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I'm Receiving New FM AT 88.7 In ?

  • Thread starter Laurence Glavin
  • Start date

L

Laurence Glavin

Guest
Here in the Merrimack Valley near the NH line, I've just started to receive a new signal at 88.7: WSEW in....where exactly? According to FCC records, it's supposed to be in Sanford, ME, but they keep referring to New Durham, NH. Apparently they're still testing; the announcer said they haven't begun operating with the full 10KW yet. It's also supposed to be directional to protect an as-yet-unbuilt co-channel FM in Milford, NH operated by the University of MASSACHUSETTS! I guess the Commonwealth is awash in cash!
 
Laurence Glavin said:
Here in the Merrimack Valley near the NH line, I've just started to receive a new signal at 88.7: WSEW in....where exactly? According to FCC records, it's supposed to be in Sanford, ME, but they keep referring to New Durham, NH. Apparently they're still testing; the announcer said they haven't begun operating with the full 10KW yet. It's also supposed to be directional to protect an as-yet-unbuilt co-channel FM in Milford, NH operated by the University of MASSACHUSETTS! I guess the Commonwealth is awash in cash!
Click to expand...

WSEW, Sanford ME, is a SIMULCAST of WWPC, New Durham, NH. That explains the New Durham references.

The CP in Milford, NH was applied for by WUMB (under the name of U. Mass.), to be yet another simulcast of that station.
 
I went to a 90th birthday party for my dad at a senior living facility in Danvers. I knew they had Companion Radio running (very low power) since once I was in a "common area" and it was playing old time radio and they said it was companion radio. As I headed into parking lot I was scanning dial
trying to find it--heard jazz or something at 88.7 and I thought that was it, until I heard an announcement mentioning things were going on in Portsmouth, Rochester, etc. So that was the
88.7 mentioned above

A bit further up the dial, heard old timey music on 90.7. That must have been the Companion Radio (sure enough on way out it lasted a couple blocks then I lost it)
 
raccoonradio said:
I went to a 90th birthday party for my dad at a senior living facility in Danvers. I knew they had Companion Radio running (very low power) since once I was in a "common area" and it was playing old time radio and they said it was companion radio. As I headed into parking lot I was scanning dial
trying to find it--heard jazz or something at 88.7 and I thought that was it, until I heard an announcement mentioning things were going on in Portsmouth, Rochester, etc. So that was the
88.7 mentioned above

A bit further up the dial, heard old timey music on 90.7. That must have been the Companion Radio (sure enough on way out it lasted a couple blocks then I lost it)
Click to expand...

Are the consultants starting to push the '30s music off the Companion Radio playlist and introducing early rock 'n' roll yet?
 
Don't know, but a few times I've driven by the Blueberry Hill Healthcare facility on Brimball Ave. in Beverly and noted they have Companion Radio on 98.9; they did have early 60s or late 50s folk
on there one time, etc. So, rock and roll (early)? Maybe not necessarily; perhaps softer stuff like Peter Paul and Mary, etc. When I was visiting my Dad at the Danvers facility where he is, they had a replica of an old cathedral radio playing oldtime radio dramas, and I heard them say "this is
Companion Radio". I guess they have various types of streams and programming.

I do have XM radio and the decades channels begins with 40s; no 30s--don't know if 40s would get phased out eventually as people of a certain generation die off.
The companion radio site lists one stream/station as having "music from the late 1920s to the 50's".
Another: "Younger residents will enjoy this programming, which includes Country Showcase, '50s & '60s Jukebox, Easy & Relaxing Music and more." (Note that some people in their late 50s may be in
such facilities; dementia/Alzheimer's can strike younger people than you'd think). Another channel
is geared toward soothing music for Alzheimer's patients--all instrumental. Still another has one for the more active, including exercise classes, broadway music, etc. (companionradio.com )

As for the 88.7 signal, Fybush does mention in his column today that WSEW moved from 88.5 to
88.7 and doubled its power which could explain why some are suddenly picking it up (perhaps along the North Shore, as I did)
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html
 
Interesting. I suppose that, should I be in an assisted-living facility like that in 35 years, that the music of my youth -- Hendrix, the Who, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations -- will be there with me, as odd as it seems today.

But then, we boomers have had our childhood music delivered to us on radio pretty much continuously from the day those songs were added to the WBZ/WMEX/WRKO playlist. How can one feel nostalgic about "Respect" or "Brown Eyed Girl" when one can't remember a day in the past 40 years that it wasn't being played on some radio station? In the '70s, when my mom would sing a few lines of "Allegheny Moon" or "Mairzy Doats," I had no idea what those songs were. It's not like WHDH was still playing them.

OK, so why must the musical programming for Alzheimer's patients in their 50s be limited to soothing, sleepy MOR? What if the patient still remembers that he loves "Born to Be Wild" and "Revolution"? Isn't it a bit presumptuous or even condescending to program music the patient didn't even like before the onset of his disease, kind of like speaking LOUDLY and SLOOOOOWWWLYYYY to someone who is hard of hearing or doesn't understand English well? Or is there research showing that soft music is a one-size-fits-all positive for those with Alzheimer's?
 
I would think they would want the patients to have the soothing music but I know what you mean!

When my father was living on Cape Cod but could no longer drive, I drive him to the market
or other places and put XM 40s on 4 on, and he would remember the lyrics and melodies
of songs quite well. The part of the brain involving such things as music stays with them

From Companion Radio's site, about the Reminiscence channel:
"Research shows that recalling sounds evokes memories of one's youth and increases self esteem. This makes coping with the realities of institutionalized living easier. Better moods mean better relationships with families, other residents, and staff. Our announcer accompanies the songs with special trivia tidbits and "pop quizzes" to remind listeners of the artist or the time when the song was recorded."
http://companionradio.com/rem.html

The idea is to bring back memories of the "good old days". In addition the whole facility has pictures of the old days in the Danvers/North Shore area; beaches, get-togethers etc
 
With most commerical radio not wanting to play music more than 40 years old, Beatles will be off the playlist except for solo stuff after the split.
 
WSEW transmits from Mt. Hope in Sanford, on a tower semi-adjacent to the 92.1 tower up there.

There is also a translator on 97.1 up there, on yet another tower.
 
CTListener said:
But then, we boomers have had our childhood music delivered to us on radio pretty much continuously from the day those songs were added to the WBZ/WMEX/WRKO playlist. How can one feel nostalgic about "Respect" or "Brown Eyed Girl" when one can't remember a day in the past 40 years that it wasn't being played on some radio station? In the '70s, when my mom would sing a few lines of "Allegheny Moon" or "Mairzy Doats," I had no idea what those songs were. It's not like WHDH was still playing them.
Click to expand...

I knew "Mairzy Doats" by the minor hit version by The Innocence that was played briefly on WMEX and WRKO-FM in early 1967 (maybe WBZ too). It only made it up to #75 on the national charts, and never came back later as an "oldie".
 
The Companion Radio signal from Brightview in Danvers is def. 90.7. At about 3 am I drove past it and they were playing Jimmy Durante "Try a Little Tenderness". Signal gone by intersection of
Endicott and Water streets.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
CTListener said:
But then, we boomers have had our childhood music delivered to us on radio pretty much continuously from the day those songs were added to the WBZ/WMEX/WRKO playlist. How can one feel nostalgic about "Respect" or "Brown Eyed Girl" when one can't remember a day in the past 40 years that it wasn't being played on some radio station? In the '70s, when my mom would sing a few lines of "Allegheny Moon" or "Mairzy Doats," I had no idea what those songs were. It's not like WHDH was still playing them.
Click to expand...

I knew "Mairzy Doats" by the minor hit version by The Innocence that was played briefly on WMEX and WRKO-FM in early 1967 (maybe WBZ too). It only made it up to #75 on the national charts, and never came back later as an "oldie".
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I remember that version of the song too. For some reason, I thought it came out later than it actually did. But it makes sense in early '67. There were a number of old-timey-sounding songs charting back then: "Winchester Cathedral," "Hello, Hello," "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago." Of course, "Mairzy Doats" was not just oldtimey, it was OLD.
 
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