WVCA play and station

--Over next couple weeks the Gloucester Stage Company has a play called My Station in Life, I believe about Simon Geller and his one man radio station WVCA 104.9 (now WBOQ)

http://gloucesterstage.com/station-in-life/

--A construction permit was issued in '16 for Ipswich based WVCA 88.3 (smooth jazz and senior programming).Some Facebook posts claimed it would be on air by spring of 2017.
A post today says Coming Soon.
https://www.facebook.com/WVCAFM/

A shared freq with WBMT, 500 w?

Based on this: http://wvca.com/wvca_fishtown.html

raccoonradio said:

--A construction permit was issued in '16 for Ipswich based WVCA 88.3 (smooth jazz and senior programming).Some Facebook posts claimed it would be on air by spring of 2017.
A post today says Coming Soon.
https://www.facebook.com/WVCAFM/

A shared freq with WBMT, 500 w?

Click to expand...

Don't know if that would have been shared. The WVCA CP transmitter location is up by Newbury, several miles north/northeast of the WBMT transmitter, and the CP for WVCA says a directional antenna, while WBMT is non-directional.

WVCA says they plan to serve the Newburyport and Cape Ann areas along the coast, maybe the directional pattern would be nulled inland southwest to protect WBMT? No predicted pattern map is on Radio-Locator yet.

Yes there was a group attempting to put a shared freq station on.
But yes, the stick may be far enough away from WBMT (which is 660 w or so).The new station may have a COH of Newbury but plan to use Ipswich studios.

If WVCA calls were to represent Voice of Cape Ann, well Cape Ann is Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Manchester by the Sea and perhaps Ipswich.

At one time WNBP 1450 had the calls WNCG as in Newburyport-Coast-Gloucester.

WBMT should not even have a license, it should have been denied/revoked long ago.

MRBIboredop said:

WBMT should not even have a license, it should have been denied/revoked long ago.

Click to expand...

Why? Enlighten us, I'm familiar with the station only a slight bit and have never heard them.. I've just heard OF them.

SomeRadioGuy said:

Why? Enlighten us, I'm familiar with the station only a slight bit and have never heard them.. I've just heard OF them.

Click to expand...

THey were broadcasting for years without a license as they appealed fines they would not pay

THey would shut down for the summer and for school vacations.

A complete waste of a license and there were other local groups that wanted the license.

Kids don't GARA about radio, and besides like many schools they stream.


https://www.rbr.com/how-license-renewal-held-up-since-2006-was-resolved/


https://www.fcc.gov/document/masconoment-regional-school-district-station-wbmtfm-boxford-ma

MRBIboredop said:

THey were broadcasting for years without a license as they appealed fines they would not pay

THey would shut down for the summer and for school vacations.

A complete waste of a license and there were other local groups that wanted the license.

Kids don't GARA about radio, and besides like many schools they stream.

Click to expand...

WERB (94.5) in Berlin, CT (Berlin High School) is still going, largely on autopilot but with students still doing some programming during the school year.

Post I made in Dec of '15
>> http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1628760
Group applying for CP that would be a time share
with Boxford's WBMT 88.3,and supposedly want
WVCA calls. The Masconomet station is on
3-9pm during school year,I believe.

There was talk that such a time share, if granted, would mean the new station would be on anytime but 3-9 pm Mon-Fri (not sure about weekends), and full time in the summer.
But as has been said, WVCA's license and tx location would mean no time share...?

WVCA wanted to try to move to 88.1 but it got denied.
Feb of 2018
>>New England Broadcasting Edu. Group’s 2016 application to relocate 88.3 WVCA Newbury MA to 88.1 Seabrook NH has been dismissed. WVCA filed the application in an attempt to break its time-share with 88.3 WBMT Boxford MA as the facilities would no longer overlap, however the FCC contends that rule § 73.56 l(b)(l) which states that share-time agreements “shall not include simultaneous operation of the stations” comes into play. That requires a new filing to break a time-share must come in a filing window.

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/122895/fcc-report-2-4-pensacola-translator-dismissed-debts/

WVCA info
https://fccdata.org/?facid=197976

Transmitter location seems to be just off Rt 1 in Newbury. Permit expires next March. 500 watts. Owner address is in Ipswich. New Eng Broadcast Educational Group

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=64228
Pg 9 of 17:
>>22. The Agreement: Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement,
• Masconomet will operate WBMT(FM) from 10:00 am. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Friday,
September through June;
• NEBEG will operate its station from 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m., Monday through Friday,
September through June;
• NEBEG will operate its station from 10:00 p.m. on Friday until 10:00 a.m. on Monday all year;
and
• NEBEG will operate its station 24 hours each day during the months of July and August.
Thus, both Masconomet and NEBEG will comply with the minimum hours provisions of Section
73.56 1(a) of the Commission's rules. We therefore shall approve the Agreement and grant the both the
WBMT(FM) license renewal applications and the NEBEG Application.

>>THey were broadcasting for years without a license

So I guess the FCC is renewing their license if this share thing goes through..._what_ license...? Maybe FCC giving them another chance,
if some issues are addressed? This letter (see above) was from Jan of this yr.

Am hearing WVCA 88.3 may be on by next month--studios in Ipswich, licensed to Newbury
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=Wvca&x=20&y=8&sr=Y&s=C

https://www.wvcafm.com/

As reported early on, the station WBMT did not operate during school vacation & summer. Perfectly fine with the FCC. The station must operate at least 5 hours a day on days school is in session. I think minimum requirement is 35 hours a week on full weeks it operates. Many public and private school and college stations operate only on days class is in session. This does not mean a station license cannot be contested but any that do are in for a long and hard fought battle under normal circumstances. WAVM in Maynard, Massachusetts is a good example of such.

Ironically, stations getting fined by the FCC are afforded appeals. They can contest the fine and even claim hardship. In such circumstances, if license renewal comes up before resolution, the license renewal comes only after everything is resolved. Generally the station operates normally until the issue is settled. Considering the backlog at the FCC (I hear over a year), it could take a long time, possibly a few years. In some instances fines are reduced, eliminated, etc. Think of it as being charged with a crime. You might be found innocent or receive less than the standard punishment and that process can go on for a long time before it is resolved. Unless you are really a bad person, you'll likely be granted bail, sometimes on your word versus monetary bond, and allowed to go on with your life until judgment happens.