[BC] Another one bites the dust in Washington, DC

[R J Carpenter]

From: Gary Blau <gblau at w3am.com>

> Not sure what classical fans in Montgomery County are going to be 
> able to hear.

I drove around Rockville & south Gaitherburg a couple of days ago. 
104.1 was OK - 103.9 was not to be heard (IBOC-effect?).  Not so sure 
that line-cord antennas inside apartments will be successful.

The 104.1 / 103.9 combo brings up the question of IBOC sidebands.  But 
WGMS(FM) has been a  bit marginal in Frederick or over the mountain 
and this change should help those listeners a lot - all thousand of 
them.  Woo, hoo!!!

> Or the ones inside govt. office buildings in DC.  I remember we used 
> to
> have a dedicated EQ'd phone circuit to the Pentagon so the then Sec.
> Def. could listen reliably in his office.
> 104.1 has far less building penetration downtown than 103.5, so 
> they're
> going to be getting a lot of complaints from at-work listeners.

> Wonder why they didn't first try putting the all news on 
> 104.1/103.9,
> instead of crippling their #3 12+ classical franchise?

Money.  WTOP bills about $41 million a year, WGMS just under $10 
million. Even though WTOP has much, much higher costs, it is likely 
considerably more profitable. WTOP was already on 107.7. which is even 
more a rimshot than 104.1.

There have been substantial complaints from WTOP listeners from 
Balitmore and Fredericksburg, VA, who commute to DC about the 
impending loss of the good signal from 1500. That has to have been a 
calculated loss.  Putting WTOP on 1500 and 103.5  apparently was 
considered "too expensive".

I wonder why Bonneville didn't use its deep pockets and buy a real 
DC-area FM signal for WTOP - then sell 103.9, 104.1, 107.7 amd 820 for 
whatever they would bring. Yes a full DC-area FM signal would cost 
large heaps of $$$, but then they'd have something rather than 
pip-squeak rim-shots and a questionable business plan for 1500 / 820 / 
107.7, ... and choosing to write off a lot of the classical listeners.

I wonder how many XM/Sirius radios the WGMS changes will sell.  One 
already sees sat antennas on a lot of cars in the DC area.

bob c.