Watching this business of CBS prepping 99.1 to become another DC area news station is beginning to feel like I’m watching a magic trick. You know, where the magician is making you watch what he is doing with his left hand, while his right hand is out of sight behind his back, preparing the actual trick.
CBS seems to be spending a lot of money to prepare a rimshot station to take on WTOP, or they want us to think that is what they are up to. What’s wrong with this picture?
There is nothing wrong with 99.1’s signal, but the transmitter is 20 miles northeast of DC in Crofton, and there it will have to stay. It may cover a good part of the Baltimore market, but it also doesn’t cover a lot of the DC market. So what is CBS really up to?
1. There will have to be a DC signal in addition to 99.1. The most likely suspect is 106.7, but that will still leave coverage problems to the west and northwest. My choice would be 94.7.
2. Covering the West side. Even pairing 99.1 with 94.7 still leave holes in the coverage, so take a page from the WTOP playbook and add a 3rd station to the west. Here are the candidates:
A. WFRE - 99.9 in Frederick , part of CC’s Aloha Trust along with AM WFMD
B. WAFY - 103.1 also in the Frederick area. Nassau’s money problems may make
WAFY and the rest of the Nassau Frederick/Hagerstown cluster available.
C. WWEG – 106.9 the Class B in the Nassau cluster
D. WINC – 92.5. This would be my choice. This grandfathered in monster covers
virtually all of Northern Virginia like a blanket, Frederick and Montgomery Counties
in Maryland and a good chunk of the West Virginia panhandle. Centennial would be
crazy to sell it, but CBS does have a very big pocketbook.
3. Washbaltington. Could CBS be thinking of adding a Baltimore station to the mix?
So what rabbit do you think CBS will really pull out if it’s hat?
What about 107.9? Well, that’s a different magic trick.
CBS seems to be spending a lot of money to prepare a rimshot station to take on WTOP, or they want us to think that is what they are up to. What’s wrong with this picture?
There is nothing wrong with 99.1’s signal, but the transmitter is 20 miles northeast of DC in Crofton, and there it will have to stay. It may cover a good part of the Baltimore market, but it also doesn’t cover a lot of the DC market. So what is CBS really up to?
1. There will have to be a DC signal in addition to 99.1. The most likely suspect is 106.7, but that will still leave coverage problems to the west and northwest. My choice would be 94.7.
2. Covering the West side. Even pairing 99.1 with 94.7 still leave holes in the coverage, so take a page from the WTOP playbook and add a 3rd station to the west. Here are the candidates:
A. WFRE - 99.9 in Frederick , part of CC’s Aloha Trust along with AM WFMD
B. WAFY - 103.1 also in the Frederick area. Nassau’s money problems may make
WAFY and the rest of the Nassau Frederick/Hagerstown cluster available.
C. WWEG – 106.9 the Class B in the Nassau cluster
D. WINC – 92.5. This would be my choice. This grandfathered in monster covers
virtually all of Northern Virginia like a blanket, Frederick and Montgomery Counties
in Maryland and a good chunk of the West Virginia panhandle. Centennial would be
crazy to sell it, but CBS does have a very big pocketbook.
3. Washbaltington. Could CBS be thinking of adding a Baltimore station to the mix?
So what rabbit do you think CBS will really pull out if it’s hat?
What about 107.9? Well, that’s a different magic trick.