Something Big May Happen

[iyiyi]

93.3 has a COL at Taunton, MA. It has a killer signal all across Market #42 and desirable areas beyond. The station needs a good, local personality based, music format. No way CC will ruin 93.3 by moving it to rimshot Boston. CC owns a number of choice, local FM signals. There is no ROI or reason for CC to move any one of them.

 

[raccoonradio]

There's a 93.3 up in Belmont NH they'd have to avoid.

 

[aaronread]

It's been said by one of the engineering types in the past that, at least in theory, 93.3 could be moved as far north as Weymouth, while remaining a full Class B.

Whaaaaa???? No way, not with WBOS on the Pru. Minimum distance spacing requires 74km spacing from Class B to Class B on second adjacent. Now, granted, WSNE can be...and is...short-spaced to WBOS. But WSNE's 100dBu interfering contour isn't supposed to be anywhere inside WBOS's 54dBu protected and it already does. I'm guessing a waiver was sought? Or maybe WBOS came online at the Pru after WSNE?

Anyways, I didn't spend a lot of time on this, but I'm not immediately seeing any way that WSNE could be moved any further north.

 

[iyiyi]

93.3 is directional with their major lobe to the SE. It is ideally located. They will NOT be moved! Unless 101.7 is used as a glorified "translator" for 1200 or 1430, the only difference this CC purchase will likely produce is new calls for 101.7. While we're on the subject, where is the Phoenix supposed to "park" the "WFNX" calls?

 

[raccoonradio]

Good question; does he know another owner who may "take" them?
This int. of Mindich on WBUR (Transcript) says they still "retain the call letters".

But once CC takes it over what if someone else requests the calls from the FCC and
they haven't been parked somewhere else?

http://www.wbur.org/2012/05/18/wfnx-sale

 

[fybush]

It's been said by one of the engineering types in the past that, at least in theory, 93.3 could be moved as far north as Weymouth, while remaining a full Class B.

Whaaaaa????   No way, not with WBOS on the Pru.  Minimum distance spacing requires 74km spacing from Class B to Class B on second adjacent.  Now, granted, WSNE can be...and is...short-spaced to WBOS.  But WSNE's 100dBu interfering contour isn't supposed to be anywhere inside WBOS's 54dBu protected and it already does.  I'm guessing a waiver was sought?   Or maybe WBOS came online at the Pru after WSNE?

Anyways, I didn't spend a lot of time on this, but I'm not immediately seeing any way that WSNE could be moved any further north.

There is at least some grandfathering at play here. WSNE/WRLM didn't come on the air until 1966, so it doesn't appear to be covered by the pre-1964 spacing rules, which would have grandfathered it in such a way that it would have no second-adjacent mileage restriction to WBOS at all. There's certainly no such grandfathering to WEEI-FM.

(On further review: while WRLM/WSNE didn't sign on until 1966, it was authorized in 1964 as a North Attleboro CP, and because of that authorization, it appears that it does enjoy full grandfathering with respect to WBOS.)

Another big restriction is that pesky IF spacing: 93.3 has to stay at least 24 km from WBMX on 104.1, and there's no grandfathering or waivers on that one.

 

[Fenway1912]

I would have to guess that the Clear Channel engineering team reported back that we can make this work and then CC made the offer Mindich could not refuse. From all reports CC came to Mindich and blew him away with an offer.

CC has a plan or they would not have done this - I still think Spanish but what do I know ;D

My point was that there was no basis of the speculation, no report, no rumor, no suggestion from any reliable source for the "WWBB to Boston" idea that's popped up on this board in a few places. I'm sorry if you took offense, it's just such an off-the-wall out of left field crazy idea that just wouldn't work.

Ever worked with the Clear Channel engineering team in Cincinnati and Tulsa? From the Jacor days until now (well, almost until now), every acquisition they've made has been carefully evaluated for signal upgrade potential long before any deal is signed, and just about anything that they've bought that's looked like a dog, signal-wise, has turned out to be in line for improvement. (WKOX 1200, anyone?)

There was no reason, then, not to think that if CC was buying what sure looks like a dog of a class A signal, and if it already owned a first-adjacent B in a significantly smaller market just to the south, that a signal shuffle of some sort might not be already in the works.

It turns out, after a day's reflection and analysis, that this deal appears to have been as much of a surprise to the engineering HQ staff as it was to all of us, and that there appears to be no plan for an upgrade and no easy path for one...but there was no way to know that for sure when this all started breaking Wednesday morning. The CC engineering guys have worked some remarkable allocations miracles in the past, after all.

 

[iyiyi]

OK. Let me try this angle... CC owns WSRS, WXKS, WGIR, WHJY, WJMN, WSNE, WWBB. IIRC, CC hasn't changed the format of these stations since they've owned them. They tweak them (WWBB from oldies to classic hits is one example).

WFNX is a well established, heritage station with a loyal base of listeners AND advertisers. CC has been developing it's Alternative Project and basically running it on iHeart and HD 2s.

What better ROI for CC than a turnkey, plug in and play, "real world" outlet for Alt Project on 101.7?

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