[BC] WBZ as a IB

[PeterH5322@aol.com]

>I can't say for sure that WBZA really was a factor in WBZ's IB status, but I
>don't think WBZ was classified or reclassified as a IA until WBZA went
>silent. Somebody will surely post the date--which must have been in the 
>late '50s or early 60s.

In the mid 1950s ... certainly going by Broadcast Yearbook, the 1955 and 
1958 editions ... KOB was STAed to operate on both 770 and 1030, but 
obviously not simultaneously and concurrently.

WBZ was classified as a Class I-B domestically, but as a Class I-A 
internationally, during this period.

Similarly, WABC was classified as a Class I-B domestically, but as a 
Class I-A internationally, during this same period.


When KOB permanently vacated 1030, WABC was reclassified as a Class I-A, 
domestically. WBZ's international status didn't change. It had been a 
Class I-A in-fact, since 1941.

When KOB permanently took 770, WABC was reclassified as a Class I-B, 
domestically. WABC's international status didn't change. It had similarly 
been a Class I-A in-fact, as WJZ, Newark, NJ, since 1941.


The FCC order to reduce WABC to Class I-B (and to install a DA protecting 
KOB) was vacated when KOB was ordered to vacate its de-facto Class I-B 
operation, and to change its DA to be consistent with its new permanent 
class, Class II.

KOB should have been a Class II-B, but it was assigned Class II-A by 
someone's mistake (perhaps by political pressure).

The SCOTUS had previously ruled that New Mexico already had one station 
"of the Class I type", KSWS, a Class II-A, and it did not need nor 
deserve a second station "of the Class I type".