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Wbz transmitter - down

O

Omnibus

Guest
If you have trouble tuning in WBZ Radio - AM 1030 their Transmitter in Hull is down.

I think it was the transmitter installed by Marconi...

It has happened before.
 
Okay, then Marconi built the towers.... ;-) Think everything is fixed now. Listening to Morgan White, Jr. now at 10:50 PM and the signal is coming in loud and clear.
frankberry said:
The transmitters are rather new. The WBZ towers are in bad shape.
Click to expand...
 
As I understand the towers were completely rebuilt and guy wires replaced/upgraded within the last 8 years. It would have been 2007 or later as I noticed them running from Allston a lot on my way home driving down Rt 3. on the south shore during that rebuild period (no HD and rather weaker signal). There was info about it on fybush.com at the time.

They had to rebuild them in place to avoid disrupting the marsh they sit in. That couldn't have been cheap. The Hull site was built after Marconi died anyway.

For all anyone knows the outage was planned. Seeing it was a Sunday night that is likely. Knock them all you want for rare downtime, but aside from having one the best (if not the best) signals of the all the clears they are one of the few stations in the country to have an alternate transmitter site to keep the show going when working on the main to go along with the redundant transmitters at the main site.
 
spt87 said:
For all anyone knows the outage was planned. Seeing it was a Sunday night that is likely.
Click to expand...
Actually, it was Saturday (I first noted it in the morning about 9:20), but, yeah, in all likelihood planned.
Heh, yesterday morning at 6:44, “...bring your raincoat and umbrella, as there will be showers and thunderstorms, some of which could be severe—”....Dead air and lots of lightning static!
They returned to air within 15-30 sec., with reduced power and no IBOC (YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! :) ) to—likely—their Brighton studio backup and appeared back to normal (Hull xmtr, with IBOC) by 9:30am.
 
spt87 said:
As I understand the towers were completely rebuilt and guy wires replaced/upgraded within the last 8 years. It would have been 2007 or later as I noticed them running from Allston a lot on my way home driving down Rt 3. on the south shore during that rebuild period (no HD and rather weaker signal). There was info about it on fybush.com at the time.

They had to rebuild them in place to avoid disrupting the marsh they sit in. That couldn't have been cheap. The Hull site was built after Marconi died anyway.

For all anyone knows the outage was planned. Seeing it was a Sunday night that is likely. Knock them all you want for rare downtime, but aside from having one the best (if not the best) signals of the all the clears they are one of the few stations in the country to have an alternate transmitter site to keep the show going when working on the main to go along with the redundant transmitters at the main site.
Click to expand...

Yup, I remember those days when 'BZ was running on reduced power.

I would hope that IF CBS ever decides to spin off its radio division, it does not dump stations like WBZ, KDKA, KYW, WCBS, WBBM, KNX, KCBS, all heritage stations, and all of which are co-owned with a TV station in their respective markets.
 
Saturday Morning : WBZ Transmitter Down Again

If you are getting bad reception at AM 1030 this morning its Hull transmitter is down again for work.
 
Omnibus said:
If you are getting bad reception at AM 1030 this morning its Hull transmitter is down again for work.
Click to expand...

Yep, they went from full power from Hull to a WMEX-like signal in no time. I must've fallen back to sleep when they made the transition, because when I awoke again, there was a weak signal with lots of background static. They stayed that way for quite some time, although I did turn them off circa 9 AM. When I tuned in again at 4:430 or so, they were back up at full power.

Too bad they don't do their maintenance when they're running infomercials on Saturday/Sunday evenings or Sunday mornings.
 
nowradioguy said:
Too bad they don't do their maintenance when they're running infomercials on Saturday/Sunday evenings or Sunday mornings.
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Um, because those are paid-periods of time. Why would they do maintenance when they actually make enough to at least pay the electric bill those hours?
 
Kelly A said:
Um, because those are paid-periods of time. Why would they do maintenance when they actually make enough to at least pay the electric bill those hours?
Click to expand...

Gee, silly me thinking WBZ does quite well in both listenership and billing with its news content. If I thought they were really that hard up for revenue, I'd probably send them a contribution to keep them on the air.

Radio broadcasting is going to self-destruct with this unrelenting and overarching emphasis on billing and revenue. Where else on radio are we supposed to get our news feed? (Sorry, the ultra-left NPR stations don't cut it with a lot of us.

Similar situation with 'BZ sister WODS. Billing is great, despite lower listenership, so the AMP format must rule. Schrew us who enjoyed our "classic hits" with live personalities who spoke our language.

I just knew my post would bring out the "radio is a business" party line.

Modern Radio - as long as we can bill, you get to listen to swill.

"THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT!" - The Great One, Mark Levin.
 
Remember when WBZ signed off at midnight Sunday night (into Monday) and about 10 minutes later brought up the Soldiers Field Rd. transmitter running a taped test program that started "This is WBZ Boston testing the auxiliary transmitter."
 
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