On the programming side they tried the same thing with the Buckeye Country network all voice tracked out of WCOL in Columbus. I think they did that for some markets in the southwest from their Las Vegas oldies station.
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How Boston AM's will either go silent, or already are?
- Thread starter Retro
- Start date
And it's important to remember that consolidation started for real 26 years... a quarter century... ago. Before most people knew what "streaming" meant, before Sirius and XM, before iPhones and downloads.
Stations that had value back then may be totally worthless now.
We see evidence of that when the big groups take AM stations that were 5,ooo watts day and night, with three or four towers for the night pattern, and going to one tower with the same day power but less than 500 watts at night. When the land is worth more than the station, you can hear the death rattle!
A lot of this goes back to Randy Michaels. He got this bee in his bonnet about owning a thousand radio stations. That was the number he picked. He wanted to do it just for the press release of saying he did it. It may be what ultimately got him fired. Although by then there were many reasons. They bought these stations without any strategy or any plan as to how they would manage them. As I said, it took years to get rid of them. People wonder why there's so much negativity about Randy Michaels. Some of it is jealousy. But then there are things like this.
I happened to drive through Weymouth last night. The 101.1 FM translator is on the air rebroadcasting WMEX!RadioBusinessReport:"Who’s the buyer?
It’s L&J Media LLC, which is agreeing to purchase WMEX and unbuilt FM translator W266DQ in Waymouth (sic), Mass., from Marshfield Broadcasting.The transaction is valued at $390,000, and a $50,000 check is due upon closing. Then, 34 equal payments of $10,000 will commence.Marshfield is led by Ed Perry Jr., while the buyer is a 50/50 partnership between Anthony LaGreca and Larry Justice."
Justice Served: WMEX’s New Owner Is Its ’60s-Era Morning Man | Radio & Television Business Report
For a generation of Boston radio listeners, the call letters are very familiar. Today, WMEX is associated with a Class D AM at 1510 kHz licensed to Quincy, Mass. Now, this incarnation of WMEX is about to be sold. Who's the buyer?www.rbr.com
The signal was only solid in Weymouth. The modulation and audio was good except it seemed to be mostly, if not all, only in the right stereo channel.
When I left Route 18 in Weymouth and began heading up Route 3 north, the signal began to get broken up (or chopped up). I could still hear bits and pieces of it in spots on Route 3 in Braintree, with WGIR-FM (Manchester, NH) cutting in. By when I hit Quincy (and points north) WGIR-FM was completely dominant.
Radio-locator doesn't list a translator for WMEX at the moment (maybe it was "testing"?) but they
do list the 101.1 translator for WBMS and there's a map. Weymouth is included in the fringe area.
101.1 is still the freq they wanted to put on, right,
though maybe power limited due to presence of
the WBMS one--W266DA?
I think it was said WMEX has until Dec to get the FM translator on.
In Jan of this year, in a thread about WMEX, you
(Eli) wrote:"As of recently, they haven't found a viable frequency and location for an FM translator for WMEX."
Note: just looked up a July 2021 article from Inside Radio about the sale of WMEX and it says "The deal also includes the Weymouth, MA-licensed translator W266DQ at 101.1 FM"
Info on W266DQ 101.1 licensed to Weymouth
radiostationnet.com
An FCC search shows a minor modification for
W266DQ 101.1 was granted by the Bureau on
5-24-21. 250 watts seems to be the power as listed in various places but it can't do much what with other stations on the freq.
do list the 101.1 translator for WBMS and there's a map. Weymouth is included in the fringe area.
101.1 is still the freq they wanted to put on, right,
though maybe power limited due to presence of
the WBMS one--W266DA?
I think it was said WMEX has until Dec to get the FM translator on.
In Jan of this year, in a thread about WMEX, you
(Eli) wrote:"As of recently, they haven't found a viable frequency and location for an FM translator for WMEX."
Note: just looked up a July 2021 article from Inside Radio about the sale of WMEX and it says "The deal also includes the Weymouth, MA-licensed translator W266DQ at 101.1 FM"
Info on W266DQ 101.1 licensed to Weymouth
W266DQ FX 101.1 MHz in Weymouth, Massachusetts
Radio Station information for W266DQ at 101.1 MHz MHz on your FM dial.
An FCC search shows a minor modification for
W266DQ 101.1 was granted by the Bureau on
5-24-21. 250 watts seems to be the power as listed in various places but it can't do much what with other stations on the freq.
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I haven’t spoken with Ed Perry since last year, but he was then hoping to find a frequency and location for an FM translator for WMEX that would reach more of metro and suburban Boston (similar to FM translators for 1300 WJDA and 1330 WRCA that cover metro Boston well from the Hancock tower) but there was/is no such frequency available.
I think he had the permit for this one in Weymouth that is now on the air, but it only reaches a small portion of the South Shore in and around Weymouth.
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I do not think that I have discovered them on the FM yet.
Eli,
I value your input, so I'm directing this your way: of what use is this Weymouth "translator" for WMEX when its AM signal - out of Quincy, I believe - already covers the South Shore rather well? Is "translator", then, just another term for an FM channel assignment for a VERY limited portion of an AM station's coverage area, or perhaps to extend coverage of that AM to an area it might not otherwise reach?
The main reason to have a translator is to have one's station on FM instead of "just" on AM. Many listeners won't travel to the AM band at all, as we know. So for WMEX, which decidedly wants to serve only a portion of the the market in the South Shore vicinity, adding an FM that gives coverage of the same area is very beneficial.
While it's true that the station wants a presence on FM because of the dying popularity of AM, WMEX wants to serve a lot more than just a small portion of the South Shore. The AM is promoting itself as WMEX, Boston at all times except the TOH ID that says Quincy/Boston, and the AM day signal covers metro and greater Boston quite well.
When I was there at night, the WMEX AM signal on its low 100 watt night power was very weak in Weymouth. I know that their 10kW day signal is fine there, but at night, that translator serves its intended purpose of filling in the weak night signal to its translator COL of Weymouth.
Translators have no city of license coverage requirements. He could run 5 watts from the top of the pru, if it were technically possible.. still be licensed to waymouth but cover none of it.
That's how it seems to me as well. E.g., up here AM 1100 has a translator on 98.9 FM. During the day at least, AM 1100 out of Salem, NH covers much of the Merrimack Valley rather well, but Valley 98.9 does not. And AM 1570 in Andover - not that I ever had occasion or reason to listen to them - had an FM translator on 105.3, and located somewhere close to Boston and NOT aimed this way. I believe these are all Costa-Eagle media properties.
So those of us north of Boston who can get 1510 AM pretty well during the day but would prefer to listen to it on FM are outta luck, right?
Yes, not just north of Boston, but also IN Boston. The FM translator for WMEX currently on the air In Weymouth only covers that city well, and spotty a bit just outside Weymouth, on the South Shore. It does not reach any of Boston or north.
Ed wanted a WMEX translator that would cover more of metro and greater Boston but no frequency that would accomplish that is available.
The 105.3 translator for 1570 WUBG is at the Medford/Malden line off of the Fellsway, along with the translator on 98.1 for 1410 WZBR. Both of those directional translators mainly beam eastward over the Mystic Valley (Medford, Malden, Everett, Chelsea, Revere, etc..). They can barely be heard in Boston proper.
Yeah, but that is not the fault of the station. The laws of physics and prior allocations of frequencies are the principal causes.
Streaming on your phone--how many of us who do still listen to radio may be getting it at work, out of range of the signal, etc. An actual, strong FM signal would be great but only certain frequencies are/were available for an FM translator. A couple of the far reaching ones due to tower or other reasons are WJIB's FMt at 101.3 and WRCA's FMt on 106.1. Getting an FM translator on air can not only help a station with its reach and "visibility" on the dial but can be attractive for those who want to LMA or buy the station. Big 105.3 was fun for oldies fans while it lasted, but it did help Costa-Eagle get K-Love to "rent"--with an FM close to Boston.
How many AMs have gone permanently dark anyway? Many years ago there was WHEB 750 in Portsmouth NH. There was WDIS 1170 Norfolk MA which went silent in 2014 and a year later the license was deleted.
Will things get bad enough for AM that stations may fall silent permanently? It almost looked like WMEX would meet that fate
but it was saved. (Similar case in Pittsburgh where heritage KQV was saved from the graveyard)
Here are some local AM frequencies which could go silent, but what are the odds?
590. 650, 740, 800, 830 (worcester), 890. 950. 980. 1060. 1090, 1150, 1230, 1260, 1300...and so on.
Religious, ethnic, standards...will they last? Maybe not thrive but would any of them actually go silent?
How many AMs have gone permanently dark anyway? Many years ago there was WHEB 750 in Portsmouth NH. There was WDIS 1170 Norfolk MA which went silent in 2014 and a year later the license was deleted.
Will things get bad enough for AM that stations may fall silent permanently? It almost looked like WMEX would meet that fate
but it was saved. (Similar case in Pittsburgh where heritage KQV was saved from the graveyard)
Here are some local AM frequencies which could go silent, but what are the odds?
590. 650, 740, 800, 830 (worcester), 890. 950. 980. 1060. 1090, 1150, 1230, 1260, 1300...and so on.
Religious, ethnic, standards...will they last? Maybe not thrive but would any of them actually go silent?
Then why bother having a translator? I still fail to see the reason for these, other than they occupy channels on the FM band in the oddest of locations relative to their AM sibling.
So, Eli, what do you think these translators accomplish?
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