The Eastern Massachusetts Radio Timeline: the 2010s

[ 1915–1929 | 1930–1939 | 1940–1949 | 1950–1959 | 1960–1969 | 1970–1979 | 1980–1989 | 1990–1999 | 2000–2009 | 2010–2019 | 2020–present ]

2010

Feb. 19: Horizon Christian Fellowship closes on its seller-financed purchase of WFGL (960 Fitchburg) and WJWT (91.7 Gardner) from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, after receiving FCC approval on February 4.
Apr. 26: Horizon Christian Fellowship agrees to purchase Living Proof, Inc.'s unbuilt construction permit for 91.7 in Lunenburg, for $150,000, of which $140,000 is financed by the seller. After additional documents are provided, the FCC grants the assignment on June 16 and the sale closes on June 30.
July 8: The FCC denies Christian Music Network's petition to reinstate its application for 88.5 in Gloucester and reinstates Talking Information Center's and Home Improvement Ministries' applications for 88.5 in Middleboro. The Commission approves the settlement agreement between TIC and HIM, re-dismisses HIM's application, and accepts TIC's application for filing.
July 22: Maynard Public Schools and UMass-Boston complete construction of their joint new transmitter facility, on which WAVM (91.7 Maynard) and WUMG (91.7 Stow) will share time. The new facility, on the grounds of Maynard High School, will be 500 watts, directional, using a three-bay Shively 6810 antenna 23.5 meters above average terrain. The directional antenna protects Living Proof's 91.7 in Lunenburg, which was part of the 2006 settlement agreement for this channel. A time-share agreement gives WAVM 6 AM to 8 PM weekdays and 8 AM to midnight on Sundays, from September 8 to May 28 of each school year, plus certain autumn Saturdays, with WUMG getting the remaining hours.
Aug. 5: Christian Music Network submits a second petition for reconsideration of the FCC's dismissal of its application for a new station on 88.5 in Gloucester. CMN argues that Wellspring House's unilateral withdrawal of its competing application was a sham.
Sept. 7: The FCC grants Talking Information Center's application for a new station on 88.5 MHz in Middleborough Center, on the condition that TIC either return or find a new owner for its existing LPFM license in Pittsfield. TIC will request the callsign WRRS (for “Radio Reading Service”).
Oct. 6: Academy of the Immaculate applies to modify WPMW (88.5 Bayview)'s construction permit, reducing power from 880 to 140 watts and moving from South Dartmouth to North Dartmouth
Nov. 29: Port Broadcasting, owner of WNBP (1450 Newburyport), agrees to buy Sanford, Maine, translator W291CC (106.1) from Dennis Jackson, for $70,000 up front and an additional $10,000 one year after closing (or sooner if Port is able to relocate the translator to Newburyport in less than a year). Jackson will provide engineering consulting to Port for the move; he had purchased the permit from the original permittee in 2009 for $5,000 plus a 25% share in any resale.
Dec. 9: Langer Broadcasting's WSRO (650 Ashland) applies for a power increase. Since WKOX (1200 Framingham, now WXKS Newton) has left Langer's 100 Mt. Wayte Ave. facility in Framingham, and WQOM (1060 Natick) is returning to its old five-tower array in Ashland, it's practical to reconfigure the two-tower array to allow WSRO to go directional. This would permit a daytime power increase from 250 watts to 1.5 kW.
Dec. 10: The FCC approves modification of unbuilt WPMW (88.5 Bayview)'s construction permit to reduce power and specify a new site farther north.

2011

On January 26, the FCC announces its decision on the mutually-exclusive “Group 516” applicants from the 2007 non-commercial FM window. Emerson College's request for review is denied, upholding the dismissal of Emerson's application for 88.7 in Barnstable. Applications from Home Improvement Ministries (in Brewster) and Boston University (in Eastham) are deemed equivalent in terms of “fair distribution” criteria (the number of people who would receive a new first or second non-commercial service), and neither application is entitled to any points in the FCC's comparative evaluation system. The tie is broken by counting each applicant's existing broadcast facilities; HIM has none, and HIM's application is accepted for filing. Applications from Connecticut River Educational Radio, Nantucket Public Radio, WGBH Educational Foundation, Horizon Christian Fellowship, Ocean Side Broadcasting, Athens Christian Radio, Cape Christian Broadcasting, Cape Cod Community TV, Centro de Intercesion y Adoracion Internacional, Cape Cod Christian Broadcasting, and Foothills Public Radio are all dismissed, along with second applications from both BU and HIM.

Jan. 10: Academy of the Immaculate files for a license to cover on its WPMW (88.5 Bayview). The new station will broadcast Catholic religious programming, primarily from EWTN.
Feb. 16: Academy of the Immaculate amends its application for a license to cover, to demonstrate that WPMW (88.5 Bayview) actually serves “Bayview” — a bump in the road in South Dartmouth. The FCC will grant the license on the 28th.
Mar. 9: Port Broadcasting closes on its purchase of W291CC (106.1 Sanford, Maine) from Dennis Jackson.
Mar. 11: WSRO (650 Ashland) amends its application for a power increase, supplying ground conductivity data demonstrating that it provides adequate protection to a nonexistent station in New Brunswick.
Apr. 14: Home Improvement Ministries receives a construction permit for a new full-power non-commercial FM in Brewster, on 89.1 MHz with 23 kW vertical-only. Shortly before the permit is due to expire in 2014, it will be sold to Boston University and become WBUA, a satellite of WBUR.
May 27: To resolve the interference complaints against WNNW (800 Lawrence) translator W221CH (92.1 Lawrence), owner Costa-Eagle Radio Ventures applies to move it to 102.9 MHz at 97 watts, with a new directional pattern. The translator has been operating at 60 watts under Special Temporary Authority. The FCC grants the move application a few days later.
June 10: A week after receiving FCC approval, Costa-Eagle completes the move of W221CH (92.1 Lawrence) to 102.9 and files for a license to cover. Costa-Eagle's 2009 application for a license to cover on the 92.1 facility is dismissed. The translator will return to callsign W275BH when the license is granted on June 21.
Oct. 4: Horizon Christian Fellowship applies to move unbuilt WTYN (91.7 Lunenburg) to a new site, an existing cell tower at 2005 Mass. Ave. in Lunenburg, at 1 kW ERP and 12 meters above average terrain, maintaining mutual protections with WAVM/WUMG (91.7 Maynard/Stow).
Nov. 5: The two rooftop towers that had supported the old WBZ (990 Springfield) antenna at the old Westinghouse plant on Page Boulevard in Springfield are finally demolished, decades after successor WBZA signed off for good from the same antenna in 1962. An amateur special-event station, W1Z, is licensed for to operate from the site for a day prior to the demolition as part of a redevelopment of the entire property. The location will be occupied by a rail-car plant assembling trains for Boston's MBTA Red and Orange Lines in 2018.
Nov. 10: The FCC grants Horizon Christian's application to amend its construction permit for WTYN (91.7 Lunenburg) to specify a new site and parameters.
Dec. 7: WBOQ (104.9 Gloucester) applies for an upgrade, to 6 kW directional at 98 meters above average terrain, from a cell tower in Topsfield. The directional antenna protects WWLI (105.1 Providence).
Dec. 15: WMFP (62 Lawrence) drops classic-TV network RTV from its main (.1) subchannel in favor of competing classic-TV network MeTV.

2012

Jan. 4: W275BH (102.9 Lawrence), a translator for WNNW (800 Lawrence) requests Special Temporary Authority to turn on HD Radio at −10 dB injection (9.7 watts), rather than the −14 dB (3.9 W) that would otherwise be authorized, under a procedure the FCC anounced in 2010.
Jan. 9: Horizon Christian Fellowship signs on WTYN (91.7 Lunenburg), with Christian music programming from studios at 356 Broad St. in Fitchburg, also home to WFGL (960 Fitchburg) and WJWT (91.7 Gardner). The FCC grants a license to cover on January 18.
Jan. 10: WSRO (650 Ashland) is granted its power increase. The new facility will be 1.5 kW-D, 62 W-N, DA-1.
Jan.: Business Talk Radio agrees to sell WXBR (1460 Brockton) to Azure Media, a Florida-based group owned by Jhonson Napoleon and his wife Betsy, for $250,000. BTR had paid $1 million for the station, then WBET, back in 2006. The FCC paperwork is not filed until Feb. 13.
Jan. 24: W291CC (106.1 Sanford, Maine) relocates to the WNEF (91.7 Newburyport) tower on Powwow Hill in Amesbury, where it becomes a translator for WNBP (1450 Newburyport). At only 3 watts, the translator does not provide an adequate signal and is quickly taken silent while owner Port Broadcasting files a new application to upgrade the facility to 90 watts. Port Broadcasting had acquired the translator's original construction permit the previous March; it had briefly operated as W292DY on 106.3 during its move south from its originally permitted site in Farmington, N.H.
Jan. 25: Multicultural's WAZN (1470 Watertown) starts carrying “Music of Your Life” standards during evening and overnight hours, part of a broader deal between the format's syndicator and Multicultural.
Feb. 1: Just-licensed WTYN (91.7 Lunenburg) goes silent due to problems with its antenna mounts. The station elects to use the silent period to switch from an Internet-based studio-transmitter link to a dedicated microwave STL.
Feb.: WNNW (800 Lawrence) translator W275BH (102.9 Lawrence) turns on HD Radio and adds an HD2 subchannel, relaying sister station WCCM (1110 Salem, N.H.). Under special temporary authority, the translator's HD operates at −10 dB injection, rather than the −14 dB that would otherwise be authorized.
Feb. 9: Long-time WBZ (1030) morning host Dave Maynard dies of Parkinson's at his home in Florida, aged 82. A memorial service is held February 29 in Boston. Maynard had started in 1958 as one of the “Live Five”, holding down the evening shift, later moving to late mornings and then afternoons, before moving to the overnight shift in 1979. He was also the only DJ voice on automated WBZ-FM (106.7) for many years. When WBZ's veteran AM drive host Carl deSuze retired, “Maynard in the Morning” took over that shift to great success. Maynard had retired in 1991, but continued to produce features for the station for another decade.
Mar. 2: WBOQ (104.9 Gloucester) receives a construction permit for its upgrade to 6 kW ERP from a new site in Topsfield, with a directional antenna protecting Providence.
Mar. 9: The FCC denies Christian Music Network's second petition for reconsideration of the dismissal of its application for 88.5 in Gloucester, in a staff decision (by the chief of the Media Bureau).
Mar. 19: Solution Funding LLC, one of Business Talk Radio's creditors, files an informal objection to BTR's pending sale of WXBR (1460 Brockton), on which BTR stands to take a capital loss of $750,000.
Apr. 2: Walt Sanders, Boston's first African-American TV reporter, dies at the age of 81. Sanders had worked at WBZ-TV (channel 4) from 1968 until retiring in 1995.
Apr. 9: Christian Music Network asks the full FCC to review the staff decision to dismiss its application for 88.5 in Gloucester.
Apr. 24: Light of Life Ministries, rushing to beat a June 12 deadline to get WWRN (91.5 Rockport) on the air, applies to reduce the 800-watt directional signal specified in its construction permit to 530 watts, non-directional, from a rooftop in Gloucester. The request is granted two days later.
Apr. 25: Talking Information Center's WRRS (88.5 Middleborough Center) signs on with a reading service for the visually impaired.
May 3: In Nassau Broadcasting's sealed-bid bankruptcy auction, “Open House Party” host/creator John H. Garabedian is the winning bidder for Nassau's cluster of stations on Cape Cod. His Codcomm group will pay $2.7 million for WPXC (102.9 Hyannis) and “Frank” simulcast WFRQ (101.1 Mashpee) and WFQR (93.5 Harwich Port). The Cape and Islands veteran had put WGTF (93.5 Nantucket) on the air back in the 1970s; that station's later move to 96.3 MHz opened up the 93.5A allotment in Harwich Port.
May 15: Business Talk Radio settles the dispute with its creditors that had held up the sale of WXBR (1460 Brockton) to Azure Media.
May 16: Boston Phoenix publisher Steven Mindich agrees to sell WFNX (101.7 Lynn) as a bare license to Clear Channel for $14.5 million. He had bought the erstwhile WLYN-FM in 1983 for $1.1 million. New Hampshire simulcast WFEX (92.1 Peterborough) sells to Bill Blount for $725,000, well down from Mindich's $1.5 million purchase price in 1999 for the former WNHQ.
May 18: The FCC approves the sale of WXBR (1460 Brockton) from Business Talk Radio to Jhonson Napoleon's Azure Media.
May: Codcomm applies to move WFRQ (101.1 Mashpee) to the WPXC (102.9 Hyannis) tower, reducing power to 2.9 kW while increasing height to 141 meters above average terrain.
May 24: Jeff Shapiro's WAZK (97.7 Nantucket) signs on as adult-alternative “97.7 ACK-FM”.
May 29: Former WBZ (1030) weekend talk host Lovell Dyett, one of the first African-American broadcasters to break the color barrier on commercial television and radio, dies of complications from kidney failure at the age of 77. “The Lovell Dyett Program” had been heard on WBZ weekend evenings from 1971 to 2009, then reduced to a Sunday-morning half-hour show after his evening slot was replaced with infomercials. Before his WBZ show, Dyett had been on television, first in Washington (WTOP-TV, now WUSA-TV, channel 9) and after moving to Boston on WGBH-TV (channel 2), WNAC-TV (channel 7), and WBZ-TV (channel 4).
June 10: Light of Life Ministries signs on WWRN (91.5 Rockport), with a Christian hits format, relaying Light of Life's WWWA (95.3 Winslow, Maine).
June: Alex Langer agrees to buy WMSX (1410 Brockton) from Kingdom Church for $100,000. The church had paid $540,000 for the station four years previously.
June 28: WODS (103.3) changes format from classic hits to CHR, adopting CBS's national “AMP Radio” brand at noon after an emotional sendoff. The callsign remains unchanged, recalling the station's original 1987 format and positioning as “Oldies 103”. An automated classic hits format remains, for now, on 103.3's HD2, replacing soft AC “The Cove”.
June 28: Langer Broadcasting's WSRO (650 Ashland) completes construction on its power increase, from 250 watts, ND-D, to 1.5 kW-D, 62 W-N, DA-1. A public button-pushing ceremony originally scheduled for this day is postponed when the guest of honor, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, is called away to Washington for an important court ruling, and the station quietly files for a license to cover without waiting for the governor. The FCC will grant the new license on September 27.
July 9: WGBH (89.7) launches its new, even more news/talk-heavy schedule, exiling the station's weekday-evening jazz host Eric Jackson to Friday and weekend evenings. Weekend jazz host Steve Schwartz loses his show.
July: John Garabedian's Codcomm group, which is taking over the former Nassau stations on Cape Cod, files for signal improvements to WFQR (93.5 Harwich Port) and WPXC (102.9 Hyannis), increasing power at both stations and relocating 93.5 to Dennis, where “Frank FM” will serve much more of the Cape's population without the need for a simulcast on WFRQ (101.1 Mashpee).
July 16: Horizon Christian Fellowship's WTYN (91.7 Lunenburg) returns to the air after repairing its antenna and installing a microwave studio-transmitter link.
July 12: WSRO (650 Ashland) is granted program test authority for its new directional array.
July 17: WSRO (650 Ashland) has a public celebration for its power increase, featuring speeches from owner Alexander Langer, station personnel, community leaders, and Governor Deval Patrick.
July: WUMB-FM (91.9) informs the FCC that it is about to lose access to its transmitter site, a historic stone water tower in Quincy, and applies to move to the Industrial Communications tower overlooking the Quincy granite quarries. The move requires downgrading two co-channel stations, which conveniently simulcast WUMB and are also owned by UMass. WBPR-FM (91.9 Worcester) and WFPB-FM (91.9 Falmouth) will both make minor power reductions.
July 20: WFNX (101.7 Lynn) ends 29 years of alternative rock from its 25 Exchange St. studios in downtown Lynn, as the station prepares to be sold to Clear Channel. Owner Steven Mindich will maintain the old format as a streaming service on WFNX.com for some time, but that too eventually folds. The Boston Phoenix and WFNX archives are eventually transferred to Northeastern University Library's special collections department. Simulcast WFEX (92.1 Peterborough, N.H.) is silent pending sale.
July: Codcomm pays $380,000 for a new studio building at 243 South St., Hyannis for its four — soon to be five — FMs. WPXC (102.9 Hyannis), WFRQ (101.1 Mashpee), and WFQR (93.5 Harwich Port) will depart the former WXTK (95.1) studios on Sea St. in West Yarmouth by September.
July 24: Clear Channel closes on its $14.5 million purchase of WFNX (101.7 Lynn) from Steven Mindich's Mindich Communications, flipping to an adult-hits format as “101.7 The Harbor” WHBA.
July 26: WGBH Educational Foundation announces that it will acquire Public Radio International, the number-two distributor of programming to public radio after NPR. The network will continue to maintain its operational headquarters in Minneapolis.
Aug. 3: Azure Media closes on its $250,000 purchase of WXBR (1460 Brockton) from Business Talk Radio. The station goes silent, shuttering its long-time 60 Main Street studios in the former Brockton Enterprise building, and all staff are laid off.
Aug.: WCEA-LP (channel 58) begins DTV operations, with 15 kW from the Hancock Tower on RF channel 45.
Aug.: New Hampshire Public Television announces a management and operations agreement with WGBH that will end competition between the two PBS member stations, to begin October 1.
Aug. 13: Clear Channel dumps the talk format on WXKS (1200 Newton) in favor of automated comedy recordings. Even with Clear Channel's top-billing personality Rush Limbaugh (pulled away from competitor WRKO), the station failed to find an audience after nearly three years. The new format is branded “Matty's Comedy 1200” and features segments from long-running WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford) morning personality Matty Siegel. The Limbaugh show returns to WRKO.
Aug. 17: Codcomm's WFQR (93.5 Harwich Port) becomes WHYA.
Sept. 4: The new NBC Sports Radio network launches, with WWZN (1510 Boston) as one of the network's affiliates. The station will carry all of the network's weekday evening and overnight programming, but not all on the network schedule.
Sept. 5: WFRQ (101.1 Mashpee) and WHYA (93.5 Harwich Port) swap callsigns.
Sept.: Langer Broadcasting tells the FCC that WMSX (1410 Brockton) has lost the lease on its two-tower directional array off Linwood St.; the station is silent in the mean time. Langer asks for special temporary authority to operate from a longwire antenna while it figures out a new site.
Sept.: Vineyard Public Radio's WMEX (88.7 Edgartown) is granted a power increase, from 400 watts to 1.7 kW at a slightly lower height above average terrain.
Sept. 24: W291CC (106.1 Newburyport) increases power to 90 watts, after moving from southern Maine to the WNEF (91.7 Amesbury) tower of Powwow Hill at two watts. Parent WNBP (1450 Newburyport) will hold a public ribbon-cutting on October 3, and the FCC will grant a license to cover the changes on October 26.
Sept.: WNSH (1570 Beverly) applies to increase from 30 kW days to 50 kW, still non-directional from its tower at Endicott College; night power would remain 85 watts.
Oct. 1: After the New Hampshire legislature zeroes out its annual $2.7 million subsidy, New Hampshire Public Television enters a management and operating agreement with Boston's WGBH. NHPTV will switch to the standard PBS schedule and will pull its programming from Massachusetts cable and satellite viewers; channel 2 will end distribution in New Hampshire. Providence's WSBE (channel 36) will replace NHPTV on many Eastern Massachusetts cable systems.
Oct. 1: Luxury-resort network Plum replaces MeTV on WMFP (82 Lawrence); MeTV moves to a subchannel on WCVB (channel 5).
Oct. 5: WEEI (850) splits away from the simulcast with WEEI-FM (93.7 Lawrence), moving to ESPN Radio, full-time except for some play-by-play.
Oct. 5: WSRO (650 Ashland) applies for a modest increase in night power, from 62 to 100 watts.
Oct.: NBC Sports Radio affiliate WWZN (1510 Boston) becomes WUFC (although NBC Sports Radio does not have broadcast rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is instead of Fox Sports Radio).
Nov.: WQPH (89.3 Shirley) signs on with Catholic programming from EWTN Radio.
Nov.: John Garabedian's Codcomm agrees to pay $90,000 to Liveair Communications (David and Deborah Wang) for their unbuilt 98.7 construction permit in East Harwich; Liveair paid $55,000 for the permit in the FCC's 2011 FM spectrum auction. Codcomm reserves callsign WKFY for the permit.
Nov.: WUMB-FM (91.9) receives a construction permit to move off its historic home on a Quincy water tower, to the Industrial Communications tower overlooking the Quincy granite quarries. In order to make the move possible, licensee UMass-Boston must also slightly downgrade WBPR (91.9 Worcester) and WFPB-FM (91.9 Falmouth).
Nov.: Epic Light Network of Southwick, near Springfield, acquires WYQQ (90.1 Charlton), launching a new Christian hits format as “Q90.1”. Epic Light pays just $5,000 for the station, although a recapture clause gives the seller, Christian Mix Radio, up to $250,000 of the proceeds if Epic Light sells the station within three years.
Nov. 27: Boston University agrees to pay $715,000 for Aritaur Communications' adult-alternative WMVY (92.7 Tisbury) on Martha's Vineyard. The deal does not include the station's studios or intellectual property, which will go to the non-profit “Friends of MVY” group for $600,000 if they can raise the money by January 31. The 92.7 signal will be converted into a satellite of WBUR-FM (90.9).
Dec.: Jeff Shapiro's WAZK (97.7 Nantucket) applies to boost power to the class-A limit of 6 kW; tower site and antenna height would remain unchanged.
Dec. 18: The FCC grants WSRO (650 Ashland)'s application to increase night power to 100 watts.
Dec. 20: Clear Channel's WHBA (101.7 Lynn) flips to electronic dance music as “Evolution 101.7”, picking up a new callsign, WEDX.
Dec. 31: Medical reporter Dr. Tim Johnson, the last remaining member of WCVB (channel 5)'s original air staff from 1972, retires after 40 years on the station.

2013

At a very unusual session at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual trade show in Las Vegas, FCC member Ajit Pai discusses the future of AM radio with attendees, and talks specifics on some proposals that the Commission will consider under the rubric of “AM Revitalization”.

In March and April, the FCC opens filing windows to revive hundreds of translator applications out of 7,000 that had been frozen since the last filing window for new translator applications in 2003.

The FCC opens an application window for new LPFMs in October and November, after the translator backlog is cleaned up, as a consequence of a congressional mandate to loosen interference rules and allow LPFMs on more channels in major markets. Applications which are not mutually exclusive (so-called “singletons”) and require no special processing will be granted in early 2014, while the remainder will be given time to amend their applications or work out share-time arrangements. The new LPFMs will hit the air over the next five years.

Jan. 2: Greater Media's WTKK (96.9) drops its 13-year-old talk format and begins stunting with a week of “micro-formats”.
Jan.: WGBH Educational Foundation settles a federal investigation into its grant accounting practices by entering a consent decree with U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz. The charity agrees to pay $300,000 and enter a five-year compliance program.
Jan.: Sinclair sells Providence CW affiliate WLWC (28 New Bedford) to spectrum speculator OTA Broadcasting for $13.75 million.
Jan. 8: Greater Media's WTKK (96.9) ends its “Wheel of Formats” stunting with a flip to rhythmic CHR as “Hot 96.9”.
Jan. 9: TV cowboy Rex Trailer, star of WBZ-TV (channel 4)'s “Boomtown” from 1956 to 1974 (and before that on sister station WPTZ in Philadelphia), dies aged 84. After his TV show ended, Trailer operated a production company, taught at Emerson College, and made personal appearances.
Jan. 10: Gloucester's “North Shore 104.9” WBOQ signs on an improved signal from a new transmitter site off US 1 in Topsfield, with 6 kW from 98 meters above average terrain and a directional antenna protecting WWLI (105.1 Providence). The station had previously been located in a Gloucester's Cape Ann Industrial Park, about 15 miles to the east. WBOQ receives its license to cover the changes on February 12.
Jan. 20: Patriots play-by-play man and former WBZ (1030) sports director Gil Santos retires, having called 745 games for the team, after the Pats lose in the NFL playoffs to the Baltimore Ravens.
Jan. 23: Wilmer C. Swartley, who was the general manager of WBZ (1030) from 1940 to 1961 and who launched WBZ-TV (channel 4) in 1948, dies at the age of 104.
Jan. 30: Joe Morgan, WBZ aerial traffic reporter from 1997 to 2011, dies at the age of 67. Previously, Morgan had been news director at WRKO (680) and WHDH (850), and started his news career in 1968 on WCOP (1150).
Feb. 2: WXBR (1460 Brockton) returns to the air under new ownership. The station was to have returned to the air Sept. 12, after constructing a new studio at 250 Belmont St., but new owners Azure Media found that the ground system at the station's West Bridgewater transmitter site had been stolen while the station was silent, and needed to be completely reconstructed. (However, the station's license renewal filing in December says that it did not return to the air until March 8.)
Feb. 9: The sale of WMVY (92.7 Tisbury) from Aritaur Communications (Joe Gallagher) to Boston University closes at midnight; a non-profit group led by former WMVY PD Barbara Dacey raises $600,000 to acquire the studios and intellectual property, moving the well-regarded adult-alternative format to online-only while the “Friends of MVY” look for ways to return to the broadcast airwaves. WMVY flips to a simulcast of WBUR-FM (90.9) and changes callsign to WBUA.
Feb. 13: Paul Benzaquin, who spent four decades as a talk host on Boston stations including WEEI (590), WNAC-TV (channel 7), WBZ (1030), WITS (1510), WHDH (850), and WRKO (680), dies, aged 90. Prior to entering the radio business, Benzaquin had been a columnist for the Globe and the Herald.
Mar. 1: Bloomberg Radio begins a five-year lease of WXKS (1200 Newton), replacing “Matty's Comedy 1200”; Bloomberg will be simulcast on WJMN (94.5)'s HD2. The comedy format remains on WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford)'s HD2, for the time being.
Mar.: MVYRadio.com, the streaming relic of the old WMVY (92.7 Tisbury) reaches an agreement with Rhode Island Public Radio to program WRNI-FM (102.7 Narragansett Pier)'s HD2 — which then allows former WMVY translator W243AI (96.5 Newport) to pick up the programming, while the “Friends of MVY” group that runs the stream continues to look for opportunities to return to broadcasting on Martha's Vineyard.
Mar. 14: WSRO (650 Ashland) files for a license to cover on its nighttime power increase to 100 watts. FCC engineers point out a problem with data for one of the sampling lines in the license application in a letter on July 2.
Mar.: “Hot 96.9” WTKK belatedly changes callsign to WBQT.
Mar.: Codcomm's WFRQ (93.5 Harwich Port) signs on from a new site in Dennis with a full 6 kW from 77 meters above average terrain, improving its signal over the most densely populated parts of Cape Cod.
Mar. 29: To the surprise of many listeners and staff, NPR cancels its Washington-based talk show, “Talk of the Nation”, and takes over national distribution for WBUR-FM's “Here and Now”, which adds a second hour and two “rollover” hours for the national schedule. WBUR's Robin Young and Meghna Chakrabarti continue to host, with the addition of Jeremy Hobson. The show had previously been distributed by PRI, which is now owned by crosstown rival WGBH.
Apr. 1: Codcomm's WHYA (101.1 Mashpee, the former WFQR) finishes moving from its old site on the Upper Cape to the Hyannis tower of sister WPXC (102.9 Hyannis). WHYA breaks away from the “Frank 93.5” simulcast with a speech synthesizer counting down to the station's new format.
Apr. 4: WHYA (101.1 Mashpee) flips to CHR as “Y101”.
May 13: The failing Plum network, which targeted a luxury audience, is dropped by WMFP (62 Lawrence) in favor of CoziTV, a rerun network operated by NBC.
June: Long-time WGBH (89.7 and channel 2) general manager retires after 30 years. She is replaced by “World” manager Liz Cheng in the TV role and by managing director Phil Redo on the radio side.
June 10: Langer Broadcasting applies to move silent WMSX (1410 Brockton), which lost its two-tower Brockton transmitter site. Langer proposes to build new facility on Sprague St. in Readville, the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, and change city of license to Dedham. In doing so, WMSX would become the only licensed AM station to transmit within Boston city limits. The new 610-watt facility will serve about 600,000 people.
July 23: Langer Broadcasting's engineers file a new proof of performance for WSRO (650 Ashland)'s upgrade to 100 watts at night. The FCC will finally grant a license to cover the upgrade on Oct. 22.
July 29: WSRO (650 Ashland) files to convert from DA-1 to DA-2 operation, with a new nighttime directional pattern that will permit an increase from 100 to 187 watts.
Aug.: Langer Broadcasting agrees to purchase WBUR (1240 West Yarmouth) from Boston University, although the assignment application is not filed with the FCC until October.
Aug. 19: WKFY (98.7 East Harwich) signs on as “Koffee 98.7”, the fourth FM in the Codcomm group. It's a class-A facility transmitting from Chatham; Codcomm will later add a translator to bring the programming to the Upper Cape.
Sept.: WUMB-FM (91.9) moves from its long-time home atop a Quincy water tower to the Industrial Communications tower overlooking the former Quincy granite quarries. WUMB's ERP drops from 660 to 160 watts, but the antenna height increases substantially, from 63 m to 189 m above average terrain. Co-owned and co-channel WBPR (91.9 Worcester) and WFPB (91.9 Falmouth) are adjusted slightly to make room for the expanded flagship signal.
Sept.: WGBH's Cape Cod outlet WCAI (90.1 Woods Hole) receives a construction permit for a substantial upgrade, to 12.5 kW, made possible by the end of analog TV on channel 6 in Providence. A previous construction permit for the same facilities had expired unbuilt in August.
Oct.: Alex Langer begins test transmissions on WMSX (1410 Brockton) transmitter site in Readville, Boston's southernmost neighborhood. The station's city of license will change to Dedham when the new 610-watt day, 30-watt night facility is licensed.
Oct. 30: Boston University files to sell WBUR (1240 West Yarmouth) to Langer Broadcasting for $175,000. Langer will take over the station on a time brokerage agreement starting February 1.
Nov.: Friends of MVY, which acquired the studios and intellectual property of the former WMVY (92.7 Tisbury, now WBUA) agrees to purchase WMEX (88.7 Edgartown) from Vineyard Public Radio for $450,000.
Nov.: Northeast Broadcasting receives a construction permit for new translator W243DC (96.5 Needham), which will relay WXRV (92.5 Andover) with ten watts from the “UHF Candelabra” tower on Cabot St., overlooking Route 128.
Nov.: Langer Broadcasting's WMSX (1410 Dedham) becomes WZBR.
Dec. 1: Radio Boston Broadcasting, a subsidiary of California-based Universal Broadcasting, leases WILD (1090) from Radio One, rebroadcasting China Radio International.
Dec. 18: The FCC grants WSRO (650 Ashland)'s application to increase night power to 187 watts with a different directional pattern. The construction permit expires unbuilt.

2014

Clear Channel rebrands as “iHeartMedia”, replacing a somewhat tarnished and outdated national brand with a new identity based on the company's “iHeartRadio” mobile streaming platform.

Jan. 22: Chet Curtis (Kukiewicz), legendary news anchor at WCVB (channel 5) from 1972 to 2001, dies from pancreatic cancer, aged 74. Prior to WCVB, Curtis had been a reporter for channel 5 predecessor WHDH-TV, and after leaving the station he spent several years anchoring “Newsnight” on New England Cable News. In addition to his hard-news assignments, Curtis had anchored WCVB's long-running magazine “Chronicle” from 1978 to 1982.
Jan.: “Cape and Islands Public Radio” WCAI (90.1 Woods Hole) completes its upgrade, from 1.3 kW to 12.5 kW, greatly improving coverage of Cape Cod from its transmitter in Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard.
Feb. 1: Langer Broadcasting takes over WBUR (1240 West Yarmouth) on an LMA from Boston University, with a callsign change to WBAS. The sale of the station will close July 1.
Feb. 3: Good Neighbor Station, Inc., is granted a construction permit for a new LPFM in Salisbury, WXBJ-LP (94.9). The station, according to its application, will focus on senior citizens.
Feb.: WZBR (1410 Dedham) receives its license to cover, moving into Boston's Readville neighborhood from its former home in Brockton. Langer Broadcasting station serves the Brazilian community with Portuguese-language programming.
Feb.: WYQQ (90.1 Charlton, the former WBPV) has to move its antenna as former owner Bay Path Vocational School prepares for construction that will demolish the existing tower. WYQQ applies to move to a cell tower just north of the Massachusetts Turnpike, where it would have 120 watts at 80 meters above average terrain.
Feb. 22: WXBJ-LP (94.9 Salisbury), one of the earliest stations from 2013's LPFM application window, signs on.
Feb. 27: An applicant called “New England Broadcasting Educational Group”, from Ipswich, files for a new station on 88.3 in Newbury, to share time with Masconomet Regional High School's WBMT (88.3 Boxford), using an obscure FCC rule that allows such applications to be considered against the renewal of non-commercial stations that do not offer full-time programming. The group shares some personnel with the licensee of WXBJ-LP (94.9 Salisbury). The application will eventually be granted under the callsign WVCA.
Mar. 18: Boston University agrees to pay Home Improvement Ministries $7,500 for a construction permit on 89.1 in Eastham, with the aim of getting it on the air before the permit expires in mid-April. BU applies for an amendment that would move the permit to an existing tower with 42 kW, horizontally polarized, at 55 meters above average terrain. The FCC grants the assignment on March 31 and callsign WBUH is assigned April 4.
Apr.: Federal officials raid a number of Boston-area pirates — including high-powered “Touch 106.1”, operated by Dorchester pastor Charles Clemons with the support of Boston mayor Thomas Menino and numerous local advertisers.
Apr.: Alex Langer's WZBR (1410 Dedham) applies for a power increase, to 2.3 kW ND-D.
Apr.: Steve Callahan's WVBF (1530 Middleborough Center) receives a permit to relocate the station to Taunton, increasing power from 2.2 kW ND-D to 5 kW DA-D — still with just four watts of night power.
Apr. 12: Boston University just barely beats the April 14 deadline to begin equipment tests on WBUH (89.1 Brewster); BU's application for a license to cover is accepted by the FCC on April 15 and granted on April 21.
Apr. 27: “Life on the V: The Story of V66”, a documentary about John Garabedian's short-lived music-video station WVJV (66 Marlborough), premieres at the Boston Independent Film Festival in Somerville.
May 15: Frank Osborn's Qantum Communications agrees to swap its entire portfolio of 29 stations, including WXTK (95.1 West Yarmouth), WEII (96.3 Dennis), WCIB (101.9 Falmouth), and WCOD-FM (106.1 Hyannis), to Clear Channel, in exchange for the WALK and WALK-FM (1370/97.5 Patchogue) on Long Island, which had been held in a divestiture trust since 2006.
May 21: The sale of Vineyard Public Radio's WMEX (88.7 Edgartown) to non-commercial streaming operator Friends of MVY closes, relocating (with increased power) to the tower next to old WMVY (92.7 Tisbury, now WBUA) studios, which the Friends group acquired when the commercial station was sold to WBUR. A pending application will increase the station's ERP to 12 kW with a mildly directional antenna.
May 23: WBUH (89.1 Brewster) signs on as a relay of Boston's WBUR (90.9).
May: WYZX (88.3 East Falmouth) signs on with “Renew FM” religious programming.
May: WXRV (92.5 Andover) translator W243DC (96.5 Needham) signs on from the Cabot St. “UHF Candelabra” tower in Needham.
May 27: WMEX (88.7 Edgartown) and WMVI-LP (105.9 Farmington, N.H.) swap calls.
June 9: WMVI (88.7 Edgartown) becomes WMVY, the former commercial calls of WBUA (92.7 Tisbury), whose format 88.7 inherited.
June 9: WUFC (1510) flips from Yahoo! Sports to a new leased-time talk format.
June 13: WEDX (101.7 Lynn) flips from electronic dance music to country as “The Bull”.
June: Fox Television Stations and Cox Media announce a station swap, which sends Fox O&O WFXT (channel 25) and Memphis' WHBQ-TV (channel 13) to Cox in exchange for Fox Cox's Fox affiliate KTVU (2 Oakland) and San Francisco-market independent KICU. The transaction will be consummated in October.
June: Barry Armstrong's Money Matters Radio sells WESO (970 Southbridge) to Emmanuel Communications, which will use the station to simulcast WNEB (1230 Worcester). Emmanuel will pay $250,000, the same as Armstrong paid to buy the station in 2001.
June: WNCK (89.5 Nantucket) launches local programming, after spending several years rebroadcasting WGBH (89.7) and later WCRB (99.5 Lowell). The station will share studios, news and sales staff with commercial WAZK (97.7 Nantucket), which is owned by Nantucket Public Radio founder Jeff Shapiro.
July: WEDX (101.7 Lynn) changes callsign to WBWL, matching the new “Bull” positioning and country format it adopted in June.
June 29: WDIS (1170 Norfolk) goes silent.
July: WXBR (1460 Brockton) shifts to full-time Kreyol under new owners Azure Media.
July: WXBJ-LP (94.9 Salisbury) applies to move to 94.1 MHz to resolve incoming interference from WHOM (94.9 Mt. Washington, N.H.)
Aug. 6: Clear Channel files applications to improve the signal of WBWL (101.7 Lynn), by downgrading co-owned WCIB (101.9 Falmouth) and WWBB (101.5 Providence), which would reduce adjacent-channel interference and allow “The Bull” to switch to a non-directional antenna from its One Financial Center transmitter site. Both of the other stations will add directional antennas to protect the Boston facility.
Sept. 1: After 39 years at the anchor desk, Jack Williams drops to part-time at WBZ-TV (channel 4); he'll continue to do fill-in work and his signature “Wednesday's Child” adoption feature until mid-2015.
Oct.: Fox Television and Cox Media Group complete their station swap, sending WFXT (channel 25) and a station in Memphis from the network to Cox in exchange for Cox-owned Fox affiliate KTVU (2 Oakland) and another station in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Oct.: The FCC approves iHeartMedia's upgrade of WBWL (101.7 Lynn) with concomitant downgrades of WWBB (101.5 Providence) and WCIB (101.9 Falmouth).
Oct.: WVBF (1530 Middleborough Center) moves to the former site of defunct WPEP (1570 Taunton), going from 2.2 kW-D, 940 W-CH ND-D to a 5 kW-D DA-D.
Oct. 17: The FCC denies Christian Music Network's application for review of the dismissal of CMN's application for 88.5 in Gloucester on procedural grounds, even though the UMass-Boston application that was eventually granted (in Milford, N.H.) does not conflict with CMN's application. This leaves the 88.5 channel on Cape Ann open for WWRN's subsequent application to move from 91.5 to 88.5 MHz, making room for the grant of UMass-Boston's own Gloucester application.
Oct. 21: Legendary WRKO (680), WVBF (105.7 Framingham), WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford), and WODS (103.3) DJ Dale Dorman dies at the age of 71. Dorman had been recruited by RKO programmer Bill Drake in California before moving to mornings on WRKO in 1968, after starting his career in Upstate New York. After leaving RKO and a brief interlude working mornings on WVBF, Dorman spent two decades in AM drive on “Kiss 108” before leaving in 2003 to spin the oldies on WODS, and retired for good in 2009.
Oct.: WCRN (830 Worcester) moves its studios from downtown Worcester to a new office on Route 9 in suburban Westborough.
Oct. 31: WORC-FM (98.9 Webster) switches from classic hits to classic country using the “Nash Icon” brand owned by parent company Cumulus, but maintaining its local air staff.
Nov. 3: Tom Magliozzi, who with brother Ray started the hit NPR car-advice show “Car Talk” on WBUR (90.9) in 1977, dies of Alzheimer's Disease, aged 77.
Nov. 17: WUFC (1510) reacquires its longtime callsign, WMEX, by agreement with WMEX-LP (105.9 Rochester, N.H.).
Nov.: WWBB (101.5 Providence) is downgraded, moving to a new transmitter site atop a downtown Providence skyscrapers, to allow Boston's WBWL (101.7 Lynn) to go non-directional.
Nov.: WCIB (101.9 Falmouth) drops power from 50 kW to 13 kW and adds a directional antenna, to allow Boston's WBWL (101.7 Lynn) to go non-directional.
Dec. 4: WBSM (1420 New Bedford) morning personality Pete Braley is dismissed after 25 years on the station.
Dec. 11: On appeal, the FCC reinstates an application from UMass-Boston from the previous non-commercial FM window for 91.5 in Gloucester. The application had originally been dismissed due to a typo in the station's coordinates; at the same time, the Commission also clarifies the rules to state that in the future dismissal due to such applicant errors are not subject to appeal.
Dec. 19: William Lowell Putnam, founder of Springfield Television, which operated WWOR (14 Worcester) and WRLP (32 Greenfield) in addition to flagship WWLP-TV (61 Springfield, later channel 22), dies at the age of 90.

2015

In October, the FCC announces that it will attempt to auction as much as 126 MHz of television spectrum to wireless carriers, after working with computer scientists and economists to develop an innovative multi-round two-sided auction mechanism. Some stations will accept incentive payments to go off the air completely, others will move to less desirable VHF spectrum, and most of those remaining will have to change channels. The Commission is operating under a congressional mandate to maximize profit to the government after buying out willing licensees, and paying the engineering expenses of the broadcasters that remain and will have to shift channels. The auction does not actually begin until late 2016, and takes longer than expected to meet the FCC's profit target; it is eventually completed in early 2017 after the spectrum on auction is reduced to 96 MHz. Stations are given eye-popping opening bids in 2015, and must then decide whether they wish to participate in the incentive auction or not; stations that participate will be under a gag order for the duration of the auction, as an anti-collusion measure.

On October 23, the FCC releases a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in its “AM revitalization” proceeding, proposing several opportunities for AM stations to acquire an FM presence via translators, already authorized in much more limited circumstances, and requesting further comment on whether class-A stations' nighttime skywave signals should continue to receive the protection they have enjoyed since the 1920s. The proposed new rules also eliminate the AM “ratchet rule” which restricts changes to existing AM signals, reducing minimum coverage and antenna system efficiency requirements, and allowing “modulation-dependent carrier level” technology to reduce station power bills. The Commission is also studying a relaxation of the main-studio rule for AM broadcasters, which eventually broadens to a complete elimination of the rule for all stations.

Jan. 9: Tim Coco's Public Media of New England receives a construction permit for a new LPFM in Haverhill, after amending their original application from 98.1 to 97.9 MHz. The station will become WHAV-LP.
Jan. 9: In response to the FCC's decision last December to reinstate UMass-Boston's application for 91.5 in Gloucester, WWRN (91.5 Rockport) applies to increase power and change frequency to 88.5. This would ordinarily be considered an impermissible “major” change, but the FCC allows it to be filed as a minor change to avoid a situation where the commission must revoke the license through no fault of the station. The intervening demise of analog TV on channel 6 allows for a better faclity than would have been permitted when the original application window was opened in 2007.
Jan. 15: Bob Wilson (born Robert Castellon), Bruins radio voice for 28 years, dies of lung cancer, aged 85. He had retired from broadcasting in 1995.
Jan.: WWBB (101.5 Providence) completes a downgrade that will (along with changes at Falmouth's WCIB) help Boston's WBWL (101.7 Lynn) go non-directional.
Feb. 12: WBWL (101.7 Lynn) completes its upgrade from directional to non-directional status, a move which necessitated the downgrading of WCIB (101.9 Falmouth) and co-owned WWBB (101.5 Providence).
Feb. 17: iHeartMedia applies to further downgrade WCIB (101.9 Falmouth) from class B to class B1, reducing power by a kilowatt, change the reference coordinates of newly downgraded WWBB (101.5 Providence), and upgrade WBWL (101.7 Lynn) from class A to class B1 from its old tower above the former Malden Hospital. The improved signal will give “The Bull” more suburban reach to compete with the full-class-B signal of Greater Media's WKLB-FM (102.5 Waltham) from Needham.
Feb. 24: The FCC grants WWRN (91.5 Rockport)'s move to 88.5 MHz with 750 watts and a non-directional antenna, from its existing rooftop site in Gloucester.
Mar. 18: UMass-Boston's application for 91.5 in Gloucester is accepted for filing after December's surprise reinstatement.
Mar.: WCDV-LP (89.3 Lynn) signs on with Spanish-language religious programming from Iglesia Cristiana Torrente de Cedron.
Mar.: The license for WRNP (1320 Attleboro) is donated to the town's public-access cable channel. Owner ADD Media will keep the real estate and studios; the new owners will have to take the station non-directional at a substantial reduction in power so the transmitter site can be redeveloped.
Apr.: John Morrison's K-Zone Media Group agrees to buy WPKZ (1280 Fitchburg, the old WEIM) and its translator W287BT (105.3) from Central Broadcasting, for $700,000. Central had paid $795,000 for the AM alone in 2005.
Apr. 29: WATD (95.9) owner Ed Perry purchases WXBR (1460 Brockton), the erstwhile WBET, for $165,000. Seller Azure Media informs Perry that it is a “tenant-at-sufferance” at its transmitter site and the landlord has told it to expect imminent eviction as the site is to be redeveloped. The station had operated 5 kW-D, 1 kW-N, DA-N, at the old two-tower site. The FCC will approve the sale on July 7.
May 23: WXBR (1460 Brockton) goes silent, and reports to the FCC after a month that it has lost its old transmitter site.
May: WRNP (1320 Attleboro) returns to its original callsign, WARA.
May 29: Long-time WBZ (1030) afternoon drive anchor retires after 36 years at the station and more than a decade before that at stations including WMLO (1570 Beverly), WNBP (1450 Newburyport), and in Boston, WEZE (1260) and WMEX (1510).
June: Salem Media agrees to pay $500,000 to purchase Radio Disney outlet WMKI (1260), part of Disney's shutdown of the formerly national network. Salem had previously owned the station, as WPZE, until selling it in 1997 for $5 million.
June 25: After forty years on the air, former WBZ-TV (channel 4) anchor Jack Williams retires, having spent the last few years in a limited role, principally voicing the “Wednesday's Child” adoption feature he started in 1981.
June: Blackstrap Broadcasting agrees to sell WMEX (1510) to the station's LMA operator, Daly XXL, for $175,000—a nearly $20 million loss.
June 29: WKOX (1430 Everett) launches a new all-syndicated talk format, replacing automated Spanish hits “Mia”. The format features Fox Sports Radio in the early morning, followed by Rush Limbaugh and other national talk shows, after WRKO (680) drops the Limbaugh show—for which it was reportedly paying $1.2 million in cash and commercial inventory—in favor of local talk host Jeff Kuhner.
July: WMVY (88.7 Edgartown) increases power to 13 kW, directional, at 83 meters above average terrain (the same height on the same tower as its previous 580-watt operation).
July: WVVY-LP (93.7 but where?) applies to change frequency to 96.7.
July: Nantucket Police Department's 105.5 LPFM, which had been mistakenly granted the (quickly-revoked) callsign KAPD-LP, is assigned WNPD-LP.
July 20: Marshfield Broadcasting (Ed Perry) closes on its purchase of silent WXBR (1460 Brockton).
July 31: WNTN (1550 Newton) applies to move from its 143 Rumford Avenue studio/transmitter site (the only location the station has ever known) to a diplex with WJIB (740 Cambridge), dropping from 10 kW ND-D to only 750 watts and changing city of license to Cambridge.
Aug.: WSRG-LP (106.1 Worcester) signs on with Spanish-language programming; it's owned by Church of God Pentecostal Salvation Rock.
Aug. 3: WBWL (101.7 Lynn) completes its upgrade to a class-B1 signal with 13.5 kW ERP, from the Medford tower the station had last used as class-A WFNX.
Aug.: WXRV (92.5 Andover) applies to build several on-channel boosters at the southern edges of its coverage area, including one on an apartment building in Natick, another on Bear Hill in Waltham, a third from the former WCOP-FM (100.7) tower in Lexington, and a fourth from the Assembly Square area of Somerville, all with 99 watts and rather severe directional patterns.
Sept.: WYOB-LP (105.5 Oak Bluffs) signs on from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.
Sept. 4: Radio Disney WMKI (1260) goes silent as a part of Disney's shutdown of the formerly national network. Salem Media will close on its (re)purchase of the station (which it had previously operated as WEZE) within a few days, and will change calls to WBIX.
Sept. 16: WBIX (1260) relaunches as “AM 1260 the Buzz” with a new program lineup of syndicated talk shows from Salem Radio Network.
Oct.: WBPG-LP (102.9 Dorchester) signs on with a religious format, the first of three LPFMs that will eventually share time on the channel; it's owned by Global Ministries Christian Church.
Oct.: The FCC takes official note that WDIS (1170 Norfolk) has been silent for more than a year after its building was condemned by town inspectors and deletes its license.
Dec.: New Bedford's WCTK (98.1) and WNBH (1340) must build new towers as construction in the Port of New Bedford forces them to relocate. WCTK constructs a new self-supporting tower near the old tower the two stations had shared, while WNBH moves farther away, to a new site near St. Mary's Cemetery.

2016

As part of the FCC's “AM revitalization” proceeding, licensees are given a one-time window to relocate translators up to 250 miles to pair them up with their existing AMs. First, class C and D stations (“graveyarders” and daytime-only stations) will have the opportunity, then once all of the applications have been sorted out, full-time AMs will get their chance. After all of the moves, the FCC will open a window for new translators for AM stations if there are any available frequencies remaining.

Jan. 7: Comcast announces that it will not renew the NBC affiliation with Sunbeam's WHDH-TV (channel 7), taking the network in-house under the brand name “NBC Boston”. Major questions are left unanswered about how NBC will reach over-the-air viewers in the market (or if Comcast even cares whether it does or not).
Mar. 7: WWRN (91.5 Rockport) applies to amend its construction permit to move to 88.5, specifying a directional antenna and increasing power to 2.7 kW from a new location off Route 127 in Gloucester. The requested facility increases signal to the southwest, towards Marblehead and Boston. The FCC grants the application on the 10th.
Mar. 9: WMVX (1570 Beverly) signs on from its new Andover facility, where it will operate with 31 kW-D, 102 W-N, diplexed with sister station WNNW (800 Lawrence), with Methuen as its new city of license.
Mar. 10: WHDH-TV (channel 7) sues Comcast, alleging that NBC's non-renewal of WHDH's affiliation contract violates the consent decree governing Comcast's 2011 purchase of the network from GE, and asking $400 million in damages. NBC calls the suit “baseless”.
Mar. 17: WJOP-LP (96.3 Newburyport) signs on as “Joppa Radio”, operated by Newburyport Community Media Center.
Mar. 20: WWRN (91.5 Rockport) completes its move to 88.5. An application for a license to cover is filed on the 21st and granted the same day.
Mar. 22: UMass-Boston receives a construction permit for a new station in Gloucester, ending the nine-year dispute over 91.5 MHz on Cape Ann.
Mar. 30: The FCC approves a settlement between Masconomet Regional High School and New England Broadcasting Educational Group that allows NEBEG to receive a construction permit for a station on 88.3 in Newbury which will share time with Masconomet's WBMT (88.3 Boxford). WBMT will have the channel from 10 AM to 10 PM weekdays, September through June, and NEBEG will operate the remaining time. At the same time, the FCC grants WBMT's pending license renewal. NEBEG will request the callsign WVCA.
Apr.: Langer Broadcasting agrees to pay $120,000 for two translators of Western Mass. public radio outlet WFCR (88.5 Amherst), to be moved east under the “AM Revitalization” rules: one to be paired with daytimer WSRO (650 Ashland) and the other with WBAS (1240 West Yarmouth).
Apr.: WROL (950) is granted a translator on 100.3, with a 250-watt directional signal from Kendall Square, Cambridge. The signal is a move-in from Maine as part of the FCC's “AM Revitalization” program. The grant clears the way for Radio One to move translator W231BI from Utica, New York, to Boston, where it will have 99 watts on 106.1, non-directional, and rebroadcast with WILD (1090).
Apr. 22: Horizon Christian Fellowship of Fitchburg agrees to purchase WWRN (88.5 Rockport) from Maine-based Light of Life Ministries for $105,000. Horizon has been programming WWRN (as well as Light of Life's Augusta, Maine, AM, WMDR) since February.
Apr. 28: Under new ownership, silent WXBR (1460 Brockton) applies for a construction permit to construct a new transmitter facility, about half a kilometer from the now-demolished old site, on the property of Temple Baptist Church, 540 Manley St. in West Bridgewater. The station also requests a new callsign, WATD, reflecting its connection to owner Ed Perry's WATD-FM (95.9 Marshfield). As the station is approaching the one-year deadline to resume operations or lose its license, Perry requests special temporary authority to operate with 1 kW, daytime only, from a longwire antenna on the church's property. The permanent facility being applied for would downgrade the station to class-D status, 5 kW-D, 30 W-N, non-directional.
May 3: The FCC grants WATD (1460 Brockton)'s request for special temporary authority to use a longwire antenna at its proposed new site.
May: WGUA-LP (98.1 Lawrence) signs on with Spanish-language religious programming under the name “Radio Catolica”.
May: City-owned WBCA-LP (102.9 Boston) signs on, operated by Boston Neighborhood Network, the city's public-access cable channel. The station will share time on the frequency with religious WBPG-LP and Lasell College's WLAS-LP in Newton.
May 17: WHDH-TV (channel 7) loses its court case against NBC, allowing the station's affiliation contract to expire on schedule on January 1, 2017.
July 12: WATD (1460 Brockton) owner Marshfield Broadcasting (Ed Perry) agrees to pay $50,000 for Northeast Gospel Broadcasting's construction permit for W247CB (101.1 Pittsfield), contingent on the downgrade of WATD to class-D status and an amended construction permit to locate the translator at the proposed new WATD transmitter site in West Bridgewater. Marshfield Broadcasting also agrees not to apply to move the translator to 94.9 MHz.
July 19: Beasley Broadcasting agrees to acquire Greater Media for $240 million, reuniting WRCA (1330 Watertown) with its former sister station, WKLB-FM (102.5 Waltham), along with Greater Media's four other Boston FMs.
July 25: Beasley agrees to acquire W231BI (the Utica, N.Y., translator Radio One acquired with the intent of moving it 106.1 in Boston for WILD), refiling the application to specify WRCA as the new primary station. (This application could not have been filed until the FCC window opened for class-B AM stations to move translators.)
July 29: Marshfield Broadcasting files to move W247BG (101.1 Pittsfield) to the West Bridgewater site of WATD (1460 Brockton), with 220 watts from a directional Nicom BKG77 antenna.
Aug. 6: WATD (1460 Brockton) reports to the FCC that the longwire antenna the station has been using under special temporary authority is causing interference to their landlord's fire alarm system, and requests permission to go silent. The silent STA is renewed in April, 2017.
Aug. 22: Horizon Christian Fellowship's purchase of WWRN (88.5 Rockport) from Light of Life Ministries is approved by the FCC. The sale closes on Sept. 1.
Sept. 9: Radio Boston Broadcasting files to buy WILD (1090) from Radio One for $888,231 in cash and assumed liabilities. Radio Boston is majority owned by James Su's Universal Broadcasting; Su's group has been leasing the station for three years, broadcasting programs from China Radio International, a $4 million capital loss for Radio One, which had acquired the station in 2000.
Sept. 13: The FCC grants Beasley's application to move Radio One's W231BI from Utica, N.Y., to Boston, where it will rebroadcast WRCA (1330 Watertown) with 99 watts on 106.1 MHz from the roof of the Prudential Tower. The new callsign is W291CZ.
Sept.: Long-silent analog LPTV WTMU-LP (67 Boston) signs on its 2010 construction permit to move to digital channel 46 from the 350 Cedar St. tower in Needham.
Sept. 19: Comcast files to purchase WTMU-LD (32 Boston), which a construction permit from ZGS Broadcasting for $100,000. Comcast requests the requesting the new callsign WBTS-LD.
Oct.: WHAV-LP (97.9 Haverhill) signs on, taking on the programming of founder Tim Coco's locally-oriented web stream.
Oct. 7: The FCC approves the sale of W291CZ from Radio One to Beasley, which is consummated on Oct. 21.
Nov.: WCEC (1490 Haverhill) adds a translator on 92.1, to which nearby WDER-FM (92.1 Peterborough, N.H.) immediately objects.
Nov.: WVNE (760 Leicester) adds a translator on 101.5 from the historic Yankee Network tower on Mt. Asnebumskit in Paxton. The former W293BN was a move-in from 106.5 in Barnstable.
Nov.: WBTS-LD adds virtual channel 8.1 in anticipation of Comcast's launch of its new owned-and-operated NBC affiliate, after convincing the FCC to waive the virtual channel rules which would otherwise have required it to use channel 10 (causing confusion with Providence's WJAR) or channel 32. The station would end up being branded as “NBC10” anyway, after its Comcast cable assignment. It continues to relay Telemundo programming from WNEU (60 Merrimack, N.H.) but now under virtual channel 8.2.
Nov. 28: As-yet unbuilt WVCA (88.3 Newbury) applies to move to Seabrook, New Hampshire, on 88.1 MHz. The change would result in WVCA no longer sharing time with WBMT (88.3 Boxford).
Nov. 30: Long-time WBZ (1030) news anchor Diane Stern retires after 36 years with the station.
Dec. 16: Long-time WROR-FM (105.7 Framingham) morning co-host Wally Brine retires after nearly 50 years on the air, 35 of which on 105.7 over multiple formats. Brine started his career in Providence, where his father was the legendary WPRO personality “Salty” Brine.
Dec. 19: Langer Broadcasting again applies for increased night power for WSRO (650 Ashland) with a different directional pattern. The previous construction permit, for 187 watts, expired unbuilt on the 18th; the new application requests 250 watts with a different proposed directional pattern; the new pattern has more overlap with WSM (650 Nashville), the dominant station on the channel, but all of the overlap is over water or in Canada.
Dec. 31: Comcast launches “NBC Boston”, taking over the NBC affiliation from WHDH-TV (7) which had held it since the 1995 affiliation swap with WBZ-TV. The new service is branded with its cable position, channel 10, but broadcasts over the air on low-power WBTS-LD (8 Boston), as well as subchannels on Boston-based full-power WMFP (62 Lawrence) with virtual channel 60.5, and Comcast's New Hampshire-based Telemundo outlet WNEU (60 Merrimack) with virtual channel 60.2. Studios are shared with Comcast-owned regional cable channel NECN.

2017

At the conclusion of the FCC's congressionally mandated “incentive auction”, in which TV broadcasters bid to relinquish their UHF spectrum in exchange for part of the proceeds from auctioning that spectrum to wireless carriers, several Boston-market station owners end up with substantial payouts to either move to the VHF band or cease broadcasting altogether. Nearly all of the licenses which give up their spectrum entirely will use the proceeds to purchase bandwidth rights on another station's transmitter, in a process known as “channel-sharing”, which allows the “zombie license” to remain on the air under its old virtual channel number and branding and maintain must-carry rights on cable and satellite. The last phase of the auction is finalized in February with FCC letters to all the affected stations, and in April the Commission announces the complete set of results to the public, including the winning bids. The auction ends up clearing channels 38 to 51, leaving television on UHF channels 14 through 36 (channel 37 remains reserved for radio astronomy).

The Boston-market stations that sell their spectrum are WBIN-TV (50 Derry, N.H., $68 million for RF channel 35); WLVI (56 Cambridge, $162 million for RF 41); WMFP (62 Lawrence, $93 million for RF 18); WYDN (48 Worcester, $135 million for RF 47); WDPX (58 Vineyard Haven, $43 million for RF 40); WFXZ-CD (24 Boston, $64 million for RF 24); and WYCN-CD (13 Nashua, $80 million for RF 36). WGBH-TV (2 Boston) gets $162 million to trade UHF channel 19 for VHF channel 5. On the South Coast, Providence-market WLWC (28 New Bedford) receives $125 million to give up RF channel 22.

These stations will sign off their UHF transmitters over time to make way for the remaining stations to be relocated into the newly shrunken UHF TV band; some will shut down even earlier to allow wireless carriers early access to the spectrum. Most stations in the Boston market are assigned to phase 4 of the repack, meaning that they must build out new transmission facilities in the summer of 2019.

Jan.: Colt Communications sells WNTN (1550 Newton)'s license back to its founding Demetriades family for $175,000, but keeps the station's valuable real estate.
Jan. 4: UMass-Dartmouth agrees to sell its student-run WUMD (89.3 North Dartmouth) to Rhode Island Public Radio for $1.5 million, including $600,000 in future underwriting announcements. WUMD simultaneously applies to move to the former WLNE (6 New Bedford) analog tower in Tiverton, R.I., and change city of license to Newport.
Jan. 5: WKAF (97.7 Brockton) flips from a simulcast of WAAF (107.3 Westborough) to a separately programmed R&B format, last heard on the station when it was WILD-FM under previous ownership.
Jan. 11: Milford's WMRC (1490) launches it new 101.3 translator with a rebranding as “Myfm 101.3”.
Feb. 2: CBS announces that it is canceling a planned public offering of its CBS Radio division, and instead spinning the division to shareholders in a transaction that would see CBS Radio merge with Entercom. The combination unites the two largest station groups in Boston, requiring multiple divestitures to be worked out over the course of the year. The transaction will be completed in November.
Feb. 2: WFPR-LP (102.9 Franklin) signs on, operated by the local public-access TV channel.
Feb.: WBUR (90.9 Boston) moves from its long-time home on the “FM-128” tower in Newton to the nearby Cedar St. tower in Needham, trading power for increased height and an improved directional pattern that sends more signal to the western suburbs.
Mar. 6: WNTN (1550 Newton) moves from its long-time home at 143 Rumford Ave. in Newton to WJIB (740 Cambridge)'s Concord Ave. tower, downgrading from 10 kW to 750 watts, still limited to 3 watts at night, and now licensed to Cambridge. WNTN's studios move to Needham as the old Newton neighborhood on the south bank of the Charles River is redeveloped.
May 3: The FCC grants WSRO (650 Ashland)'s application to increase night power to 250 watts with a change in directional pattern.
Apr.: WCCM (1110 Salem, N.H.) flips to classic hits as “Valley 98.9”, taking the branding from its translator W255DA.
Apr.: WMVX (1570 Methuen) swaps callsigns with WCCM (1110 Salem, N.H.).
Apr. 12: The FCC releases the results of the spectrum auction.
Apr. 26: Word Radio Educational Foundation, licensee of WMEK (88.3 Kennebunkport, Maine), files an objection to unbuilt WVCA (88.3 Newbury)'s application to move to 88.1 MHz in Seabrook, N.H.
May 2
Beasley files for a license to cover on WRCA (1330 Watertown)'s new Prudential Tower translator, W291CZ (106.1 Boston), which is granted on May 10.
June 7: The FCC grants WATD (1460 Brockton)'s application for new permanent facilities, which will downgrade the station to a daytimer.
June: WUMD (89.3 North Dartmouth) goes silent as the student-run station moves to an online-only operation. The license passes to Rhode Island Public Radio, which will move it to the old WLNE (channel 6) analog tower in Tiverton, R.I., as part of an upgrade to a full class-B signal, making it the network's new flagship.
June 30: WMEX (1510) goes silent.
July: Financial information provider Bloomberg leases WRCA (1330 Watertown), WBOS (92.9 Brookline)'s HD2, and WRCA's Boston translator on 106.1, effective immediately; Bloomberg Radio continues to be heard on WXKS (1200 Newton) and WJMN's HD2 until Bloomberg's prior lease with iHeartMedia expires.
July 12: WATD (1460 Brockton) requests special temporary authority to resume operations via a longwire antenna at its construction permit site in West Bridgewater, using the same facilities as the station had used in 2016. WATD must resume operations by August 7 or it will be automatically deleted, and there is no guarantee that the West Bridgewater zoning board will consider WATD's application to construct permanent facilities before the deadline. The STA is granted July 18 and WATD resumes broadcasting.
July 31: Bloomberg Radio agrees to purchase WNBP (1450 Newburyport) and its associated translator, which is on the same frequency, 106.1, as Bloomberg affiliate WRCA's Boston translator.
Aug. 4: WJIB (740 Cambridge) is joined by a new translator on 101.3, operating from the top of the AM tower on Concord Avenue in Cambridge. The translator had previously been in Bath, Maine, where it rebroadcast WJIB's sister station WJTO (730).
Aug. 4: Long-time WCVB (channel 5) meteorologist Dick Albert dies at the age of 73. Albert had started at channel 5 in 1978, and worked there until his retirement in 2009.
Sept. 7: The FCC approves Marshfield Broadcasting's $50,000 purchase of W247CB (101.1 Pittsfield) from Northeast Gospel Broadcasting; the transaction will close on October 16.
Sept. 15: WBIN-TV (50 Derry, N.H.) is the first Boston-market station to relinquish its spectrum as a result of the auction, turning off its channel 35 transmitter in New Hampshire and moving to a channel-share on new owner Univision's WUTF (66 Marlborough). Former licensee Bill Binnie receives $10 million for the license, above and beyond the $68 million he gets from the FCC for WBIN-TV's UHF spectrum.
Sept.: The license of Azteca America affiliate WFXZ-CD (channel 24) is donated to WGBH Educational Foundation after the station's owners pocket $64 million in spectrum auction proceeds; the commercial license will be kept alive as a channel-share on WGBH (channel 2).
Oct. 2: WLWC (28 New Bedford) signs off its RF channel 22 transmitter in Freetown, to become a channel-share on Ion's WPXQ (69 Block Island, R.I.) after selling its spectrum in the wireless auction. Channel 28's Providence-market CW affiliation is sold separately to Nexstar, which will operated it as a subchannel of WNAC-TV (64 Providence).
Oct. 10: Entercom announces the stations that it will sell in order to complete its acquisition of CBS Radio. In Boston, those will be CBS's WBZ (1030), WBZ-FM (98.5), and WZLX (100.7), along with Entercom's own WRKO (680) and WKAF (97.7 Brockton).
Nov. 17: The sale of CBS Radio to Entercom closes; concomitantly, WBZ-FM (98.5) goes to Beasley in exchange for WMJX (106.7), and WBZ (1030), WKAF (97.7 Brockton), and WZLX (100.7) go to iHeart in exchange for cash and stations in other markets. Entercom keeps WEEI (850), WEEI-FM (93.7 Lawrence), WODS (103.3), WBMX (104.1), and WAAF (107.3). WRKO (680) goes into a divestiture trust pending sale to iHeart, which must first divest its own WKOX (1430 Everett).
Dec.: WBMX (104.1) becomes WWBX in an Entercom callsign shuffle; the WBMX calls move to Chicago.
Dec. 3: WFXZ-CD (channel 24) moves to a channel-share with WGBH (channel 2), after selling its own spectrum in the auction.
Dec. 4: Univision affiliate WUNI (27 Worcester) and Univision-owned UniMas outlet WUTF (66 Marlborough) swap programming and callsigns. Entravision retains ownership of channel 27 and continues to operate channel 66 under a management agreement.
Dec. 11: WATD (1460 Brockton) goes silent again.
Dec. 18: After WMEX (1510) failed to attract bidders in a Dec. 15 auction, Ed Perry agrees to buy the station's license; FCC paperwork for the sale will be filed in the new year.
Dec.: WBOQ (104.9 Gloucester) drops oldies for straight AC.
Dec. 29: WGFP (940 Webster) drops country for classic hits as “The Lake 940”.

2018

As the TV spectrum repack starts up in earnest, stations which sold their RF channels in the auction begin to sign off or move to channel-sharing arrangements with their new host stations. Boston stations which kept their spectrum aren't scheduled to change channels until mid-2019.

On March 14, iHeartMedia files for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The filing is primarily a result of the company's $20 billion debt load; station operations are unaffected as the company generates sufficient cash flow to pay for operations.

In August, Beasley sells its studio building on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester to a developer, which had already acquired the former WLVI-TV studios next door. Later that month, CBS enters a deal with developers to relocate the studios of WBZ-TV (channel 4) and WSBK (channel 38) to a new building to be constructed next to their existing building in Allston, paving the way for the original 1948 studio building to be demolished and replaced. WBZ-TV's move is expected to be completed in 2020.

Jan. 8: WBIX (1260) drops owner Salem's syndicated talk programming in favor of leased-time Portuguese-language religious programming from the International Church of the Grace of God, under the moniker “Radio Nossa”.
Jan. 9: WLVI (channel 56)'s more than four decades of operation from the Cabot St. “UHF Candelabra” tower in Needham come to an end as the station, which sold its spectrum in the auction, moves to a channel-share with sister station WHDH (channel 7) at its nearby Tower Road tower in Newton.
Jan.: “Zombie” license WBIN-TV (50 Derry, N.H.) moves to a channel-share on new owner Univision's WUNI (66 Marlborough) with new callsign WWJE and an affiliation with the third-tier Justice Network.
Jan. 16: Salem sells WBIX (1260) to International Church of the Grace of God; the church will pay $685,000 for the license, and will purchase the station's real estate in a separate, undisclosed transaction.
Jan.: Marshfield Broadcasting (Ed Perry) files to purchase the license of WMEX (1510), which has been silent since mid-2017; WMEX's landlord sues current licensee Daly XXL, previous owner Blackstrap Broadcasting, and Perry, attempting to collect back rent. The sale price is just $125,000 — less than Daly XXL was paying in annual rent on the transmitter site.
Jan. 18: WYCN-LD (channel 13) moves from Nashua, N.H., to a channel-share with WGBX, under new NBC ownership and a new virtual channel number, 15.
Jan. 31: The FCC dismisses WVCA's application to move to Seabrook, N.H., on the grounds that the provision the permittee used to get the original construction permit requires it to be a share-time with WBMT (88.3 Boxford), and the proposed change would result in it both stations operating full-time. The unbuilt construction permit for 88.3 in Newbury remains pending.
Feb. 8: WDPX (58 Vineyard Haven) leaves Cape Cod after selling its spectrum in the auction for $43.4 million; the station survives as a channel-share on sister station WBPX (68 Boston)'s Newton transmitter, with Woburn as its new city of license.
Feb.: WMJX (106.7) moves from its long-time home on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester to new owner Entercom's studios at 83 Birmingham Parkway in Allston.
Feb. 13: Long-time WHDH-TV/WCVB (channel 5) and WLVI (channel 56) news anchor Jack Hynes dies at the age of 88, a dozen years after his retirement after WLVI's newsroom was shuttered.
Mar. 1: Bloomberg's lease on WXKS (1200 Newton) ends, with owner iHeart shifting the syndicated talk programming from WKOX (1430 Everett) to the bigger 1200 signal. WKOX, in trust pending divestiture, returns to the Spanish-language “Rumba” format it had last run a decade previously.
Mar.: NBC's subchannel lease on WMFP (channel 62) comes to an end as the station (which sold its spectrum in the auction) prepares to move to a channel share on WWDP (46 Norwell)'s RF channel 10 in Bridgewater.
Mar.: WNTN (1550 Newton) completes a power increase to 6.7 kW-D; the station had been limited to 750 watts since moving to the WJIB (740 Cambridge) site in 2017. Night power remains 3 watts.
Apr.: WCCM (1570 Methuen) becomes WUBG with the launch of a new classic-hits format as “Big 105.3”; the WCCM calls move to sister WCEC (1490 Haverhill).
Apr. 16: The construction permit for W247CB (101.1 Brockton) expires unbuilt, while owner Marshfield Broadcasting is still waiting for zoning approval to construct the new transmitter site for WATD (1460 Brockton), with which the translator will be co-located.
May 13: Marshfield Broadcasting petitions the FCC to reinstate W247CB (101.1 Brockton) and requests “tolling” of the construction deadline, a legal adjustment to account for delays in government action through no fault of the permittee.
Apr. 19: Long-time WBZ (1030) sports anchor and New England Patriots play-by-play announcer Gil Santos dies, on the day of his 80th birthday.
Apr. 23: WYDN (48 Worcester) signs off after selling its Boston-market channel 47 spectrum. The station survives as a channel-share on WPXG (21 Concord, N.H.), with a city-of-license change to Lowell.
May: NBC applies to move WBTS-LD (channel 8) from Boston to Providence, with a new transmitter site in Norton, Mass. The low-power station, operated as “NBC 10”, became redundant with the move of WYCN-CD (channel 15) from Nashua, N.H., to Boston; as a Providence station it will pick up NBC's Telemundo network.
May: WESX (1230 Nahant) and WJDA (1300 Quincy) are sold to Real Media Group for a combined $875,000.
May 23: Steven Mindich, erstwhile publisher of the alt-weekly Boston Phoenix and former owner of pioneering alternative-rock outlet WFNX (101.7 Lynn), dies of pancreatic cancer.
June: The four-tower directional array formerly used by silent WMEX (1510), at the 441 Waverley Oaks Road office park in Waltham, is demolished by the site's owners. When the station was sold, the new owners opted not to negotiate a new lease with the landowner; it's been silent since mid-2017.
June 30: WMEX (1510) briefly returns to the air to keep its license alive, simulcasting new owner Ed Perry's WATD (95.9 Marshfield) while Perry awaits a construction permit to move the station permanently to the WBIX (1260) site in Quincy with a non-directional 10 kW-D, 2 kW-CH, and 100 watts at night.
Jul. 16: WBZ-FM (98.5) joins its new sister stations at Beasley's 55 Morrissey Boulevard studios in Dorchester; its old space in Entercom's ex-CBS Radio studios at 83 Birmingham Parkway in Allston will eventually be occupied by sports competitor WEEI-FM (103.7 Lawrence).
Aug. 21: The FCC reinstates the construction permit for W247CB (101.1 Brockton), which will rebroadcast WATD (1460 Brockton) once it gets back on the air.
Aug. 25: WBZ (1030) leaves 1170 Soldiers Field Road in Allston, its studio home of 70 years, joining its new iHeart sister stations at 1 Cabot Road in Medford.
Sept.: Rhode Island Public Radio's WNPN (89.3 North Dartmouth) completes its move from the UMass-Dartmouth campanile (where it had previously been owned by the university as WUMD) to the former WLNE (channel 6) tower in Tiverton, R.I.; the station's city of license changes to Newport, R.I.
Sept.: WMFP (channel 62) signs off from the FM-128 tower in Newton, moving to its post-repack channel-share with WWDP (channel 46, RF 10) in Bridgewater; WMFP's city of license changes to Foxborough with the move.
Oct.: WAAF (107.3 Westborough) studios move across Market St. in Allston, from 20 Guest Street to the former CBS Radio building on Birmingham Parkway, leaving WEEI-FM (93.7 Lawrence) as the last studios remaining at Guest St.
Nov.: WFXT (channel 25) temporarily moves from its historic home transmitter site, on Cabot St. in Needham, to the nearby Cedar St. tower while the Cabot St. tower is reconstructed.
Nov. 8: WATD (1460 Brockton) reports to the FCC that it has been delayed in constructing its new facility at 586 Manley St. in West Bridgewater and requests special temporary authority to resume operations under the same terms as the July, 2017, STA, before its license automatically expires for having been silent too long. The FCC grants the request the next day.

2019

The FCC eliminates the Main Studio Rule entirely, allowing stations to eliminate “Jones-Eastern” main studios and allowing remotely-fed non-commercial stations to dispense with studios altogether. The public inspection file can be made available online.

Jan. 16: American Radio Systems founder Steve Dodge, 73, is killed in Florida in a car crash.
Feb. 4: Long-time WBZ (1030) morning news anchor Gary LaPierre dies, twelve years after retiring from the station.
Feb. 4: WATD (1460 Brockton) informs the FCC that it must go silent; the station has been operating under special temporary authority, but the temporary longwire antenna is in the way of the permanent facility being constructed and must be removed.
Feb. 19: WATD (1460 Brockton) returns to the air under automatic program test authority. New WATD translator W247CB (101.1 Brockton) files for a license to cover, which will be granted on the 25th.
Feb. 28: Facing a March 22 deadline to complete construction, UMass-Boston applies to amend its construction permit for 91.5 in Gloucester, requesting minimal facilities of 100 watts, horizontal-only, using a two-day Shively 6802B mounted on a chimney. The FCC approves the application five days later.
Mar. 1: WATD (1460 Brockton) requests a new callsign, WBMS, for “Brockton/Metro South”, to avoid confusion with WATD-FM now that its own FM translator, W247CB, is on the air.
Mar. 7: UMass-Boston requests callsign WUMZ for its 91.5 construction permit in Gloucester.
Mar. 8: WBMS (1460 Brockton) files for a license to cover at its new transmitter site. It will operate at 5 kW-D, 30 W-N, non-directional, with the 220-watt translator W247CB's antenna mounted on the tower.
Mar. 18: WUMZ (91.5 Gloucester) signs on, relaying WUMB-FM (91.9 Boston).
Nov. 4: WILD (1090) goes silent, citing transmitter problems.

[ Home | Contact | Legal | Updated: 2023-01-03 | Validate this page ]

Network connectivity courtesy of MIT CSAIL.