron2@gmail.com (Ron) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 23:31:23 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <019301d6a813$0fd8a6b0$2f89f410$@comcast.net> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> <019301d6a813$0fd8a6b0$2f89f410$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <000001d6a823$d1105ac0$73311040$@gmail.com> >> this was when they were Adult Standards (positioner "Music, Memories & More") by day and brokered Spanish at night. This was the format that ran until Arnold Lerner sold the station and it went Spanish.<< Didn't they go Country before Spanish? From ehennessy@verizon.net Thu Oct 22 07:30:09 2020 From: ehennessy@verizon.net (Ed Hennessy) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 11:30:09 +0000 (UTC) Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <2101550554.2255615.1603366209798@mail.yahoo.com> Wouldn't an 11 allocation for Worcester have required FCC permission to be short-spaced to NYC, with WPIX on 11?? That would have limited their power output too, so maybe that was not the best channel choice (even had they arranged with the Providence stations).?? Interesting on 20 and 53--were those open allocations for New England at the time, or had they been assigned to Waterbury and Norwich by then (requiring a change to Worcester if WTAG got licensed)? Wasn't there a similar problem with channel 2's allocation to Waltham, in that it wasn't too palatable to networks or otherwise?? (Or was it always a non-comm allocation?) I recall that Raytheon decided after a while to donate the license to what became WGBH.? Maybe that was Raytheon not knowing what to do with TV rather than an allocation/network issue. Ed Hennessy -----Original Message----- From: John Andrews [...] All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough to fault their judgement. To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. From wftn@comcast.net Thu Oct 22 08:49:09 2020 From: wftn@comcast.net (Gary Ford LAST_NAME) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:49:09 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <074d01d6a7f7$835450b0$89fcf210$@garysicecream.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> <074d01d6a7f7$835450b0$89fcf210$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <1365409520.20685.1603370949256@connect.xfinity.com> Is this Dan Guy, currently an engineer? Thanks, Gary Ford Music Director WFTN-FM WPNH-FM (603)724-7405-direct line (603)934-2500-business office (603)934-2933-fax > On 10/21/2020 6:14 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > > Interesting......it never happened in the years I was there. Dan Guy was program director in 1976.....and also worked at Gary's Ice Cream. > > 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: Donna Halper > Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 5:35 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Boston Radio Group > Subject: Re: Dave Bailey, WLLH > > On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. > > > In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From w1tag@charter.net Thu Oct 22 09:59:59 2020 From: w1tag@charter.net (John Andrews) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 09:59:59 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: <2101550554.2255615.1603366209798@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> <2101550554.2255615.1603366209798@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Ed, Short answer: I don't know! The TV allocations were quite different in 1945-6. I'm sure there are important details in the old files at WTAG (assuming they all exist), but I don't have access to them any more. John Andrews On 10/22/2020 7:30 AM, Ed Hennessy wrote: > Wouldn't an 11 allocation for Worcester have required FCC permission to > be short-spaced to NYC, with WPIX on 11?? That would have limited their > power output too, so maybe that was not the best channel choice (even > had they arranged with the Providence stations). > > Interesting on 20 and 53--were those open allocations for New England at > the time, or had they been assigned to Waterbury and Norwich by then > (requiring a change to Worcester if WTAG got licensed)? > > Wasn't there a similar problem with channel 2's allocation to Waltham, > in that it wasn't too palatable to networks or otherwise?? (Or was it > always a non-comm allocation?) I recall that Raytheon decided after a > while to donate the license to what became WGBH.? Maybe that was > Raytheon not knowing what to do with TV rather than an > allocation/network issue. > > Ed Hennessy > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Andrews > [...] > > All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop > the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There > were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: > > I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what > follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to > get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by > then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in > Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 > and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both > cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to > settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent > with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough > to fault their judgement. > > To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. From obrienron2@gmail.com Thu Oct 22 12:43:08 2020 From: obrienron2@gmail.com (Ron) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:43:08 -0400 Subject: FW: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <000001d6a7b1$6f8c8b60$4ea5a220$@gmail.com> References: <000001d6a7b1$6f8c8b60$4ea5a220$@gmail.com> Message-ID: <002001d6a892$6c705100$4550f300$@gmail.com> I remember him as the overnight guy on WLLH....and he was kind of a "zany" character that stood out. ? Funny to think of a time when they had a live guy overnight on a 250 Watt station! Now the Boston stations don't even have local overnight talent! R -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Glenn Spatola Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 2:03 AM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did the 7pm to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? (That was shortly after the Tom Clayton days.) Glenn Spatola From gary@garysicecream.com Thu Oct 22 16:43:34 2020 From: gary@garysicecream.com (Gary's Ice Cream) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:43:34 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <1365409520.20685.1603370949256@connect.xfinity.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> <074d01d6a7f7$835450b0$89fcf210$@garysicecream.com> <1365409520.20685.1603370949256@connect.xfinity.com> Message-ID: <000001d6a8b4$035c7960$0a156c20$@garysicecream.com> Yes 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: Gary Ford LAST_NAME Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:49 AM To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Donna Halper Cc: Boston radio e-mail list Subject: RE: Dave Bailey, WLLH Is this Dan Guy, currently an engineer? Thanks, Gary Ford Music Director WFTN-FM WPNH-FM (603)724-7405-direct line (603)934-2500-business office (603)934-2933-fax > On 10/21/2020 6:14 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > > Interesting......it never happened in the years I was there. Dan Guy was program director in 1976.....and also worked at Gary's Ice Cream. > > 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: Donna Halper > Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 5:35 PM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Boston Radio Group > Subject: Re: Dave Bailey, WLLH > > On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. > > > In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." > > -- > Donna L. Halper, PhD > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From martinjwaters@yahoo.com Thu Oct 22 17:40:36 2020 From: martinjwaters@yahoo.com (Martin Waters) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 21:40:36 +0000 (UTC) Subject: WTAG-TV; was AM in Boston after WW II In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1626099771.2484955.1603402836115@mail.yahoo.com> ? ? Channel 5 or any other VHF channel already on in NYC would have been at such a low power as to be unviable from Worcester to serve Boston. Channel 8 in New Haven was originally on 6, but mininum spacing in general had been calculated wrong originally. New Haven was moved to 8 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. That made 6 in New Bedford possible. It's just about exactly the same distance, 150 miles, between Worcester and NYC as the distance from New Haven to Philadelphia. All the VHF assignments for Boston were about as close to NYC as they could be.? Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 08:29:45 PM EDT, John Andrews wrote: Doug, Just some thoughts on WTAG-TV and WTAG-FM, based on my time with WTAG-AM and dusty old files I recovered at the time of the sale to Knight in 1987: There were four incarnations of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette going after a TV slot. The most famous was Channel 5, and they actually had the construction permit in hand at the end of WWII into (I believe) 1946. The obvious reason for giving it up was that they couldn't arrange a network affiliation. Of course, the TV networks didn't amount to much in 1946, and a lot of local programming would have been needed, given the absence of syndication, movies, etc. But there were other reasons. We have to be careful in applying our knowledge of what later happened to the situation the T&G found itself in! 1. The Channel 5 construction permit was for ridiculously low power, 16kW ERP, if memory serves. This would not have served the Boston market with a transmitter site in Paxton. They were pinned down by another station (on Long Island?) at the time, and it looked like no power increase was possible. Of course, things turned out differently. 2. WTAG became a CBS affiliate during WWII, partly due to CBS Radio's program schedule at the time, and because, unlike NBC, they allowed some FM simulcasting. So, the WTAG folks paid the most attention to CBS at the time of the Channel 5 decision. And CBS was convinced that color and monochrome TV would use incompatible systems, and that color would be done on UHF, leaving the VHF channels for B&W. Of course, the color would be done with the old CBS "color wheel" arrangement. Not wishing to be burdened with a monochrome signal, the WTAG folks saw less value in Channel 5. As we know, that situation went in a whole different direction shortly after. 3. Installation of TV facilities in the old 18 Franklin Street building was going to be quite a project. I have seen the blueprints for the proposed facility. One of the major problems was the afternoon Evening Gazette run on the old press setup, which was basically under the the proposed TV studios. Let's just say that they would have to have shock-mounted the whole facility at no small cost. A milder version of that had been done two floors up for WTAG in 1939, but this would have been a bigger project. Also, there was no possibility of a microwave shot from there to the Paxton site on Little Asnebumskit Hill, so another rooftop would have had to have been rented. All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough to fault their judgement. To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. Regarding WTAG-FM, a couple of thoughts. First, the decision to sell WTAG-FM to Knight Quality Stations was entirely made by the board of directors of the Telegram & Gazette. With the possible exception of Robert Booth, the WTAG radio people were not consulted. The directors of the T&G were certainly not radio people, and this was primarily a financial decision. To illustrate the depth of their radio knowledge, one of them later referred to WTAG-FM as "that short-wave station." Second, clearly WTAG-FM (and W1XTG which preceded it starting in 1940) never made any money. Depending on FCC and network rules, various levels of simulcasting were possible over the years. Toward the end of the T&G ownership, considerable capital expenses were made for a new transmitter, conversion to stereo, and remote control of the Paxton site. I never realized, however, the depth of the financial losses until we had to clean out some storage space in 1987. I came across a set of ledger books for WTAG-FM which clearly showed years of applying failed WTAG-AM activities to the FM side. While the books were properly kept, and nothing really nefarious was done, the board of directors must have only seen financial summaries that did not attribute the losses. I'm sure this colored their opinion of the viability of WTAG-FM. Third, the newspaper business was going through a big upheaval in the early 1960's. Unions had just come in, and there was a long strike by the folks that ran the Linotype machines right around that time. Major capital investments were being made with an uncertain future. Anyway, those are a few of the things that must have gone into the decision to sell WTAG-FM. It was a stupid move by any measure, and they should have dug into not only the local situation but the already-started move to FM within the industry. But they chose not to take their heads out of the sand, and later paid the price as FM won out in the 1970's. The WTAG folks were appalled when the decision was announced. Norman Knight got a good deal, and was willing to weather some non-prosperous years right after. He deserves credit for that, and for his eventual moves with WSRS. Hope this helps, and that my memory hasn't wandered too far from reality. John Andrews On 10/21/2020 9:04 AM, Doug Drown wrote: > WTAG was, under the Telegram & Gazette and later under Knight, a 5 kw > regional station that operated as though it were a 50 kw clear channel > station --- a class act in every respect, with an excellent news staff > (including a Boston bureau), a longtime NBC affiliation, engaging air > personalities, and a strong signal that easily covered the whole county > plus well into western Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont ("NBC for > Worcester and all of Central New England").? All that having been said, > during the period of its newspaper ownership the station made a couple of > colossal blunders by not pursuing the Channel 5 allocation and then, ten > years later, selling off WTAG-FM, which became WSRS and almost immediately > became a huge success with its new Muzak-connected format. > > In short: great management but lacking in foresight.? A bit of an enigma. > Go figure. From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Oct 23 00:26:28 2020 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 00:26:28 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I remember when these changes took place.? They also involved WRGB in Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence moving from channel 11 to 10.? I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? On 10/22/2020 5:40 PM, Martin Waters via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote: > The sender's mail server does not allow the list to forward their > message unchanged due to misguided anti-spam measures. The original > message as received by the list is shown below. > To: > John Andrews , bostonradiointerest > > > > ? ? Channel 5 or any other VHF channel already on in NYC would have > been at such a low power as to be unviable from Worcester to serve > Boston. Channel 8 in New Haven was originally on 6, but mininum > spacing in general had been calculated wrong originally. New Haven was > moved to 8 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. That made 6 > in New Bedford possible. It's just about exactly the same distance, > 150 miles, between Worcester and NYC as the distance from New Haven to > Philadelphia. All the VHF assignments for Boston were about as close > to NYC as they could be. > Subject: > WTAG-TV; was AM in Boston after WW II > From: > Martin Waters > Date: > 10/22/2020, 5:40 PM > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From dave@skywaves.net Fri Oct 23 01:50:57 2020 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2020 22:50:57 -0700 Subject: TV Channel Changes Message-ID: <000501d6a900$7ac085e0$704191a0$@skywaves.net> The FCC established minimum distance separation rules to simplify TV allocations. As I recall, the minimum transmitter-to-transmitter distance was 150 miles for co-channel VHF. Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 were assigned to NY City and its immediate burbs. 13 was assigned to Newark. Start with NYC and work out. Albany / Schenectady / Troy (AST) wound up with 6, 10 and 13. The co-channel Newark and Troy allocations resulted in a big tower northeast of the AST market on Bald Mountain for channel 13. I think 13 in Newark was on a tower in the Oranges in its early days. Philadelphia got 3, 6, and 10. Wilmington got 12. As for Boston, about 150 miles from NYC, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 could have been available, but there were adjacent channel conflicts in other cities. -d -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of A Joseph Ross Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2020 9:26 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: [Possible Spam(low)]-Re: I remember when these changes took place.? They also involved WRGB in Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence moving from channel 11 to 10.? I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? On 10/22/2020 5:40 PM, Martin Waters via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote: > The sender's mail server does not allow the list to forward their > message unchanged due to misguided anti-spam measures. The original > message as received by the list is shown below. > To: > John Andrews , bostonradiointerest > > > > ? ? Channel 5 or any other VHF channel already on in NYC would have > been at such a low power as to be unviable from Worcester to serve > Boston. Channel 8 in New Haven was originally on 6, but mininum > spacing in general had been calculated wrong originally. New Haven was > moved to 8 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. That made 6 > in New Bedford possible. It's just about exactly the same distance, > 150 miles, between Worcester and NYC as the distance from New Haven to > Philadelphia. All the VHF assignments for Boston were about as close > to NYC as they could be. > Subject: > WTAG-TV; was AM in Boston after WW II > From: > Martin Waters > Date: > 10/22/2020, 5:40 PM > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From kvahey@gmail.com Fri Oct 23 02:41:59 2020 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 02:41:59 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: A Joseph Ross I remember when these changes took place. They also involved WRGB in Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence moving from channel 11 to 10. I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? Politics was a driver as the Chicago Tribune wanted a license in NYC WPIX and WJAR could not coexist on 11 On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 1:04 AM A Joseph Ross wrote: > > I remember when these changes took place. They also involved WRGB in > Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence > moving from channel 11 to 10. I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to > 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? > > On 10/22/2020 5:40 PM, Martin Waters via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote: > > The sender's mail server does not allow the list to forward their > > message unchanged due to misguided anti-spam measures. The original > > message as received by the list is shown below. > > > To: > > John Andrews , bostonradiointerest > > > > > > > > Channel 5 or any other VHF channel already on in NYC would have > > been at such a low power as to be unviable from Worcester to serve > > Boston. Channel 8 in New Haven was originally on 6, but mininum > > spacing in general had been calculated wrong originally. New Haven was > > moved to 8 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. That made 6 > > in New Bedford possible. It's just about exactly the same distance, > > 150 miles, between Worcester and NYC as the distance from New Haven to > > Philadelphia. All the VHF assignments for Boston were about as close > > to NYC as they could be. > > Subject: > > WTAG-TV; was AM in Boston after WW II > > From: > > Martin Waters > > Date: > > 10/22/2020, 5:40 PM > > > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From wftn@comcast.net Fri Oct 23 07:55:06 2020 From: wftn@comcast.net (Gary Ford LAST_NAME) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:55:06 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: <000001d6a8b4$035c7960$0a156c20$@garysicecream.com> References: <065f0769-7a13-45bc-4aed-81576db4d429@donnahalper.com> <074101d6a7f1$4f6b0920$ee411b60$@garysicecream.com> <53466256-8775-dc20-7b48-9a3c5d85cbfa@donnahalper.com> <074d01d6a7f7$835450b0$89fcf210$@garysicecream.com> <1365409520.20685.1603370949256@connect.xfinity.com> <000001d6a8b4$035c7960$0a156c20$@garysicecream.com> Message-ID: <1913856609.26371.1603454107059@connect.xfinity.com> He is our engineer at our cluster of stations - great guy! Thanks, Gary Ford Music Director WFTN-FM WPNH-FM (603)724-7405-direct line (603)934-2500-business office (603)934-2933-fax > On 10/22/2020 4:43 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > > Yes > > 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: Gary Ford LAST_NAME > Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:49 AM > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Donna Halper > Cc: Boston radio e-mail list > Subject: RE: Dave Bailey, WLLH > > Is this Dan Guy, currently an engineer? > > Thanks, > Gary Ford > Music Director > WFTN-FM > WPNH-FM > (603)724-7405-direct line > (603)934-2500-business office > (603)934-2933-fax > > > On 10/21/2020 6:14 PM Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > > > > > Interesting......it never happened in the years I was there. Dan Guy was program director in 1976.....and also worked at Gary's Ice Cream. > > > > 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: Donna Halper > > Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 5:35 PM > > To: Gary's Ice Cream ; Boston Radio Group > > Subject: Re: Dave Bailey, WLLH > > > > On 10/21/2020 5:29 PM, Gary's Ice Cream wrote: > > > WLLH never had a swop shop show. We did have an "auction show" in the 90s which I hosted....it came on Thursday mornings after Paul Sullivan's morning show. > > > > > > In the autumn of 1976, there were regular ads in the Lowell Sun about the WLLH programming, and they included mention of Bailey hosting a "swap shop." That's where I got the information. At that point, WLLH was identifying itself as "Information Radio." > > > > -- > > Donna L. Halper, PhD > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From ehennessy@verizon.net Fri Oct 23 07:36:41 2020 From: ehennessy@verizon.net (Ed Hennessy) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 11:36:41 +0000 (UTC) Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <766173139.2632623.1603453001279@mail.yahoo.com> Wasn't there also a weird intermodulation product on channel 11 with some early TVs that existed in Providence that the switch to 10 solved for WJAR?? I seem to also recall that it was mostly in Motorola TVs, so perhaps it was just bad circuitry and not specific to RF in Providence? And I always wondered why 6 moved to 8 in New Haven, but I failed to think about co-channel distancing to *Philly* (I knew New Bedford wasn't on air then.)? Related question--I seem to recall my grandparents (who lived in the southeast shadow of East Rock in New Haven, which blocked signal from the WNHC antenna in Hamden) watching channel 8 on channel 6 (in the early 1970s) (this was on an antenna, not cable).? Did WNHC ever have a translator on channel 6 at any time after the change to 8?? Perhaps on East Rock with channel 65?? Given the difference in frequency between 6 and 8, it likely wouldn't have been a mixing product or other fluke they took advantage of.? Or else I am misremembering. Ed Hennessy -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Vahey A Joseph Ross I remember when these changes took place.? They also involved WRGB in Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence moving from channel 11 to 10.? I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? Politics was a driver as the Chicago Tribune wanted a license in NYC WPIX and WJAR could not coexist on 11 From scott@fybush.com Fri Oct 23 01:07:54 2020 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 01:07:54 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Why move WJAR from 11 to 10? To alleviate short-spacing to WPIX and to open up 12 for use in Providence and 11 in NH. 13 had also been allocated to Providence but was also short to Newark/NYC, so moving WJAR from 11 to 10 and the eventual WPRO from 13 to 12 eliminated what would otherwise have been another short on 13. On Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 1:04 AM A Joseph Ross wrote: > I remember when these changes took place. They also involved WRGB in > Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence > moving from channel 11 to 10. I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to > 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? > > On 10/22/2020 5:40 PM, Martin Waters via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote: > > The sender's mail server does not allow the list to forward their > > message unchanged due to misguided anti-spam measures. The original > > message as received by the list is shown below. > > > To: > > John Andrews , bostonradiointerest > > > > > > > > Channel 5 or any other VHF channel already on in NYC would have > > been at such a low power as to be unviable from Worcester to serve > > Boston. Channel 8 in New Haven was originally on 6, but mininum > > spacing in general had been calculated wrong originally. New Haven was > > moved to 8 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. That made 6 > > in New Bedford possible. It's just about exactly the same distance, > > 150 miles, between Worcester and NYC as the distance from New Haven to > > Philadelphia. All the VHF assignments for Boston were about as close > > to NYC as they could be. > > Subject: > > WTAG-TV; was AM in Boston after WW II > > From: > > Martin Waters > > Date: > > 10/22/2020, 5:40 PM > > > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > From obrienron2@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 09:52:36 2020 From: obrienron2@gmail.com (Ron) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 09:52:36 -0400 Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000001d6a7b1$6f8c8b60$4ea5a220$@gmail.com> I remember him as the overnight guy on WLLH....and he was kind of a "zany" character that stood out. ? Funny to think of a time when they had a live guy overnight on a 250 Watt station! Now the Boston stations don't even have local overnight talent! R -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Glenn Spatola Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 2:03 AM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org Subject: Dave Bailey, WLLH Does anyone from the Merrimack Valley remember Dave Bailey, who did the 7pm to midnight shift at WLLH in the mid 1970s? (That was shortly after the Tom Clayton days.) Glenn Spatola From joe@attorneyross.com Fri Oct 23 19:45:51 2020 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 19:45:51 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: <766173139.2632623.1603453001279@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> <766173139.2632623.1603453001279@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I thought Hartford had to move from 6 to 8 in order to allow Schenectady to move from 4 to 6.? I don't know whether there were any problems with having Boston and Schenectady both be on channel 4, but I'm guessing there must have easily been a conflict with Schenectady and NYC both being on 4. My family had just moved to Albany when WRGB moved to channel 6. Just a couple of years later, the FCC had a proposal to make the Albany area an all-UHF market by shifting WRGB to channel 47.? That never happened, and a year or so after we moved back to the Boston area, I heard that the opposite had happened, and the UHF stations on 41 and 35 had moved to 10 and 13, where they are now. On 10/23/2020 7:36 AM, Ed Hennessy wrote: > Wasn't there also a weird intermodulation product on channel 11 with > some early TVs that existed in Providence that the switch to 10 solved > for WJAR?? I seem to also recall that it was mostly in Motorola TVs, > so perhaps it was just bad circuitry and not specific to RF in > Providence? > > And I always wondered why 6 moved to 8 in New Haven, but I failed to > think about co-channel distancing to *Philly* (I knew New Bedford > wasn't on air then.)? Related question--I seem to recall my > grandparents (who lived in the southeast shadow of East Rock in New > Haven, which blocked signal from the WNHC antenna in Hamden) watching > channel 8 on channel 6 (in the early 1970s) (this was on an antenna, > not cable).? Did WNHC ever have a translator on channel 6 at any time > after the change to 8?? Perhaps on East Rock with channel 65?? Given > the difference in frequency between 6 and 8, it likely wouldn't have > been a mixing product or other fluke they took advantage of.? Or else > I am misremembering. > > Ed Hennessy > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kevin Vahey > > A Joseph Ross > I remember when these changes took place.? They also involved WRGB in > Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence > moving from channel 11 to 10.? I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to > 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? > > > Politics was a driver as the Chicago Tribune wanted a license in NYC > > WPIX and WJAR could not coexist on 11 > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From ashboy1951@gmail.com Wed Oct 21 20:44:52 2020 From: ashboy1951@gmail.com (Doug Drown) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 20:44:52 -0400 Subject: AM in Boston after WW II was: WBZ-AM Allston backup is no more In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Very helpful, John! There was a lot I didn't know. Doug On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 8:30 PM John Andrews wrote: > Doug, > > Just some thoughts on WTAG-TV and WTAG-FM, based on my time with WTAG-AM > and dusty old files I recovered at the time of the sale to Knight in 1987: > > There were four incarnations of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette going > after a TV slot. > > The most famous was Channel 5, and they actually had the construction > permit in hand at the end of WWII into (I believe) 1946. The obvious > reason for giving it up was that they couldn't arrange a network > affiliation. Of course, the TV networks didn't amount to much in 1946, > and a lot of local programming would have been needed, given the absence > of syndication, movies, etc. But there were other reasons. We have to be > careful in applying our knowledge of what later happened to the > situation the T&G found itself in! > > 1. The Channel 5 construction permit was for ridiculously low power, > 16kW ERP, if memory serves. This would not have served the Boston market > with a transmitter site in Paxton. They were pinned down by another > station (on Long Island?) at the time, and it looked like no power > increase was possible. Of course, things turned out differently. > > 2. WTAG became a CBS affiliate during WWII, partly due to CBS Radio's > program schedule at the time, and because, unlike NBC, they allowed some > FM simulcasting. So, the WTAG folks paid the most attention to CBS at > the time of the Channel 5 decision. And CBS was convinced that color and > monochrome TV would use incompatible systems, and that color would be > done on UHF, leaving the VHF channels for B&W. Of course, the color > would be done with the old CBS "color wheel" arrangement. Not wishing to > be burdened with a monochrome signal, the WTAG folks saw less value in > Channel 5. As we know, that situation went in a whole different > direction shortly after. > > 3. Installation of TV facilities in the old 18 Franklin Street building > was going to be quite a project. I have seen the blueprints for the > proposed facility. One of the major problems was the afternoon Evening > Gazette run on the old press setup, which was basically under the the > proposed TV studios. Let's just say that they would have to have > shock-mounted the whole facility at no small cost. A milder version of > that had been done two floors up for WTAG in 1939, but this would have > been a bigger project. Also, there was no possibility of a microwave > shot from there to the Paxton site on Little Asnebumskit Hill, so > another rooftop would have had to have been rented. > > All of this clouded the crystal ball enough that they decided to drop > the Channel 5 approach and try to get something with more power. There > were three remaining tries for a T&G TV station: > > I wish I had access to the files (I left WTAG 24 years ago), so what > follows is just from my failing memory. I believe the first step was to > get Channel 11 (the monochrome/color thing having been worked out by > then), but some deal would have to be arranged with 10 and 12 in > Providence, and that proved impossible. They then went after Channel 20 > and I think 53, the latter process being abandoned around 1954. In both > cases they reached points were the lack of any network willingness to > settle for Worcester, and they had to give up. Lots of bucks were spent > with lawyers and consultants in all of those approaches, so it's tough > to fault their judgement. > > To my knowledge, no TV allocations were pursued after that. > > Regarding WTAG-FM, a couple of thoughts. > > First, the decision to sell WTAG-FM to Knight Quality Stations was > entirely made by the board of directors of the Telegram & Gazette. With > the possible exception of Robert Booth, the WTAG radio people were not > consulted. The directors of the T&G were certainly not radio people, and > this was primarily a financial decision. To illustrate the depth of > their radio knowledge, one of them later referred to WTAG-FM as "that > short-wave station." > > Second, clearly WTAG-FM (and W1XTG which preceded it starting in 1940) > never made any money. Depending on FCC and network rules, various levels > of simulcasting were possible over the years. Toward the end of the T&G > ownership, considerable capital expenses were made for a new > transmitter, conversion to stereo, and remote control of the Paxton > site. I never realized, however, the depth of the financial losses until > we had to clean out some storage space in 1987. I came across a set of > ledger books for WTAG-FM which clearly showed years of applying failed > WTAG-AM activities to the FM side. While the books were properly kept, > and nothing really nefarious was done, the board of directors must have > only seen financial summaries that did not attribute the losses. I'm > sure this colored their opinion of the viability of WTAG-FM. > > Third, the newspaper business was going through a big upheaval in the > early 1960's. Unions had just come in, and there was a long strike by > the folks that ran the Linotype machines right around that time. Major > capital investments were being made with an uncertain future. > > Anyway, those are a few of the things that must have gone into the > decision to sell WTAG-FM. It was a stupid move by any measure, and they > should have dug into not only the local situation but the > already-started move to FM within the industry. But they chose not to > take their heads out of the sand, and later paid the price as FM won out > in the 1970's. The WTAG folks were appalled when the decision was > announced. Norman Knight got a good deal, and was willing to weather > some non-prosperous years right after. He deserves credit for that, and > for his eventual moves with WSRS. > > Hope this helps, and that my memory hasn't wandered too far from reality. > > John Andrews > > On 10/21/2020 9:04 AM, Doug Drown wrote: > > WTAG was, under the Telegram & Gazette and later under Knight, a 5 kw > > regional station that operated as though it were a 50 kw clear channel > > station --- a class act in every respect, with an excellent news staff > > (including a Boston bureau), a longtime NBC affiliation, engaging air > > personalities, and a strong signal that easily covered the whole county > > plus well into western Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont ("NBC for > > Worcester and all of Central New England"). All that having been said, > > during the period of its newspaper ownership the station made a couple of > > colossal blunders by not pursuing the Channel 5 allocation and then, ten > > years later, selling off WTAG-FM, which became WSRS and almost > immediately > > became a huge success with its new Muzak-connected format. > > > > In short: great management but lacking in foresight. A bit of an enigma. > > Go figure. > From geo.allen@comcast.net Fri Oct 23 15:58:17 2020 From: geo.allen@comcast.net (George Allen) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 15:58:17 -0400 Subject: [w]gbh RF-5 power increase is done Message-ID: <202010240254.09O2sxDw091434@isfahel.bostonradio.org> From an email a few hours ago. It must have been the $50 I gave last week....... GBH?s power increase was successfully implemented today. You'll likely experience some inconsistency this morning, and you may continue to see minor adjustments throughout the day. Rest assured; this is scheduled maintenance - all geared toward the outcome we've been waiting to see happen - full transmission capability of 34 kW before the day is done. That's a level of power we haven't seen before! Because of this long awaited power boost, you may also need to rescan your television in order to start receiving the newly boosted HD signal. A step by step walkthrough that works for most TV models can be found at the bottom of this email as well as online here: https://www.tvanswers.org/rescan.asp. More than a year ago, I wrote to you with good news ? GBH?s petition to increase its broadcasting frequency was approved by the FCC. No one could have predicted the challenges that our community, or the world, faced during that time. Simply, COVID made it impossible for crew to work at those heights that close. I am so thankful for the patience, perseverance, and passion of GBH?s loyal viewers. Without you, who took the time out of your day to provide your feedback, this power increase would have not been possible. Thanks for letting me to share our excitement with you, and more importantly, thank you for your generous support of GBH. And, if you are still unable to receive either channel, please get in touch with the Audience & Member Services team at info@wgbh.org or 617-300-3300 (M-F 9AM-5PM). Best, Zack Finn Assoc. Director Development & Audience and Member Services From martinjwaters@yahoo.com Sat Oct 24 00:11:15 2020 From: martinjwaters@yahoo.com (Martin Waters) Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2020 04:11:15 +0000 (UTC) Subject: WTAG-TV In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> <766173139.2632623.1603453001279@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <916509270.2891519.1603512675271@mail.yahoo.com> ? ? ?In a 1998 article about the 50th anniversary of WNHC- / WTNH-TV, the Hartford Courant quoted the late Mike Collins, a walking encyclopedia of broadcasting history, as saying that the station was moved to 8 in 1953 because of interference to 6 in Philadelphia. There are other sources, too. WNHC was one of a group of stations reassigned after the FCC? ended the TV license freeze in 1952. The freeze had been imposed mainly because of the unanticipated interference problems between some? of the early stations. On Friday, October 23, 2020, 07:49:27 PM EDT, A Joseph Ross wrote: I thought Hartford had to move from 6 to 8 in order to allow Schenectady to move from 4 to 6.? I don't know whether there were any problems with having Boston and Schenectady both be on channel 4, but I'm guessing there must have easily been a conflict with Schenectady and NYC both being on 4. My family had just moved to Albany when WRGB moved to channel 6. Just a couple of years later, the FCC had a proposal to make the Albany area an all-UHF market by shifting WRGB to channel 47.? That never happened, and a year or so after we moved back to the Boston area, I heard that the opposite had happened, and the UHF stations on 41 and 35 had moved to 10 and 13, where they are now. On 10/23/2020 7:36 AM, Ed Hennessy wrote: > Wasn't there also a weird intermodulation product on channel 11 with > some early TVs that existed in Providence that the switch to 10 solved > for WJAR?? I seem to also recall that it was mostly in Motorola TVs, > so perhaps it was just bad circuitry and not specific to RF in > Providence? > > And I always wondered why 6 moved to 8 in New Haven, but I failed to > think about co-channel distancing to *Philly* (I knew New Bedford > wasn't on air then.)? Related question--I seem to recall my > grandparents (who lived in the southeast shadow of East Rock in New > Haven, which blocked signal from the WNHC antenna in Hamden) watching > channel 8 on channel 6 (in the early 1970s) (this was on an antenna, > not cable).? Did WNHC ever have a translator on channel 6 at any time > after the change to 8?? Perhaps on East Rock with channel 65?? Given > the difference in frequency between 6 and 8, it likely wouldn't have > been a mixing product or other fluke they took advantage of.? Or else > I am misremembering. > > Ed Hennessy > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kevin Vahey > > A Joseph Ross > I remember when these changes took place.? They also involved WRGB in > Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence > moving from channel 11 to 10.? I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to > 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? > > > Politics was a driver as the Chicago Tribune wanted a license in NYC > > WPIX and WJAR could not coexist on 11 > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From scott@fybush.com Fri Oct 23 20:55:23 2020 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 20:55:23 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: <1603070850132.73124@mit.edu> <0a8101d6a63d$ebaa9810$c2ffc830$@comcast.net> <1934821490.1798745.1603255442698@mail.yahoo.com> <766173139.2632623.1603453001279@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: 4 was one of several overcrowded channels initially. It wasn't just Boston/Schenectady/NYC. It was also NYC/Lancaster/Washington. In addition to WRGB going from 4 to 6, WGAL in Lancaster went from 4 to 8, with a substantial power increase. (Which in turn took WGAL from a small community station to a regional powerhouse reaching most of central Pennsylvania.) On Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 7:47 PM A Joseph Ross wrote: > I thought Hartford had to move from 6 to 8 in order to allow Schenectady > to move from 4 to 6. I don't know whether there were any problems with > having Boston and Schenectady both be on channel 4, but I'm guessing > there must have easily been a conflict with Schenectady and NYC both > being on 4. > > My family had just moved to Albany when WRGB moved to channel 6. Just a > couple of years later, the FCC had a proposal to make the Albany area an > all-UHF market by shifting WRGB to channel 47. That never happened, and > a year or so after we moved back to the Boston area, I heard that the > opposite had happened, and the UHF stations on 41 and 35 had moved to 10 > and 13, where they are now. > > > On 10/23/2020 7:36 AM, Ed Hennessy wrote: > > Wasn't there also a weird intermodulation product on channel 11 with > > some early TVs that existed in Providence that the switch to 10 solved > > for WJAR? I seem to also recall that it was mostly in Motorola TVs, > > so perhaps it was just bad circuitry and not specific to RF in > > Providence? > > > > And I always wondered why 6 moved to 8 in New Haven, but I failed to > > think about co-channel distancing to *Philly* (I knew New Bedford > > wasn't on air then.) Related question--I seem to recall my > > grandparents (who lived in the southeast shadow of East Rock in New > > Haven, which blocked signal from the WNHC antenna in Hamden) watching > > channel 8 on channel 6 (in the early 1970s) (this was on an antenna, > > not cable). Did WNHC ever have a translator on channel 6 at any time > > after the change to 8? Perhaps on East Rock with channel 65? Given > > the difference in frequency between 6 and 8, it likely wouldn't have > > been a mixing product or other fluke they took advantage of. Or else > > I am misremembering. > > > > Ed Hennessy > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Kevin Vahey > > > > A Joseph Ross > > I remember when these changes took place. They also involved WRGB in > > Schenectady moving from channel 4 to channel 6 and WJAR-TV in Providence > > moving from channel 11 to 10. I understand the channel 4 to 6 and 6 to > > 8 moves, but why the move from 11 to 10? > > > > > > Politics was a driver as the Chicago Tribune wanted a license in NYC > > > > WPIX and WJAR could not coexist on 11 > > > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > From jaquay@vermontel.net Fri Oct 30 13:08:26 2020 From: jaquay@vermontel.net (Nelson Jaquay) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2020 13:08:26 -0400 Subject: Halloween! Message-ID: Hello, All, Every year when Halloween comes along a warm memory comes up on my screen: Carl DeSuze on WBZ radio on Halloween night doing a dramatic reading of THE RAVEN by Edgar Allen Poe. My brothers and I would finish trick or treating, come home and inventory the haul and go to bed. Lights out I?d listen to Carl in the warmly cultured voice do The Raven. I would give my whole bag of Halloween candy to find a tape of Carl doing that poem. Anybody out there have any ideas?! Thanks, Nelson Jaquay (802) 446-2367 jaquay@vermontel.net From ldcovino@outlook.com Sat Oct 31 15:54:24 2020 From: ldcovino@outlook.com (DAVID COVINO) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2020 19:54:24 +0000 Subject: Bill Jones, WMEX, NH Bandstand Message-ID: Good afternoon, sir. I am a former member of the Massachusetts band The Brass Tax, and we performed on NH Bandstand several times in the 1967-68 timeframe. I?ve read the WMEX thread, and notice that Bill ?the jones boy? Jones was a DJ during that time. Do you have any information on him? Real name, current location, background, history after leaving WMEX. Anything at all? We are trying to put together a historical account of the band and wanted to reach out to him for any information he may have to help us out. In the meantime, I?ve attached an initial piece that a Corey Light has put together for us. It?s somewhat crude, given that it was recorded on a cassette player from a 13? tv in 1968. Take a listen if you get a chance, and thanks in advance for your assistance. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FWU5cgEGdSCA%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2YiLcOrFE4MYfCmQ4vIgHaBgFGvFf_ed3kkiAYcY7UQ4YkLPAGnbkSnLY&h=AT2gIy_dURf-Oui3AFCz3-HkfKWkD5yayWfhLj2XmpkD_hOKZhtmYt7MP7aR-DHGMPn_6aiswdPrYRUwQtBgQHNyOeldO2VksWPWmUrcwzjtMli3KUcgBLmeFODz0TPlk8Fx5oDp0fOu Kind regards, L. David Covino Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From dlh@donnahalper.com Sat Oct 31 20:50:36 2020 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2020 20:50:36 -0400 Subject: Bill Jones, WMEX, NH Bandstand In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 10/31/2020 3:54 PM, DAVID COVINO wrote: > Good afternoon, sir. I am a former member of the Massachusetts band The Brass Tax, Not sure who the "sir" is-- but I do vaguely recall a band by that name. If it's the same band I'm thinking of, I thought were from Augusta Maine, circa 1970, and played Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 1970-1971. I recall there were about 8 or 9 members.? Or was there a different band with that name?? As for the Jones Boy, as I recall, that was a "house name," and several deejays occupied it, none of them named "Bill Jones" in real life, as far as I know.? However, one of the guys who was The Jones Boy on WMEX was also on WKBR in Manchester. And yes, various of the WMEX deejays did host record hops in the Nashua area in the mid-1960s. Perhaps others know the names of some of the guys who played "Bill Jones" on WMEX. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From tlmedia9@gmail.com Sat Oct 31 18:48:41 2020 From: tlmedia9@gmail.com (Ted Larsen) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2020 18:48:41 -0400 Subject: No subject In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: For some reason Nelson's email was tagged as spam, but this is what he wrote. I never figured out why this happens.? Hello, All, Every year when Halloween comes along a warm memory comes up on my screen:? Carl DeSuze on WBZ radio on Halloween night doing a dramatic reading of THE RAVEN by Edgar Allen Poe.? My brothers and I would finish trick or treating, come home and inventory the haul and go to bed.? Lights out I?d listen to Carl in the warmly cultured voice do The Raven. I would give my whole bag of Halloween candy to find a tape of Carl doing that poem. Anybody out there have any ideas?! Thanks, Nelson Jaquay (802) 446-2367 jaquay@vermontel.net On 10/31/2020 6:12:00 PM, Nelson Jaquay via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote: The sender's mail server does not allow the list to forward their message unchanged due to misguided anti-spam measures. The original message as received by the list is shown below.