Ed Perry buys WXBR 1460

from Tom Taylor's newsletter:
>>South-of-Boston WXBR Brockton (1460) sells for $165,000, not quite three years after Jhonson Napoleon’s Florida-based Azure Media paid $250,000 for it. If the call letters seem familiar, Azure bought WXBR from Business TalkRadio Network. Jhonson Napoleon’s plan was to target the local Haitian community, but now the 5,000 watt-daytime/1,000-watt nighttime signal will go to a longtime local owner. That’s Ed Perry of Marshfield Broadcasting, who runs “95.9 WATD, the South Shore’s Radio Station.” It’s a community-involved AC station licensed to Marshfield.
And:
http://www.enterprisenews.com/article/20150505/NEWS/150508225/0/breaking_ajax

>>Ed Perry, owner of 95.9 WATD-FM, said Tuesday that he has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the company that owns WXBR 1460 AM. He said he made a deposit with Azure Media, and last week submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission.
“We’re excited about this,” Perry said. “I think it can be a good resource for the community and can be a good business for us.”
Perry said a lot remains up in the air, but that he hopes to have a dedicated Brockton version of Marshfield-based WATD, perhaps called WATD-AM, operating in time to broadcast Brockton High School football games this fall.

Maybe there is life left for good local AM radio after all.

DavidZ said:

Maybe there is life left for good local AM radio after all.

Click to expand...

"Don't stop believing...!"

Yaay, Ed Perry!

I've wondered for a while about the state of local radio in some of the larger towns/small cities in southeast MA. It seems they should be able to support locally oriented stations if someone gave it a go. I wish Ed good luck with his new endeavor.

Now, in Plymouth, when is someone going to do something useful with WPLY-AM? Plymouth is big enough to support local radio even if just with a hyper local morning show and some local high school sports mixed in then simulcast easy 99.1 the rest of the time but maybe add a network TOH newscast around the clock.

spt87 said:

Now, in Plymouth, when is someone going to do something useful with WPLY-AM? Plymouth is big enough to support local radio even if just with a hyper local morning show and some local high school sports mixed in then simulcast easy 99.1 the rest of the time but maybe add a network TOH newscast around the clock.

Click to expand...

The owner of WPLM probably does not care what's on the air as long as the LMA check doesn't bounce. Unfortunately that's how a lot of small market AMers operate. Of course one would have to see what the LMA contract says, I'm sure if someone came along and offered WPLM more money for the air-time they can cancel (or buy-out) the existing LMA of the station.

New edition of NE Radio Watch at http://www.fybush.com noted Perry has
to find a new transmitter site and may have to cut power (am guessing that
means if he has to move in a certain direction he may need to go
to lower power to avoid interfering with other stations?)

Knowing what I know of "the old troll of Rock and Roll", Ed has already figured all of this out.

the WATD transmitter site is about 15 miles away as the crow goes.

first adjacent 1470 WAZN is problem #1, but moving the stick pretty much straight east shouldn't be a problem, the big issue is getting nighttime coverage over the C.O.L. with 1000 watts

first adjacent WHLL Springfield is probably the reason for the almost complete null to the west of the current transmitter site... a little more wattage to cover the COL from MArshfield should not be an issue.

One of the big issues would be protecting the (dark) Canadian maritime stations. The North River is a pretty good path to salt water

Also WNBP on 1450 is a clear shot across the water to the North Shore from MarshVegas... that could really get in the way

The 1460 and 1470 are the closest adjacents I've ever seen. When WAZN-1470 applied for the current site, the 1460 owners (pre-Haitian) were asleep. IIRC, 1470 asked the FCC for a waiver for nighttime interference to 1460-Brockton. 1470's night signal aims southeast from Lexington with about 3400 watts. Almost directly in its path, is Brockton's 1460, just about 20 to 25-or-so miles away. This will be a real toughie, but if anyone can do it, Ed Perry can. (maybe with the help of Dana?)

Ed Perry is one of the most underrated engineers in the business. He is one of my radio heroes, right up there with Simon Geller and some guy named Bob Bittner.....

the sad thing is that is Ed Perry has to sacrifice coverage to protect 1470, or he looses coverage due to interference from 1470, the people who loose are the 1460 listeners, as I would bet the farm Ed Perry is going to put out a superior programming product that serves the C.O.L and the surrounding area.... something I can't say about 1470

IIRC MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting's logic for 1470 was to get the Asian community in Quincy to listen. They were simulcasting one of their NYC stations in one of the Chinese dialects at night.. they were doing NBA in Chinese when that Chinese guy was playing.

With no sales staff, no promotional budget, and a staff consisting of a GM, one full time, and one part time board op, we all know how that went...how do you say KAPUT in Russian?

FCC rules say, an AM station may move within 2 miles (or is it 2km?) from its current site without having to file a tech study, and without having to lose coverage area or power. With Ed's excellent reputation, he could certainly convince the Brockton city zoning folks of the value of Brockton having its own station; the only one left. A 2 mile radius gives a lot of possibilities, land-wise.

Any translators for sale in that neck of the woods that Ed could pick up and use to augment the 1460 signal?

not a chance, where he already owns WATD they would say no, just as they did when he was part of a non profit that was trying to get a vacant allocation on 91.7
to run the Talking Information Center on, an allocation that went to U Mass (like every effn thing else that is open that somehow goes to them... a programming service with ratings that are as close to zero as you can get but I digress), and the FCC said because Ed Perry was involved in the licensing process and he already had a FM, they were disqualifying them.

MRBIboredop said:

...an allocation that went to U Mass (like every effn thing else that is open that somehow goes to them...),

Click to expand...

That progression appears to have finally stopped since someone was finally dethroned there a few years ago... (and their home signal is currently being eaten up by splattering overmodulating first-adjacent pirates in the Boston area...)

Yup a Haitian religious pirate on 91.7 and another unauthorized signal I've picked up in Revere,etc on 92.1

MRBIboredop said:

not a chance, where he already owns WATD they would say no, just as they did when he was part of a non profit that was trying to get a vacant allocation on 91.7
to run the Talking Information Center on, an allocation that went to U Mass (like every effn thing else that is open that somehow goes to them... a programming service with ratings that are as close to zero as you can get but I digress), and the FCC said because Ed Perry was involved in the licensing process and he already had a FM, they were disqualifying them.

Click to expand...

Interesting that he got turned down for the 91.7 allocation, didn't know that.

One could argue that 1460 really isn't served all that well by the 95.9 signal. It may still be city grade in Brockton proper, but it starts to fade out once you get west of 24.

Either way, I wish Ed the best of luck. It'll be better than what's airing on 1460 now -- dead air as of less than an hour ago.

I wish Ed the best with this. He owned 1410 in Brockton for awhile and had the WATD call there. Perhaps 1460 gets that call now?

MRBIboredop said:

With no sales staff, no promotional budget, and a staff consisting of a GM, one full time, and one part time board op, we all know how that went...how do you say KAPUT in Russian?

Click to expand...

КАПУТ