Norm Rosen said:
The Expiration day for the CP for WCRN's nightime power upgrade to 50,000 watts is in a week.
Does anyone know if they intend to let it expire?
WCRN's CP has been "tolled," or so I've been told ;>) Tolled is legalese for "the clock has been stopped," so the CP is NOT about to expire until after the judge (whoever that is) rules on the dispute between Carter Broadcasting and the town of Leicester (at least I think it's Leicester). Given the precedent in the similar case between Champion Broadcasting et al and the City of Newton over the tower construction for WKOX, WRCA, and WUNR at 750 Sawmill Brook Parkway, it sounds as if WCRN will win. Of course, by the time the judge hands down his or her ruling, broadcasting on the AM band may have long since ended in the US ;>(
Seems as if. despite the Champion decision, any town in the Commonwealth can buy itself several years by refusing to grant a building permit for a new broadcast tower, but to me (and I clearly don't know all of the facts), Newton had a stronger case than Leicester does. WUNR et al are in an (upscale) residential neighborhood; WCRN is surrounded by warehouses, light manufacturing, and a golf course; the tower construction at the WUNR site will raise the signal power to 95 kW from 5 kW; WCRN already runs 50 kW during the day from the site in question and has been doing so for almost 10 years; the additional tower would merely extend the hours during which the higher power will be used.
Of course, there is some possibility that Carter doesn't want to spend the money and so is not unhappy about the delay, but that seems improbable to me. Rumor had it that the steel was on the ground waiting for the riggers to show up when the Town refused the permit. In that case, the vast majority of the money had already been spent. OTOH, if that rumor was true, why did Carter wait so long to apply for the permit?
