Hearing WKBW In Boston Area During The Day

[Youngblood]

Hey, Buffalo - I listened to some of Dan Neaverth & Tom Donahue's show this morning...around 9:00-9:15am...while driving down a highway through Billerica, Massachusetts, about 500 air miles from KB!!!

FYI, Billerica is a suburb of Boston, about 18 miles NW of center city.

Boston has a sports-talk station (WWZN) on 1510, but the splatter from their unimpressive 50,000 watt signal coming from the Waltham, Massachusetts transmitter is hardly a factor for listening to stations on adjacent frequencies. Some of you might remember that 1510 was once the home to Boston's legendary Top-40 rocker WMEX "back in the day". WKBW's Jack Armstrong and part-timer John Kosian (circa 1971) both put in time at WMEX. For the record, former WKBW PD Jefferson Kaye came from WBZ.

 

[Youngblood]

--"What A Difference A Day Makes...--

> Hey, Buffalo - I listened to some of Dan Neaverth & Tom
> Donahue's show this morning...around 9:00-9:15am...while
> driving down a highway through Billerica, Massachusetts,
> about 500 air miles from KB!!!
>
> FYI, Billerica is a suburb of Boston, about 18 miles NW of
> center city.
>
> Boston has a sports-talk station (WWZN) on 1510, but the
> splatter from their unimpressive 50,000 watt signal coming
> from the Waltham, Massachusetts transmitter is hardly a
> factor for listening to stations on adjacent frequencies.
> Some of you might remember that 1510 was once the home to
> Boston's legendary Top-40 rocker WMEX "back in the day".
> WKBW's Jack Armstrong and part-timer John Kosian (circa
> 1971) both put in time at WMEX. For the record, former WKBW
> PD Jefferson Kaye came from WBZ.
>
I drove along the same stretch of road this morning, at the same time, and WWKB was not audible at all. Instead, I picked up what I normally do, the 1520 station (WIZZ?) in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Although they play oldies as well, what I heard yesterday was WWKB...the voices of Dan & Tom, the jingles, Buffalo area sponsor spots, etc.

 

[Debaser]

Re: --"What A Difference A Day Makes...--

KB used to come into Toronto with no reception problems during the day. These days it's very much like you encountered in Boston.
Maybe they need a tweaking?

 

[Youngblood]

Re: --"What A Difference A Day Makes...--

> KB used to come into Toronto with no reception problems
> during the day. These days it's very much like you
> encountered in Boston.
> Maybe they need a tweaking?
>
No, my point was that picking up KB during the day in the Boston area on the 22nd was the EXCEPTION, not the rule. The vast majority of the days are like the 23rd, when, at the same time and place, there was no reception of KB.

The atmospheric conditions on the 22nd must have been quite rare for KB to make it so far on their daytime signal.

Nights, of course, are an entirely different matter. Most nights KB is quite listenable in eastern Massachusetts.

 

[randyboone]

> Some of you might remember that 1510 was once the home to
> Boston's legendary Top-40 rocker WMEX "back in the day".
> WKBW's Jack Armstrong and part-timer John Kosian (circa
> 1971) both put in time at WMEX. For the record, former WKBW
> PD Jefferson Kaye came from WBZ.

I have some old reel to reel airchecks of KB, made by my family in the Boston
area, when I was in Buffalo doing the all night show on KB. You can hear WMEX occasionally winning the battle of the frequencies. As for listening to KB during the day in Massachusetts, I've heard them around 8am while driving on 495 in Marlboro.

A quick Jeff Kaye story - in my 'KB job interview meeting with him where he hired me (Oct 1970) I actually told him "you interviewed me in the 'BZ lobby during a 'Beatles Weekend' show in the'60s. I was wearing a Beatles wig."
And I still got the job!

I'll be dxing "War of the Worlds" on my kitchen radio on Monday night
while I'm waiting for Trick or Treaters at my Massachusetts home.
-John