Questions about the sale of W I L D- AM 1090 Boston

[rapking]

Is WBAL ( Balitimore MD ) hurting the sale of Radio One W I L D-AM 1090 ? We all know W I L D is a daytimer signal, but WBAL interfere with W I L D, When W I L D sign on, and the same thing happen before W I L D sign off . I could be in Boston, and I can hear WBAL slashing into W I L D . Or is Radio One asking to much, for this daytimer signal ?

 

[Max_l]

I didn't know 1090 was for sale or is a pending sale. How much money are they asking for?

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Is WBAL ( Balitimore MD ) hurting the sale of Radio One W I L D-AM 1090 ? We all know W I L D is a daytimer signal, but WBAL interfere with W I L D, When W I L D sign on, and the same thing happen before W I L D sign off . I could be in Boston, and I can hear WBAL slashing into W I L D . Or is Radio One asking to much, for this daytimer signal ?

No, WILD's daytime status is not hurting its sale one bit. WILD's license conditions are a matter of public record. Anyone can look them up on the 'net and see that they're a daytimer. It's no secret.

 

[DanStrassberg]

No, WILD's daytime status is not hurting its sale one bit. WILD's license conditions are a matter of public record. Anyone can look them up on the 'net and see that they're a daytimer. It's no secret.

It's also a matter of record that Baltimore sunrise occurs as much as 1/2 hour AFTER Boston sunrise (Baltimore is WEST as well as south of Boston), so during the first 15 to 30 minutes after it signs on, WILD is technically subject to WBAL's full nighttime skywave signal. In practice, as sunrise approaches, skywave propagation diminishes on the AM band, so the effect is not as serious as it would be at, say, 2:00AM if WILD were on the air at that time. In addition, the FCC has designated the two hours after local sunrise and the two hours before local sunset as "critical hours" (CH). WILD must reduce its power from the almost 5 kW that it uses at midday to 1900W during CH. The effect is obviously symmetrical. That is, WBAL's daytime-skywave interferes more with WILD during CH for two reasons; the interfering signal from WBAL is stronger than it is at midday (when it is assumed to be entirely groundwave and thus very, very weak in the Boston area) AND WILD is uses lower power during CH than it does at midday.

All this is well understood and completely legal. As a Class A AM that predates the Class D WILD, WBAL has the rules on its side. Now, if WILD were ever purchased by someone who had big bucks and wanted to spend them on upgrading the daytime-only station, WILD could probably move next door to the WEZE site, where it could install a directional antenna (DA) and get a major power increase (maybe even to 50 kW), BUT it would still have different operating parameters during CH (as compared to midday), which would limit radiation to the west (despite the higher power, maybe even moreso than at present, thanks to the FCC's arcane "ratchet rule"). More importantly, WILD would have to remain a daytimer, although the DA would allow it to use higher--albeit still very low--power during the 15 to 30 minutes between Boston sunset and Baltimore sunset. AND since, as I understand it, WILD holds, but does not use (because of the very low power it is allowed and the very strong interference from WBAL), severely limited pre-sunrise authority (PSRA), the new owners might find that it made some sense to use the PSRA.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

AND since, as I understand it, WILD holds, but does not use (because of the very low power it is allowed and the very strong interference from WBAL), severely limited pre-sunrise authority (PSRA), the new owners might find that it made some sense to use the PSRA.

I haven't heard them use their pre-sunrise authority, but they DO use their post-sunset authority for a half-hour after sunset every evening. (At least I guess it's a legal post-sunset authority, there doesn't appear to be a listing for that authority in the FCC database or on Radio-Locator).

They operate for a half-hour post-sunset at a low power, I don't know the wattage, but I've heard that it's under 100 watts. During that half-hour, WBAL often cuts it up badly around Boston. I sometimes hear WBAL in the background during that half-hour even here in Somerville, just a couple of miles from the transmitter. Maybe that low power half-hour after sunset is what Rapking was hearing.