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New WMEX CP

  • Thread starter Deleted member 64531
  • Start date

MRBIboredop said:
re: the comment that WMEX should find land in metro west and put up 3 towers.
Click to expand...
And, 1510 did try broadcasting 50kW directional from a four-tower site in Waltham, I know that's not metro-west but was west suburbs, from 1981 to 2017 (with some interruptions).

Not only was that site financially unsustainable, but the only area that got much of an improvement over the old Quincy site were the immediate west and northwest suburbs within Route 128/95, and the Allston/Brighton section of Boston, maybe Cambridge.

Due to distance, it did not seem as strong in downtown Boston proper as the closer Quincy site, which was also helped by the salt water along the coast and Boston Harbor. The Waltham site was also not as strong on the North and South Shores, and due to the required directional pattern, didn't do much better west of Route 128/95 than the Quincy site.

A 25kW site for 1510 in metro-west would cover the metro-west and west suburbs well, but would not be very strong in Boston proper or the Shores, where WMEX wants to reach. And, an 1,800 watt night signal from the Framingham area, even directional eastward, would not reach Boston or the Shores at night, where 1,800 watts directional from Quincy will, though I don't expect the night pattern to get much out to the west-southwest suburbs (maybe better than the current 100 watts night).
 
Eli Polonsky said:
And, 1510 did try broadcasting 50kW directional from a four-tower site in Waltham, I know that's not metro-west but was west suburbs, from 1981 to 2017 (with some interruptions).
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On the bright side, they came in gangbusters on my telephone, less than a mile away in Belmont. :cautious:
 
AerieAlso said:
I've always wondered why WLAC (Class A) had to protect WMEX (at the time, Class B). 1510 is an interesting frequency. The other Class A station on 1510 (KGA Spokane WA) first downgraded its night signal to 15 kW, and now has downgraded further to 540 w, so that a co-owned station near San Francisco could improve it's signal. And then we had the strange situation where WNLC on 1490 in New London was allowed to move to 1510 and upgrade to 10 kW, not to mention CJRS in Sherbrooke, QB also being assigned to 1510 (I used to hear French being spoken underneath WMEX). So WMEX was "hemmed in" by the powerhouses on 1500 and 1520, and a lot of co-channel noise too.
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Living on the north shore back around 1972/1973...I remember hearing the French interference on 1510 from CJRS after WMEX would reduce their power to 5000 watts at sunset...Interestingly though during that era and prior to that too...I always noticed that WMEX was clearly audible in upstate NY at night...
 
The CP for the WMEX power increase (mentioned above) applied for last summer, from 10,000 to 25,000 watts ND mid-days, from 2000 ND to 25,000 watts directional critical hours, and from 100 watts ND to 1,800 watts directional nights, was declined by the FCC, but they did grant them a CP for a (relatively) minor change for critical hours only, to remain at 10,000 watts but go directional during those two-hour periods at the beginning and end of the day (cutting signal to the southwest of greater Boston during those times) instead of dropping down to 2000 watts ND CH.

The mid-days and nights will stay the same as they are for now. I don't know whether they still have any further plans to try modifying their CP application for those periods.
 
I remember in the 60s my mother in Cambridge used to call her sister in West Newton so she could hear Jerry Williams.

But even in Harvard Sq WMEX was squeezed badly by WTOP 1500 and WKBW 1520. When Jerry moved to WBBM in Chicago the signal was better.

257442133_4425321004242167_9183856456702001870_n.png
 
Fenway1912 said:
I remember in the 60s my mother in Cambridge used to call her sister in West Newton so she could hear Jerry Williams.

But even in Harvard Sq WMEX was squeezed badly by WTOP 1500 and WKBW 1520. When Jerry moved to WBBM in Chicago the signal was better.

257442133_4425321004242167_9183856456702001870_n.png
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Did this ad run in the Globe and/or the Herald?
 
MRBIboredop said:
Is WMEX on a antenna farm that supports different patterns by way of multiple towers?
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WMEX is now non-directional using one of the three towers of 1260 AM WBIX Boston, towers located in Milton (near the North Quincy line, by the Neponset River). WBIX is directional at night.

WMEX's new CP calls for using two of the WBIX towers for a directional pattern during critical hours, staying non-directional on just one tower mid-days and nights.
 
That WBBM ad gives the phone number the old way with letters and numbers, MOhawk 4-8660. Not sure exactly when that ended.
Nahant was 581 or JUno1.
How many cookies did Andrew eat? ANdrew8 eight-thousand.

(Ind. Star:"In the 1960s when the phone company began replacing the charming prefixes with a fully numeric system, a group called the Anti-Digit Dialing League was founded. This San Francisco group mounted a light-hearted campaign against the "dehumanization" of the telephone system through the elimination of prefix names. I too liked it better when telephone exchanges had quaint names rather than lots of digits. Telephone numbers were almost poetic. They had character. They were easier to remember. Yes, those were simpler times."
www.indystar.com

Remember when phone numbers started with letters?

Phone exchange names identified area of city where you lived
www.indystar.com
 
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raccoonradio said:
That WBBM ad gives the phone number the old way with letters and numbers, MOhawk 4-8660. Not sure exactly when that ended.
Nahant was 581 or JUno1.
How many cookies did Andrew eat? ANdrew8 eight-thousand.

(Ind. Star:"In the 1960s when the phone company began replacing the charming prefixes with a fully numeric system, a group called the Anti-Digit Dialing League was founded. This San Francisco group mounted a light-hearted campaign against the "dehumanization" of the telephone system through the elimination of prefix names. I too liked it better when telephone exchanges had quaint names rather than lots of digits. Telephone numbers were almost poetic. They had character. They were easier to remember. Yes, those were simpler times."
www.indystar.com

Remember when phone numbers started with letters?

Phone exchange names identified area of city where you lived
www.indystar.com
Click to expand...
Growing up in Cambridge we had Elliot (354), University (864 and 868), Kirkland (547), and Trowbridge (876) plus exchanges using POrter.

My Mom could not fathom how a Chicago station was clearer in Cambridge than WMEX was but WBBM was not a slam dunk as WABC 770 and WEAN in Providence could squeeze 780.
 
Yes 780 could be a tough get with WABC next to it, etc.
A couple years ago I flew from Pittsburgh to Manchester NH, then drove home, and ironically KDKA 1020 came in strong going home on I-93 despite being next to WBZ.

Then again coverage map for WBZ on radio-locator (caveat: not totally accurate) shows
its directional signal mostly points northeast, not so much north...and map also could explain why I was having trouble picking up WBZ at night at my dad's house in Osterville (not local but distant)
 
raccoonradio said:
Then again coverage map for WBZ on radio-locator (caveat: not totally accurate) shows
its directional signal mostly points northeast, not so much north...and map also could explain why I was having trouble picking up WBZ at night at my dad's house in Osterville (not local but distant)
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A better representation of WBZ's pattern is at Radio Data MW Stations Map in Google Maps API v3: NIGHTTIME-UNLIMITED_1030KHz-1 Just slightly off from due west. The pattern you mention on radio-locator as being to the northeast is because of the salt water path.
 
"ANdrew 8-8000....."
It's "how you keep your carpets neat....."!!:)
How many jingles from TODAY will still be remembered 50+ years from now???
 
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