Pretty straightforward question really, is 107.3 a legacy frequency?
I tend to believe it is, but so was 590 at one point. Any thoughts?
I tend to believe it is, but so was 590 at one point. Any thoughts?
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Is 107.3 a legacy frequency?
- Thread starter Brooklyndon
- Start date
Well, sort of.
Technically, WAAF (107.3) went on in 1961 as WAAB-FM, the simulcast sister of WAAB (1440) in Worcester. WAAB moved from Boston when the
"one AM to a market" rule (how quaint, eh?) forced WNAC (now WRKO) to move its sister WAAB out of the Boston market.
Where the legacy comes in, is that the long running WAAF transmitter site in Paxton is the original site of one of Major Armstrong's earliest FM stations
W1XOJ, which signed on in 1939. The actual Armstrong tower still stands and was the structure which held the WAAF antenna for many years, until they moved to a new tower a few feet away. I think that a UHF TV station is on the Armstrong tower today.
By the way, I don't know if WAAF is still broadcasting from Paxton today. They moved to another tower in Boylston a few months ago trying to get into the city of Boston better, but the signal was worse, so they moved back. I think that with their new 97.7 simulcast from Blue Hills for Boston proper, they would be nuts to not stay in Paxton. The Paxton signal got out like crazy (Armstrong was no fool!) and only suffered right in the city of Boston. Paxton + Blue Hills is a grand slam. Boylston does not have the regional reach of Paxton.
Anyone know? Are they staying at Paxton after all?
Technically, WAAF (107.3) went on in 1961 as WAAB-FM, the simulcast sister of WAAB (1440) in Worcester. WAAB moved from Boston when the
"one AM to a market" rule (how quaint, eh?) forced WNAC (now WRKO) to move its sister WAAB out of the Boston market.
Where the legacy comes in, is that the long running WAAF transmitter site in Paxton is the original site of one of Major Armstrong's earliest FM stations
W1XOJ, which signed on in 1939. The actual Armstrong tower still stands and was the structure which held the WAAF antenna for many years, until they moved to a new tower a few feet away. I think that a UHF TV station is on the Armstrong tower today.
By the way, I don't know if WAAF is still broadcasting from Paxton today. They moved to another tower in Boylston a few months ago trying to get into the city of Boston better, but the signal was worse, so they moved back. I think that with their new 97.7 simulcast from Blue Hills for Boston proper, they would be nuts to not stay in Paxton. The Paxton signal got out like crazy (Armstrong was no fool!) and only suffered right in the city of Boston. Paxton + Blue Hills is a grand slam. Boylston does not have the regional reach of Paxton.
Anyone know? Are they staying at Paxton after all?
I'm hearing that WAAF will continue to use their new Boylston site vice the Paxton site. They will use the Paxton site as an aux. This, I think isn't a smart move. WAAF had a tremendous signal from their old site, couple that with the 97.7 site and you'd have most of the state covered. Oh well..
So many of you seem to be missing the point.
WAAF markets to Boston. Not Hartford. Not Springfield.
They just spent 30 MILLION dollars to emphasize this point.
WAAF markets to Boston. Not Hartford. Not Springfield.
They just spent 30 MILLION dollars to emphasize this point.
Neanderpaul said:So many of you seem to be missing the point.
WAAF markets to Boston. Not Hartford. Not Springfield.
They just spent 30 MILLION dollars to emphasize this point.
I wonder how much more it will cost to get the audio on 97.7 into true stereo? I still have my WAAF preset on 107.3 even though 97.7 is clearer here, because 107.3 is in stereo. 97.7 is broadcasting in mono with the stereo light on.
Neanderpaul said:So many of you seem to be missing the point.
WAAF markets to Boston. Not Hartford. Not Springfield.
They just spent 30 MILLION dollars to emphasize this point.
No, I think YOU are missing the point! The combination of Paxton plus 97.7 covers the Boston metro just as well as the combination of W Boyleston plus 97.7. Why give up Hartford, Springfield, the Berkshires, and southern VT when some regional accounts are bound to be willing to pay for the additional coverage and WAAF loses nothing by keeping it? Unless a license to cover the W Boyleston facility has been granted, making a return to Paxton very expensive if not impossible, the only thing gained by keeping W Boyleston on the air is that some suit in Entercom management gets to keep his or her job by not drawing attention to the money the company squandered on the "upgrade" that proved to be a downgrade.
I'm guessing that next to the "funeral home" music of WHOM 94.9, WAAF's "old" signal covered the next largest area of New England and a little of New York. Their $30 mil "upgrade" was a $30 mil plus goofup (there is no such thing as a 30 mil mistake). All they did is to really upset a large group of listeners in a very large area in order to better target downtown Boston. And from a marketing standpoint the age group AAF targets has the least amount of product loyalty. The last post echoed my sentiments exactly and then some.
HHH said:WHOM sounds more like a hot AC these days. I heard "Susudio" from Phil Collins which hardly sounds like "funeral home music".
Nowadays you'll hear that on most any typical AC's, such as WMJX and WSRS, not just on Hot AC's.
Maybe not on an easy listening/gold-based AC that skews older like WPLM.
vibe said:I was a little rough on WHOM, to me the format is a little bland but it may not be to others. It just seems like a waste of such an encompassing signal. I haven't checked the ratings so I'm probably full of hot air or something like that.
Can't post numbers, but WHOM showed up in the following latest 12+ books:
Concord/Lakes Regions, NH - within the top three
Portland, ME - within the top five
Lewiston/Auburn, ME - within the top five
Augusta/Waterville, ME - within the top ten
Lebanon/Rutland/White River Junction, VT - within the top fifteen
Montpelier/Barre/Waterbury, VT - within the top twenty
Manchester, NH - near the bottom (WZID dominates AC there)
Showing up in seven published books, not bad. I can't think of any other format than their very mainstream soft AC format that would be more successful covering all that ground in Northern New England.
Eli Polonsky said:vibe said:I was a little rough on WHOM, to me the format is a little bland but it may not be to others. It just seems like a waste of such an encompassing signal. I haven't checked the ratings so I'm probably full of hot air or something like that.
Can't post numbers, but WHOM showed up in the following latest 12+ books:
Concord/Lakes Regions, NH - within the top three
Portland, ME - within the top five
Lewiston/Auburn, ME - within the top five
Augusta/Waterville, ME - within the top ten
Lebanon/Rutland/White River Junction, VT - within the top fifteen
Montpelier/Barre/Waterbury, VT - within the top twenty
Manchester, NH - near the bottom (WZID dominates AC there)
Showing up in seven published books, not bad. I can't think of any other format than their very mainstream soft AC format that would be more successful covering all that ground in Northern New England.
Add the Boston book to WHOM's ratings list! They just showed up in the published 12+ trends for the Boston market (near the bottom) for the first time that I can recall!
That makes eight published markets that they're showing up in, and I would think that if the Portsmouth/Dover/Rochester, NH and Burlington, VT markets were published to the public (they are available to "client subscribers only"), WHOM would likely show up in those too, for a total of ten.
Eli Polonsky said:Add the Boston book to WHOM's ratings list! They just showed up in the published 12+ trends for the Boston market (near the bottom) for the first time that I can recall!
The sad part is that WHOM actually has more listeners than WTTT, "The Zone", and company. But kudos to WHOM, that is quite a surprise: reminds me of how WBZ supposedly showed up in the Chicago arbs at one time.
And if I recall correctly, when the Portsmouth area ratings were last published, WHOM made a decent showing... I seem to recall that Portsmouth AC WBYY 98.7 (which was a sleepy AC before Portsmouth was embargoed, now they sound like they've added some Jack FM influence) was in a dead heat with WHOM. What probably helps WHOM in Portsmouth is that the two markets share many advertisers, including GM Pollack, Hannaford, Shaw's, etc., and the WHOM airstaff acknowledges the listener base in the Portsmouth area.
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