In this week’s issue… WMEX is back: will this time be the charm? – More AMs succumb to pandemic downturn – Crash kills Canadian radio vet – CRTC Kisses off power increase

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*It’s taken Ed Perry much longer than expected to make his dream a reality – but barring any further catastrophes, pandemics, construction delays or other obstacles, this morning will at long last mark the official debut of his revival of Boston’s WMEX (1510).

It’s been two and a half years since Perry bought the 1510 license (and not much else), and more than two months since the original March 9 date Perry had planned for the return of a separate oldies format to WMEX. The AM signal is now licensed to Quincy and running 10,000 watts by day, 100 watts at night, diplexed from one tower of the WBIX (1260) array, almost within sight of the old Quincy site that WMEX used in its heyday, when it was one of the city’s top-40 giants.

That 1510 signal later was relocated to Waltham with a directionally-challenged 50 kW and an impossible monthly tower site rent. When the towers were razed, 1510 went silent and might well have just disappeared entirely, had Perry not stepped forward to buy the license. Since returning to the air, the new WMEX has mostly been simulcasting Perry’s flagship station, WATD (95.9 Marshfield), and it will continue to simulcast with WATD for morning drive and at night.

But after having that March 9 start date delayed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Perry is finally ready to bring on the oldies and an airstaff of Boston radio veterans.

Here’s how it plays out: Larry Justice will take the airwaves at 9:15 AM, when the WATD simulcast ends, broadcasting live from his home studio in Florida. Joe McMillan, live from Maine, will be heard from 2-6 PM weekdays. On weekends, the WATD simulcast will break away at 8 AM for oldies with Jimmy Jay, running until noon on Saturdays and 1 PM Sundays.

There’s more yet to come from Perry: WMEX’s 101.1 translator has yet to hit the air, and plans for a shipboard launch party this month have obviously had to be scrapped.

And Perry’s other WATD simulcast, which broke away for a while this winter before the pandemic forced it back to a full simulcast, will start programming independently again next month: that’s WBMS (1460/101.1) in Brockton, which has targeted June 22 for the return of the separate programming it dropped in late March.

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You don't have to stop reading here! Each week's NorthEast Radio Watch is packed full of exclusive, in-depth reporting and analysis from across the nine states and five provinces we've been serving since 1994. You won't find anything like it on any free site - and you can read the rest of this week's column for just $2.99 by clicking on the "Purchase Only" link below. 

Or click here to subscribe and enjoy full access to current NERW and Tower Site of the Week columns and two decades of searchable archives -- for as little as 25 cents per day.

If you are already a member, please login to view the rest of this column. (If the site does not recognize your username, don't panic! Either your subscription has expired and we need to reactivate your account, or your username and email do not match our payment records and we need to link them. Please email Lisa,  or call her at 585-442-5411, for instructions.)

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Philipsburg Pa. (spelled correctly with one l ) WPHB
    original callsign ( meaning Philipsburg) 1260 founded June 1 1956. My Namesake.

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