> I don't know if anyone here is able to interpret the FCC's
> list of AM modifications and new frequencies
http://> hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-1604A2.pdf,
> which was released yesterday. However, if I'm reading it
> correctly, is Langer trying to move 650 to Lexington, MA,
> basically making it a Boston rimshot?
>
> There's also a mention of 1580 Cordaville (Southboro), MA,
> and also WAZN 1470, but I can't tell at all what any of this
> means.
>
WAZN has already moved to "Watertown" and is operating from the WTTT site on Concord Ave in Lexington with 1400W-D/3400W-N DA-2 (three towers day and night). I believe that a license to cover has been granted, although the FCC AM database doesn't say so. There is also an error in the latest record for the station's nighttime operation. Somewhere and somehow the record for tower #3, which was in the original application as the FCC accepterd it for filing, has been lost. The result is that the night pattern appears to be much looser than it really is or can be without interfering with the 1470 station in Lewiston ME. Three or four months ago, I brought this to the attention of WAZN/WLYN's GM, Jeff Kline, who occasionally posts here, and he said not to worry about it, but the error has not been corrected, nor has the database been updated to show that the facilities the station has been using for about a year have finally been licensed.
There is also an error in the Cordaville app. IIRC, the proposed station would operate with 1 kW-D/250W-N DA-N (six towers). According to the app, two towers are in the same spot, which would be impossible to build and screws up the night pattern. It's supposed to protect the Canadian border and because of the error, it doesn't. This station could conceivably make money by broadcasting 24/7 in Portuguese to the large community of Portuguese speakers in MetroWest (but see my other comments later in this posting). What I don't know, and what nobody who reads this board is likely to know, is whether land is really available for the six-tower array at a price that makes any economic sense and whether the town in which the land is located (Framingham? Cordaville is part of Framingham) has any prayer of granting a building permit for the towers. Anyhow, the FCC has not yet granted a CP and given the skyrocketing price of homes in MetroWest, if a CP and a building permit are granted, the land cost is likely to extend the time for the investors to recoup their investment well into the next milennium.
And what I just said about Cordaville is true in spades for Alex's proposal to move WSRO to Lexington with transmitter in Canton--yes, Canton (on the east side of Route 1) about 30 miles south of Lexington. WSRO would remain a Class D AM but would increase power to 5 kW (from the current 250W). To do this, Alex proposes to build a six-tower array that would produce a very narrow pattern aimed due north to put the requisite 5 mV/m over Lexington. There would be a small lobe to the east to cover Brockton. The need to protect an allocation in Frederickton NB (to allow night service, albeit still as a Class D AM) and an application in Maine (Rangely, IIRC) results in a null to the northeast so that coverage of the City of Boston would be minimal. A six-tower array for 650 takes A LOT of land. I once figured out how many acres would be required for this one and it's huge. Unless the real-estate market here goes flat bust, the land-acquisition cost would exceed the highest imaginable valuation for the station by a factor of at least 20 times. I think this upgrade has at best a 0.01% chance of being built. Also, it appears that the FCC considers the WSRO upgrade and the Rangely proposal to be mutually exclusive, although I'm not sure that they really are.