The Eastern Massachusetts Radio Timeline: the 1930s

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1930

Jan. 5: WMES finally goes off the air, and sells its studio, equipment, and license to William Poté's Boston Broadcasting Company. Poté's WLOE still remains on the air “pending investigation” of whether its license should be renewed. He will eventually contest the FRC's decision not to renew WLOE's license in the Supreme Court. WMES's call sign changes to WBBS.
Jan. 17: WSSH gets a power increase to 500 watts and is now on 1360 kHz, sharing time with WLEX; it still primarily broadcasts church services.
Feb.: WEPS (1200 Gloucester) is sold by Ralph Matheson to Alfred Kleindienst, the principal of its share-time partner WORC (1200 Worcester).
Mar.: WMES changes call sign to WBBS.
Mar. 20: WLEX gets a construction permit to move to 1410 kHz, still sharing time with WSSH and WMAF (which change frequency at the same time). WLEY, meanwhile, moves to 1370 kHz, but must reduce day power to 100 watts.
May: WLEY's day power is once again 250 watts.
May 5: WEPS (1200 Gloucester) moves to Auburn and is consolidated with WORC under the call sign WORC-WEPS.
May 25: John Shepard III expands his WEAN/WNAC link into the Yankee Network, adding WNBH as his first affiliate station. There will soon be affiliates all over New England. In an internal reorganization, the Shepard stations are now licensed under the name “Shepard Broadcasting Service, Inc.”
June: Experimental station W1XK is licensed to Westinghouse for use at Millis. The station will be used on 990 kHz to prepare for moving WBZ (990 Springfield) from the Westinghouse plant in East Springfield to Millis, where it will directly serve the Boston market. W1XK will be deleted in February once the new WBZ facility is constructed.
June 30: WBSO (920 Wellesley Hills) receives a construction permit for 500 watts.
June 30: Boston Broadcasting Company asks the FRC to eliminate the share-time arrangement between its two stations, WLOE and WBBS, by moving WBBS to 1180 kHz with a power increase to 250 watts.
Nov.: WBSO (920 Wellesley Hills) moves to Babson Park, Needham, and transmits there with 500 watts. The license of experimental television station W1XAY in Lexington is cancelled.
Nov. 6: WHDH, which has gradually been doing more programs from Boston, moves there in full, to new studios at the New England Conservatory. The transmitter remains in Gloucester until 1932.
Dec.: According to the Radio Service Bulletin, WNBH (1310 New Bedford) sold to Atlas Tack Co. Our research suggests that this may be an error; we do know that the transmitter definitely was located on the Atlas Tack property in Fairhaven. (Atlas Tack at this time was probably controlled by Sherman H. Bowles, the owner of all three then-existing newspapers in Springfield, Mass.)

1931

Jan.: WEEI's studios are now at 182 Tremont Street, across from Boylston station on the Tremont St. Subway.
Jan. 20: WLEX (1410 Lexington) joins Shepard's Yankee Network.
Feb.: WLEX is now licensed to Bay State Broadcasting Corp. Westinghouse's experimental station in Millis, W1XAK, is deleted.
Mar.: WLEX moves studio and transmitter to Boston. Westinghouse's experimental station in Springfield, W1XAK, is now authorized to operate on 990 kHz, in preparation for moving WBZA to Springfield.
Mar. 13: WBZ (990 Springfield) officially begins operations as a Boston station, from its new transmitter site on Dover Road in Millis.
Apr. 20: Shepard formally takes ownership of WLEX, which is renamed WAAB.
Apr. 27: The FRC denies William Poté's request for full-time operation on WLOE, which would have required a change in frequency for WBBS, a station he also owned. The FRC refuses even to renew WBBS's license (which at this time was an annual requirement).
May: WAAB (1410) moves to the WNAC (1230) transmitter site in Squantum, Quincy.
May 24: WSSH (1410 Boston) ceases to operate; church services move to WAAB.
June: WSSH's license is cancelled.
June 5: WBZ moves to new studios at the Hotel Bradford. WBZA moves to the Westinghouse plant on Page Boulevard in East Springfield, and increases power to 1000 watts.
Nov.: WBSO (920 Needham) is now licensed to Broadcasting Service Organization.

1932

In early 1932, the FRC increases the maximum allowed transmitter power for clear-channel stations to 50 kilowatts, and many immediately file to increase power. Regional stations (what would eventually become class-II stations) are still limited to 5000 watts. KDKA, KFI, KMOX, WABC-WBOQ, WEAF, WLW, WOAI, WTAM, and WTIC all receive 50 kW authorization in January. (WBZ is a bit behind the curve.)

In December, the FRC starts to identify stations by their studio location, rather than their transmitter location.

Jan.: WBZ (990 Boston) is granted a power increase to 25 kW.
Apr.: WTAG gets a power increase to 500 watts (which the Radio Service Bulletin describes as temporary).
May: The FRC issues a construction permit for WHEU (1420 Springfield), the second station in Western Massachusetts. It will operate at 100 watts, and is owned by Albert S. Moffat. (WHEU is a sequential call sign, and is changed the following month to WMAS.)
May 11: WBZ (990 Boston) increases power at the new Millis transmitter to 25 kW.
Jul.: WNBH (1310 New Bedford) increase power to 250 W-D, 100 W-N.
Aug.: WLOE's postal address is 5 Winthrop Square, in downtown Boston. (The transmitter remains in Chelsea.)
Nov.: The FRC finally catches up with WHDH's studio move to the New England Conservatory in Boston. The Radio Service Bulletin also notes a transmitter change to Saugus, but the coordinates given are in the middle of a marsh north of Essex St. in Gloucester—probably the old site.
Nov. 21: WBZ, WBZA leased to NBC along with other Westinghouse stations. Unlike other such leases, Westinghouse maintains a supervisory employee at each station and handles its own engineering.

1933

In April, 1933, the Radio Service Bulletin—one of the primary sources for station information in this period—changes its format. The new format, which is the same as all countries use to report their stations to the “Berne Bureau” in Switzerland, does not include studio locations or mailing addresses, among other details lost. We generally use newspaper articles, station directories (after 1935), and similar sources to identify studio locations.

In October, the FRC introduces the first versions of forms 301 and 302, still used today (albeit in electronic form) by the FCC for construction permit and license applications.

Mar. 10: WLEY is sold by the Lexington Air Stations to Albert S. Moffat.
Apr. 1: WHDH moves its studios to the Hotel Touraine.
May 15: WORC-WEPS becomes just WORC, and changes frequency to 1280 kHz, 500 W directional, under special authority. Other hyphenated stations also lose their second call sign, including WNAC-WBIS and, in Providence, WPRO-WPAW.
Nov. 27: WBZ (990 Boston) increases power to 50 kW. (This is apparently done on an experimental bases as this power level would not be fully licensed until 1938.)
Dec.: WMEX (1500 Chelsea) is granted a construction permit, for 250 W-D, 100 W-N. The permittee is The Northern Corporation, which is owned by the Poté brothers.
Dec. 9: WLOE renewal denied, license deleted.

1934

Congress passes the Communications Act of 1934 in June. Most parts of the act become effective on July 11, with the newly created Federal Communications Commission taking over all of the responsibilities of the old Federal Radio Commission, and gaining regulatory authority over interstate common carriers for communications (public telephone and telegraph services) formerly exercised by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Among the FCC's first actions is order no. 2, which requires all corporate licensees to submit documentation of their ownership and capital structure. The order also provides that the FCC must approve all changes in ownership.

In May, as one of its final acts before going out of business, the FRC issues construction permits to four new expermiental “high fidelity” radio stations, just above the broadcast band. The stations are W9XBY (1530 Kansas City), W1XBS (1530 Waterbury, Conn.), W2XR (1550 Long Island City), and W6XAI (1550 Bakersfield). All four will survive into the 1990s, and two still exist today: W2XR is today's WQEW (1560 New York), and W6XAI is today's KNZR (1560 Bakersfield). W2XR already existed as a mechanical-television station, so it was officially on the air first, on June 29.

In December, the last major relocation of a clear-channel station takes place, as Westinghouse moves KYW from Chicago to Philadelphia.

Feb.: WMEX now has a transmitter site, in an industrial area just south of the B&M railroad tracks in Chelsea.
Apr. 15: WTAG increases power to 500 watts, unlimited time.
May: WNBH (1310 New Bedford) is sold to E. Anthony and Sons, publishers of the New Bedford Mercury and Standard Times.
Jul. 11: The Federal Communications Commission is established; the Federal Radio Commission is abolished.
Aug. 14: WLEY (1370 Lexington) becomes WLLH, and is granted a construction permit to move to Lowell.
Sept. 25: WORC (1200) changes frequency to 1280 kHz, with 500 watts, full time. The transmitter is at the same location as WORC's modern facility on Pakachoag Road in Auburn.
Oct. 10: WLLH (1370 Lowell) is now on the air. Its new transmitter site is located on the south bank of the Merrimack River, near what is now Tsongas Arena.
Oct. 18: WMEX (1500 Chelsea) is now on the air.
Nov.: WTAG (580) is now transmitting from Maple St. in downtown Worcester. The FCC now has correct coordinates for WHDH (830), In Rumney Marsh off Salem Turnpike in Saugus. WLLH is now licensed for unlimited-time operation, and WNAC gets a power increase, to 2.5 kW-D, 1 kW-N.
Nov. 13: Joseph M. Kirby is granted a construction permit for WMFH, a 500-watt daytimer on 1120 kHz. WMFH is a sequential call sign; others granted around the same time include WMFF (1310 Plattsburgh, N.Y., now WIRY) and WMFI (900 New Haven, Conn., now WELI).
Dec. 4: WMEX (1500 Chelsea) licensed.

1935

The FCC continues to establish new technical standards. In October, the Commission requires transmitters to be capable of 85% modulation or better, and requires all stations to install a modulation monitor to verify compliance.

June: WMFH (1120 Boston) receives an extension on its construction permit, but now has a transmitter site, at Commercial and Hanover Sts. in Boston's North End.
July: WLLH (1370 Lowell) is now licensed to Merrimac Broadcasting Co.
Aug. 26: WMFH signs on under the new call sign WCOP from studios at the Copley Plaza Hotel.
Sept. 17: WCOP's license is issued.
Oct. 11: Babson applies to transfer WBSO (920 Needham) to George A. Crockwell, William H. Eymon, and James K. Phelan, with financing from Natalie S. Whitwell of the Victoria Hotel, Boston.
Nov. 12: WSAR (1450 Fall River) is granted a construction permit for 1 kW, unlimited time. An application by WMEX (1510) to move to 1470 kHz, 5 kW full-time, is designated for hearing. A hearing is also set for the WBSO sale application.
Dec. 3: WBSO's sale application is reconsidered by the FCC and granted without a further hearing. Reconsideration of WCOP's application to move from 1120 to 1130 kHz is denied.
Dec. 5: Providence department store Cherry & Webb, which also owns WPRO, agrees to acquire Hartford's WTIC from Travelers Insurance, for $675,000. According to Broadcasting, Cherry & Webb plans to move the station to Boston, where it would take over the CBS affiliation in 1937, when the Yankee Network's affiation with Columbia ends. (The sale is never consummated.)
Dec. 10: Crockwell group completes purchase of WBSO.

1936

In July, an FCC statement prohibits the sharing of transmission systems by stations of different licensees, on the grounds that each licensee must have complete control over all equipment connected to its transmission system. This will become an issue when, in the next decade, owners are limited to one “standard broadcast” license per market.

In October, the FCC holds hearings to reconsider all manner of broadcasting regulations, most of which it had inherited from the FRC. Among the issues it considers are whether to allow power increases beyond 50 kW, modifying the system of station classes, synchronous operation, "duplication" of the clear channels, and the quota system for ensuring interregional balance in clear-channel and regional stations.

Jan.: WMEX (1500) moves to new studios at 70 Brookline Ave., Boston.
Apr. 21: WORL moves from Needham to Boston, with studios in Kenmore Square at the Myles Standish Hotel. The transmitter remains in Needham.
May: WCOP is now licensed to Massachusetts Broadcasting Corp. (but still controlled by original licensee Joseph Kirby).
June: WEEI is now operated by WEEI Broadcasting Corp., a subsidiary of CBS.
July: The Mount Washington Observatory receives a license for W1XR, an experimental station on 60.5 MHz, which will eventually give rise to one of the Yankee Network FM stations.
Aug.: WNAC (1230 Boston) increases power to 5 kW daytime, 1 kW at night.
Sept. 27: Affiliation swap: WNAC loses CBS to WEEI, becoming the NBC Red network affiliate.
Dec.: WEEI is now operated by Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. The change comes along witrh a reorganization of the Columbia station group, as WABC-WBOQ, WBBM, WBT, WCCO, WJSV, WKRC, KNX, and KMOX all change at the same time.

1937

On December 13, the Inter-American Radio Conference concludes in Havana. Negotiators for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic all sign the new North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. The treaty still needs to be ratified by the four largest signatories, and will come fully into force on March 29, 1941. (Some provisions, such as an increase in night power on the regional channels to 5 kilowatts, will take effect sooner.)

Jan.: WSAR (1450 Fall River) increases power to 1 kW with a directional antenna.
Jan. 26: WNAC and WAAB ownership consolidated under The Yankee Network, Inc., along with WICC (600 Bridgeport) and WEAN (780 Providence).
Feb.: WTAG (580 Worcester) moves to Holden and builds a directional antenna, from which it operates with 1 kW full time.
Feb. 2: WCOP sold by the estate of Joseph Kirby to Arde Bulova.
Apr. 6: WEEI builds its current transmitter site in Medford, on Mystic Valley Parkway; it's a two-tower directional array, from which it can operate with 5 kW daytime, 1 kW at night.
Nov.: WLAW (680 Lawrence) is granted a construction permit. The station is owned by Hildreth & Rogers, which publishes the Lawrence Eagle and Evening Tribune, and will operate with 1 kW non-directional, daytime only. The transmitter site is to be located off River Road in Andover.
Dec. 19: WLAW signs on.

1938

A Hooper-Holmes poll in January finds that 82% of all U.S. households have a radio—91% in urban areas. In Massachusetts, 92% of homes have radios.

In February, the FCC opens up a new “non-commercial educational” radio service, which is greeted with a yawn. Only two stations receive construction permits in the first year (one of them will eventually become WNYE, Brooklyn). The service is restricted to AM, with 40-kHz channels, between 41.020 and 41.980 MHz.

In April, the FCC begins its “chain broadcasting” investigation. Extensive hearings are held starting in November and running through May, 1939, taking testimony from station and network management. After several years and court cases, this will result in the breakup of NBC and many other “duopoly” situations across the country, including Boston's WNAC and WAAB.

On October 3, Edwin Howard Armstrong receives an experimental license for his FM station in Alpine, New Jersey, W2XMN, operating on the unusual frequency of 86.5 MHz.

Jan. 14: WLAW (680 Lawrence) receives its first license.
May 13: An application by the Fall River Herald News for a new station on 1210 kHz is denied by the FCC.
May 13: Cape Cod Broadcasting Company (Harriet M. Alleman and Helen W. MacLellan) is granted a construction permit for WOCB, a 250-watt day, 100 W night station on 1210 in Barnstable. It will be the first station on Cape Cod since the short-lived WJBX back in 1926. The two women are both real-estate agents on the Cape. A competing application from George M. Haskins (for identical facilities) is denied.
May 26: WMEX (1500 Boston) is granted a construction permit to move to 1470 kHz with 5 kW full-time, over the objections of WNAC (1230 Boston) and WLAC (1470 Nashville). The move had originally been granted without a hearing in 1936, but the permit was rescinded when WNAC and WLAC objected. Two of the five commissioners voting dissented, and the upgrade will be tied up in appeals for another two years.
May 26: The FCC turns down an application by Westinghouse to end the synchronization of WBZ and WBZA, moving the latter to 550 kHz as a regional station. The change would also have moved Vermont's WDEV (550 Waterbury) to 560 kHz.
May 31: WNBH (1310 New Bedford) applies to increase night power to 250 watts.
June 3: WLAW (680 Lawrence) applies to become a limited-time station by adding a directional antenna at night.
June 11: WBZ (990 Boston) applies to move its transmitter to Hull, where it would build a new full-time directional array.
Sept.: A late-season hurricane strikes coastal New England from Connecticut to Maine, damaging numerous stations. WORC (1280 Worcester) and WTAG (580 Worcester), among others, lose directional arrays; WLLH (1370 Lowell) loses its synchronous transmitter in Lawrence. All are eventually rebuilt.
Sept. 6: The FCC dismisses petitions for rehearing on its grant of WMEX's move to 1470 kHz.
Sept. 24: WAAB and WLAC appeal the FCC's grant of WMEX's upgrade.
Sept. 26: WCOP also appeals WMEX's move.
Oct. 25: Worcester's C.T. Sherer department store applies for a new station, to be on 1200 kHz, with 250 watts day and 100 watts night. (C.T. Sherer had previously owned WCTS, which became WTAG when it was sold to the Worcester Telegram.)
Oct. 28: WHDH (830 Boston) applies to increase power to 5 kW, full time, using a directional antenna.

1939

On March 13, the FCC announces a reallocation plan for the “high frequency” band—then from 30 to 300 megahertz. The announcement states that “The Commission believes that in order to permit television to be inaugurated on a nationwide basis a minimum of 19 channels should be reserved below 300 megacycles.”

In May, the FCC rewrites all of its rules. As a result, experimental stations must apply for early license renewal, so that they may be reclassified and frequencies modified to comply with the new spectrum allocation plan announced in March. In addition, experimental stations and commercial stations operating under experimental authorizations are forbidden from broadcasting commercial programs.

On December 29, Mexico is the last of the four major NARBA signatories to ratify the treaty, allowing it to come into force.

Feb.: World Wide Broadcasting Corp. receives a construction permit for W1XAR, a 20-kilowatt high frequency (shortwave) station in Norwood, to join their existing W1XAL in Boston (which is located atop a Boylston St. building).
Feb. 13: Blue Hill Observatory receives a license for experimental station W1XFW, operating from a balloon on 42.0 MHz.
Mar. 6: WNAC (1230 Boston) and WAAB (1410 Boston) licenses are renewed by the FCC, after rescinding its earlier designation of those applications for a hearing.
Mar. 7–8: The appeal by WAAB, WCOP, and WLAC against the FCC's grant of WMEX's move to 1470 kHz is heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Mar. 30: Mayflower Broadcasting files an application for the facilities of Colonial Network flagship WAAB (1410). Lawrence J. Flynn, one of the principals of Mayflower, a disgruntled former employee of WAAB owner John Shepard III, attacked Shepard's practice of airing editorials on the station favoring the positions and political candidates Shepard supported. Mayflower receives support from several local politicians, including former Massachusetts governor Charles F. Hurley, in hearings before the FCC.
Apr.: W1XAR, the Norwood shortwave construction permit, is amended to give its correct location, west of Providence Highway and north of Morse St.
May: The Yankee Network receives a construction permit for a “relay broadcasting” station, W1XOK, which will be used to relay programming to Shepard's new FM station in Paxton. (The published coordinates put it atop 484 Commonwealth Ave., near Kenmore Square, but press coverage states that it is on the Yankee studio building, 21 Brookline Ave.) It is originally authorized to use 135.0 and 145.0 megahertz, both in wideband FM.
May 1: WAAB (1410 Boston) is granted a nighttime power increase, to 1,000 watts, while Mayflower's application for WAAB's facilities is designated for a hearing.
May 24: The application of WORL (920 Boston) to go full time, at 1 kW with a direciton antenna, is denied by the FCC.
June: Westinghouse receives construction permits for two new VHF stations in East Springfield; W1XKB (42.380 MHz) will use AM and W2XSN (42.600 MHz) will use FM.
June 1: The Yankee Network sends reporter Pete Tully to be the first Washington correspondent for a broadcaster that did not itself serve the capital.
Jul. 22: Shepard announces that the Yankee and Colonial networks, and Yankee's owned stations, will immediately adhere to the newly adopted NAB Code of Conduct.
July 5: W1XOK changes frequencies from 135.0 and 145.0 MHz to 133.030, 134.850, 136.810, and 138.630 MHz, all in FM.
July 12: North Shore Broadcasting Corp. receives a construction permit for a new station in Salem, with its transmitter to be in Marblehead. The station will operate on 1200 kHz with 100 watts, full time. The call sign WESX will be assigned in early August. North Shore Broadcasting is owned in equal share by Charles W. Phelan, former sales director for the Yankee Network; Margaret B. Phelan; and Boston attorney Edward F. Flynn.
July 24: W1XOJ (43.0 Paxton), the fourth FM station to begin regular operations in the U.S., starts a full schedule of programming, 16 hours a day, with 2,000 watts. Programming is fed from the Yankee Network studios in Boston via 250-watt relay broadcast station W1XOK (133.03 MHz). (It's not the first FM station in New England: Doolittle Radio Corp.'s W1XPW beat Yankee to the air by a few months with its station on Meriden Mountain in Connecticut. The other two FM stations operating are Major Armstrong's own W2XMN in Alpine, N.J., and a station at the GE plant in Schenectady, where the first commercially available home FM receivers are being manufactured.)
Aug.: Shortwave stations receive standard broadcast call signs: W1XAL (Boston) becomes WSLA, W1XAR (Norwood) becomes WSLR, and W1XK (Millis) becomes WBOS. The same happens to “relay broadcasting” stations, so the Yankee Network's W1XOK becomes WEOD.
Aug. 4: Old Colony Broadcasting Co. applies for a new 500-watt daytimer, to be licensed to Brockton. The station would operate on 1160 kHz. Old Colony is owned in equal shares by Rudolph Wyner, president of Shawmut Woolen Mills, Mark MacAdam, chief engineer of the Brockton police radio station, and C.A. Lovewell, a Yankee Network employee.
Aug. 8: WTAG (580 Worcester) receives a daytime power increase, to 5 kW. Night power remains at 1 kW.
Aug. 9: Worcester Broadcasting Corp. applies for a new station on 1500 kHz (then a local channel), to operate with 250 watts day, 100 watts night.
Aug. 14: Ruling on the Yankee Network's appeal of the FCC's grant of 1470 kHz to WMEX, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia finds that Yankee failed to demonstrate sufficient economic harm to justify reversal of the FCC action. In dicta, the 17-page opinion orders the FCC to consider the economic circumstances of markets where facility upgrades are proposed. (The FCC had taken the position that competitors had no appealable interest in the grant of a permit unless the new station would interfere with their service.)
Aug. 19: WLLH (1370 Lowell and Lawrence) applies for a power increase to 250 watts, full time.
Aug. 31: WBZ (990 Boston) is granted a construction permit to relocate to relocate to Hull and construct a directional antenna.
Sept. 6: The Worcester Telegram is granted a construction permit for a new FM station on 43.4 MHz, to operate from the WTAG (580) transmitter site in Holden with 1 kW, which will eventually become W1XTG. At the same time, Westinghouse receives a CP for 1 kW on 42.6 MHz, which will become W1XK; it will transmit from Boston.
Sept. 6: World Wide Broadcasting Corp.'s shortwave stations move to a new site off Pershing Ave. in Scituate.
Sept. 8: World Wide's stations change call signs: WSLA becomes WRUL, and WSLR becomes WRUW.
Sept. 13: WLAW (680 Lawrence) is denied a request to extend its operation from local sunset until sunset in San Francisco, where KPO is the dominant station on 680. The FCC says that the proposed operation will not deliver sufficient service to Lawrence as a result of interference from the recently-granted 50 kW operation of WPTF (680 Raleigh, N.C.).
Sept. 26: WHDH appeals the FCC's grant of the construction permit for WESX.
Oct.: W1XOJ (43.0 Paxton) receives a construction permit for 50 kilowatts.
Oct. 13: WOCB applies to increase power on its construction permit to 250 watts full time.
Oct. 17: WORC (1280 Worcester) applies for a power increase to 1,000 watts, full time.
Oct. 18: The Yankee Network applies to build a new 50 kW FM station to serve New York City on 43.0 MHz, from Major Armstrong's tower in Alpine. Yankee also applies for an FM station atop Mt. Washington, N.H., which would use 5 kW on 42.6 MHz. For both applications, Yankee requests that the FCC treat the requests as “regular” rather than experimental stations, stating that no further experiments are needed to demonstrate satisfactory service.
Oct. 18: WNBH (1310 New Bedford) applies to relocate its transmitter and increase power to 250 watts, full time.
Oct. 23: WCOP's appeal of the WMEX upgrade is dismissed by the Court of Appeals.
Oct. 26: WMEX applies to increase night power on its currently-licensed local channel, 1500 kHz, to 250 watts. The construction permit for 1470 kHz remains outstanding but may take some time to build.
Nov. 1: WLLH (1370 Lowell and Lawrence) receives a construction permit to increase power to 250 watts, full time. WOCB's construction permit is amended to increase its night power to 250 watts as well.
Nov. 2: Gov. Leverett Saltonstall presides over the groundbreaking for WBZ's new transmitter plant in Hull. The Master of Ceremonies is Fred Cole.
Nov. 7: WNBH (1310 New Bedford) receives a construction permit to relocate and increase power to 250 watts, full time.
Nov. 8: The FCC begins hearings in Boston on the Mayflower application for WAAB's facilities.
Nov. 13: WLAC's appeal of WMEX's upgrade is dismissed by the Court of Appeals.
Nov. 21: WMEX's interim night power increase, to 250 watts, is granted.
Nov. 28: The Mayflower hearings wrap up, with accusations that Mayflower's corporate charter was obtained fraudulently.
Dec. 10: WESX (1200 Salem) begins operations. (Its license application will be received by the FCC on December 15.)
Dec. 20: WEEI (590 Boston) is granted an increase in night power, to 5 kW.
Dec. 29: WESX is licensed.

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