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October 11, 2004
Jane Christo Resigns
*Whether you loved her or loathed her, there's
no arguing that Jane Christo was one of the most prominent station
managers not only in MASSACHUSETTS but in the entire broadcast
community. But after 25 years in the saddle at WBUR-FM (90.9
Boston), Christo announced last week that she's stepping down,
closing a career that saw her transform WBUR from a better-than-average
college radio station in dumpy quarters to one of the nation's
top public radio stations, operating from state-of-the-art studios.
WBUR staffers reportedly gave the teary-eyed Christo, 62,
a standing ovation after she announced that she'll resign this
Friday - but it's not clear how much of that was appreciation
for her work, and how much was relief at the departure of the
boss who oversaw not only the creation of Car Talk and
Here and Now but also controversies that included the
departure of prominent talk show host Christopher Lydon and even
a spat over the proper wording of underwriting announcements
that led to the firing of an overnight board operator.
That level of personal involvement with WBUR's product may
well have spelled the end of Christo's leadership there. The
fight over her plans to sell Rhode Island satellite stations
WRNI (1290 Providence) and WXNI (1230 Westerly) opened floodgates
of criticism that led to an anonymous letter from staffers accusing
her of mismanaging station funds and, last week, the start of
an investigation by Boston University and, reportedly, by Massachusetts'
attorney general. The station reportedly owes Boston University
more than $12 million, and ended 2003 $1.8 million in debt (though
a BU spokesman told the Boston Globe that the station's
2004 budget would be balanced), undercutting WBUR's denials that
the proposed sale of the Rhode Island stations, expected to net
several million dollars, was financially motivated.
In a statement, Christo said she believes that the investigation
will determine that "the allegations of improper misconduct
against me are baseless," but that her departure will allow
WBUR to return its focus to its news and talk programming. An
interim general manager for the station is expected to be named
this week. As always, stay tuned...
*A few more Bay State notes: Bill Wightman wasn't off the
air very long after losing his morning show when WXKS (1430 Everett)
flipped from standards to liberal talk; he's now handling wakeup
duty up the North Shore at WBOQ (104.9 Gloucester). Congratulations
to Ed Perry and his crew at WATD (95.9 Marshfield); the perennial
award-winners took home two national Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television
News Directors Association last week. And alumni of Brandeis
University's WBRS-FM (100.1 Waltham), your editor included, are
invited back to Waltham for a "first-in-a-long-time"
reunion next weekend. Alas, a scheduling conflict here at NERW
Central will keep us from making the trip, but we're sure it
will be a good time for all.
 And
among the NERW-landers we saw out in San Diego at the NAB Radio
Show (in addition to the aforementioned Ed Perry) was Clark Smidt
of WEEI-FM/WBZ-FM/WNNH fame, who shares with us this picture
he took with the legendary Gary Owens, thus saving us from having
to show you our own version of the same picture...
*A bit more from RHODE ISLAND amidst
the continued uncertainty over the future of WRNI/WXNI: station
supporters met last week with management from rival Boston public
broadcaster WGBH (89.7 Boston). While the meeting wasn't expected
to produce any immediate results (and in any case, WGBH already
puts a potent signal over most of northern Rhode Island), it
shows that the search for a public radio future for the stations
continues. We'll keep you posted.
*Very little news from the rest of New England
this week - just this interesting tidbit from VERMONT,
where commercial WDEV (550 Waterbury)/WDEV-FM (96.1 Warren) is
picking up Pacifica's "Democracy Now" for a four-days-a-week
5:30-6:30 PM broadcast. Station owner Ken Squier says he's doing
it to bring another viewpoint to the Green Mountain State's airwaves
- but it sounds to us like he's also doing it to tweak Vermont
Public Radio, which which he's had a longstanding grudge. (VPR's
listener advisory board recently recommended against picking
up the show for statewide airing on the public radio network.)
And speaking of VPR, it took home a national Murrow award
last week, too. (Other NERW-land winners: WGY in Schenectady,
New York's WINS and WCBS, and Albany's Capital News 9.)
*A quick NEW HAMPSHIRE correction
from last week: the old WUVR (100.5 Lebanon) belonged not to
Bob Vinikoor but to Dennis Jackson. (It was a pretty neat station,
either way.)
*Of course, we can't ignore the week's big
news on the national radio scene - the announcement by Howard
Stern that he's leaving NEW YORK's WXRK (92.3) and his
national syndication slot to move to Sirius Satellite Radio in
2006. (We can, however, forego the "Siriusly" puns
that every other trade mag out there has been doing to death...)
Stern's move was cannily timed to be the talk of the NAB Radio
Show out in San Diego, where we can confirm that just about every
conversation we had started not with "hello" but with
"what about Howard?"
 So,
what about Howard? There's some validity, to be sure, in the
face most radio managers were putting on for public consumption
- that Stern will inevitably lose some influence and power by
going from his network of more than 40 stations and many tens
of millions of potential listeners to a service that costs real
money (think of it as $156 a year and you begin to understand
both the cost to listeners and the potential revenue magnet that
Stern brings to Sirius) and has just 600,000 subscribers right
now. But it's also worth noting a few other comments we heard
during the show - especially one from a prominent agent for several
"shock jocks" who said that nearly all his clients
have asked him to investigate satellite deals in addition to
terrestrial radio. And those radio managers and executives would
do well, too, to listen to syndicated talker Tom Leykis, who
responded to our question about Stern thusly: "Asking me
about Stern going to satellite would be like asking the Rolling
Stones, when they were still putting out cassettes, how the move
to CDs would affect them."
Translation: for those who provide the content (and, though
they weren't saying so in an audience full of terrestrial broadcasters,
those who manufacture the equipment), Sirius and XM are just...more
radio. That's completely at odds, of course, with the official
stance that satellite radio is a mortal enemy to terrestrial
radio - but then, our editorial take, unpopular though it may
be with some station owners, is that when all the dust settles,
that's how listeners will see the satellite services, too. It's
really not a change from the argument we've been making in this
space for pretty much the entire decade this column has existed:
terrestrial radio can and will survive by doing the things only
terrestrial radio can do - which comes back to the mantra of
"local, local, local." No satellite-delivered service
will ever out-WINS WINS when it comes to giving New Yorkers the
headlines, traffic and sports they need. No satellite-delivered
service will ever connect to soccer moms in the Boston suburbs
as well as WMJX does. No satellite-delivered service will ever,
ever, ever sound like WLNG out on Long Island's East End (and
speaking of that, our best wishes go out to Paul Sidney, who's
been off the air battling kidney problems of late.)
Which brings us back around to "what about Howard,"
this time in the context of the NERW-land stations (WHXR/WHXQ
in the Portland, Maine market; WIZN in Burlington; WBCN in Boston;
WPXC on Cape Cod; WKKB in New Bedford/Fall River; WWKX/WAKX in
Rhode Island; WCCC in Hartford; WXRK in New York; WQBK/WQBJ in
Albany; WAQX in Syracuse; WZNE in Rochester; WBUF in Buffalo;
WJSE in Atlantic City; WYSP in Philadelphia; WQXA-FM in York
and WRKZ in Pittsburgh).
The wise words of my colleague Sean Ross are worth heeding
here: "There are 13,000 radio stations that already have
to deal with not having Howard Stern as their morning host."
(Read the rest of his cogent analysis at edisonresearch.com.)
It's a pretty good bet that stations like WBCN, WCCC, WXRK and
WYSP, which already have established identities in their markets
separate from Stern, will survive and even thrive in Stern's
absence; while their revenue streams will no doubt suffer from
Stern's absence, they'll also be free of the burden of paying
Stern's big fees. It will be more interesting, we suspect, to
see what becomes of stations like WHXR/WHXQ ("the Bone"),
WZNE and WRKZ, which have built their entire identities on being
"the Stern station" in their respective markets. And
if Stern continues to talk up satellite radio's virtues so extensively
every morning, it's a good bet that at least some of his present
affiliates will send his show packing even before the end of
2005. (More wise words from the NAB show floor: "This is
a very good time to be a morning-show talent agent.")
One fearless prediction: the answer for the soon-to-be-Sternless
Stern affiliates won't lie in more syndicated programming. As
much as we enjoyed Bob & Tom's schtick during the Marconi
Awards at NAB this year, it's pretty hard to argue that there's
any other national show that has much potential to keep Stern's
listeners (or at least the sizable majority who won't buy satellite
receivers) in place after his departure. Which means - again
- "local, local, local."
*Other news from around the Empire State: Harry Harrison is
back behind the mike at WCBS-FM (101.1 New York), where he began
a Saturday-morning shift last weekend, and we couldn't be happier
to have the veteran (WMCA/WABC/WCBS-FM) morning man back on the
air after a very tough time for him that's included the death
of his beloved wife, Patti.
In Utica, Jerry Walsh departs the news director's chair at
WKTV (Channel 2) at month's end, heading to Albany as executive
producer for WTEN (Channel 10). Walsh will commute from Utica,
where his wife, Amanda Gabeler, stays at WKTV as morning/noon
meteorologist; his replacement as news director will be Steve
McMurray, who moves up from assignment editor.
WCSS (1490 Amsterdam) flips from standards to soft AC under
its new Pamal ownership.
Two new translator grants: W245BA (96.9 Manorville) will relay
Bridgelight's religious WPDQ (89.7 Freehold NJ), while W226BA
(93.1 Elmira) will relay WPHD (96.1 South Waverly PA).
More NERW-landers seen in San Diego: Finger Lakes station
owner George Kimble, who's now working with veteran station broker
Dick Kozacko from his Tucson office, taking calls from prospective
station sellers (and buyers, too) at 520-465-4302.
Here in Rochester, Bob Lonsberry's being heard in even more
spots on the WHAM (1180) schedule, adding two daily commentaries
during the morning show weekdays and picking up the Saturday
12:20-1 PM slot, after Paul Harvey, for what's being described
as a "folksy" show. (We're betting on a lot of talk
about Bob's kids, which his audience seems to eat up...)
And congratulations to WOR (710 New York), which took home
the Marconi Award for legendary station of the year, which it
most certainly is.
*Speaking of the Marconis, a legendary PENNSYLVANIA
station took home the big pointy crystal trophy for "major
market station of the year," that being Jerry Lee's WBEB
(101.1 Philadelphia).
Up in the Lehigh Valley, the fight over the future of community
station WDIY (88.1 Allentown) will continue for a while, now
that a judge has agreed to hear evidence in a lawsuit from station
volunteers fighting the proposed merger with public TV station
WLVT (Channel 39).
In the Scranton market, Family Life Ministries gets a new
signal, winning a CP for a 300-watt signal (directional, at 168
meters) on 91.3 in Carbondale.
Over in the Harrisburg market, WCPP (106.7 Hershey) has a
new morning show, the "Breakfast Blend" with Ed Coffey
and Amy Warner.
And in the Pittsburgh market, Sheridan flips the simulcast
on WJJJ (107.1 Greensburg), replacing the R&B of WAMO-FM
(106.7 Beaver Falls) with the R&B oldies and talk of WAMO
(860 Millvale).
*From CANADA comes word that CHAM
(820 Hamilton) is sticking with its country format, despite weekend
promos suggesting that it was getting ready to flip. And speaking
of promos and contests, which we don't often do, we've got to
tip our hats to Newcap's CIHT (89.9 Ottawa), which staged a particularly
nifty "Fugitive" contest that lasted several weeks
and got the market's attention in a way that most radio contests
don't, these days.
In Belleville, Loyalist College's CJLX (92.3) gets CRTC permission
to move down the dial to 91.3, boosting power from 50 to 3400
watts.
And out in the Maritimes, CJLS-FM (95.5 Yarmouth NS) asks
the CRTC to grant it a 50-watt booster in downtown Yarmouth,
to fill in some terrain-induced gaps in its signal.
 *And how about a Tower Site Calendar 2005
update?
It's now for sale, among other outlets, at the NAB Store -
yup, that was the 2005 edition on the counter in San Diego -
as well as being on the racks at Universal Radio in Ohio.
And we're pretty sure the cover of the Tower Site Calendar
2006 has now been photographed - but we won't spoil the surprise
just yet, will we?
This year's calendar begins with WSTW/WDEL in Wilmington,
Delaware on the cover, ends with Sutro Tower in San Francisco
on the inside back cover - and along the way makes stops at WNBF
in Binghamton, CFNB in Fredericton, Poor Mountain in Roanoke,
KXNT in Las Vegas, WBBR in New York, Gibraltar Peak above Santa
Barbara, WDEV in Waterbury, Vermont, WRIB in Providence, WOOD
in Grand Rapids, KFJZ in Fort Worth, KYPA in Los Angeles and
the top of Chicago's Hancock Tower.
We're holding the price from last year, notwithstanding increases
in printing costs and PayPal fees - just $16 postpaid ($17.32
including sales tax to New York addresses). And as always, it's
free with your $60 or higher subscription to NorthEast Radio
Watch/fybush.com. You can use PayPal, below, or send your check
or money order, payable to Scott Fybush, to 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue,
Rochester NY 14618.
And here's an even better deal - We still have
plenty of 2004 calendars left, so how about this? For just $20
postpaid ($21.65 in New York), we'll send you both the 2005 and
2004 editions. It's almost like getting an extra calendar free!
(Or, if you just need the 2004 edition, that's still on clearance
at $8 - and if you buy two 2004 calendars, your third is free!)
So why wait until the last minute? Why make us wait until
the last minute? Why not let me park my car back in the garage
where it belongs? Buy your calendars now, won't you?
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