Before the switch...

[AckDX]

How far could you get WCRB 102.5? I was able to receive it on Nantucket, pretty easily with my old bulky stereo, but it was really hard to get with my Grundig. That radio hasn't failed me yet and I received it five years ago, actually pretty much all of Boston came in pretty easily.

 

[HHH]

WCRB on 102.5 had, in my listening experience, some of the best coverage of any Boston FM. I recall that I got them very far west, nearly into Springfield. But they were also helped by a frequency which did not have anything particularly strong around it to the west. The cape signal was listenable on a good radio in most parts, although now with Dunes 102 (102.3) in Truro, they are blanked out around the tip.

The best FM coverage out of Boston is generally WGBH, with the tall tower FMs at the top of the CBS tower (98.5, 94.5) next, along with 102.5.

 

[johnster]

What CBS tower are you remembering? I know WKLB 102.5 (GM) just moved to the Ch4 stick but before that I'm not sure I understand your post. The signals you refer to are on FM128, the old.. Sconnix, WHDH or what ever name you prefer tower.

 

[aaronread]

The best FM coverage out of Boston is generally WGBH, with the tall tower FMs at the top of the CBS tower (98.5, 94.5) next, along with 102.5.

Indeed, with the grand irony that you can't get WGBH terribly well in downtown Boston at all. That 98,000 watt ERP really helps keep the signal going out to the hinterlands (I've listened in eastern Connecticut easily enough) and being on top of Blue Hill sure doesn't hurt, but for whatever reason it just doesn't penetrate downtown worth a damn.

 

[AckDX]

The best FM coverage out of Boston is generally WGBH, with the tall tower FMs at the top of the CBS tower (98.5, 94.5) next, along with 102.5.

Indeed, with the grand irony that you can't get WGBH terribly well in downtown Boston at all. That 98,000 watt ERP really helps keep the signal going out to the hinterlands (I've listened in eastern Connecticut easily enough) and being on top of Blue Hill sure doesn't hurt, but for whatever reason it just doesn't penetrate downtown worth a damn.

WGBH is actually listenable enough on the cape that they didn't need 'NAN,'CAI,and 'WZAI to put out the signal. At my house on Nantucket, I can with relative ease pull in WGBH with only minor multipath. I recorded it, but lost it when my previous computer simply up and died.

 

[DanStrassberg]

WGBH is actually listenable enough on the cape that they didn't need 'NAN,'CAI,and 'WZAI to put out the signal.

I think at least one of those Cape and Islands signals was added back when WGBH-FM was preparing to move to the CBS tower. That move would have meant powering down somewhat (not all the way to Class B, but essentially to a height-adjusted ERP that would have been half of the present ERP). But the FCC wouldn't buy the short spacing to WZBC, even though I believe that WZBC didn't object. Anyhow, with the relaxation in third-adjacent spacings that seems to be in the cards, I guess WGBH might yet move to the CBS tower and the the outlying stations might yet become necessary.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

How far could you get WCRB 102.5? I was able to receive it on Nantucket, pretty easily with my old bulky stereo, but it was really hard to get with my Grundig. That radio hasn't failed me yet and I received it five years ago, actually pretty much all of Boston came in pretty easily.

In the days when WCRB was running 15,000 watts from a 360-degree antenna 920 feet above average terrain (before they were evicted by the HDTV buildout), WCRB definitely had a superior signal at my home and on the road, making its deliberate destruction by Mario Mazza doubly distressing. The Saturday after they moved to the route 128 tower with 8100 watts, the signal degradation during the Boston Symphony broadcast was very noticeable. Nowadays of course, the opposite is true.