The old WHEB 750

[PaulBWalkerJr]

This was a little before my time..

Can someone tell me about the old 750 WHEB in it's last days..?

Where was the station licensed to? Where were it's towers?

Who ended up with the transmitters, studio equipment and other gadgets when the station went silent?

By the way, when DID it go silent?

 

[raccoonradio]

This archived post from boston-radio-interest should satisfy some questions; 1/31/91, basically. I
think Portsmouth was the COL.

http://www.bostonradio.org/bri/v04/msg05423.html

I do remember tuning in to them when I was in Nahant, MA in the late 70s--they used to run American
Top 40 on Saturday afternoons...though WCAS 740 out of Cambridge would splash over them (and the signal was faint but audible). Somewhere
I have a tape of the very end of an AT40 show aired on WHEB (AM) (and yes, heavy splashover)...the #1
song was Theme From SWAT so I'm guessing '76...

I think the action of WHEB (AM) going dark led to the power increase for WVNE 760 (or, they MOVED to that freq as a result)

 

[JIBGUY]

The stories I heard are.... Owners of WHEB-750, a daytimer in Portsmouth NH, wanted to have 24 hour service. The rules at the time prohibited that, as the clear channel station (WSB-750) co-located on 750 owned the nighttime space within 700 miles of Atlanta, GA. WHEB tried to re-locate over the line to northern Kittery Maine, so that it actually WOULD be 700+ miles from Atlanta. Somehow that did not work, so they just gave up and turned in the license for cancellation. Another reason why they may have turned in the lciense was that they wanted to build their FM tower (for WHEB-FM). The town said 'no'... well yes IF they would take down the AM tower. Noting that in the 1980's an FM was certainly more profitable than a daytime AM, they went with that.

 

[JIBGUY]

part 2 -

When WHEB-750 went off the air, then WVNE-760 in Worcester saw the opportunity to increase from 10,000 watts to 25,000 watts, as the only limiting station to keep them from going over 10,000 watts WAS 750 in Portsmouth.

Its too bad WHEB-750 is gone. It was a great signal. And it can never come back... for 2 reasons... the FCC is not authorizing any new AM daytimers, and secondly, the expanded reach of 760 in Worcester with its wonderful Cash-4-Christ programming, has claimed spectrum that would be needed for 750-Portsmouth to return.

Without WVNE's power increase, A daytime station COULD come back to Portsmouth on 750.... if some down-on-its-knees AM daytimer from anywhere, were to make a major change, moving its frequency, moving its city of license to Portsmouth... such as how 1050 in Peterborough NH moved into 650 in Ashland MA. There's probably some near-dead AM daytimer in Mississippi that could shut down and re-emerge in Prtsmouth....but not on 750.

WHEB-750 's tower was located along Rt 1, south of town, in a marsh area, near where their FM tower is now.

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Thank You guys for the information....

A near-dead AM Daytimer in Mississippi? Cute....

 

[ray ting]

Paul, if I recall correctly, WHEB had a single self-supporting tower. All that extra steel on the city's skyline apparently bothered the local planning/zoning people.

WHEB was a 1,000 watt facility, but because of its low dial position and its location on the coast, its signal could be heard at some pretty good distances.

Tony Vaccaro was their chief engineer, and he had that station -- and its FM -- tuned up like a Steinway. Very high quality audio, yet very loud, too.

 

[newsbot]

he had that station -- and its FM -- tuned up like a Steinway. Very high quality audio, yet very loud, too.

It was AM Stereo, too. By the end of its life WHEB-AM was a simulcast of the FM if memory serves. Knight seemed to lose interest in their AM properties in the 90s. The rot set in at WGIR-AM around then, from which it has never fully recovered.

 

[nhradiochild]

Knight seemed to lose interest in ALL his properties in the 90s, eventually selling out to Capstar which eventually became Clear Channel. But hell, he had a great run, nonetheless. I will say that employees did enjoy working for a Knight Quality Station all the way til the end... well, at least most of them did.

 

[Time Traveler]

I lived around the Topsfield-Danvers area, North of Boston, in the early 70s, and was well aware of WHEB-AM,
due to its proximity to 680-WRKO, also Top 40 back in those days. I had WHEB as a car radio preset, along with WRKO and WMEX, since its signal was as strong as it was in that area, and the programming sounded very professional...

 

[Oldbones]

he had that station -- and its FM -- tuned up like a Steinway. Very high quality audio, yet very loud, too.

It was AM Stereo, too. By the end of its life WHEB-AM was a simulcast of the FM if memory serves. Knight seemed to lose interest in their AM properties in the 90s. The rot set in at WGIR-AM around then, from which it has never fully recovered.

Actually, WHEB-AM simulcast the FM for most of the FM's existence. Only for a few years in the 80s was it programmed separately.

 

[DrSquelchcrash]

Isn't it ironic and sad, that after 750 threw in the towel, time went by, and the dreaded AM 750 tower STILL STANDS today!. Portsmouth must really be suffering with this blight! :-\

73
DrSquelchcrash standing by.....

--------
All day, All Night, No Reason

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Where is the 750 tower?

By the way, does anyone know where the transmitter(s) they had went?

 

[pqgeorge]

WHEB/750, AT40 charter affiliates in NE (Re: The old WHEB 750)

I used to listen to WHEB/750 even way down on the South Shore of Massachusetts (Randolph to be precise) when they ran American Top-40 twice a weekend (Sat/Sun). A lot of people might not know that WHEB-AM/750 and FM/100.3 was one of the charter stations that ran AT40 right from the get go in 1970. WJTO/730 and 95.3 FM in Bath, ME (Bob's "little baby" in Bath, no pun intended) was also a charter AT40 affiliate, as well.

In 1972, WHEB-FM was pretty much a simulcast of the AM, except when the AM "went to sleep 1 hour after sunset". It wasn't until 1974, when the FM switched to Stereo that the AM side was beginning to be "de-emphasized" on air. The FM was was very underpowered (5000 watts, horiz only) at the time. It was due to the close proximity of co-owned WGIR-FM in Manchester, also owned by Knight Quality Stations. The on air motto was "Stereo 'HEB, FM 100". It was at about that time that AT40 was shipped to stations in Stereo for the FIRST time (prior to that it was always in mono as most AT40 stations were on AM at the time).

Shutting the AM was (IMHO) a big mistake. That was a great sounding signal. Had I had the money at time, I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

 

[argytunes]

Hey Peter!

I used to listen to AMERICAN TOP 40 on WHEB/AM too!

And believe me...if you had come up with the cash to buy the signal, I would've been the first in line to apply for an on-air or a production position!

argytunes

 

[NO DAG]

Wasn't there a time when WHEB-Fm was a rock / top 40 hybrid going under the name "Hit Rock 100", talking early 80's here.

 

[Andy Taylor]

I have some of those "HIT ROCK 100" bumper stickers.

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

WHEB-AM 750's Tower

That tower is NOT there anymore. I drove by with my boss and the marsh is E M P T Y.........

 

[Oldie919]

Paul, if I recall correctly, WHEB had a single self-supporting tower. All that extra steel on the city's skyline apparently bothered the local planning/zoning people.

WHEB was a 1,000 watt facility, but because of its low dial position and its location on the coast, its signal could be heard at some pretty good distances.

Tony Vaccaro was their chief engineer, and he had that station -- and its FM -- tuned up like a Steinway. Very high quality audio, yet very loud, too.

WHEB was the first station I worked for....Started on Monday, April 5, 1971 at 12:30 PM, engineering Howie Leonard's "Express Your Opinion" talk show....then into music at 1:02 PM, after news headlines....
BTW......WHEB's FM was WPFM at that time.....
Tony was an "engineer's engineer"!!! With his trusty pipe clenched in his teeth, there was virtually NOTHING he couldn't do!
I was -- and in many ways, still AM -- in awe of his vast knowledge!! You could eat off the floor of the transmitter room!!
Yes....I actually re-visited the station this past Monday --- EXACTLY 50 years later -- to the DAY!! COVID-19 almost kept me out of the building, but the folks softened when I told them why I was there.....I even got to be on "The Morning Buzz" with Greg and company for a short time!!
Does anyone have any pics of the AM tower as it sat in the marsh? I've got a few snaps of it, since it was delegated to "support" duty.....but I'd like a couple of shots of it in its "pristine" condition....Thanks to anyone who might be able to help out!!

 

[Oldie919]

Where is the 750 tower?

By the way, does anyone know where the transmitter(s) they had went?

The AM transmitter (RCA BTA-1R1, 1kw), AFAIK, went to what WAS, at the time, the new AM in Madbury (WWNH, 1340 -- picking up the old 930 Rochester call letters......)....Not sure where the FM unit (RCA BTF-1D) ended up.......
The Bauer 707 was a "knock-off" of the 1R1, with its 4-440A's (2 Modulator, 2 PA) glowing a soft blue through the glass window on the door......!

 

[Mediaace]

The WHEB-AM tower is still standing in all its glory directly behind the studio building. The free-standing tower dissolved back in 1990 was the former FM tower. JIBGuy is correct. WSB in Atlanta was 35 miles shy of the distance necessary for WHEB-AM to operate night service. They tried locating the transmitter site up to York, Maine with no success. The NIMBY crowd wouldn’t give in. The former 750AM tower today serves as a utility dipole supporting the STL dishes for 95.3, 96.7, 107.1 and 100.3 only a few hundred feet away behind the neighboring shopping plaza. The former FM tower (which stood closer to Route One off to the righthand side of the brick portion of the building) had to be removed at the completion of the existing 459’ structure for WHEB main/aux service and WERZ aux service per agreement with the city of Portsmouth. Incidentally, further down the road, the two sticks for 1380 at Islington Street are now gone due to a loss of lease as is the old WBBX studio building; mothballing another station altogether.

WHEB-AM had a killer signal all the way up the coast of Maine. A buddy of mine in Portland used to listen to them in his work van back in the 80’s when he only had an AM radio in it.