|
May 11, 2004
WFUV Settles Tower Spat
*More than a decade after its construction
was halted 220 feet short of its target height, the tower of
WFUV (90.7 New York) will soon be dismantled, ending the nastiest
battle over a radio tower in the history of NEW YORK and
perhaps the nation.
The New York Daily News reports that the new president
of Fordham University, WFUV's owner, has reached a settlement
with the New York Botanical Garden that will find WFUV moving
a mile and a half to a new tower to be built atop a Gun Hill
Road apartment building owned by the Montefiore Medical Center.
The botanical garden, you'll recall, began complaining - and
filing lawsuits - as soon as tower construction was underway
back in 1994, complaining that the tower (which was to have been
480 feet tall) would spoil the view from the conservatory (which
is, we must note, right in the middle of the Bronx.) By
the fall of 1994, the tower had stalled out at 260 feet - and
concerns about RF safety and the structural soundness of the
Fordham building on which WFUV's antenna had previously been
located forced the station to move anyway. For the last few years,
WFUV has broadcast a somewhat impaired signal from a temporary
antenna mounted on the top of one leg of the unfinished structure
(which New York's ever-subtle tabloids have dubbed "a menacing
metal Godzilla" and an "eyesore of mammoth proportions,"
hardly the description we'd use for a 260-foot tower.)
We haven't seen the engineering on the WFUV move yet, but
we'll keep you posted when it's filed.
*Meanwhile, a college radio station up here in NERW's home
territory has found a novel solution to the crackdown on broadcast
indecency. NERW has learned that the University of Rochester's
WRUR (88.5 Rochester) notified student and community DJs last
week that there will be no live broadcasts on the
station, beginning June 1. Instead, the station's shows will
be recorded two weeks ahead of time and reviewed by WRUR management
before they're allowed to air. (WRUR also carries several hours
of daily simulcasts with NPR news-talk outlet WXXI 1370, which
will continue to air live.)
How will the edict sit with WRUR's volunteer airstaff? Stay
tuned...
 Over in Buffalo,
WGR (550) began simulcasting its sports talk over WNSA (107.7
Wethersfield Township), its former rival, in the middle of last
week. We still hear that the simulcast is only temporary and
that a music format is on the way at 107.7. Meanwhile, former
WNSA talk hosts Howard Simon and Jim Brinson returned to the
airwaves at Empire Sports Network, buying time from the struggling
network in Simon's former "Simon-cast" afternoon time
slot.
In Utica, Clear Channel was hit with a $10,000 fine after
a July 2002 FCC inspection found the paint on the WOUR (96.9
Utica) tower to be chipped and faded. The station appealed the
fine, saying the station had just undergone an alternative inspection
(through the New York State Broadcasters Association) which was
supposed to protect it from surprise FCC inspections - but the
FCC says that exemption doesn't apply to its tower inspection
program.
Downstate, a WNBC (Channel 4) helicopter crashed in Brooklyn
after doing a live shot for Tuesday's 6 PM news. Pilot Russell
Mowry, pilot trainee Hassan Taan-Marin and reporter Andrew Torres
were injured, but nobody (thankfully) was killed in the accident.
At WABC (770 New York), Monica Crowley's out of her 9-10 PM
weeknight talk slot as the station slides its programming around.
Mark Levin's now on from 6-8 PM, adding an hour to his shift,
followed by Laura Ingraham one hour later, from 8-10, and Crowley
moves to weekends. (And of course Monday was the 22nd anniversary
of "the day the music died," WABC's famous switch from
top 40 to talk in 1982.) Down the hall at WPLJ (95.5), Steve
Borneman is promoted from general sales manager to station manager,
adding oversight of Radio Disney LMA WQEW (1560) as well.
Jean Ensign died last Monday (May 3); in addition to a successful
career as an actress, she was one of the first women to serve
as a radio station general manager, working at WNRC (1460 New
Rochelle) and its successor WVOX as well as sister station WRTN
(93.5 New Rochelle) and at WVIP in Mount Kisco. Ensign was 87.
Lots of translator news this week, as the FCC posted still
more applications as "accepted for filing," meaning
they'll be granted unless objections are filed within 15 days.
Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes gets 93.9 North Syracuse,
97.7 Mount Pleasant, 104.5 Houghton, 94.9 Bowmansville and 95.7
Lockport to relay WZXV (99.7 Palmyra); Daniel Peltz gets 93.7
Waverly (relaying WLVY 94.3 Elmira); Clear Channel gets 94.1
Utica (relaying WUCL 93.5 Remsen), 97.5 Little Falls (relaying
WOUR 96.9 Utica), 102.7 Little Falls (relaying WUMX 102.5 Rome)
and 99.3 Hudson (relaying WRVE 99.5 Schenectady) - and the Thruway
Authority's applications for 98.7 in Eden and Dunkirk, far too
close to WKSE 98.5 Niagara Falls, get tossed.
*Renda Broadcasting is adding another signal
in PENNSYLVANIA, paying $900,000 to buy WLCY (106.3 Blairsville)
from Longo Media Group. "Lucky 106" will join WDAD
(1450 Indiana), WQMU (92.5 Indiana) and WCCS (1160 Homer City)
in Renda's Indiana cluster.
 Pittsburgh's WBZZ
(93.7) has shifted back to "B93-7" after trying to
call itself "93-7BZZ" for the last year or so; it'll
always be "B94" to most of the Pittsburghers we know,
anyway.
Over in Bloomsburg, our pal Joe Reilly is looking for a new
morning news sidekick after Larry White's departure from WHLM
(930 Bloomsburg).
On the translator front, it was a big week for Four Rivers
Community Broadcasting, which hopes to relay WBYO (88.9 Sellersville)
over 93.1 Carlisle, 93.3 Bear Creek, 93.9 Middle Spring, 94.9
Radnor, 97.9 Carlisle, 101.7 Coatesville, 102.9 Lees Crossroad,
103.7 Bear Creek, 106.1 Bloomsburg and 106.1 Zulinger, all of
which were accepted for filing this week. Also accepted for filing
were Clear Channel, for 96.5 Glendower (WRFY 102.5 Reading),
96.7 Erie (WREO 97.1 Ashtabula OH), 96.9 Altoona (WMTZ 96.5 Johnstown,
since sold by Clear Channel), 102.5 York (WHKF 99.3 Harrisburg)
and 103.3 Minersville (WKSB 102.7 Williamsport) - and Mifflin
County Communications, for 107.9 Granville Township (WCHX 105.5
Lewistown).
*More translator action from NEW JERSEY:
applications were accepted for filing from the New Jersey Public
Broadcasting Authority (96.7 Netcong, 103.1 Pompton Lakes, 105.9
Hackettstown); Burlington County College (100.7 Mount Holly,
relaying WBZC 88.9 Pemberton) and Clear Channel (102.9 Four Corners
and 105.9 Englishtown, both relaying WSUS 102.3 Franklin). The
New Jersey Broadcasters Association reacted to all the translator
applications last week by asking the FCC to freeze new translator
and LPFM signals in the crowded Garden State.
*In CONNECTICUT, "SuperMax 990"
(WXCT 990 Southington) launched its new Spanish tropical format
last week, simulcasting WPRX (1120 Bristol) in morning drive
and then going solo from 10 AM until 6 PM, when it's back into
English talk for now.
One translator application made the FCC's list last week:
Red Wolf Broadcasting, to relay WHJM (107.7 Pawcatuck) on 99.5
in New London.
*RHODE ISLAND's 990 signal will soon
be a sister to WXCT: Davidson Media Group, which is buying WXCT
from ADD Media, is paying $2.6 million to acquire WALE (990 Greenville)
from Cumbre Communications, which couldn't make a go of the signal.
We listened to WALE for a bit while driving around Providence
this past weekend, and whatever it's doing, it's doing it without
any legal IDs...
An Ocean State news veteran died April 29: Milt Fullerton
was a staple of WPRO (630)'s newsroom in the mornings until his
retirement in 2000. He was 62.
Two translator applications from Rhode Island were approved
for filing: Calvary Satellite Network wants 104.7 Warwick and
93.7 Providence to relay its yet-to-be-built WSMA (90.5 Scituate
MA).
*The mayor of Taunton, MASSACHUSETTS is
objecting to plans to shut down his city's local AM signal. Mayor
Robert Nunes was one of several people filing informal objections
to the plan by Keating Willcox's Willow Farm to expand WNSH (1570
Beverly) by shutting down WPEP (1570 Taunton).
Lots of translator applications on the "approved for
filing" list from the Bay State: Clear Channel gets 93.5
Pittsfield (WHYN-FM 93.1 Springfield); Tri-Valley Broadcasting
gets 102.9 Greenfield (WYRY 104.9 Hinsdale NH) and Living Proof
gets 96.5 Plymouth, 99.5 "Sandwitch" (sic - and we
believe misspelled cities of license should get applications
tossed with prejudice, but that's just us) and 106.5 Barnstable
on the list (all to relay the yet-to-be-built 90.7 in Wellfleet).
WFCR (88.5 Amherst) gets a new translator granted: W230AU
(93.9 Pittsfield).
And our thanks to the 21 readers who turned out for the NERW
Dinner last week in Cambridge - it was great to see all of you
in person, and we'll do another one just as soon as we can head
back that way! (Stay tuned for lots of New England Tower Sites
of the Week soon, too!)
*A new LPFM in NEW HAMPSHIRE: WJSK-LP
(101.1 Bartlett) was granted a license to cover this week; it
belongs to the Bartlett-Jackson Community Broadcasters Association.
On the translator front, Saga made the list this week for
94.1 Manchester, to relay WQLL (96.5 Bedford).
*One translator application on
the list in VERMONT: Dennis Jackson's 102.5 Middlebury,
relaying WCLX (102.9 Westport NY).
*MAINE Public Radio has hired a replacement
for Leitha Christie as host of its morning classical music block,
and it didn't look far: MPR's vice president for radio, Charles
Beck, will host the show Monday through Wednesday, with Barry
Darling and Elena See rounding out the week.
 *CANADA lost one of its most successful
morning hosts last week. George Balcan started at CJAD (800 Montreal)
in 1963, moved to morning drive in 1967 and remained there until
his retirement in April 1998, interrupted only by a brief move
(1972-1976) to crosstown CFCF (600). Balcan died last Tuesday
(May 4) of colon cancer. He was 72.
Corus changed format at CKOO (98.5 Longueuil-Montreal) from
French rock to French talk in January - and only now is it bothering
to ask the CRTC for permission. Talk is a "specialty"
format on FM in Canada, which is supposed to require special
permission from the CRTC, and rival broadcasters in Montreal
had been raising questions about the lack of a format-change
application from the station, which has also apparently changed
calls to CHMP.
In Ottawa, Aboriginal Voices Radio is applying for a fourth
extension of time to build its new signal on 95.7, telling the
CRTC it's still trying to reach a deal to lease tower space.
AVR's permission to build the station expired April 4, but it's
asking for an extension to October 14.
And in the Niagara Region, Suzanne Rochon Burnett is selling
the station her husband founded in 1957, CHOW in Welland. Originally
on 1470, CHOW moved to FM as "Spirit 91.7" a few years
back; its new owners will be David Holgate (founder of the Softchoice
software company) and consultant Pat St. John (no relation to
the famed New York DJ), who's been at CHOW for several years
and will serve as the station's president.
 *We
still have plenty of 2004 Tower Site Calendars still
available for your enjoyment!
Just as in past years, the calendar features a dozen spiffy
8.5-by-11 inch full-color images of tower sites from across the
nation - everything from Washington's WTEM to New York's WCBS/WFAN
(shown at right) to Los Angeles' KHJ to WCTM in Eaton, Ohio.
Other featured sites include Cedar Hill in Dallas, Lookout
Mountain above Denver, CKLW Windsor, WELI New Haven, WPTF Raleigh
NC, WBT Charlotte NC, WAJR Morgantown WV, WMT Cedar Rapids IA
and the mighty 12 towers of KFXR (the old KLIF 1190) in Dallas.
Unlike last year, this year's calendar features heavier paper
(no more curling!) and will be shipped shrink-wrapped on a cardboard
backing to make sure it arrives in pristine condition.
If you haven't ordered yet, what are you waiting for? Order
now and help support NERW and Tower Site of the Week. Better
yet, place your subscription for 2004 at the $60 level by using
the handy buttons below, and you'll get your 2004 Tower Site
Calendar absolutely FREE. What more could you want? (Local news
on the weekends, maybe?)
Don't want to order by credit card? You know the drill by
now - make those checks payable to "Scott Fybush,"
be sure to include sales tax ($1.32 per calendar) for New York
state calendar orders, and send them along to 92 Bonnie Brae
Avenue, Rochester NY 14618. (Sorry - we can't take orders by
phone.)
Thanks for your support!
NorthEast Radio Watch is made possible by the generous
contributions of our regular readers. If you enjoy NERW, please
click here to
learn how you can help make continued publication possible. NERW
is copyright
2004 by Scott Fybush. |