| Community: | Beacon Hill |
|---|---|
| Channel: | 242D |
| Ownership: | Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures, LP |
W242AA operated on 96.3 MHz at an ERP of 5 watts, from MIT's Eastgate building in Kendall Square, below WMBR's antenna. The antenna was directional, with a primary coverage area of Beacon Hill and East Cambridge.
The first construction permit for the translator was issued to WGBH Educational Foundation in 1990 as W249AX on 97.7 MHz; the directional pattern was engineered to protect the then WCAV Brockton, also on 97.7. However, when the installation was tested in 1991, the owners of WCAV asked the FCC to deny an operational license, complaining of interference. WGBH then applied to move the translator to 96.3 MHz, a frequency on which translators had not previously been permitted. The FCC agreed, subject to the consent of third-adjacent 96.9 WCDJ (now WBQT). They consented, and the transmitter was adjusted (making no other technical changes to the plant); the translator came on the air for real in October of 1991.
After WGBH acquired WCRB (99.5 Lowell), the translator's primary was switched to WCRB instead of WGBH, although it was actually fed by WHBH's HD2.
MIT received approval for a substantial redevelopment of its residential and commercial property portfolio along Main St. in Kendall Square in 2018, including the demolition of the Eastgate dorm and its replacement by another, slightly taller building across the street. In 2020, with the demolition of its transmitter site looming, WGBH applied to move the translator to the new graduate dorm, 45 Hayward St., with a power reduction to 3 watts in recognition of the increased height. The translator went off the air on May 22, 2021.
Rather than building out the new facility, on August 31, 2021, WGBH filed to sell the translator to Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures for $80,000; Costa-Eagle would change the primary station to WUBG (1570 Methuen). The FCC granted the transfer on November 1, and the sale closed on November 10. At this point, the translator had not returned to the air, and Costa-Eagle filed for a six-month extension of remain-silent authority on December 17 — although this was not granted by the FCC until the following February. Costa filed for the regularly required license renewal in December, but mistakenly checked the "not silent" box in the application; a subsequent amendment to the application in February, 2022, indicated that the translator was still silent.
The translator never returned to the air, and would have been deleted automatically had the FCC gotten around to processing the license renewal application, but Costa-Eagle requested license cancellation on their own initiative on October 10, 2022, and the license was canceled the following day.
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