webcastboy said:
Also, let's get the terminology right. WNEF is not a translator, nor was it new... AFAIK, WUMB does not own any translators at all. They have Class A FM's in Boston (WUMB), Worcester (WBPR), Falmouth (WFPB-FM) and Newburyport (WNEF). They also have a Class D daytime-only AM in Orleans (WFPB-AM).
True, they are all Class A FM'S (and a Class D AM), not technically translators or repeaters by definition of their licenses, but they are essentially serving the same purpose as translators (or repeaters), which is to extend the reach of their parent station (WUMB) signal into an area that it doesn't cover without generating any local programming of their own.
webcastboy said:
Suddenly WUMB looked like the heavy because their application bumped WAVM off the air. Well hell, what did WAVM expect? It's not like they hadn't been warned for years that being a Class D is no way to keep your license safe! Why do you think WMFO sacrificed half their broadcast range to go with that goofy Goldfish-cracker pattern to make a Class A? Because they would've long since been bumped off the air if they hadn't.
I understand that WAVM was aware of that on some level, and periodically had tried to form Class A applications (intending to fight WUMB's former application), and as I remember, I believe it would have been for 200 watts. For whatever internal reasons, it appears they didn't have their act together and may not have ever followed through on their own with a proper application, though I'm not sure about that.
As for WMFO, someone back there 25 years ago knew that they had to go Class A to survive and they did it, but the radical directional pattern which resulted in less ERP over half their area than they previously had as an omnidirectional Class D was the only way they could do it given the other stations in the area. For the most part, people I knew there at the time had no idea what hit them. They were so excited about going from, on paper, 18 watts mono to 125 watts stereo, that they had no idea why their listeners in the suburbs to their west could no longer hear them, and that their 125 watts was being beamed due east over the Mystic River and out to sea. There have since been opportunities over the years where they could have applied to modify that pattern somewhat, but I hear that those got nowhere at least partly due to poor communication on both parts between the station and the University, their licensee.
webcastboy said:
I give WUMB a lot of credit for being responsive to community feedback and agreeing to a joint venture with WAVM when they didn't have to.
When the two religious broadcasters became serious about their applications a couple of years ago (for 91.7's in Lunenberg and Lexington), WAVM began working on renewing their Class A application and began garnering community support in their area, a lot more local support than a WUMB repeater that would have knocked off WAVM would have gotten. Perhaps WAVM even still didn't have their technical act together for their application on their own, but at least they were doing a good job on community outreach, and I'm guessing that WUMB realized that they would've been perceived as almost as much of an unwanted outside intruder in that community as the religious stations would have been, one who had knocked off their local community station, unless they withdrew their own competing application and joined them.
While it's true that, for all technical purposes, WUMB didn't have to withdraw their competing application for a Class A repeater in neighboring Stow, with the community support that WAVM was gathering, it would have become much more of an uphill battle for WUMB to have continued to pursue to put their own application on the air and knock off WAVM, than to turn around and suddenly shake hands and join with WAVM. If WAVM had gotten their technical (application) act together in addition to their community outreach, WUMB could have possibly lost out entirely in Metro-West if they hadn't joined them.
Given that theoretical scenario, either WAVM could have gotten their act together and ended up with a 200 (or more) watt high school station (and used a music jukebox software program such as iTunes to fill times when students aren't on), or WAVM may not have gotten it together on their own and the religious broadcasters may have beaten out WUMB's Stow application. They would've come on in Lunenburg and Lexington, blotting out WUMB Boston's reception in the metro-northwest outside 128 as well as the northwest suburbs within 128, and also preventing WUMB's Stow Class A repeater application if they had continued to pursue it.
WUMB uniting with WAVM, and their local community support, became the best way to help ensure the survival of WUMB's west suburban listenership against the religious broadcasters (and/or WAVM's own application, if they had gotten it together) when it appeared that the proposal for their own 24/7 WUMB repeater (which I'm sure she would have much preferred) would have been unpopular in the community and significantly protested to the FCC if it were at the expense of WAVM's existence. The FCC may not care about listener protests and petitions regarding commercial stations, but it does, to some extent, seem to regarding non-commercial stations, at least as one of many factors regarding competing applications.
This situation is still all pending FCC approval, and at this time it looks most likely that the joint WUMB/WAVM 500 watt application in Maynard will go through, the Lexington religious application will be shut out, and the Lunenberg application has agreed to a directional pattern beamed away from the area. I agree that this would be the best solution all around as for preserving WAVM as Maynard's local station, and protecting WUMB's listenership in the northwest suburbs within 128 and extending it (most of the time) in the metro-northwest outside 128. I'll be happy to see this go through rather than the possible alternatives.
However, I don't believe that WUMB had any intentions beyond looking out for Number One along the way, and in this case, the most practical way to do so took the form of befriending and joining a high school station that they were formerly trying to knock out. I'd think that, if not for the competing religious applications and the community support that WAVM had garnered strengthening their position against them, WUMB would rather have seen WAVM suffer the same fate as WHSR did twenty-five or so years ago.
webcastboy said:
Oyeah, and I know this won't make me any friends here...but regardless of who started, staffs or pays for WUML...the license belongs to the college and they can do whatever they damn well want with it. Instead of railing against that, in my experience it's behooved student managements to try and set up a framework whereby the college administration doesn't WANT to replace the students. WUML has, instead, chosen to go the exact opposite route. So far, admittedly, WUML has "won" three of four big fights (Lowell Sun is no longer involved, Open Source will go away, and Spinners baseball coverage never happened) but I suspect that all that's happened is that Lou DiNatale and the UMass Lowell administration have decided that a "compromise" solution is not viable. That means they'll either give up entirely and leave WUML alone, or they'll sell the license to someone else entirely and boot out all the students. I call it even money.
That all depends on what the college actually wants to do with the station. Do they want a student station, or a professional station? Seems like they've been trying to have a little of both, as they feel it's convenient for them. If a college really wants to transform a student station into a professional station, it won't matter much what the students do, or how much they have their act together. (Most) students are not radio professionals, they're just college students who want to enjoy radio as an activity. While they should know how to run their station within legal boundaries as far as programming and technical issues go and generally have their management together, I don't feel that they should have to try to convince their college that they're worth keeping as opposed to professional programming.
Student college stations are supposed to be a leisure activity for students (unless it's a broadcasting or communications school where it's part of the curriculum) partially paid for by their tuitions, and if the college has given their blessings to having a student station, the students shouldn't have to worry about it beyond keeping it together and legal. If the college has other plans for their station, they should make them clearly defined so that there isn't an ongoing student versus school battle.
