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Big 105.3/1570 going Internet Only

Gregg. said:
For now, EMF will have to be satisfied with an FM translator, broadcasting at 250 watts, in Boston.
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Actually it's not in Boston, and its signal doesn't cover Boston proper. It's in Medford with a directional pattern nulled toward Boston.

Heading from Medford toward Boston, it becomes weak in Somerville, spotty in Cambridge, and across the Charles River in Boston proper (Back Bay, Downtown, and the neighborhoods to the south), it's practically gone.

That's not only due to the directional null, but also the second-adjacent IBOC-HD blanketing from 105.7 WROR on the Pru gobbles it up in town. Some parts of the City of Boston where it can be heard somewhat include East Boston, Charlestown, and Brighton west of the main null and away from the Pru.

Its signal is good in the Mystic Valley suburbs north of Boston, and fair on the lower North Shore and in the north and northwest suburbs within Route 128.
 
Gregg. said:
So 1570 and the 105.3 translator are airing K-Love. Boston was perhaps the last large market where the Educational Media Foundation didn't have a toehold. Up and down the coast, K-Love or Air 1 are on numerous stations. There's 95.5 in Providence, the former Brown University outlet that had been Alternative Rock. 106.5 in the Portsmouth market, 93.9 in Portland, 106.9 in Hartford. K-Love just took over the former Cumulus stations in NYC (95.5 WPLJ) and Washington (107.3 WRQX), after taking over 100.3 in Los Angeles the previous year.

For now, EMF will have to be satisfied with an FM translator, broadcasting at 250 watts, in Boston.

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I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is just a place-holder for EMF until something more attractive comes along.
 
Channel 83 said:
I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is just a place-holder for EMF until something more attractive comes along.
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WXRV? WAAF? WBWL? Or would it have to be a full-market signal one of the market's major players no longer wants? And what is the nature of EMF's relationship with 1570/105.3? Is this a leased-time agreement rather than a station sale? Has EMF done that in any other markets?
 
jlehmann said:
1570 and 105.3 are now airing K Love. No word yet if it's a sale or LMA.
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Spun the dial by this station (the FM translator) for the first time in many weeks, and noticed that it has been broadcasting nothing but a dead carrier since late yesterday afternoon. I don't know for how long before that.

I'm not close enough to hear the parent station 1570 AM on its low night power, so I don't know whether the entire station is silent, or if it's just a feed loss to the FM translator.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
I can get the day power AM signal now, also a dead carrier. Entire station just dead carriers, 1570 AM and translator 105.3 FM
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Eli,

Is it legal for a station to transmit an unmodulated carrier for an extended period? I'm not talking about for test purposes, like what WMEX is doing. If this station is no longer broadcasting OTA, then why not turn off the transmitter? It's hard to believe that none of their loyal listeners didn't bother to call in and bring it to the attention of the powers that be at Costa-Eagle.
 
nowradioguy said:
Eli,

Is it legal for a station to transmit an unmodulated carrier for an extended period? I'm not talking about for test purposes, like what WMEX is doing. If this station is no longer broadcasting OTA, then why not turn off the transmitter? It's hard to believe that none of their loyal listeners didn't bother to call in and bring it to the attention of the powers that be at Costa-Eagle.
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they had been broadcasting Klove... so just the old classic hits format is online only, no OTA.

And yes, its not legal to do what theyve done i dont think
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
they had been broadcasting Klove... so just the old classic hits format is online only, no OTA.

And yes, its not legal to do what theyve done i dont think
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If I'm not mistaken, Costa-Eagle has their studios are up here in Methuen. Some time ago, must have been well over a year, I called AM 1570's sister station AM 1110 (WCCM at that time) to let them know that they were broadcasting two simultaneous but unrelated audio feeds, most likely due to an unintentional cross-connection with one of their other outlets. Girl who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about, but said she'd refer it to engineering. It took, IIRC, more than a day to resolve said issue. Doesn't anyone in that building bother to check on what's actually transmitted OTA? Or in the present day situation, IF anything is being transmitted OTA?
 
nowradioguy said:
If I'm not mistaken, Costa-Eagle has their studios are up here in Methuen. Some time ago, must have been well over a year, I called AM 1570's sister station AM 1110 (WCCM at that time) to let them know that they were broadcasting two simultaneous but unrelated audio feeds, most likely due to an unintentional cross-connection with one of their other outlets. Girl who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about, but said she'd refer it to engineering. It took, IIRC, more than a day to resolve said issue. Doesn't anyone in that building bother to check on what's actually transmitted OTA? Or in the present day situation, IF anything is being transmitted OTA?
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Most stations have a silence sensor / dead air alarm. Some can substitute a backup audio feed if the silence persists. It doesn''t have to break the budget:

https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/free-silence-sensor-offers-worthy-set-of-features

Maybe they could spin this as a new oldies format - The Sounds of Silence, all day, all night...
 
MarcB said:
I was picking up a faint signal on 1570 that was playing music on my car stereo in Plainville, Connecticut this morning. I was able to match the music to 106.9 FM, the local K-Love station in Hartford, so WUBG 1570 is back on.
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I still find it real sad that the once great WCCC-FM is K-Love now....
 
Time Traveler said:
I still find it real sad that the once great WCCC-FM is K-Love now....
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nowradioguy said:
Ditto for WPLJ, NYC and WBRU, Providence; both legendary FM rockers in better days.
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If there were enough listeners and ad dollars available, then the station would be more valuable as a commercially formatted station. But the marketplace has changed and ad dollars are disappearing.

That and the sentiment that a commercially formatted station would see it's value grow as an asset..would have kept them in the stable of commercial operators.

But, alas, time changes things....
 
Wimmmex said:
That and the sentiment that a commercially formatted station would see it's value grow as an asset..would have kept them in the stable of commercial operators.
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Coupled with the limited number of commercial operators willing to spend money to buy towers and transmitters. The main ones are topped out in most major cities.
 
The situation with WCCC was a bit different. There was a bidding war for the station between Connoisseur Media and K-Love. Had Connoisseur ended up with WCCC there's no doubt they would've kept WCCC's Classic Rock format in tact. (WCCC flipped from Mainstream Rock to Classic Rock in 2013). That said however, they would've cheapened the whole operation. After H. Stern went to satellite radio, WCCC was 100% live and local 24/7 aside from airing New England Patriots football 16 weeks out of the year. Marlin Broadcasting the owner of WCCC at the time did not believe in Voice-Tracking. K-LOVE got WCCC and Connoisseur got WDRC, which they blew up. They fired everyone and did a Classic Hits of the 70s, 80s, and more. They also eliminated all Disco Music. The music had an 80s lean to it. In January 2015 Connoisseur blew up WDRC a second time and flipped it to Classic Rock as 102.9 The Whale. They sold WDRC and its AM talk network to Full Power Radio in 2018.
 
"Big FM" is posting on their Facebook page about special weekend music features on their internet only stream. If they are not OTA anymore, why are they maintaining the stream and continuing to promote it on FB?
 
leegart3 said:
"Big FM" is posting on their Facebook page about special weekend music features on their internet only stream. If they are not OTA anymore, why are they maintaining the stream and continuing to promote it on FB?
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Are there ads on it that may be making them a little money? I haven’t listened much since it went online only, but the oldies music programming on WUBG was from a national oldies programming service (Westwood One I think) that I remember was full of national ads in the breaks. Maybe they get something from clearing those in this area even if only online? Don’t really know.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
Are there ads on it that may be making them a little money? I haven’t listened much since it went online only, but the oldies music programming on WUBG was from a national oldies programming service (Westwood One I think) that I remember was full of national ads in the breaks. Maybe they get something from clearing those in this area even if only online? Don’t really know.
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The national ads may have been be barter, but you still have to have some sort of local revenue if for no other reason than to pay the music royalty fees for streaming
 
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