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Billy Graham Crusade on WFGL-AM Boston MA?
- Thread starter WVCAfan
- Start date
> Even though I'm not a born-again, I find Billy Graham an
> engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA as a
> carrier, where's that station on the dial?
>
WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL is right next door on 950.
Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New Hampshire."
> engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA as a
> carrier, where's that station on the dial?
>
WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL is right next door on 950.
Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New Hampshire."
C
classicradionut
Guest
WFGL? Hardly a Boston station, in fact I don't think there's much more than a faint signal inside 128. Back when I worked there the old transmitter was a bit challenged but the signal did do well in much of northern Worcester County. You'd loose it going south on I-190 once you started going down the big hill into Worcester. North... I think I heard it as far north as Manchester NH but it went nowhere going west... past Gardner it was gone. And virtually NO night signal, weak even in Fitchburg.
OH... yea, WFGL is on 960, transmitter on a hill (forgot the name of it) just north of Fitchburg, if I'm not mistaken - it may have moved when Robin Martin moved then sister FM WFMP (WXLO) back in 1984.
Its kind of a shame what happened to that station. It could have been so much more, but always played second fiddle in town to WEIM. Shoulda kept it Country - Gene LaVerne was well known and loved in those parts.
Anyway, it's nice to see the holy rollers mis-representing their radio station's COL....
> > Even though I'm not a born-again, I find Billy Graham an
> > engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA as
> a
> > carrier, where's that station on the dial?
> >
>
> WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that
> anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL
> is right next door on 950.
>
> Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard
> throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New
> Hampshire."
> <P ID="signature">______________
</P>
OH... yea, WFGL is on 960, transmitter on a hill (forgot the name of it) just north of Fitchburg, if I'm not mistaken - it may have moved when Robin Martin moved then sister FM WFMP (WXLO) back in 1984.
Its kind of a shame what happened to that station. It could have been so much more, but always played second fiddle in town to WEIM. Shoulda kept it Country - Gene LaVerne was well known and loved in those parts.
Anyway, it's nice to see the holy rollers mis-representing their radio station's COL....
> > Even though I'm not a born-again, I find Billy Graham an
> > engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA as
> a
> > carrier, where's that station on the dial?
> >
>
> WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that
> anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL
> is right next door on 950.
>
> Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard
> throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New
> Hampshire."
> <P ID="signature">______________
</P>
WFGL operates a 4-tower array on Alpine Hill just west of downtown Fitchburg. For many years the studio was in an old rowhouse on Prichard Street. Today it operates out of a converted factory building just outside downtown. The signal hasn't changed any since the transmitter on the hill was built in the late 1950's and it doesn't get anywhere remotely close to Boston. WFGL AM never really was country, although the FM (WBNE, WFMP and now WXLO) was for quite some time. That was it's glory days. In the late 70's they dumped country and went A/C with an automated format known as M-104. As for AM 960 WFGL, that station's heritage format was MOR, which of course died out in the 70's only to become a shadow of its former self in a rather mundane soft A/C also. In 1986 the AM switched to nostalgia and reasserted itself in the community by tackling local news and sports. But alas the owners eventually gave up on the struggling little station and let it go dark around 1990. The church that runs it today has just celebrated their 10th year.
> WFGL? Hardly a Boston station, in fact I don't think
> there's much more than a faint signal inside 128. Back when
> I worked there the old transmitter was a bit challenged but
> the signal did do well in much of northern Worcester County.
> You'd loose it going south on I-190 once you started going
> down the big hill into Worcester. North... I think I heard
> it as far north as Manchester NH but it went nowhere going
> west... past Gardner it was gone. And virtually NO night
> signal, weak even in Fitchburg.
>
> OH... yea, WFGL is on 960, transmitter on a hill (forgot the
> name of it) just north of Fitchburg, if I'm not mistaken -
> it may have moved when Robin Martin moved then sister FM
> WFMP (WXLO) back in 1984.
>
> Its kind of a shame what happened to that station. It could
> have been so much more, but always played second fiddle in
> town to WEIM. Shoulda kept it Country - Gene LaVerne was
> well known and loved in those parts.
>
> Anyway, it's nice to see the holy rollers mis-representing
> their radio station's COL....
>
> > > Even though I'm not a born-again, I find Billy Graham an
>
> > > engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA
> as
> > a
> > > carrier, where's that station on the dial?
> > >
> >
> > WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that
> > anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL
>
> > is right next door on 950.
> >
> > Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard
> > throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New
> > Hampshire."
> >
>
> WFGL? Hardly a Boston station, in fact I don't think
> there's much more than a faint signal inside 128. Back when
> I worked there the old transmitter was a bit challenged but
> the signal did do well in much of northern Worcester County.
> You'd loose it going south on I-190 once you started going
> down the big hill into Worcester. North... I think I heard
> it as far north as Manchester NH but it went nowhere going
> west... past Gardner it was gone. And virtually NO night
> signal, weak even in Fitchburg.
>
> OH... yea, WFGL is on 960, transmitter on a hill (forgot the
> name of it) just north of Fitchburg, if I'm not mistaken -
> it may have moved when Robin Martin moved then sister FM
> WFMP (WXLO) back in 1984.
>
> Its kind of a shame what happened to that station. It could
> have been so much more, but always played second fiddle in
> town to WEIM. Shoulda kept it Country - Gene LaVerne was
> well known and loved in those parts.
>
> Anyway, it's nice to see the holy rollers mis-representing
> their radio station's COL....
>
> > > Even though I'm not a born-again, I find Billy Graham an
>
> > > engauging speaker. His web-site lists WFGL-AM Boston MA
> as
> > a
> > > carrier, where's that station on the dial?
> > >
> >
> > WFGL? That's 960AM in Fitchburg. There's no chance that
> > anyone could hear this station in Boston, seeing that WROL
>
> > is right next door on 950.
> >
> > Even the station's own website says, "We can be heard
> > throughout Northern Worcester County and Southwestern New
> > Hampshire."
> >
>
> WFGL operates a 4-tower array on Alpine Hill just west of
> downtown Fitchburg. For many years the studio was in an old
> rowhouse on Prichard Street. Today it operates out of a
> converted factory building just outside downtown. The
> signal hasn't changed any since the transmitter on the hill
> was built
It is not true that WFGL's signal hasn't changed since the station moved from 1580, where it was a 1 kW ND daytimer (with the calls WFGM), to 960 (in the '60s--not the '50s--I believe). Sometime in the '70s or '80s, the station increased its day power from 1 kW (the original 960 operation was 1 kW-U DA-2 using three towers by day and four towers by night) to 2.5 kW. It's possible that with the increased day power, the station started using all four towers as its day array. The night pattern is a rather conventional four-tower "teardrop" sending most signal to the southeast. The main protection is to co-channel WELI New Haven. There is another 960 in Plattsburgh NY in the Burlington VT market. WFGL protects that one too--at night. The day pattern is a figure eight with its main lobe to the northwest and a smaller lobe to the southeast over Fitchburg and Leominster. During the day, WFGL protects both WELI and first-adjacent WROL. When the day power was increased, the signal to the southeast and south-southwest could not be improved because of WROL (which may have been WORL or WRYT at that time) and WELI. The higher daytime power did improve the daytime signal in southeasterm Vermont and probably a bit in north-central Mass west of Fitchburg.
> downtown Fitchburg. For many years the studio was in an old
> rowhouse on Prichard Street. Today it operates out of a
> converted factory building just outside downtown. The
> signal hasn't changed any since the transmitter on the hill
> was built
It is not true that WFGL's signal hasn't changed since the station moved from 1580, where it was a 1 kW ND daytimer (with the calls WFGM), to 960 (in the '60s--not the '50s--I believe). Sometime in the '70s or '80s, the station increased its day power from 1 kW (the original 960 operation was 1 kW-U DA-2 using three towers by day and four towers by night) to 2.5 kW. It's possible that with the increased day power, the station started using all four towers as its day array. The night pattern is a rather conventional four-tower "teardrop" sending most signal to the southeast. The main protection is to co-channel WELI New Haven. There is another 960 in Plattsburgh NY in the Burlington VT market. WFGL protects that one too--at night. The day pattern is a figure eight with its main lobe to the northwest and a smaller lobe to the southeast over Fitchburg and Leominster. During the day, WFGL protects both WELI and first-adjacent WROL. When the day power was increased, the signal to the southeast and south-southwest could not be improved because of WROL (which may have been WORL or WRYT at that time) and WELI. The higher daytime power did improve the daytime signal in southeasterm Vermont and probably a bit in north-central Mass west of Fitchburg.
WFGL's power increase from 1kw to 2.5kw happened sometime between 1982 and 1985. I worked there from '79 thru late '81. We were 1 kw then. I went back to work there in '85 and the new 2.5kw transmitter had already been installed. We ran three towers daytime and four at night.
> > WFGL operates a 4-tower array on Alpine Hill just west of
> > downtown Fitchburg. For many years the studio was in an
> old
> > rowhouse on Prichard Street. Today it operates out of a
> > converted factory building just outside downtown. The
> > signal hasn't changed any since the transmitter on the
> hill
> > was built
>
> It is not true that WFGL's signal hasn't changed since the
> station moved from 1580, where it was a 1 kW ND daytimer
> (with the calls WFGM), to 960 (in the '60s--not the '50s--I
> believe). Sometime in the '70s or '80s, the station
> increased its day power from 1 kW (the original 960
> operation was 1 kW-U DA-2 using three towers by day and four
> towers by night) to 2.5 kW. It's possible that with the
> increased day power, the station started using all four
> towers as its day array. The night pattern is a rather
> conventional four-tower "teardrop" sending most signal to
> the southeast. The main protection is to co-channel WELI New
> Haven. There is another 960 in Plattsburgh NY in the
> Burlington VT market. WFGL protects that one too--at night.
> The day pattern is a figure eight with its main lobe to the
> northwest and a smaller lobe to the southeast over Fitchburg
> and Leominster. During the day, WFGL protects both WELI and
> first-adjacent WROL. When the day power was increased, the
> signal to the southeast and south-southwest could not be
> improved because of WROL (which may have been WORL or WRYT
> at that time) and WELI. The higher daytime power did improve
> the daytime signal in southeasterm Vermont and probably a
> bit in north-central Mass west of Fitchburg.
>
> > WFGL operates a 4-tower array on Alpine Hill just west of
> > downtown Fitchburg. For many years the studio was in an
> old
> > rowhouse on Prichard Street. Today it operates out of a
> > converted factory building just outside downtown. The
> > signal hasn't changed any since the transmitter on the
> hill
> > was built
>
> It is not true that WFGL's signal hasn't changed since the
> station moved from 1580, where it was a 1 kW ND daytimer
> (with the calls WFGM), to 960 (in the '60s--not the '50s--I
> believe). Sometime in the '70s or '80s, the station
> increased its day power from 1 kW (the original 960
> operation was 1 kW-U DA-2 using three towers by day and four
> towers by night) to 2.5 kW. It's possible that with the
> increased day power, the station started using all four
> towers as its day array. The night pattern is a rather
> conventional four-tower "teardrop" sending most signal to
> the southeast. The main protection is to co-channel WELI New
> Haven. There is another 960 in Plattsburgh NY in the
> Burlington VT market. WFGL protects that one too--at night.
> The day pattern is a figure eight with its main lobe to the
> northwest and a smaller lobe to the southeast over Fitchburg
> and Leominster. During the day, WFGL protects both WELI and
> first-adjacent WROL. When the day power was increased, the
> signal to the southeast and south-southwest could not be
> improved because of WROL (which may have been WORL or WRYT
> at that time) and WELI. The higher daytime power did improve
> the daytime signal in southeasterm Vermont and probably a
> bit in north-central Mass west of Fitchburg.
>
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