WSAR has a Construction Permit for 25,000 watts daytime.

[LA_Guy]

The new WSAR day signal will make them a local signal in Providence.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WSAR&service=AM&status=C&hours=D

 

[N1WVQ]

This was announced awhile back.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

So not a smart move.....AM going down hill.also if they ever do expanded FM I thought AMs had first dibs on new FM freq.?????.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

if they ever do expanded FM I thought AMs had first dibs on new FM freq.?????.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the FCC to expand the FM band down to 76Mhz. or even 82Mhz. anytime soon.

Instead of sugar-plums, the only vision dancing in the heads of the Commission this Christmas is Broadband internet, and it's looking like VHF Channels 5 and 6 may not disppear from the TV landscape after all as part of the so-called "band re-packing" scheme.

Besides....take a look at what happened when the FCC tried to reduce congestion in the AM band with the "X-band", from 1610 to 1700 Khz. The idea was for daytimers (1110, for example), or "signal-challenged" operations (990 anyone?)...to RUN...not walk...to find relief on the expanded band.

What happened?......Nothing...Nada...Zilch.

 

[Skynet74]

I doubt that this will even put a dent in the ratings. That horrible dial position is a huge obstacle to overcome. It doesn't matter how many watts the station is if nobody is searching the extreme right hand side of the dial on AM.

 

[VelvetR]

It doesn't matter how many watts the station is if nobody is searching the extreme right hand side of the dial on AM.

People don't search the dial anymore. Radios search all the dial when told to search. Thing is, most people don't do that once they've "initialized" their vehicle radio and chosen the stations they want. And when's the last time you saw anyone using a radio in the home tuned to anything other than the stations they've listened to for years? Or, for that matter, using a radio in the home?

 

[reelyreal]

WSAR filed a 302-AM, application for license to cover on Thursday. Anybody been down 195 in Somerset to see if the new tower is up?

The future for stations like WSAR is internet-based. Investing tens of thousands of dollars in expensive antenna arrays is short-sighted. The land under the towers is becoming more valuable than the stations themselves. Over in New Britain, CT, WLAT applied for and was granted a change to their pattern, removed one of their 5 towers, and sold the land it once sat on to build a house.

Why invest the massive resources into building AM sites, or even investing it in FM, when those financial and staff resources could be focused on building a hyper-local interactive web presence? The money may not be there just yet, but if stations wait to capitalize on new media platforms until they're incredibly profitable, it'll be too late... the stations will miss the boat.

 

[Skynet74]

The station probably would have been better off investing money in promoting itself rather than spending all kinds of money for new towers.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

The future for stations like WSAR is internet-based. Investing tens of thousands of dollars in expensive antenna arrays is short-sighted.

I disagree. On the contrary...the Karams' investment in the signal upgrade actually represents some good long-term thinking. Not only does this technical change "introduce" 1480 to more real-estate in the New Bedford area and in the area of RI east of Narragansett Bay, it also solidifies the signal its its core area, as a way of trying to combat the ever-spreading sources of RF interference out there....everything from home PC's to CFL light bulbs to LED traffic lights.

PLUS...it increases the station's value should the Karams' decide to sell at some point.

IF they were really trying to run WSAR on the cheap, the schedule would be all brokered-out, with satellite-fed garbage running in any unsold hours. Who knows.....they might even be running old tapes of Catholic religious teaching programs in afternoon drive. ;D ;D ;D

No calls or frequency mentioned on that last one to protect the guilty

 

[Skynet74]

I do think the station is doing better these days than they were even a few years ago. But let's face facts. They are never going to be a powerhouse. Very few AM stations at the end of the dial are powerhouses. They are dangerously close to the frequency that the Department of transportations runs traffic reports on. It's WSAR and then beach reports. There are a couple of exceptions though. 1500 in Washington DC and 1520 in Buffalo which are both at 50,000 Watts. I guess they do OK since their reach is huge. However WSAR at 25,000 Watts isn't extending it's range all that much.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Sky:

I don't think even WSAR is expecting to become a "powerhouse".

The way I see it...all the signal upgrade really does is make 1480 an easier 'catch' in the Fall River/New Bedford area, where they already compete. If they manage to poach some listeners away from 1420-WBSM along the way, then so be it.

It's not as though we're witnessing a replay of the ill-fated "Providence market invasion" that the Battaglia family dreamed of in 1989 by moving....lock, stock and barrel....1400-WALE into Providence and onto 990.

 

[reelyreal]

Who's scanning the AM band these days?

I just don't see an appreciable increase in AM listenership of ANY AM station simply by increasing power and signal penetration.

I love community AM. That's where I got my start. I think community-focused radio is going to come back around, and I think 'SAR does a great job of it. However, if I were to have tens of thousands of dollars to reinvest in my property, I think I'd spend it in another way to increase listenership, other than building more infrastructure for a 100 year old technology.

I think that even $20k in cable TV ads would do more to increase listenership than the hope that there's an appreciable number of people out there who are totally into switching to the AM band and hitting "seek."

 

[aaronread]

The FCC specifically divides the AM band into three categories: local, regional and "clear" channels. Each is assigned to specific frequencies. The upshot here is that no amount of chicanery with your pattern can change your category into something it's not. Smart owners build their stations accordingly and program them accordingly, too.

WSAR is a regional station, and its new pattern doesn't change that. It's obviously much bigger than serving just Fall River...which a Class C (1000w day/night omni) would only accomplish and no more...but it's also nowhere near a "clear" channel frequency like a WBZ or WTIC.

Certainly increasing power is usually a good idea for an AM station; it may not expand your coverage per se, but it often will help a lot in solidifying your coverage. "Fortifying" it (so to speak) against the myriad array of RF noise sources out there these days. I think any WSAR listeners in New Bedford proper will certainly see that effect.

That said, I wonder how effective any AM station besides the Class A "clears" will be in the near future. Oh sure, there'll be some exceptions...niche formats especially. But so many Class B stations are "showing their age" in that they build in locations, and with patterns, that didn't anticipate where the population growth over the next 60 to 80 years would be. Precious few Class D daytime-only's are getting anywhere at all these days with such a huge handicap, and an awful lot of Class C's are just getting lost in the noise.

 

[talkerguy]

I am inclined to believe that the real target for WSAR is the Fall River - Taunton (MA) - Tiverton - Bristol (RI) business that they dominated in the first 50 or so years that they were on the air. Daniel Francis Hayen, Curtis W Hanson, Eugene Brown and the others of the 1970's were brilliant - but unique - and those days were but fleeting moments of holding a piece of Providence. During those years WALE and WBSM cemented their positions as local and, by 1980, had left WSAR isolated as a good signal with no place to call home.

 

[VelvetR]

What worked with 5kW twenty years ago doesn't work today. The WSAR signal has become less usable in much of the former coverage area due to the same factors that have caused every AM to lose coverage. The original field strength hasn't diminisied; the noise floor has crept up. Every new electronic device, despite FCC interference rules, contributed a tiny bit. Electronic device include snot only obvious stuff like CFL lighting, microwave ovens, but also every motor vehicle right down to a kid's gas powered scooter. In fact, some of that stuff is the worst.

It's a battle against the noise and WSAR is fighting. Their cost is not as great as you might think. The new tower is neither tall nor fancy. A new generation transmitter is far more efficient than the previous generation and hugely more efficient than earlier solid state stuff, let alone tube equipment. Toss in Dynamic Carrier Control (if they're using it) and they might actually save tad on power bills especially if they converted the lighting on the existing towers over to LED.

Trust me - been there; done that.

 

[northwoods]

The FCC specifically divides the AM band into three categories: local, regional and "clear" channels. Each is assigned to specific frequencies. The upshot here is that no amount of chicanery with your pattern can change your category into something it's not. Smart owners build their stations accordingly and program them accordingly, too.

WSAR is a regional station, and its new pattern doesn't change that. It's obviously much bigger than serving just Fall River...which a Class C (1000w day/night omni) would only accomplish and no more...but it's also nowhere near a "clear" channel frequency like a WBZ or WTIC.

Certainly increasing power is usually a good idea for an AM station; it may not expand your coverage per se, but it often will help a lot in solidifying your coverage. "Fortifying" it (so to speak) against the myriad array of RF noise sources out there these days. I think any WSAR listeners in New Bedford proper will certainly see that effect.

That said, I wonder how effective any AM station besides the Class A "clears" will be in the near future. Oh sure, there'll be some exceptions...niche formats especially. But so many Class B stations are "showing their age" in that they build in locations, and with patterns, that didn't anticipate where the population growth over the next 60 to 80 years would be. Precious few Class D daytime-only's are getting anywhere at all these days with such a huge handicap, and an awful lot of Class C's are just getting lost in the noise.

With the advent of streaming audio online, the dividing of categories and assigned specific frequencies is a moot issue since any small station that streams online can be heard anywhere in the world, that is if one specifically listens to radio online.

 

[Skynet74]

With the advent of streaming audio online, the dividing of categories and assigned specific frequencies is a moot issue since any small station that streams online can be heard anywhere in the world, that is if one specifically listens to radio online.

We live in the best and the worst of times. It's amazing that we can listen to virtually any station in the world now! If this technology had existed back in the 70s and 80's it would have been perfect! Unfortunately the technology shows up when every station sounds pretty much the same. Not quite as exciting as it could have been.

 

[reelyreal]

You're telling me every radio station in the world sounds the same?

C'mon now....

There's some incredible variety out there for traditional AM/FM stations that stream, and for internet-only stations.

 

[Skynet74]

You're telling me every radio station in the world sounds the same?

C'mon now....

There's some incredible variety out there for traditional AM/FM stations that stream, and for internet-only stations.

Of course not every radio station sounds exactly the same. But my point is that these days way to many of them do.

 

[aaronread]

With the advent of streaming audio online, the dividing of categories and assigned specific frequencies is a moot issue since any small station that streams online can be heard anywhere in the world, that is if one specifically listens to radio online.

If streaming alone could replace radio then there wouldn't be any such thing as a radio network of NPR stations. NPR central has made it quite clear that they are working towards a future when member stations don't exist and they deliver content (and fundraise directly from) the audience via other means of audio transmission (podcasting, webcasting, satellite radio, etc). John Sutton has written extensively about this at his blog: radiosutton.blogspot.com

However, the point is that there IS a network of NPR radio stations precisely because we are decades away from the internet infrastructure being even close to matching the content delivery capacity of broadcast AM and FM. And it's not just physics (Shannon–Hartley theorem) that's the problem; it's politics. Wireless internet capacity will always depend, in part, on towers. Towers have to be approved by local zoning boards. Local zoning boards take their sweet damn time reviewing and approving such towers, and that doesn't even account for when the board denies it and the case goes to appeals and then to court.

I put my personal and professional estimate that wireless internet is still 20 years away from replacing AM, FM and TV as a mass-media content delivery system. And the only reason I don't put it at 40 years is because it's foolish to future-gaze more than 20 years out...you can never tell when something completely new will change the entire game.

Note: mind you that wireless internet can kill off AM, FM and TV as a viable business model much, much faster than that, mostly due to the crushing debt load that most AM/FM/TV owners are carrying from the boom years of massive consolidation. In fact, I could see that killing coming as soon as this year. Probably more like within the next five to ten years. Depends heavily on how the economy goes.