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North Shore 104.9 signal upgrade..

I'm getting mainly WRBB here in Somerville.

If I fiddle with the antenna I can get WBOQ through it in spots and hear the Doobie Bros., but as I predicted, it sounds weaker in this area (just a couple of miles north of Boston) than before. I used to be able to get it to cover up WRBB consistently, not right now.

Now, if I hold the antenna just right, I hear "I Can Hear Music" by The Beach Boys behind WRBB.
 
As I predicted, the increase is north (toward NH) and west (toward Merrimack Valley), not south toward Boston.

Now they're playing "Magic" by Pilot, which I consider to be perhaps the most obnoxious pop hit of the '70s (just my opinion). I'm letting go of the antenna now.
 
raccoonradio said:
Supposedly they were 3,200 watts ERP before but now 6,000 (?) but probably from a lower HAAT I would think. Again Eli they are accenting "Boston" but as you say you can't get them --now weaker than before as you say!
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in a post above, their new signal, despite more wattage in its prime directions, appears to have a deeper directional null toward Boston (to further protect WWLI in Providence beyond Boston), and it's now coming toward Boston over land (the Route 1 corridor with hills, etc..) instead of over open water from Manchester.
 
Yes and anyone who's gone up Rt 1 to Topsfield Fair etc knows about those hills. The null in the map, I thought was to protect WRBB, but as you say it's more for WWLI.

If they really are reaching more than just the North Shore (Merr Valley? inland a bit) I wonder if they'll change the nickname of the station. Prob not as "North Shore" accents their signal reach and
the advertisers they want to court. Unless they ditch it go for "Q-104.9", or a nickname based on
an animal or name or something! Prob stays same.
 
I know I'm not in the intended area but down here in Franklin I've noticed a marked difference sounds better but obviously still some overlap from wwli which is expected.
 
Would they be able to move WRBB from 104.9 to 87.7, I mean I know it's a analog 6 channel, but would it be a possible Third Adjacent Channel or would it cause interference with WMBR 88.1?
 
raccoonradio said:
Yes and anyone who's gone up Rt 1 to Topsfield Fair etc knows about those hills. The null in the map, I thought was to protect WRBB, but as you say it's more for WWLI.
Click to expand...

"Class D" stations ("grandfathered" stations under 100 watts from before new ones were no longer allowed from 1978 on) are no longer granted protection by the FCC. Higher class stations are allowed to stomp all over "grandfathered" Class D's like WRBB. The WBOQ null is definitely for WWLI, WRBB just also happens to be in between in the same direction. (It also may be for WOCN on the Cape).

"Class D" is not the same as "LPFM", which is a completely new class of low-power stations that began in 2000.
 
John MacCormack said:
Would they be able to move WRBB from 104.9 to 87.7, I mean I know it's a analog 6 channel, but would it be a possible Third Adjacent Channel or would it cause interference with WMBR 88.1?
Click to expand...

Currently, 87.7 does not appear to be legally available as an FM radio-only station frequency. It's still supposed to be connected with a low-power Channel 6 TV station. The few legal "radio stations" on 87.7 also broadcast some sort of picture on analog TV Channel 6.

If 87.7 was available, WMBR would have a valid objection if WRBB or any other station in the Boston metro applied to move to it, and they would object. WMBR filed complaints about the pirate "Hot" 87.7 that was reportedly causing them interference in Dorchester and Mattapan.

Since the analog TV stations and their accompanying radio stations are considered "LPTV" (the only class of analog TV still available), I don't know whether the upcoming changes to LPFM regulations would allow an 87.7 to exist with WMBR in the Boston area in the future.
 
As an aside - what makes a station like 104.9 great to listen to? On my way back to the office from Salem, NH - crystal clear - Volcano by Jimmy Buffett. Forget your thoughts (positive or negative) about him or the song - the fact that it rarely gets played shows that there's a wide open playlist on a local station like 104.9. Great stuff.
 
As another aside, it seems to me WBRS and WRBB should swap frequencies. This would move the 100.1 farther east away from Worcester, and the 104.9 farther west away from WBOQ. Maybe even a power increase here....
 
VoiceofWayne said:
As another aside, it seems to me WBRS and WRBB should swap frequencies. This would move the 100.1 farther east away from Worcester, and the 104.9 farther west away from WBOQ. Maybe even a power increase here....
Click to expand...

In the case of 104.9, I can't see that working at all because of WWLI. As others have said, that is the biggest thorn in WBOQ's side.

Is Waltham in 105.1's 60 dbu coverage area? If not, it's got to be extremely close.
 
As they say in football, "after further review", it appears that the 60dbu of WWLI hits Waltham and just misses Northeastern University, so 104.9 is indeed hemmed in. Also the 60dbu of WHEB might be a problem for 100.1.

To put this thread back on topic, WBOQ went from being marginal to "somewhat listenable" in certain parts of Manchester, NH. The 104.9 from the Lakes Region was never a real player here anyway.
I can hear the big-voice guy now: "From Manchester to Manchester and everywhere in between.."
 
encarta95 said:
In the case of 104.9, I can't see that working at all because of WWLI. As others have said, that is the biggest thorn in WBOQ's side.
Click to expand...

Did everyone see the attached article on the move?

http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2602981&spid=24698

WBOQ's owners state that there could be another signal upgrade, but that upgrade is dependent on another New England broadcaster. Would that be WWLI? Could it be possible for WWLI to move from 105.1 to 105.3MHz? How would a move to 105.3 for WWLI affect WQGN in New London, Conn. on 105.5MHz if that were possible? WQGN probably can't move anywhere else given the density of FM stations west of New London towards Hartford, Long Island and New York City.
 
WWLI is not going to move to a different frequency. They have been on 105.1 forever, and the signal doesn't overlap that much. I know this is the same issue with WATD in Marshfield. They cannot upgrade their signal because of 2 stations on either side, WSRS and WZID. Though if you remember, WXTK used to be on 94.9, but somehow got a permit to move to 95.1 so it wouldn't interfere with WHOM. Though now, there's that low power 94.9 in Worcester that covers up WHOM in most west suburbs. I miss being able to listen.
 
The answer doesn't involve any frequency changes...but could involve two (currently co-owned) stations making class downgrades. Working on this for Monday's NERW...stay tuned!
 
Scott Fybush said:
The answer doesn't involve any frequency changes...but could involve two (currently co-owned) stations making class downgrades. Working on this for Monday's NERW...stay tuned!
Click to expand...

It'd be quite surprising for a small independent station to convince/pay off a big company to downgrade their stations, especially since WWLI is a market leading station. I can't see how they wouldn't be one of the stations possibly downgrading, being the closest 1st adjacent and 104.7 WOCN doesn't have any other co-owned stations other than those on the cape. I guess WWLI and WSHK since they're both owned by Cumulus... wow! I guess they're really hurting for money.
 
WBRS has no reason to switch with WRBB. 104.9 is a vastly inferior signal to 100.1 due entirely to WBOQ's co-channel presence. Yes, WBRS gets hammered even as close as Weston by WWFX 100.1, but they get much better reach into the inner Boston suburbs. Well, they did until the damn pirates started cropping up on 100.1.

WRBB, OTOH, is almost unlistenable because WBOQ smacks them around AND also they're right in the Prudential's blanketing contour. While I am generally loathe to suggest a college give up its station, I don't see WRBB getting much value out of their FM broadcast these days...and they can't much value out of ANY signal that's not at least a few thousand watts to overcome the blanketing (and, obviously, that simply cannot happen).

While I don't think it's engineeringly possible (or at least not practical) I would say that WZLY would be better off with 104.9. At least the only problem would be WBOQ, and you'd be solving the two worst signal situations in Greater Boston. And hey, maybe they could convince Entercom (WEEI-FM) and Clear Channel (WJMN) to allow an I.F. 10.8MHz minor-change hop to 94.1!

Or perhaps more "realistically" I could almost see Northeastern being better off buying/trading for one of the middle-tier AM stations in town, just to get out from under the blanketing. Heeeeeey Bob Bittner - would you be better off with 740AM or with a (moved) 104.9FM? :)
 
encarta95 said:
VoiceofWayne said:
As another aside, it seems to me WBRS and WRBB should swap frequencies. This would move the 100.1 farther east away from Worcester, and the 104.9 farther west away from WBOQ. Maybe even a power increase here....
Click to expand...

In the case of 104.9, I can't see that working at all because of WWLI. As others have said, that is the biggest thorn in WBOQ's side.
Click to expand...

In addition, if I remember correctly, WBRS in 1985 had to get permission from the then-owners of WZLX to move from their original frequency 91.7 to 100.1, third-adjacent to WZLX 100.7 ten miles away in Boston. If WRBB were to move to 100.1, that would place them third-adjacent to WZLX from just about a mile down Huntington Ave. rather than from ten miles away in Waltham. CBS, the current owner of WZLX, might object to that.
 
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