[BC] Cousin Brucie (WRAN)

[Kevin Tekel]

Willie wrote:
> This is why I think it is a real shame that he wasn't able to make that
> station fly! Own it, but let someone who is Business Savvy (in the GOOD
> sense) take care of the minutae, so he can have an airshift to do what
> he LOVES! :) I'm sure WRAN would have picked up more listeners, had he
> done that.

WRAN's problem is that their 10 kW directional signal was imperfect to
begin with, and to make matters even worse, it was highly nulled in the
direction of the largest population growth.  They should've reverted to
non-directional operation, as even with the required power drop, it
would've done a much better job of covering their local area.

But the loss of 1510 WRAN opened up the opportunity for another nearby
community-oriented station, WRNJ in Hackettstown, to move up to 1510 kHz,
when WINS booted them off their original 1000 kHz spot so they could
upgrade their signal on 1010 back in 1995.  The new 1510 WRNJ started off
at about 900 watts non-directional, daytime only, and now they're at 2000
watts daytime, 1100 watts critical hours (both non-D) and 230W nighttime
directional.  That nighttime signal is poor due to being squeezed at both
ends by the 1510s in Nashville and Boston, but now they have two FM
translators on the air 24/7 which mostly solves the problem.  WRNJ has had
the same format for well over a decade now: Oldies music, with a strong
local emphasis and lots of locally based talk, sports, and community
affairs programming on weekends.

But, as a relic of their original frequency, WRNJ's telephone number still
ends in "1000".

p.s. The 1510 in Boston is especially bad at night, as their carrier is at
least 15 Hz off-frequency, and has been for years now.  Technically it's
still within FCC specs, but the fluttering effect makes a mess when it
combines with anything else on the frequency.  (I used to hear the same
thing on 1540 WDCD/WPTR, as Crawford Broadcasting purposely off-tuned
their carriers to reduce C-Quam platform motion for local listeners, but
now that Crawford has dumped AM Stereo in favor of IBOC, iBiquity requires
AM IBOC stations to lock their carrier to GPS, ensuring an exactly
on-center signal.)


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