[BC] WBZ as a IB

[Alan Kline]

As long as we're on the subject, I've scanned a letterhead from WBZ-WBZA
from 1927, with an Ekko stamp attached.

It's at:
http://www.snugglebunny.us/WBZ-WBZA.jpg

(Barry, Donna, Scott...if any of you find this interesting or useful,
please feel free to "borrow" it.  I have a larger scan available if you'd
like...)

ak

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005, Dan Strassberg wrote:

> I always thought that WBZ's IB status was the result of its having a
> synchronized station, WBZA Springfield (which, incidentally, was originally
> WBZ). Westinghouse first put WBZ on the air from a Westinghouse factory in
> Springfield. A year or so later, a synchronous transmitter was added to
> serve Boston and the WBZA calls were assigned here. Next, the call signs
> were flipped and eventually the Boston was signal improved while Springfield
> remianed 1 kW-U from the original rooftop antenna. Not until Westinghouse
> wanted to add its seventh major-market AM did WBZA have to go--because the
> acquisition of another station would have put the company over the ownership
> cap. IIRC, WBZA bit the dust to allow the purchase of WINS. If I'm right
> about that, the sacrifice of the Springfield "station," which generated no
> measurable revenue, was one of the smarter moves in US broadcast history. I
> can't say for sure that WBZA really was a factor in WBZ's IB status, but I
> don't think WBZ was classified or reclassified as a IA until WBZA went
> silent. Somebody will surely post the date--which must have been in the late
> '50s or early 60s.