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Phili Wilmington NYC question, WBEB, WCBS, WBAI, and WJBR

B

bobdavcav

Among the many things on my mind right now, one that sometimes comes up is the WBEB WCBS shortspacing problem. That happened today and then I remembered, doesn't NYC have a 99.5? Turns out yes, WBAI. So I guess I have two questions,
1. Since I don't live back there I don't know, are WJBR and WBAI shortspaced?
2. Would it do any good for WBEB to move to the WJBR tower?
 
B101, for nearly 50 years the most overall successful FM station in the history of Philadelphia radio, would not be better served by moving to Market #75 and throwing away half of its huge audience just for the heck of it.

In the signal battles, Philly wins 101.1 and New York wins 100.3. The sections of Central Jersey with the trouble generally aren't part of either market's main target areas anyway.
 
WJBR and WBAI are shortspaced (there's 164km between the two, you'd need 241km or more to not be shortspaced), although moving WBEB to WJBR's tower could work, WBEB would still be shortspaced to WCBS-FM (which is the same tower as WBAI)...

Also, why would 101.1 move to WJBR's tower? It makes no sense any way you slice it :)
 
Well, I was thinking that WBEB would still serve Phillidelphia but broadcast from the above mentioned tower, thereby reducing some of the interference between the two stations. Since I have never been to Phili, I don't know how WJBR's signal is in the metro, but from what I hear, I emagine it's as clear as a local, although I could be completely wrong on this. It's kind of weird, why is the shortspacing rarely mentioned on anything outside of WBEB and WCBS? Both articles mention the shortspacing, but only WPHI mentions it for 100.3 and there is no mention at all for the two stations at 99.5.
 
I was just going by the FCC's table to determine the B-to-B distance required by law, but it probably doesn't matter as much at that distance (similarly, nobody complains about WYJB/WPLJ or WRVE/WBAI because they're only shortspaced by a few kilometers)...

WBEB is best staying at their current location, if you ask me...
 
It's probably because nobody listens to the 99.5s in either Philly or New York. The 100.3s and 101.1s are both popular outlets in the two major markets.

The WJBR signal is listenable (if a radio geek is looking for it) in most of the metro, but only viable (to regular laypeople) in about one-third of it. Unlike the other Wilmington FM, WJBR isn't sandwiched by two Philly second-adjacents. But it's never been too much of a factor here. Back when radio mattered was a nice alternative to the Philly ACs when they were running spots, babbling, or playing Celine Dion. A few years back the Beasleys paid something like $42 million for it, it's my understanding. I'm assuming someone misplaced a decimal point on the check.

A lot of these are pre-'64 allocations anyway, so spacing tables have nothing to do with most of this.
 
I was out in Suffolk County, NY about 20 years ago running FM field strength measurements on some local Class A stations with a engineer friend from NYC. We had just set up the antenna along a residential street when some guy stopped mowing his lawn and asked (out of curiosity) what was going on. Turns out he was a devoted WBAI listener and was very annoyed that a "cheesy Delaware station" would interfere with his reception out there on Long Island.
 
George Brusstar said:
The WJBR signal is listenable (if a radio geek is looking for it) in most of the metro, but only viable (to regular laypeople) in about one-third of it. Unlike the other Wilmington FM, WJBR isn't sandwiched by two Philly second-adjacents. But it's never been too much of a factor here. Back when radio mattered was a nice alternative to the Philly ACs when they were running spots, babbling, or playing Celine Dion. A few years back the Beasleys paid something like $42 million for it, it's my understanding. I'm assuming someone misplaced a decimal point on the check.
Click to expand...

I have a copy of the 1957 bill of sale of WJBR's original transmitting equipment. The station founder, John B. Reynolds, bought the GE Phasitron transmitter, antenna, and tower used from O. Wayne Rollins, then-owner of WAMS Wilmington and WJWL Georgetown, who had apparently given up on FM. Total price for the package was around $3,000.
 
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