(Due to some technical
issues and travel, the June 18 NERW will appear later in the
day. Thanks for your patience.)
June 11, 2007
It's Split Time for ABC and Citadel
TOWER SITE CALENDAR 2007 - SOLD OUT!!!
*It's been nearly twenty years since General
Electric sold off its NBC Radio division, dismantling what had
once been arguably the most important radio station group in
the country.
When Walt Disney hands off the keys to much of ABC Radio to
Citadel today, it will mark the end - or at least a major transformation
- of a station group that had an equally large impact on American
radio.
Unlike the NBC sale in 1988, which marked the effective end
of the NBC Radio Network as an independent entity and the demise
of the WNBC call letters on NEW YORK radio, the sale of
ABC Radio will bring with it almost no immediate changes as far
as listeners are concerned.
 In part, that's
a reflection of the independence ABC's radio properties long
maintained from their sister TV operation. WABC (770) and WPLJ
(95.5) operate from studios at 2 Penn Plaza, many blocks from
the ABC Radio newsroom at 125 West End Avenue, which is itself
a long hike from the Columbus Circle headquarters of ABC television
and WABC-TV.
(There are some ABC-TV facilities at 125 West End as well,
so there will be some unraveling of ties there over the next
few years. ABC Radio News will continue to be operated by ABC,
which will license its programming to Citadel's ABC Radio Networks
for distribution.)
As best we can tell, there are no immediate programming or
staffing changes in the offing at WABC or WPLJ, the only ABC
Radio properties in the northeast, and indeed, the most obvious
change for the now-Citadel staffers at those stations is that
they've lost the Disney theme park "silver passes"
they enjoyed as Disney employees.
Disney keeps its Radio Disney and ESPN Radio properties, which
means that for the short term, WEPN (1050) and WQEW (1560) will
be tenants at the 2 Penn Plaza studios, with completely separate
staffs from WABC and WPLJ. We'd expect WEPN and WQEW to move
to new studios sooner or later, as will their sister stations
in similar situations in Los Angeles and Dallas. There will be
no changes at all at other standalone ESPN Radio and Radio Disney
stations, including Boston's WMKI (1260), Rhode Island's WDDZ
(550 Pawtucket), Connecticut's WDZK (1550 Bloomfield), Philadelphia-market
WWJZ (640 Mount Holly) and Pittsburgh's WEAE (1250) and WWCS
(540 Canonsburg).
Perhaps the biggest change from the transition, then, is at
the very top of the executive ranks, where ABC Radio president
John Hare announced last week that he'll retire rather than move
over to Citadel. Hare had been with ABC since 1969, when he came
on board at KXYZ in Houston; he had been president of the division
since 1999.
 From
a historical point of view, today's split leaves only CBS as
the last of the old-line networks operating both radio and television,
though the present-day CBS Radio has as much DNA from the old
Infinity and Westinghouse groups as from the old-line CBS Radio
of Paley and Stanton.
It's truly the end of an era, then - and the start of a new
one, as Citadel suddenly becomes the third-largest radio operator
in the country, jumping from its previous medium-market base
to become a major-market player. That's not a new arena for CEO
Farid Suleman, who spent almost a decade at Westwood One/Infinity/CBS
before moving over to Citadel in 2002.
Can Citadel do what CBS and Clear Channel couldn't - finding
profits in both the New York-sized markets and the Binghamtons
and Portlands of the world? We'll be watching.
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*Elsewhere in New York, Cumulus has taken
the next step toward moving WFAS-FM (103.9) closer to the lucrative
New York City market. The station officially changed city of
license last week to Bronxville from its longtime home of White
Plains. For now, there's no change in the station's facilities
- its transmitter remains at its longtime home in Greenburgh,
where the station's studios and sister station WFAS (1230 White
Plains) are located as well - but we'd expect to see an application
filed sooner or later to move 103.9 down to a transmitter site
in southern Westchester or the Bronx.
 WYSL
(1040 Avon) marked its 20th anniversary back in January, but
owner and founder Bob Savage (one of the "good guy"
independent broadcasters we so admire in this column) sensibly
waited until a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in June to celebrate
the milestone.
We were honored to be invited down to the lakefront home of
Bob and his wife (and station partner) Judith Day for the event,
which brought together WYSL staffers and friends from throughout
Bob's long career in broadcasting.
It's rare indeed these days to see a standalone AM survive,
thrive and even grow (WYSL's gone from a 500-watt daytimer to
a big 20 kW signal in its two decades), and here's wishing Bob,
and the other owners like him in the region, continued success.
In Albany, WFLY (92.3 Troy) didn't have to look very far to
find a replacement for departed night jock D Scott, reaching
across the hallway to bring Tanch over from sister station WAJZ
(96.3 Voorheesville).
Sammy Schrier has moved from WQNY (103.7 Ithaca), where he
was the afternoon jock, to the morning-show producer gig at WBEE
(92.5 Rochester).
 If you
never made it to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York
City (or its offshoot in Beverly Hills), you're too late - but
fear not: the repository of so much broadcasting history hasn't
gone anywhere. It's just changed its name to the "Paley
Center for Media," honoring founder (and longtime CBS magnate)
Bill Paley.
And if you haven't gotten around to watching the final episode
of "The Sopranos," we won't give anything away by noting
that the show's longstanding attention to detail when it comes
to radio was in full form Sunday night, when the episode began
with Tony's clock radio going off to the sounds of Jim Kerr's
WAXQ (104.3 New York) morning show. Past episodes have included
IDs from New Hampshire Public Radio and WTKU-FM down in Ocean
City - and of course the opening credits include a brief shot
out the window from the New Jersey Turnpike that takes in the
downed towers of the old WNEW (1130) site. (Look for shots of
a church and a train, after which you can spot the "top
hat" from one of the WNEW towers on its side in the water,
if you hit the pause button fast enough.)
|
BEAT THE PASSWORD RUSH! We've been holding out against the inevitable
for many years now, but the time has come. After six years of
giving away NorthEast Radio Watch for free, and six more years
of asking for voluntary subscriptions from our loyal readers,
we can no longer deny reality: if NERW is to continue on as the
authoritative source of Northeast radio and TV news that it's
become, the burden has to be shared across all our readers,
not just those who pay for it voluntarily. So this fall, current
issues of NERW and most of the NERW archives from 2003 onward
will become password-protected for access by paid subscribers
only.
(A few recent issues will remain
accessible without a password, and we have no intention of excluding
anyone who's truly unable to pay from reading the site. You'll
be hearing more about those plans in the months to come.)
If you're already a NERW subscriber,
nothing will change for you. Before the transition takes place,
you'll receive a password and you'll continue to have full access
to the site.
If you're not already a NERW
subscriber, now's the time to do something about it. By becoming
a charter subscriber now, you'll get the benefit of our current
low subscription rates, and you'll have no worries about waiting
for a password when the changeover happens this fall. And did
we mention that you'll be first in line for the Tower Site
Calendar 2008, free to our premium subscribers?
We've tried for many years to
hold off this financial reality, but it's become hard to ignore.
Not long ago, our pal Dave Hughes put part of his excellent DCRTV.com site behind a pay
wall, and mandatory subscriptions are an established way of life
at LARadio.com and reelradio.com, too, just
to name a few. And even with a subscription model, we've just
received word that the respected and venerable FMedia! newsletter
has gone on what's likely a permanent hiatus.
We have every intention of keeping
NERW going strong as we head for our 15th anniversary in 2009,
and for many years thereafter, and we're deeply grateful to the
many readers who've already come forward with their support in
recent years, as well as to the advertisers who've learned how
advertising on NERW can reach one of the best audiences in broadcasting
at a very economical rate.
If you still haven't subscribed
yet for 2007, do it right now at our Support
page - and enjoy another exciting year of NERW, guilt-free.
And if you have become one of our many subscribers, thank
you! |
*We'll make CANADA our next stop,
as we assess the fallout of the CRTC's decision to approve CTVglobemedia's
acquisition of CHUM Ltd., albeit with one enormous condition.
CTV knew it would have to divest some of CHUM's nationwide portfolio
of television stations, but it had hoped to keep CHUM's big-market
roster of Citytv outlets in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton
and Winnipeg and to spin the more marginal "A-Channel"
stations CHUM owns in Ontario and British Columbia.
 Combining the City
stations with CTV's existing national network was more than the
CRTC was willing to countenance under its "one-to-a-market"
TV ownership policy, though, and a divided CRTC ruled late last
week that if the CTV purchase of CHUM is to go forward, it will
have to be without the City stations. CTV can, if it wishes,
keep the "A-Channel" stations, the rationale there
being that even though A-Channel's CKVR is seen in Toronto and
its CIVI is seen in Vancouver, those are actually Barrie and
Victoria stations, respectively - and under Canadian regulations,
those stations really do provide news and public affairs for
the areas where they're licensed.
In the wake of the ruling, CTVglobemedia isn't saying yet
whether it will follow through with the C$1.4 billion acquisition
of CHUM, or with the proposed C$137.5 million spinoff of the
A-Channel stations to Rogers. Even without the City stations,
the CHUM radio group of 34 stations and its 20 specialty cable
services (plus A-Channel, if it were to stay with CTV) would
combine with CTV's existing TV, cable and print outlets to create
an impressive media behemoth.
 On a much smaller
scale, Rogers and Larche Communications are trading two Ontario
radio stations. Larche, which entered the crowded Kitchener/Waterloo
market a few years back with the sign-on of CIKZ (then 99.5,
now 106.7) as country "KICX FM," will retreat to its
home base in Cottage Country when it swaps CIKZ to Rogers in
exchange for CICX (105.9 Jack FM) in Orillia. The trade will
pair CIKZ with Rogers' CKGL (570) and CHYM (96.7) in Kitchener,
while it will reunite CICX with its former sister station in
nearby Midland, Larche's CICZ ("KICX 104.1"). And yes,
if you follow things back to Telemedia's sale of CICZ and CICX
in 1997, both stations were once "KICX" outlets, which
explains the calls in Orillia.
Down the 400 a bit in Barrie, the CBC may be expanding its
local radio service, according to an article in the Barrie
Examiner. The paper reports that the Barrie/Midland/Orillia
area is one of 15 markets across Canada that the CBC is considering
as part of a $50 million expansion plan that the Canadian government
will consider this fall. The new local morning, midday and afternoon
shows would presumably air from Barrie studios over CBCO (91.5
Orillia) and CBCM (89.7 Penetanguishene), which are now fed from
the CBC's Toronto studios.
Way out west, we note the end of AM in Thunder Bay, where
CKPR (580) signed on its new FM service at 91.5 earlier this
month. Dougall Media's full-service station will sign off the
AM dial for good in three months' time.
And returning to our neck of the woods, longtime Buffalo jock
Donny Walker, late of WKSE, has joined his old Kiss PD, Dave
Universal, across the border at Fort Erie's CKEY ("Z101"),
claiming the afternoon drive slot he held down for a decade at
WKSE. Walker displaces Keith Kelly, who returns to weekends at
Z.
*There are some big ownership changes coming
in MAINE, though they'll come as no surprise to regular
NERW readers. In Portland, the Press Herald gave headline
ink last week to a story we've been telling you about since March
2006 - the Citadel/ABC Radio deal is forcing two of Citadel's
stations to be spun off to a trust, separating them from the
rest of the cluster there. It's all a result of the fine print,
in which both Citadel's existing stations and the ABC stations
being acquired are ending up with license transfers to a new
merged entity, thus removing any grandfathered status Citadel
enjoyed in markets such as Portland.
 So modern rock WCYI
(93.9 Lewiston), the northern half of a simulcast with WCYY (94.3
Biddeford), along with AAA WCLZ (98.9 Brunswick), will go to
the "Last Bastion Station Trust," which will install
a new format on WCYI while apparently keeping WCLZ more or less
as-is for the moment. WCYY is already reminding 93.9 listeners
to tune up the dial a bit, and even offering to send out free
dipole antennas to anyone who needs them to receive the Biddeford
signal.
Who'll end up buying WCYI and WCLZ? We're hearing that some
of the other players in the market may be eyeing the signals
as they attempt to upgrade their own station lineups, though
Saga, the other big owner in town, is already at the market cap
itself.
Meanwhile down the coast, the sale of Clear Channel's Bangor
stations to the new Goodradio.tv group brings with it spinoffs
of its own, since Clear Channel was grandfathered over the market
caps there. Two outlying stations, rocker WFZX (101.7 Searsport)
and oldies WGUY (102.1 Dexter), aren't going to Goodradio, and
will instead go into trust until another buyer comes along.
*An unbuilt NEW HAMPSHIRE station
now has calls: mark down WZNH for the new 870 in Fitzwilliam
Depot, in the event it ever makes it on the air.
*The big news in MASSACHUSETTS will
come today, when WGBH-FM (89.7 Boston) moves its announcers from
their longtime home on Western Avenue in Allston to the new broadcast
center overlooking the Mass Pike off Market Street. WGBH-TV/WGBX
will make the move later this month, and by July, the old Western
Avenue facility will be history. Over on the radio side, the
playlists for today's inaugural broadcasts were drawn from listener
suggestions; the first track played from the new digs at 9 AM
will be Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man."
There'll be no change in morning drive at 105.7 any time soon;
Loren Owens and Wally Brine, who've already outlasted three owners,
four sets of calls and an uncounted number of formats at what's
now WROR (105.7 Framingham), have signed another "long-term"
contract with the Greater Media station, extending a run there
that started 26 years ago when the station was Fairbanks Communications'
WVBF. (And it's no slight to Brine to note that he's still only
about halfway to matching his father Salty Brine's remarkable
half-century run at Providence's WPRO.)
The future of an embattled Bay State-based public radio show
is secure for the moment, thanks to an anonymous donor who wrote
a whopping $125,000 check to Christopher Lydon's "Open Source",
bringing the show's quiet fundraising campaign (carried out merely
through mentions on the show's blog)
over the $150,000 mark in just ten days. That's enough to keep
the show going through the summer, but there are still a lot
of hurdles to overcome: Public Radio International is dropping
its carriage of the show July 1, which may imperil its clearances
on many public radio stations around the country.
*Speaking of RHODE ISLAND, Dan Hunt
adds music director duties to his new PD job at WWKX (106.3 Woonsocket);
former WWKX music director Davey Morris becomes assistant PD/music
director at WPRO-FM (92.3 Providence).
*Former Philadelphia station manager Brett
Beshore is returning to the northeast after a stint in Indiana.
Beshore is coming to western CONNECTICUT to serve as market
manager at Cumulus' four-station Danbury cluster (WRKI, WDBY,
WINE/WPUT) after a few years in Muncie, Indiana managing Backyard
Broadcasting's stations there. Beshore was general manager at
WPEN before making the move to Indiana.
*In NEW JERSEY, Press Communications
unveiled its new morning team at "G Rock Radio" (WHTG-FM
106.3 Eatontown/WBBO 106.5 Bass River Township). "Kramer"
(late of WCXL in North Carolina) and Jen Vogt (who's been doing
news at WOR in New York) make up the new "Morning G"
team. Meanwhile, Matt Murray moves over from WDHA to serve as
music director (replacing Brian Phillips) and as night jock (replacing
Brooke Connelly).
In baseball news, the Sussex Skyhawks of the independent Can-Am
League have signed a 10-game radio deal, placing a selected group
of games on WDLC (1490 Port Jervis NY).
(We'll wrap up our "Baseball on the Radio" updates
for 2007 next week with a comprehensive look at the short-season
New York-Penn League, which begins play June 19.)
*In PENNSYLVANIA, another PD has departed
from CBS Radio's cluster of Philadelphia stations. Gil Edwards
is out at WYSP (94.1 Free FM), and no replacement has yet been
named. Is this a sign that the days are numbered for the talk
format there, too, after the demise of "Free" stations
in New York and San Francisco?
After losing PD Brad Austin to the midwest (WWQM in Madison,
Wisconsin), WGTY (107.7 Gettysburg) is evening the playing field
by reclaiming a former northeast jock. Coyote Collins, late of
Rochester's WBEE, is departing his PD gig at WFBE in Flint, Michigan
to program WGTY. He'll be in place a week from today.
Least surprising call change of the year: WFEZ (103.1 Avoca)
officially changed to WILK-FM last week, now that it's dropped
its "EZ 103" format in favor of the "WILK News
Talk Network."
Pittsburgh's Clarke Ingram made national headlines last week
- but in the world of television, not radio. He was one of the
driving forces behind the viewer campaign to rescue CBS drama
"Jericho" from cancellation, and for once, the viewers
one. After CBS executives were deluged with packages of peanuts
(a reference to a line in the season finale), they announced
they'll bring the show back for a mid-season run next year, and
possibly for a full season in 2008 - and that landed Clarke on
the AP wire, on TV and all over the papers. (NERW wonders if
it's too late to enlist him to save "Studio 60"? Or,
given his status as DuMont Network historian, maybe "Captain
Video" instead?)
 It's really just
across the line in Ohio
Media Watch territory, but since WREO (97.1 Ashtabula OH)
puts a good signal into a big chunk of northwestern Pennsylvania,
it's worth mentioning that the Clear Channel station filed last
week to move to the Youngstown market, changing city of license
to McDonald, downgrading from class B to class A and transmitting
from the Youngstown tower of CC's WNCD (93.3). To stay under
the market cap in Youngstown, CC would then move WBBG (106.1
Niles) up to the Ashtabula market, relocating the class A signal
to Geneva-on-the-Lake, where it would share the tower of WZOO-FM
(102.5 Edgewood).
The upshot? The Clear Channel Youngstown portfolio would improve
slightly, trading the rimshot 106.1 signal for a full-market
97.1. CC's selling its Ashtabula cluster anyway, so the downgrade
from a class B on 97.1 to an A on 106.1 is a small price to pay.
And listeners to "Star 97.1" over the Pennsylvania
line will have to find something else to tune in.
|
From
the NERW Archives
(Yup, we've been doing this a long time now, and
so we're digging back into the vaults for a look at what NERW
was covering one, five and ten years ago this week, or thereabouts
- the column appeared on an erratic schedule in its earliest
years as "New England Radio Watch," and didn't go to
a regular weekly schedule until 1997. Thanks to LARadio.com
for the idea - and thanks to you, our readers, for the support
that's made all these years of NERW possible!)
June 12, 2006 -
- No radio owner in MASSACHUSETTS - or pretty much anywhere
else, as best we can tell - has been around longer than Maurice
Cohen. With his brothers Ike and Ted, he put WCAP (980 Lowell)
on the air June 10, 1951. Fifty-five years later, many of the
radio people whose careers took them up the long staircase at
243 Central Street (your editor included) returned to Lowell
for a combination reunion/anniversary celebration/salute to Maurice.
- WCAP news director Gary Francis hosted the event at his Gary's
Ice Cream shop in downtown Lowell, and former WCAP talk host
Bill O'Neill anchored the four-hour live broadcast from the reunion,
with Mark Watson at the control board and production pieces from
longtime WCAP producer Dan Bourret.
- A lot of fuss for one small-town radio station? You bet -
but in an era when so many towns have lost their local radio
voices (think of WJDA in Quincy, WESX in Salem and WCAP's Merrimack
Valley rivals WCCM, WLLH and WSMN), a salute is in order to owners
like Maurice Cohen, who've resisted lucrative purchase offers
year after year in order to keep doing radio the way they learned
it many decades ago.
- Over in Springfield, Entercom has named a station manager
for its soon-to-debut WVEI-FM (105.5 Easthampton). Jerry Hyland
was previously market manager for Clear Channel's Springfield
cluster.
- There's a new address for the radio station at UMass/Dartmouth,
too: on Saturday morning, WSMU (91.1) signed on its new, more-powerful
signal, WUMD (89.3) on Saturday morning - and after a brief simulcast
period, the WSMU programming (a variety of student and community
shows) will move permanently to WUMD. WSMU will then change hands,
becoming the Bay State's newest outlet for the fast-growing "K-Love"
religious network based in California.
- All the way out at the extreme western edge of upstate New
York, there's a format change at WBKX (96.5 Dunkirk), which flipped
from AC to country on May 25. Owner John Bulmer tells NERW that
the station faced tough competition from two Buffalo AC stations
- powerful WTSS (Star 102.5) and its dial neighbor WJYE (96.1).
While WBKX keeps its "96 Kix FM" nickname, it's publicizing
its return to country heavily, with a campaign that includes
newspaper advertising (and a front-page article in the Dunkirk
Observer), postcards and more. There's a lesson here for other
small-market radio owners, we think - in this age of multiple
media choices, you can't assume that your audience knows who
you are or where to find you without lots of publicity.
June 10, 2002 -
- LATE UPDATE! There's about to be one fewer local TV news
operation in MAINE. Management announced Tuesday that it will
pull the plug on local news at WB affiliate WPXT (Channel 51)
and UPN affiliate WPME (Channel 35) in the Portland market. "Our
Maine News," which aired at 10 PM on both stations, will
broadcast its last newscast this Friday. The Pegasus-owned duopoly
dropped its Fox affiliation (on WPXT) last year, and has been
struggling with the region's poor economy since then. A 7 PM
newscast launched last fall on WPXT was soon cancelled due to
poor ratings, and the ratings for the 10 PM show have suffered
as well. WPXT had been doing news for nearly a decade.
- For years, we've pointed to WICC (600) in Bridgeport, CONNECTICUT
as an example of full-service radio at its best - music, news
and talk all combined to create a top-rated, locally-responsive
AM radio station. As of this morning (Monday), that's history.
WICC eliminated its weekday music as part of a station overhaul
that includes new sounders and the station's first jingles in
nearly a decade. John LaBarca stays in mornings with Tim Quinn,
but now it's purely a news/talk block, followed by an hour of
talk with Quinn at 9 and two hours of the syndicated Neal Boortz
show from 10 until noon, replacing the Terry Michaels midday
show (Michaels has left the station, we're told, but will do
fill-in work at other Cumulus stations in the region) Chris Conley
will still do an hour of news at noon, but now that's followed
by the syndicated Clark Howard show from 1 until 4. Fred Ebert
remains on the schedule from 4-7 PM, followed by Yankees baseball
or Laura Ingraham's syndicated show. We'll be sorry to see WICC
turn into a more typical 21st century medium-market AM station;
we still think there's room for a full-service format in this
day and age.
- Up here in Rochester, "Big Dog Country" now has
appropriate calls: the former WNNR (103.5 Sodus) became WUUF
last week. (Freckles the NERW Wonder Dog says "Woof!"
to that...)
- Country competitor WBEE-FM (92.5 Rochester), and Entercom
sister stations WBBF (950 Rochester/93.3 Fairport) and WBZA (98.9
Rochester), will soon be doing its thing from a new home. After
decades at Midtown Plaza, most recently on the fifth and sixth
floors of the B. Forman Building, Entercom is moving its cluster
to the High Falls entertainment district. The new storefront
studios at 192 Mill Street will be right behind the offices of
public broadcaster WXXI. (and WBZA's even got actual on-air personalities
to fill its studio window, after more than a year of automation,
with former WMAX-FM/WVOR jock Michael Gately handling middays
and an afternoon jock on the way!)
- On the TV side, LPTV W59BV in Rochester, which carries the
TCT religious network, is running a crawl announcing its impending
move to channel 42, clearing the way for the eventual WOKR-DT
on channel 59. Perhaps W59BV will fix its transmitter when it
moves; right now, the video level is set so high that the picture
is mostly white!
- Finally, some news from the home front: we'll be keeping
a closer eye on TV and FM developments in places like Buffalo,
Syracuse, Watertown and Kingston, thanks to the new array of
Channel Master antennas (an 1110 for VHF and a 4248 for UHF)
now perched on the roof of NERW Central. A big huge NERW thank
you (and happy birthday!) to Rick Lucas, the fellow local DX'er
who did all the rooftop work to make TV and FM DX a reality hereabouts.
(2007 note: five years out and counting, and the antennas
are still there and working like a charm!)
June 12, 1997-
- The big news this week comes from the Granite State, where
WNDS (Channel 50) in Derry has returned to independent programming
after would-be station buyer Global Shopping Network reportedly
missed a payment on the station. As we reported last week here
in NERW, Global is having serious financial troubles, and it
appears that WNDS's owner, CTV of Derry, isn't willing to sit
by and wait for things to straighten out. "Star Trek"
fans across eastern New England are already celebrating; WNDS
was known for its Trek reruns, and they're already back on Channel
50. What's more, CTV has reportedly asked nearly all of WNDS'
dismissed staffers to come back to work, including weatherman
Al Kaprelian, a cult favorite among WNDS viewers.
- We have actual news from RHODE ISLAND this week, and plenty
of it, beginning with word that Citadel is adding Phil Urso's
WDGE/WDGF combo to its Providence station group. WDGE is the
modern rocker on 99.7, licensed to Wakefield-Peace Dale, while
WDGF is the dance station on 100.3 licensed to Middletown. Citadel
entered Rhode Island earlier this year with the purchase of Tele-Media,
which owned WPRO AM/FM (630/92.3), WLKW (790), and WWLI (105.1)
in Providence.
- CONNECTICUT radio listeners could get a new urban FM, if
the owners of WNEZ (910 New Britain - Hartford) have their way.
They're talking about buying an FM in the market if they can
afford one, although NERW wonders what they'll find available
in this era of mega-opoly, when almost all of Hartford's FMs
belong to either SFX or ARS. In the meantime, "910 Jamz"
carries on with urban on AM.
- NERW Connecticut correspondent Bill Dillane went down to
the R. J. Julia bookstore last weekend to witness a Don Imus
book-signing; he says the I-man was greeted by at least 2500
fans at the Madison store.
- Binghamton's public radio station is increasing its reach.
The WSKG Public Telecommunications Council has been granted a
new station on 88.7 in Hornell. The 4500 watt station will transmit
from just west of Canisteo, south of Hornell, and will likely
displace W204AS, the Dansville translator for Webster's WMHN
(89.3) on 88.7. WSKG now has relays in Oneonta, Ithaca, Corning,
and Binghamton.
- The apps just keep on coming for religious radio in the Empire
State. Calvary Chapel of the Westside has filed for the new 95.5
Albion allocation, against Jacor. If Jacor gets it, expect to
see some tricky engineering work to move Jacor modern rocker
WNVE (95.1 South Bristol) closer in to Rochester, as well as
the possible disappearance of WNVE translator W238AB Rochester,
which we heard as far out as Auburn, some 40 miles away. Family
Life Radio has applied for a translator on 107.5 in Greece NY,
actually broadcasting from the WKLX/WRMM/WDCZ tower on Rochester's
west side. The translator would relay WCIY (88.9 Canandaigua).
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*If you were waiting for Tower Site
Calendar 2007 to go on clearance sale - sorry! As of June 1,
the shipping department (which would be Mrs. Fybush, with an
occasional assist from Ariel) informs us that the 2007 edition
is now SOLD OUT.
Many thanks to all of you who've supported the calendar over
the past six years, and stay tuned for details on the even better
Tower Site Calendar 2008, for which ordering will begin
later this summer. (You can be first on the list for the new
edition, which will be back from the printer in early August,
by subscribing or
renewing at the $60 professional level!) And in the meantime,
visit the Fybush.com
Store for information on remaining back issues of the
Tower Site Calendar.
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
2007 by Scott Fybush. |
