WBIX-AM 1060 Off The Air

[OreoJoe417]

WBNW had arrived at what, in my opinion, was a very nice way of making a profit from a locally programmed station that didn't sound as if it was running brokered time (although it was actually doing just that). Now. a goodly portion of WBNW's days are filled with standard brokered fare and I expect infomercials for colon cleansers and the like will rapidly fill the afternoons. (There's a three-hour gap between the end of Boyer's program and the beginning of O'Brien's.) As bad as WBIX was (and it could be pretty bad), this seems to me to be a step backward for the Boston radio audience.

Sounds right Dan. WBNW was doing really well at not sounding "brokered" like all those other stations currently sound. Not sure what the master plan is there but I do hear that Dave Cullinane and Armstrong have taken over the reins there and are now completely running the show. Scotty Mccall is gone, who I think was a big part of the stations growth and Armstrongs financial business growth, the production and sound guy Zach Squires is gone and the executive producer Adam Jannes is gone. Not great timing I imagine with people getting back to life now that the summer is gone. I guess now that Armstrong is over at WRKO he may not be too concerned with WBNW.

 

[ISDNbcn]

I like the new changes at WBNW.. June Knight does a great job!!! I enjoy the sports talk on the weekends too.

 

[raccoonradio]

Er, for the record the quote 2 posts above was by Dan I think not by me; not sure why it says "Quote from raccoonradio" in the quote box... ???

 

[DanStrassberg]

Er, for the record the quote 2 posts above was by Dan I think not by me; not sure why it says "Quote from raccoonradio" in the quote box... ???

It's really easy to screw up the attribution when you use the board's Quote feature. When deleting copy from text I want to quote, I always try to pair up open- and close-quote directives. If you do that and do it carefully enough, the attribution usually comes out correctly. However, if you aren't sure it's correct, it's best to remove the automatically generated attribution and just let the quoted text stand unattributed.

 

[Deleted User]

I tried to listen to 1060 several times today in the Wakefield area, and it was unlistenable.

Are they on reduced power or something?

 

[DanStrassberg]

I tried to listen to 1060 several times today in the Wakefield area, and it was unlistenable.
Are they on reduced power or something?

As far as I can tell, yes. An STA for operating outside of the licensed nighttime parameters was applied for on, IIRC, 9/3 and granted on 9/13. I believe the STA, which lasts 180 days, can be renewed if necessary. I think the STA is needed because of damage to an ATU by a lightning strike, which occurred in May or June.

I could not find any STA for days, but I wonder whether the station is already operating from its night site during the daytime. The station holds a CP to move its day operation from 100 Mt Wayte Ave in Framingham (the old WKOX site, and still the WSRO site) to Sewell St in Ashland (the five-tower night site--co-located with WAMG). Normally, any such change would require either an STA or Program Test Authority, and as I said, I could not find any. But the situation is complicated. Besides new ownership and new call sign, the station has applied for a modification of its CP to run 50 kW-D from Sewell St. As far as I can tell, the FCC has not yet taken any action on that application. It would change the existing CP from five towers days to three towers days with no effect on the proposed 50 kW D power or the 2.5 kW five-tower night operation. I have little doubt that the station is operating during the daytime at lower than the licensed power and it may already be operating during the daytime from what has been its night site--although I have no proof so far that the day site has changed.

 

[raccoonradio]

May have sounded slightly better today but still rather weak. Programming wise I noticed they had
a talk show with a guest who was an expert on Alfred Hitchcock, who as it turns out was a Catholic. At least that sounded secular enough to possibly pull in non-devout-Catholics for
a very quick listen, but I switched back to RKO. (for the record I was brought up as a Catholic--
confession is Saturdays from 4 till 6 pm, and ya better show up kiddo! But other than slight curiosity to see how the signal is, I won't be a reg. listener...)

 

[ISDNbcn]

I tuned into 1060 in the Reading area and it was mostly static.

 

[DanStrassberg]

My understanding was that WBIX had two 50-kW transmitters, an old Continental 317C, which had previously belonged to WRKO, and a brand new B-E all-solid-state wonder, which contract CE and nationally recognized AM-loudness guru Grady Moates really loved. Speculation has it that, despite Grady's admiration for the B-E unit, Alex Langer never outright purchased it. It was at 100 Mt Wayte Ave on a pay for it or return it arrangement. Perhaps the station's new owners decided that they could live with the venerable Continental rig and decided to move it to the night site in Ashland in preparation for building out the CP for 50 kW D. That would leave WQOM with whatever backup existed at 100 Mt Wayte--or maybe there was no backup at that location and they either moved a lower-power Tx from Sewell St or got one elsewhere. Still, if WQOM is operating for an extended period at reduced daytime power, which seems to be the case, there ought to be an STA to cover the operation, but as I already stated, I could not find a record of such at the FCC's CDBS site. If anybody else finds the STA (not the one for nights--which I did find and did report on finding), please post a link in this thread. Thanks.

 

[raccoonradio]

128 in Lynnfield, WQOM was maybe a 5 or 6 out of 10...on Sat night as I headed up I-93
in the Medford area, I tried it--nighttime, 9 or so--about the same. I won't say it was mostly
static--again was _slightly_ better yesterday on 128 but still has a bit of way to go

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Totally off-the-air Tuesday morning at 11:00 o'clock. WEPN audible and stronger than WBBR-AM 1130, both transmitting from about the same area. WBBR is non-directional so it should be stronger, but it doesn't appear to be. (I first have to turn my radio "sideways" to WCCM-AM 1110. I also get WBNW-AM 1120 when I do that, but it's not strong enough to interfere with WBBR.)

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

what are they using as a legal ID?

WQOM Natick-Boston, with the T in Natick emphasized more than ANYONE who has spent any time around here would ever pronounce it. (At least it's not Nah-tick or Gnat-ick; both of those are mispronunciations I've heard from people who didn't know better.)

Yeah, but is it the official ID? I just checked the FCC DB and they still are listed everywhere as "WBIX".

According to the FCC, the call change just became official yesterday:

Call Sign History
Current Call Sign: WBIX
Facility ID Number: 21109
Call Sign Begin Date
WQOM 09/20/2010
WBIX 01/08/2001
WMEX 10/05/1999
WJLT 01/31/1997
WBIV 04/07/1995
WBPS 02/13/1995
WBIV 10/28/1987

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Don't forget that for a certain period of time, AM 1060 unabashedly used the call letters WSTD.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Call Sign History
Current Call Sign: WBIX
Facility ID Number: 21109
Call Sign Begin Date
WQOM 09/20/2010
WBIX 01/08/2001
WMEX 10/05/1999
WJLT 01/31/1997
WBIV 04/07/1995
WBPS 02/13/1995
WBIV 10/28/1987

The history doesn't go back far enough; it doesn't list WGTR, WSTD (yup, WSTD) or WTTP. I think that would complete the list, but I'm not sure. WSTD was an LMA by some rich lady in Texas who installed ABC's then-new STarDust satellite-delivered adult-standards format. WTTP (for Touch, Talk, People) was an LMA by Pat Whitley, who had been told by a fortune teller on his program that he would buy a radio station(!) WGTR was under the original ownership of John H Garabedian. I think he picked those calls because he had once worked at WPTR (Albany). Since it was WBIV twice, I don't know whether the list counts as 10 calls or nine, but either nine or 10 puts it up there among the Boston-area stations that have had the largest number of call signs. However, I think 1150 is still securely in possession of the most call signs in Boston cup and 1510 is second. At the other end of the spectrum, we have WJDA, WESX. and WNTN, which, AFAIK have only ever been WJDA, WESX, and WNTN. Even WBZ began life as WBZA.

 

[fybush]

Even WBZ began life as WBZA.

I'd argue otherwise. It's my understanding that the WBZ Springfield license was transferred to Millis/Boston in 1931, while the WBZA Boston license was transferred to the former WBZ facility in East Springfield.

But the FCC didn't assign facility ID numbers back then, so without a search of the old license records on microfilm, I'm not sure how you'd prove that.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yup, off air today for some reason (not sure for how long). At night KYW clear

 

[raccoonradio]

They're still off...sounded almost like they wanted to test stuff out then went off for
tech work, xmtr changes. Maybe the Nov 1 launch date really is true? Though perhaps they'd
come back on earlier.

 

[DanStrassberg]

They're still off...sounded almost like they wanted to test stuff out then went off for
tech work, xmtr changes. Maybe the Nov 1 launch date really is true? Though perhaps they'd
come back on earlier.

My take is that they were serious about November 1 after all. I guess Langer really wanted out and was glad to let Holy Family close the sale early. HF also apparently was able to put together the $1 million that was due to Langer at closing. I guess Langer would have kept WBIX on the air longer if HF had not been able to close until 11/1. What I can't figure out is why they bothered to sign on ahead of schedule with the new calls if they were going to go dark again in just 24 hours or so. That part seems a bit odd.

 

[Wbzfm2010]

i think they did a test and didn't like what they heard!! maybe there going to use this time to fix the transmitter problems etc then sign on fresh. does anyone know if there is going to be personalities?? or all ewtn stuff?? maybe thats the issue as well. just speculation i suppose!!

 

[raccoonradio]

Hey! When you go to their site now you are immediately hit with a pitch for donations. Pass
the collection plate.

"Please support Catholic Radio today" It says they will soon be serving "5,500,000 people in
the Boston area". After a moment it segues to the main page

http://www.wqom.org
I think they ARE webcasting and presumably same shows will air on 1060 once they
power up again. Local? The sched grid seems heavy on shows produced in Buffalo,
I believe (like the aft show they were running, Calling All Catholics) and EWTN shows. Maybe
there will be a spattering of local shows but the sched grid (of what they are probably
streamcasting, and soon to be on air?) seems like from outside the area

http://www.wqom.org/interactive-grid.html