Krafty Bob to buy 1510?

[raccoonradio]

http://lists.bostonradio.org/pipermail/boston-radio-interest/2010-August/024395.html

Nothing official yet but K Vahey wrote on boston-radio-interest that the Kraft Ent. Group
is looking into buying 1510 and making it ESPN (what of the WEEI agreement?) and Revs soccer
(Pats stay on 98.5 of course). If so, what of the ratings smash (ha) prog talk?

They aren't crazy about the signal though. Keep an eye on this one.

Prog talk fans: you'll always have WGBH and its new talk shows, but...?
ESPN: Full coverage just about, unlike how WEEI has them just for overnights and
some weekends. But: what of things like (non-Sox) baseball playoffs and other play by play?
How would signal work out for these things?

Krafty Bob: (the late Butch from the Cape's nickname for him) Is the signal worth it?

 

[raccoonradio]

btw domain name espn1510.com already taken. For Milwaukee station owned by Craig
Karmazin's Good Karma broadcasting.

 

[N1WVQ]

http://lists.bostonradio.org/pipermail/boston-radio-interest/2010-August/024395.html

Nothing official yet but K Vahey wrote on boston-radio-interest that the Kraft Ent. Group
is looking into buying 1510 and making it ESPN (what of the WEEI agreement?) and Revs soccer
(Pats stay on 98.5 of course). If so, what of the ratings smash (ha) prog talk?

They aren't crazy about the signal though. Keep an eye on this one.

Prog talk fans: you'll always have WGBH and its new talk shows, but...?
ESPN: Full coverage just about, unlike how WEEI has them just for overnights and
some weekends. But: what of things like (non-Sox) baseball playoffs and other play by play?
How would signal work out for these things?

Krafty Bob: (the late Butch from the Cape's nickname for him) Is the signal worth it?

I don't get it. Today's Friday the 13th, not April Fools' Day!

 

[Wbzfm2010]

i think he would be nuts if he bought that station!! especially putting the revs on there 98.5 is doing good with them im stero and on when its supposed to be on instead of weei who used to tape delay them at midnight, what they should do is buy an stake in 98.5 for more buying power and go after the redsox games from entercom, and if he still can buy 1510 put bruins on there during conflicts with redsox playoffs etc.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

Assuming this is true-- what kind of power could they run on 1510 from Foxboro?

 

[Time Traveler]

Assuming this is true-- what kind of power could they run on 1510 from Foxboro?

I don't see why they couldn't still be 50 kw...They would have better coverage of the western suburbs but the north shore would probably have reduced coverage. With Sherbrooke, Quebec's 1510, and WNLC-1510, New London, Ct, long gone, they would probably have better overall coverage of the area than they currently do...

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Seeing as football has such a short season (number
of games) I don't think it would make sense for a football
team to OWN ANY station, much less an expensive FM,
in a large market. It would not be a good return on investment.
As for pro soccer, in general - how many locals really care? Anyone
remember the Boston Beacons????

 

[raccoonradio]

Well again KV said he was talking to some folks in Foxboro and they were looking into getting 1510;
I don't know if Kraft could get it at a bargain rate or not but maybe he could make a slight profit
(very slight) w/ ESPN (btw we're waiting to see if ESPN Deportes winds up on 1330, right?) As for the Revs, there probably isn't much of a following but Kraft has stuck with them so far, including
discussing the possibility of a soccer-only stadium (perhaps in Somerville, it was said). Surely they won't do the numbers (either in radio listeners OR in fans at the game) the Pats do, but Kraft
has lots of dough and this is just a little sidelight for him...time will tell, if this possible (again
possible) deal goes through.

I barely remember the Boston Beacons but NESN was talking to one of their former players
when the recent soccer game took place at Fenway. (A sports venue that served as home
to the Boston Patriots, and before that the 1940s era 'Boston Yanks' long ago!)

 

[ArtSpooner]

http://lists.bostonradio.org/pipermail/boston-radio-interest/2010-August/024395.html

Nothing official yet but K Vahey wrote on boston-radio-interest that the Kraft Ent. Group
is looking into buying 1510 and making it ESPN (what of the WEEI agreement?) and Revs soccer
(Pats stay on 98.5 of course). If so, what of the ratings smash (ha) prog talk?

They aren't crazy about the signal though. Keep an eye on this one.

Prog talk fans: you'll always have WGBH and its new talk shows, but...?
ESPN: Full coverage just about, unlike how WEEI has them just for overnights and
some weekends. But: what of things like (non-Sox) baseball playoffs and other play by play?
How would signal work out for these things?

Krafty Bob: (the late Butch from the Cape's nickname for him) Is the signal worth it?

Racoon, you are perhaps the most erudite poster on this forum, but I do believe that Krafty Bob was the intellectual property of the noted moron, Al from Everett.

 

[raccoonradio]

Thanks for the compliment and I'll take your word for that--I only heard the phrase used by
"Butch" who apparently picked it up from him I'd guess! (I also remember Butch calling Howie
once in awhile)

 

[ISDNbcn]

This would be great. 1510 has to have one of the better singals in the area. It opens up another sports venue in Boston (something that has been missing for a year). I still hear Sporting News on THE ZONE or Revolution...

 

[DanStrassberg]

I don't see why they couldn't still be 50 kw...They would have better coverage of the western suburbs but the north shore would probably have reduced coverage. With Sherbrooke, Quebec's 1510, and WNLC-1510, New London, Ct, long gone, they would probably have better overall coverage of the area than they currently do...

You are right about WNLC but dead wrong about CJRS. Although it has been gone for nearly a generation, CJRS, like nearly all Canadian AMs, must be protected just as if it were still there. And its non-zero interference contribution enters into WWZN's calculated NIF. A US treaty governs that. The few exceptions are pretty arcane but CJRS would not be considered an exception. From a new site, WWZN would be limited at night to a bit less than its present 1185 mV/m inverse-distance field at 1 km over a narrow arc (~10-20 degrees wide) centered in the direction of Sherbrooke (maybe 8 or 9 degrees to the west of due north). In that arc lie places like Wellesley, Needham, and parts of Newton. The signal in that direction would not be listenable much north of Westwood. Never mind MetroWest (a problem at night for all Boston AMs except WBZ), if it were transmitting from Foxborough at night, WWZN would lose nearly all of the affluent communities within a few miles to the EAST of Route 128! The Foxboro facility might be granted a CP, but if you think Waverly Oaks has been a disaster for 1510, you ain't heard nuthin'.

 

[carmen]

It opens up another sports venue in Boston (something that has been missing for a year).

are 850 and 98.5 "missing"

whats ESPN radio i hear near 96.5 regularly. is that 96.7 from PA on tropo?

 

[jlehmann]

It opens up another sports venue in Boston (something that has been missing for a year).

are 850 and 98.5 "missing"

whats ESPN radio i hear near 96.5 regularly. is that 96.7 from PA on tropo?

If it's late at night, or during a Sox game, it's probably 96.3 WEII.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

The fact that the Krafts are not interested in the present 1510 transmitter site (and the horrendous lease that goes with it)......tells me that there's actually some thought going into this......perhaps more thought than the last several buyers of that place.

Putting the transmitter site on land in Foxboro already owned would make this a nice neat little addition to the Kraft Empire.

As for the signal coverage area......there's no law etched in stone that 1510 has to remain licensed to Boston. It could become licensed to Foxboro, with a signal so-so in the areas they already cover, BUT perhaps tailored to better cover places like Providence, Fall River, New Bedford, and other parts of the South Coast where Portuguese and Hispanic folks go bonkers over soccer.

If done right....this could turn out a nice little investment.

As for the Prog-Talk?......There are still other brokered stations left in the Boston market. I'm sure one of them would be more than happy to take Santos' money.

 

[DanStrassberg]

BUT perhaps tailored to better cover places like Providence, Fall River, New Bedford, and other parts of the South Coast where Portuguese and Hispanic folks go bonkers over soccer.
If done right....this could turn out a nice little investment.

In case you missed it, take a look at my last post, #11 in this thread. Regardless of the CoL (and in a post elsewhere, I offered Norwood and Foxboro itself as possibilities), the intent would be a Boston-market station. A Boston-market station whose signal is inaudible at night in such affluent places as Needham, Wellesley, Lexington, and a large part of Newton just wouldn't cut it. If 1510 were to transmit from Foxboro, it would be a fact of life that, at night, only AM DX fans would bothered listening to 1510 in an ~10-20-degree arc centered at maybe 8 or 9 degrees west of true north. Westwood would be about the limit of a listenable nighttime signal in that direction. That "notch" in the pattern would be necessary to protect the ghost of CJRS, which, along with virtually all Canadian AMs that have gone dark in at least the last 25 years or so, must be protected under the terms of a US-Canada treaty.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Let's also not forget two other nuts the Krafts would have to crack: ratcheting and WLAC. If they move the transmitter site they will be required to reduce interference toward the stations they're protecting, and WLAC in Nashville (which they would be moving closer to) is one of them. So any coverage to the west and southwest of their proposed site is going to be spotty at best. They could conceivably have to place the exact same field strength from Foxboro toward CJRS that they do now from Waltham, due to the ratcheting rule, further limiting their signal in the Boston metro. The COL, in this case, is more window-dressing than anything else. They're still severely limited by the present rules on siting and moving AM stations. In fact, the more I think about this the more it looks like pure ego (if it's even true), because this station has failed so many times with so many different formats in its present location that anyone else, looking at it objectively, would walk away in a hurry.

Dan is absolutely right about what areas this station will supposedly cover. You can't make an economically viable station in the shadow of a major market by covering only small towns.

 

[DG02816]

1510 would be better off diplexing with WMKI. The old Sqantum transmitter site had a nice signal into RI during the day, if I recall. The 5 kW at night used to do decently over WNLC....

 

[DanStrassberg]

1510 would be better off diplexing with WMKI. The old Sqantum transmitter site had a nice signal into RI during the day, if I recall. The 5 kW at night used to do decently over WNLC....

I agree 100% as far as daytime goes, although critical hours could be a real problem--maybe a BIG problem. Suppose, for example, the new CoL was to be Norwood. A reasonable non-CH day pattern from the Milton site would be almost (albeit, probably not quite) ND. During CH, however, the required protection to WLAC would force a pretty severe restriction to the west-southwest. (Surprisingly, WLAC is at an azimuth of 248 degrees from WWZN's current site. 248 degrees is more west than it is south of Boston.) During CH, WWZN would have to deliver 5 mV/m to all of its CoL. I'm pretty sure that Norwood would thus become a no-go. Foxborough would be even more of a no-go. What to do? Use the proposed Foxborough site during CH as well as N? Maybe, but if you're going to use the day site an average of only eight hours a day (and only four hours in December), is it worth buying at least one additional 50 kW transmitter and paying rent in perpetuity on a site that gets used so little?

I think the reality is that if you use the WMKI site at all, you use it full time. That probably means re-licensing to Quincy and taking what you can get for night power. I'm assuming that wetland restrictions prevent the construction of any new towers at the WMKI site. Thus you would be constrained to patterns that you can create with the three existing towers. They are in a favorable north-south almost-in-line configuration BUT are spaced tower-to-tower by a little more than 150 degrees. 150 degrees is fine for creating an east-west figure-eight pattern from three towers in a north-south line and the center tower's small westward offset is just what you need for deepening a minimum in the general direction of WLAC, but the 150+-degree spacing is not so good for creating a basically north-south figure eight. I think the result would be that WWZN could not get even 5 kW-N if it were to use the WMKI site at night. 3 or 4 kW from Milton would probably be adequate for getting Quincy licensed as the CoL, but it would not come close to providing a full-market nighttime signal.

If you got creative and used Foxborough for a highly directional night-only synchronous transmitter, you could do a lot to fill in the gaps in coverage and could probably arrange the patterns so that the sub-audio beat note between the two transmitters would not be unacceptable, but you can't change the fact that dead or alive, CJRS prevents coverage of essential parts of the market from any site south or southwest of Boston and as many miles from the center of the market as Foxborough is.

 

[Wbzfm2010]

have we answered the question of whats missing????