Re: WLYN, 1510 and 104.9
> Doesn't WLYN (1360 Lynn) broadcast a lot of Spanish? They
> are heard pretty clearly in the city of Boston, I believe.
WLYN broadcasts a variety of ethnic programming. I've heard Spanish, Carribean, Haitian, Greek, and a lot of Asian, among others. It's owned by Multicultural, which is an Asian ownership.
Their day signal is pretty good throughout Boston, and it's still in AM Stereo (in the daytime)! The night signal is still fairly listenable.
> As far as FM goes, wouldn't the 104.9 station on the North
> Shore nbe a prime candidate for Spanish? This station has
> no numbers to speak of, and does not operate in some
> newspaper / radio combo-buy cross promotion model like
> Phoenix-WFNX.
WBOQ 104.9 only has a strong signal on the North Shore and Boston's Metro-North suburbs north of Route 16 and the Tobin Bridge. I know it can be heard to the west and south of Boston on good radios, but it's not a strong signal in those areas by any means, and it can't be heard in Boston's neighborhoods due to WRBB.
You can't judge WBOQ's success by it's Boston market ratings because it only covers and intends to serve a small portion of the market, the North Shore, which is not a separate market in itself. If the North Shore were rated as an area on it's own, you might find that 104.9 could be doing quite well there.
That would be like saying that WATD in Marshfield is unsuccessful because it doesn't get significant Boston market ratings, but it serves it's South Shore area very well, and I'm sure it has a healthy listenership in the area.
> Only problem is that they are not heard right in the city
> due to WRBB at Northeastern. I do believe that when WRBB is
> off the air, they come right in.
They come in, but not very well. Besides WRBB, the off-channel intermodulation interference from all the 50 kW (equivalent) FM's on the Pru does a number on it in town.
> So why couldn't there be a negotiation to get WRBB to move
> to another low-power "drop in" frequency?
I don't think WBOQ has strong enough signal coverage in the downtown Boston area to officially warrant making such a request as far as the FCC is concerned. Besides, WRBB was already there in the late 80's when 104.9 raised their power from the old WVCA, which didn't reach Boston whatsoever, to the current WBOQ signal. If the FCC didn't make WRBB move then, I doubt they would now. (In fact, WRBB had to move from 91.7 to 104.9 just a few years earlier to make way for previously adjacent WUMB).
> Anyway, aside from FM, I think WLYN comes in, and it won't
> be long before 1510 probably goes back to Spanish.
That would be a pretty good signal for hitting the urban Boston area Spanish population.
