The Future Of Classical Music In Boston

[classicradionut]

I agree with the many comments that once the sale is consumated, Classical music is all but dead on 102.5. Very sad loss, however I will add that what many don't probably realize is that when WKLB is spun off, COUNTRY will likely also be lost. Very few companies will have the patience to nurture a country format which, while its turned out to be popular, essentially is NOT a native Boston format. 99.5 WOULD, despite all the comments to the contrary, make a good station to serve the Lawrence area hispanic community. Remember the haste to flip WBOS from Country to AAA? If they'd only stuck with it...

I hate posting that, since I enjoy BOTH WCRB and WKLB.

Sure wish the Red Sox had picked up 102.5, I could at LEAST get the Sox on a signal that does come in good out here in Franklin County.

Hope I'm wrong.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[DanStrassberg]

> > > Considering Tanger's very generous offer for WCRB,
> perhaps
> > > he would offer $1 million or so for WBIX?
> >
> >
> > And, again, with AM HD just around the corner (which
> sounds
> > every bit as good as FM and is stereo capable) a station
> > like WBIX (or even WWZN or WMKI) would be just fine.
>
> For those who can afford the receivers.
>
There are also potentially big technical problems with HD Radio on highly directional AMs, which include both WWZN and WBIX at night. I know that AMs are not yet authorized to run HD after 6:00 PM or local sunset, whichever is later, but if you think that HD is going to make classical music more palateable on AM, you have to think about nighttime IBOC. There's quite a story on that idea:

Until the advent of HD Radio, it was unnecessary to broadband AM DAs. Even under the most favorable of conditions, the directional patterns for the IBOC sidebands, which are mainly on the first-adjacent channels, will never be the same as for the main carrier. WWZN has whopping skywaves to contend with at night on BOTH first-adjacents (from WTOP and WWKB). WBIX is in a similar situation, although the interfering signals (from WEPN and CBA) are not as strong. Also, if WBIX were to broadcast in HD at night, the sideband on 1070 might well interfere with CBA IN CANADA, which could necessitate discontinuing use of HD Radio on the 1060 station at night. Alex Langer has a first-rate chief engineer in Grady Moates and I imagine Grady's advice to Alex is "don't touch HD with a 10-foot pole--unless you want to plow a few more million into the station with the strong possibility of having nothing to show for the $$$."

As for the person who suggested that Langer might entertain an offer of $1 million for WBIX, my question is, "what are you smoking, pal?" Read the Court document that returned WBIX to Langer. (You can download it from the FCC's CDBS database at fcc.gov). $1 million is about a decimal order of magnitude too low. Someone seriously interested in buying WBIX would have to make a starting offer of at least $6- or $7 million and expect Langer's initial counter offer to be $11 million or more.

 

[JustinT]

> As for the person who suggested that Langer might entertain
> an offer of $1 million for WBIX, my question is, "what are
> you smoking, pal?" Read the Court document that returned
> WBIX to Langer. (You can download it from the FCC's CDBS
> database at fcc.gov). $1 million is about a decimal order of
> magnitude too low. Someone seriously interested in buying
> WBIX would have to make a starting offer of at least $6- or
> $7 million and expect Langer's initial counter offer to be
> $11 million or more.

I certainly understand the "retail value" of WBIX, but I'd doubt that Tanger does. Tanger's offer of $60 million for the classical blowtorch of WCRB was a joke when most estimated the station to go for $90 million to $100 million. Keep in mind, Tanger sold his Miami classical outlet (now WHDR 93.1) for $100 million in 2000.

 

[4CX1000A]

> >
> > Harvard has never paid airstaff (or even management) at
> WHRB
> > yet, and it has always been nearly all students. I doubt
> > they would change any of that, but I guess you never know.
>
> >
> Not even David Elliott? He's been a nearly constant
> presence for years. The students may come and go, perhaps
> discussing Micheangelo, but apparently David is the point
> man to provide continuity. Is he otherwise a Harvard U
> employee with a talent for radio?
>

David Elliott doesn't work for Harvard. He's a volunteer at WHRB like all the others.

 

[4CX1000A]

> * WHRB-95.3: This station, owned by Harvard University,
> already broadcasts a nine-hour classical-music block
> weekdays (1-10 P.M.) with some additional classical-music
> programming on weekends (inclkuding the Saturday-afternoon
> Metropolitan Opera broadcasts). And it's signal is similar
> to what 101.7's is (or soon will be).

Harvard doesn't own WHRB. The station is owned by a student organization called "The Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc." Harvard has no say and no interest in what WHRB does; moreover, if Harvard wanted a classical radio station it could have bought WCRB in a heartbeat.

As long as the students want to program WHRB, they will. If they ever tire of it, they'll probably LMA it to somebody like the Yale Broadcasting Company did with WYBC.

 

[4CX1000A]

> > Considering Tanger's very generous offer for WCRB, perhaps
>
> > he would offer $1 million or so for WBIX?
>
>
> And, again, with AM HD just around the corner (which sounds
> every bit as good as FM and is stereo capable) a station
> like WBIX (or even WWZN or WMKI) would be just fine.

HD Radio on AM is a joke. There isn't enough space on the dial for more than a few hundred stations to do it.