950 and 1150 goof?

[PaulBWalkerJr]

This came from a DX'er in Toronto, Ontario last night
**************
Last night at 7 p.m. ELT I had Boston's WROL
dominating 950 with SRN news and local spots. They
came out of the news with and ID as "Boston's news
talk 1150 WTTT" and went into a talk program.

WROL would normally be in Spanish in the evening,
right?
***************

What happened??

 

[raccoonradio]

I think they simulcast 1150 at night for some reason now. I was spinning the dial and heard what sounded
like an SRN talk show on 950 and I did hear the "news talk 1150" identifier...checked 1150 and running
same thing. I think they're just simulcasting their sister station during nighttime hours these days. Maybe
to help 1150's weak night signal (in certain/most areas)

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I think they simulcast 1150 at night for some reason now. I was spinning the dial and heard what sounded like an SRN talk show on 950 and I did hear the "news talk 1150" identifier...checked 1150 and running same thing. I think they're just simulcasting their sister station during nighttime hours these days. Maybe to help 1150's weak night signal (in certain/most areas)

Not really most areas, just north and west. At night 1150 is directional nulled to the north (and west), so WROL's omnidirectional night signal, even at only 90 watts, transmitting from Saugus near the salt water coastline certainly could carry better up along the North Shore than nulled-out WTTT, and can supplement it in that area.

However, 1150 at night is beamed south and southeast over Boston and toward the South Shore from it's Lexington transmitter, and it also bombs into the interior west suburbs within 128, where WROL is inaudible and buried by skywaves at night. 1150 is only 5 kW so it's no powerhouse, but it covers most of Boston proper better at night than WROL. I used to often get calls from the South Shore and Cape Cod at night when I worked there as WMEX in the mid-80's.

 

[ajhenderson]

Now if they could only help the programming...

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Is everyone missing the REAL point here: a DXer in Toronto is picking up a viable signal on 950 at night that turns out to be WROL. This means they hadn't powered down when they should have. I myself have picked up wROL at night in Pittsfield, MA (I not only heard their signature "religious" twaddle, but an official station ID on the hour). It seems to me that a station with a critical CP before the commission would be more careful.

 

[Retro]

It could also be do the fact that they lost the Dave Ramsey show and now need to fill space.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Is everyone missing the REAL point here: a DXer in Toronto is picking up a viable signal on 950 at night that turns out to be WROL. This means they hadn't powered down when they should have. I myself have picked up wROL at night in Pittsfield, MA (I not only heard their signature "religious" twaddle, but an official station ID on the hour). It seems to me that a station with a critical CP before the commission would be more careful.

I can't prove it, but WROL certainly has sounded as if it was running 5 kW all night on several recent nights here (not far from the 1150 Tx). There was almost no hint of other signals under WROL. That just about can't happen when the station is running 90W. In fact, it takes a night with really poor DX conditions for the reception to be that good when the station is running 5 kW ND.

And, oh yeah, what ever DID happen to WROL's application to change CoL to Revere and increase to 5 kW-N DA-N? The filing date on this version of the application is 10/28/2004.