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WBYN to Country?

B

BlueMartyr

Guest
Rumors are circulating on the Lehigh/Reading Board that WBYN is entering into an agreement with Nassau which will eventually send the religious format to the AM band, and Nassau plunking Country on the 107.5 frequency. Can anyone confirm.

And of course, for all the Y100 freaks like me... any possibility they take the parked WPLY calls and start Y107? (hey... I can dream can't I?) :)<P ID="signature">______________
"Growing old, and living for the moment."
~Rufio</P>
 
Another move-in station for Nassau?

> Rumors are circulating on the Lehigh/Reading Board that WBYN
> is entering into an agreement with Nassau which will
> eventually send the religious format to the AM band, and
> Nassau plunking Country on the 107.5 frequency. Can anyone
> confirm.

Since this is the company that is moving 97.5 from Trenton to Philly, a few questions:

1. Does Nassau have an option to buy 107.5?
2. If so, can this station be moved to a bigger market? It's in Berks County, a small market. Could it be moved to:
a. Lehigh Valley (a medium market), or
b. Philadelphia (a large market)?

Or, another Scenario: The 97.5 move-in will be weakest in Chester County and northwestern Montgomery County, two places where 107.5 will have a strong signal. Does Nassau buy 107.5 and then try to turn it around, paired with 97.5 for great Philly market coverage? This would allow them to leave 107.5 exactly where it is.

A move to make this a Lehigh Valley station would also be significant. Unlike Philly, ABE is seriously under-served by in-market FM stations.
Could they put the same format on 107.1, Belvedere, NJ and 107.5, Boyertown? Western Valley listens to 107.5, Eastern Valley listens to 107.1 for the same programming.

If they flip 107.5 to Country, it'll have direct in-market competition from WIOV. If their intentions are strictly Berks County, why not make it an AC?

One more thought: If this station becomes popular in Chester, Montgomery and even the northwestern part of Bucks county, how will this affect WXTU's Philly ratings?
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

> 2. If so, can this station be moved to a bigger market? It's
> in Berks County, a small market. Could it be moved to:
> a. Lehigh Valley (a medium market), or
> b. Philadelphia (a large market)?

107.5 is very tightly squeezed in its current spot. It can't go south because of WRNB on 107.9. It can't move north or east because of WBLS 107.5 in New York. It's further crunched by Gettysburg on 107.7, DC on 107.3, Atlantic City on 107.3, Ocean City MD on 107.5...the list goes on.

Whatever happens to 107.5 will happen on the current signal.<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

> 2. If so, can this station be moved to a bigger market? It's
> in Berks County, a small market. Could it be moved to:
> a. Lehigh Valley (a medium market), or
> b. Philadelphia (a large market)?

I don't think it can be moved closer to Philadelphia, thanks to 107.9.

We're not working with two pre-1964 allocations, like 97.5 and 98.1, here, so the usual FCC spacing rules should apply. 107.9 and 107.5 have to be 63 km away from each other. Currently they're at 65 km.

I don't think they can move any further east because they're short-spaced to WBLS, New York. The one thing they probably can do is loosen their directional pattern. Previously they were protecting WSNJ to the southeast, but that station no longer exists. That would result in a better signal towards Philly.

The station has the signal to be a player in Allentown and Reading, and could even take some listeners from XTU in the northern suburbs if it goes Country. I'm sure Nassau has their eyes on taking out Cat Country in the Lehigh Valley.
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

> I don't think it can be moved closer to Philadelphia, thanks
> to 107.9.
>
> We're not working with two pre-1964 allocations, like 97.5
> and 98.1, here, so the usual FCC spacing rules should apply.
> 107.9 and 107.5 have to be 63 km away from each other.
> Currently they're at 65 km.

Under the 73.215 short-spacing rules, 63 km is the absolute closest that an A and a B can be. (69 km would be fully spaced.) But the stations also have to meet several contour-overlap tests, and 107.9 and 107.5 are pretty much as close as they can get as a result. Radio One actually had to compensate WBYN so it would file an application to relicense its existing directional facility as a 73.215 short-spaced B with respect to 107.9. (Otherwise, 107.9 would have been considered unacceptably short-spaced and would not have been granted at One Liberty.)

That pretty much rules out any possibility that WBYN could let out its directional pattern at all towards Philadelphia.<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

This seems like a strange concept for WDAC to let go of WBYN on FM, since there is a large listenership and sponsor base in the Mennonite areas of Montgomery County & eastern Berks not served by 1160. This would eliminate most of their audience unless they also picked up another station (WPAZ, WNPV?) in that area.

Then again, Nassau did take the powerhouse Christian station WCHR 94.5 and move it to 920, then way out to Flemington on 1040, so I guess this could happen.
It would make as many loyal listeners unhappy as when the station became Lite 107.5.

There are parts of Berks & Schuylkill County areas where both WIOV and WCTO aren't real strong (but the old Z-107 was) that a country station on 107.5 would do well.
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

I happen to live in one of those areas where no country station really comes in clearly (southern Schuylkill County ... in the extreme southern stretches of north-eastern PA). WCTO is stepped on by WSOX. WIOV is so-so. Bob from Harrisburg is a wild card. WXTU is scratchy. Froggy from Scranton doesn't come in until north of Pottsville. But WBYN booms in loud and clear here. While not a country fan, I think country on 107.5 would be a very smart move.
 
Re: Another move-in station for Nassau?

> I happen to live in one of those areas where no country
> station really comes in clearly (southern Schuylkill County
> ... in the extreme southern stretches of north-eastern PA).
> WCTO is stepped on by WSOX. WIOV is so-so. Bob from
> Harrisburg is a wild card. WXTU is scratchy. Froggy from
> Scranton doesn't come in until north of Pottsville. But WBYN
> booms in loud and clear here. While not a country fan, I
> think country on 107.5 would be a very smart move.
>

It would definitely spell trouble for WIOV, that's a given.

However, with that monster signal, the impact of a Country 107.5 would stretch further across the region. <P ID="signature">______________
I've done it all...HOO HOO...tell 'em, Fred!
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
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