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Entercom waited too long...
- Thread starter LA_Guy
- Start date
NHRadio said:
Do you believe radio-locator.com? I am a skeptic about the accuracy of their coverage maps, but if you believe them, 99.5 delivers better than 60 dBu to all of Framingham and Marlborough and a considerably stronger signal than that to Natick. I believe that 60 dBu is 1 mV/m, whereas FMs are supposed to deliver at least 70 dBu (3.16 mV/m) to their CoLs. Still, in the absence of multipath or other terrain anomalies (and I don't believe there should be such in this case), any even half-decent FM receiver should deliver a solid stereo signal with a 60 dBu signal.
At night, WEEI (AM 850) does not deliver a NIF (nighttime interference-free) signal much beyond Natick. And since that area is in a null of WEEI's directional pattern, there are often annoying anomalies--most notably "phasing" and fades--in the Natick-Framingham area at night.
The 99.5 signal is fine in all but the south shore suburbs and downtown Boston (where it gets clobbered by multipath). Less than an ideal solution, but it would still be better than no FM. Personally, I think 93.7 is better for this - if you have WEEI-FM in Boston it needs to come in reasonably well in Boston.
Of course, they could do a combo of 99.5 (with permission) and 97.7. The 97.7 signal would compliment 99.5 nicely.
Of course, they could do a combo of 99.5 (with permission) and 97.7. The 97.7 signal would compliment 99.5 nicely.
I think a lot of people on this list are being mighty reactionary. Lest we forget, WEEI still holds the ultimate trump card: The Red Sox. And they will continue to hold that card until at least 2015, IIRC.
I don't see WEEI making any format moves until at least a few months after WBZ-FM comes on the air on 98.5FM. You don't mess with the goose laying the golden eggs unless you have to, and there is absolutely no guarantee that WBZ-FM will success in this market. It probably won't fail miserably; they have the Celtics and the Pats and that's a good draw right there...but to succeed they're going to have to come up with an awful lot of quality talk programming to fill the 140+ hours each week that the Celts and Pats games aren't on the air. That's not easily done. Granted, I agree that if anyone CAN do it, it's probably CBS. But talk listeners tend to be pretty loyal, and I don't think WEEI is going to see mass defections to WBZ-FM. Not at first.
At worst, it will probably be a gradual decline over a year or two; plenty of time for Entercom to assess the problem and decide whether the ROI justifies putting WEEI's format on 93.7 or 107.3/97.7.
As for moving WAAF again, given the work that was put into moving to Stiles Hill in the first place, I don't think Entercom is in any hurry to move BACK. And I wouldn't read too much into the news that WICN is moving to WAAF's old home; WICN 90.5 is a Worcester station and they've never tried to pretend otherwise...they'll never get into Boston with WZBC on 90.3. But WAAF has tried to pretend it's a Boston station for two decades. WKAF helps a lot in that regard, but as bad as the Stiles Hill site may be for general coverage, it is better for Boston coverage. Whether it was better enough to justify all the money Entercom spent? Well...that I can't speak to. :
I have to wonder if a big part of the problem here is that it's all well and good to move WEEI's format to an FM signal...but then what do you do with 850AM? Or 680AM for that matter? Both those signals are great for certain things, but they're terrible for others...and as far as I can see, Entercom is already using them for the only things they're "great" for. If you put WEEI on WAAF/WKAF, it would make 850 completely redundant...so what would Entercom put on there? Dollar-a-hollah? Try and sell it for a fraction of what it's worth in today's economy?
Admittedly, I'd love to see it sold to WBUR or WGBH and expand out the public radio offerings, but I'm totally biased in that regard. ;D
I don't see WEEI making any format moves until at least a few months after WBZ-FM comes on the air on 98.5FM. You don't mess with the goose laying the golden eggs unless you have to, and there is absolutely no guarantee that WBZ-FM will success in this market. It probably won't fail miserably; they have the Celtics and the Pats and that's a good draw right there...but to succeed they're going to have to come up with an awful lot of quality talk programming to fill the 140+ hours each week that the Celts and Pats games aren't on the air. That's not easily done. Granted, I agree that if anyone CAN do it, it's probably CBS. But talk listeners tend to be pretty loyal, and I don't think WEEI is going to see mass defections to WBZ-FM. Not at first.
At worst, it will probably be a gradual decline over a year or two; plenty of time for Entercom to assess the problem and decide whether the ROI justifies putting WEEI's format on 93.7 or 107.3/97.7.
As for moving WAAF again, given the work that was put into moving to Stiles Hill in the first place, I don't think Entercom is in any hurry to move BACK. And I wouldn't read too much into the news that WICN is moving to WAAF's old home; WICN 90.5 is a Worcester station and they've never tried to pretend otherwise...they'll never get into Boston with WZBC on 90.3. But WAAF has tried to pretend it's a Boston station for two decades. WKAF helps a lot in that regard, but as bad as the Stiles Hill site may be for general coverage, it is better for Boston coverage. Whether it was better enough to justify all the money Entercom spent? Well...that I can't speak to. :
I have to wonder if a big part of the problem here is that it's all well and good to move WEEI's format to an FM signal...but then what do you do with 850AM? Or 680AM for that matter? Both those signals are great for certain things, but they're terrible for others...and as far as I can see, Entercom is already using them for the only things they're "great" for. If you put WEEI on WAAF/WKAF, it would make 850 completely redundant...so what would Entercom put on there? Dollar-a-hollah? Try and sell it for a fraction of what it's worth in today's economy?
Admittedly, I'd love to see it sold to WBUR or WGBH and expand out the public radio offerings, but I'm totally biased in that regard. ;D
One idea, and this might seem like a real crapshoot, is why not swap 680 and 850AM? 680 has better overall coverage, which is why many Red Sox games are on there in the first place, and much of WRKO's legitimate (I guess) programming is during the daytime hours. I know that many of us are being quite reactionary, but there are a lot of "what ifs" here.
As far as Entercom goes, there will either be no change at all--at least for the next year or so-- or something will happen that would be completely unexpected. Let's not rule out buying/swapping frequencies with other broadcasters...
Jacko
As far as Entercom goes, there will either be no change at all--at least for the next year or so-- or something will happen that would be completely unexpected. Let's not rule out buying/swapping frequencies with other broadcasters...
Jacko
Entercom will eventually have to put EEI on FM or risk losing a lot of listeners (short term) and the Red Sox (long term). CBS Radio can do a lot more with sports on 98.5 - which has the gravitas of play by play for the Pats and B's - than Entercom can do on a combination of directional AMs. When all things are equal, FM always beats AM. Believe me, I like the good ol' AM band, but it is what it is. And if anyone at Entercom has any brain cells left, they can read the writing on the wall here. We're not talking about some dink ESPN Radio relay here either. CBS actually has the resources and content to mount a very serious challenge to WEEI's dominance. They have the signal, they're already assembling a pretty strong lineup, CBS has the experience, and they have 2 major sports teams on board. Starting in October or November (we hope), they will actually have the edge over WEEI - given their access to the Patriots.
Far too much is riding on this for Entercom to sit on their hands. Keep in mind that they've farmed out an entire network of 'EEI satellites - most of which are on FM already. They have invested a lot of resources for that to happen. No way they let CBS show up and upstage them in their home city.
And swapping 850 for 680 is the radio equivalent of swapping deck chairs on the Titanic. It does nothing to deal with the salvo fired on Entercom by CBS.
By the way, saying that 93.7 should go back to Star would be reactionary (wanting to return things to what they were in the past). It is absolutely not reactionary or, as I think you meant, impulsive to put WEEI on the FM band. On the contrary, it's what they now need to do to keep up. Look at Mike's numbers. They're okay, but they're hardly a cash cow for Entercom either. WEEI is. Do the math here.
Far too much is riding on this for Entercom to sit on their hands. Keep in mind that they've farmed out an entire network of 'EEI satellites - most of which are on FM already. They have invested a lot of resources for that to happen. No way they let CBS show up and upstage them in their home city.
And swapping 850 for 680 is the radio equivalent of swapping deck chairs on the Titanic. It does nothing to deal with the salvo fired on Entercom by CBS.
By the way, saying that 93.7 should go back to Star would be reactionary (wanting to return things to what they were in the past). It is absolutely not reactionary or, as I think you meant, impulsive to put WEEI on the FM band. On the contrary, it's what they now need to do to keep up. Look at Mike's numbers. They're okay, but they're hardly a cash cow for Entercom either. WEEI is. Do the math here.
N
necrat123
Guest
aaronread said:
They're not. The CP has the WICN-APP antenna being mounted above the WAAF 3 bay.
Necrat said:
They have an APPLICATION, filed June 30th to move to Paxton.
Look at the bottom of this page!
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?stat...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9
N
necrat123
Guest
LA_Guy said:
I did realize that, which is why I wrote "WICN-APP" before the word antenna. I forgot and left CP there. I am aware it is an application.
But the bottom line is, the two antennas will be co-located.
B
beantownradio25
Guest
No matter what way you look at it, 93.7 is the best choice for WEEI on FM.
Bye Mike!
Nassau may be headed for the deep end financially, but I don't think WEEI on 99.5 would work well.
Bye Mike!
Nassau may be headed for the deep end financially, but I don't think WEEI on 99.5 would work well.
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