August 24, 2009

Buckley Sells in Syracuse

• MAINE
• NEW HAMPSHIRE
• MASSACHUSETTS
• VERMONT
• RHODE ISLAND
• CONNECTICUT
• NEW YORK
• NEW JERSEY
• PENNSYLVANIA
• CANADA
• CLASSIFIEDS
• FROM THE ARCHIVES

*Two station sales lead our NEW YORK news, beginning in Syracuse, where Buckley Broadcasting is exiting the market with the sale of its classic hits pair WSEN-FM (92.1 Baldwinsville)/WSEN (1050 Baldwinsville) and oldies WFBL (1390 Baldwinsville). While rumors about the impending sale of the stations had been swirling for a few months, the identity of the buyer came as a surprise: it's James Johnson's Leatherstocking Media Group, which just closed on nearby WMCR/WMCR-FM (1600/106.3 Oneida).

Leatherstocking will take over operation of WSEN/WFBL under an LMA on September 1; the transaction hasn't yet been filed with the FCC, so we don't yet have a purchase price to report.

The addition of WSEN/WFBL to the Leatherstocking group puts Johnson into some stiff competition - unlike Oneida, where WMCR pretty much has rural Madison County to itself, the Syracuse stations face off against national players Clear Channel and Citadel, as well as two other local players, Ed Levine's Galaxy cluster and Craig Fox's stations.

Speaking of Fox, he quietly flipped formats on his latest acquisition a couple of weeks ago: WVOA (105.1 DeRuyter) is now carrying Radio Disney, also heard on Fox's WOLF (1490 Syracuse)/WWLF (1340 Auburn)/WAMF (1300 Fulton). The "Love Radio" religious/ethnic programming that's been heard on 105.1 in two incarnations is again being heard exclusively on WVOU (103.9 Mexico).

Downstate, we knew Jarad Broadcasting was selling WBON (98.5 Westhampton) to a new company called JVC Broadcasting, helmed by Jarad president John Caracciolo and programmer Vic "Latino" Canales - but now the sale has been reworked to include WDRE (105.3 Calverton-Roanoke) as well, for a total price of $2.7 million, $1 million for "La Nueva Fiesta 98.5" and $1.7 million for "Party 105.3."

There's just one more station left to move into CBS Radio's new cluster studio at 345 Hudson Street in lower Manhattan, now that WINS (1010 New York) has made the move.

The switchover last Friday (Aug. 21) at noon came with a few technical hitches - the first few attempts to bring in traffic and weather reports were met with dead air, and the familiar teletype ticker that was heard behind the anchors at 888 Seventh Ave. was missing in the new location - but for the station's first studio move in more than a quarter-century, it went about as well as could have been expected.

(And thanks to fill-in WINS anchor Ted David for the pictures here, which we've shamelessly copied from his postings to Allan Sniffen's NY Radio Message Board...)

The last space at 345 Hudson Street to be filled will be sports radio WFAN (660), slated to make its move from the fabled dank basement in Astoria, Queens on or about September 2; after that, only WCBS (880) will be located elsewhere, and plans to move it downtown from the eighth floor of the Broadcast Center on W. 57th Street in 2010 are still somewhat uncertain.

Across town at Citadel's WABC (770 New York), the venerable Bob Grant is back again, this time in a Sunday slot from noon-2 PM, starting Sept. 13. Grant, 80, has been heard (and seen) lately on internet talker UbaTV.com.

Back upstate, EMF Broadcasting told neighbors in the town of Floyd, near Utica, that it's considering moving the antenna of WOKR (93.5 Remsen) to alleviate complaints of health problems that started back in the spring when the God's Country affiliate moved to its current transmitter site. While EMF insists that its operation in Floyd is within legal RF safety standards, officials from the company attending a town hall meeting last week with congressman Michael Arcuri apologized for the problems the station was apparently causing - and they say they're looking into raising the antenna or moving the station to a different site.

A bit of minor-league hockey news: when the former Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League move to Glens Falls as the Adirondack Phantoms this fall, their games will be heard on Pamal's WNYQ (101.7 Hudson Falls). Q101.7 signed a three-year deal to carry the broadcasts, with Owen Newkirk behind the mike.

On the TV side of things, Albany's WNYT (Channel 13) is losing its news director. Paul Lewis is returning to Connecticut, where he was news director at Fox affiliate WTIC-TV (Channel 61) until moving to Albany in 2006, to pursue a graduate degree in interactive communications.

*We've been following the meanderings of translator W236BX (95.1 Gloucester) as it makes its way west from Cape Ann to the Fitchburg area to become an FM relay for WPKZ (1280, ex-WEIM) - and this week we have another move to report: the translator (still licensed to seller Radio Assist Ministry) has filed for, and been granted, a construction permit to move to a site just west of I-93 and just south of Windham, NEW HAMPSHIRE. We're guessing there's at least one, and probably two, intermediate hops in W236BX's future before it lands in or near Fitchburg sometime this fall...

Up in Hanover, long-silent WDCR (1340) was back on the air for a few hours last week, as Dartmouth College fired up the AM signal to keep the license alive while it figures out what to do with the station, last heard full-time back in August 2008.

*There's a slight power increase for a signal-challenged eastern MASSACHUSETTS FM: Entercom's WKAF (97.7 Brockton) will go from 1700 watts to 2050 watts from its site on Blue Hill, 567 feet above average terrain.

Calvary Chapel of the Berkshires now has calls for its new signal on 91.7 in Dalton: it will be WJNF whenever it signs on.

*There's a new PD at RHODE ISLAND's country station. Bob Walker comes to Hall's WCTK (98.1 New Bedford MA) next month both as programmer and as a jock. Walker was last in Milwaukee at the former WKTI (94.5, now "Lake" WLWK); he replaces Steve Guitarri in a post that's been empty for over a year.

*In MAINE, Hearst's WMTW-TV (Channel 8) is hoping to return to the dials of viewers using UHF-only antennas to receive digital TV - it's applying for a digital replacement translator in Portland on channel 26 (the old analog home of MPBN's WMEA-TV). The new translator would run 6.2 kW from atop the time-and-temperature sign above WMTW's studio building in downtown Portland. WMTW tells the FCC that it's still receiving reports from viewers unable to receive its channel 8 signal on indoor antennas, and it says many of those viewers, especially in urban Portland, are in situations where they can't install outdoor antennas.

Another of the Knights of Columbus' new FM stations has calls: mark down "WFGP" for 91.1 in Greene, north of Lewiston.

And a quick note to radio and TV engineers in the region: Larry Bloomfield's very useful "Taste of NAB Road Show" is making its way around the northeast this week and next, including a stop in the Portland area on Monday, followed by Scranton on Wednesday, Binghamton on Thursday and Rochester September 1.

You can find more information about this educational (and free!) event at http://www.tech-notes.tv/Taste_of_NAB.html.

*Just one note from CONNECTICUT: current and former staffers of Brookfield's WINE (940) and WRKI (95.1, ex-WGHF) are invited to a reunion September 19. Tom Zarecki's behind the event, and of course there's a Facebook page full of information and some historic pictures, including a few that desperately need your help with captions, if you can identify some of the station old-timers...

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*A northeastern PENNSYLVANIA AM station is changing hands. Lex Sloot, the owner of Panorama magazine, is buying WAZL (1490 Hazleton) from WS2K Media, the investment-firm group that acquired WAZL and its sister Route 81 stations last year. Sloot tells the Hazleton Standard-Speaker he intends to make the AM station even more local, including the addition of a new morning show; station manager Mike Moran, who's been running WAZL under an LMA with WS2K for the past year, will stay on with the new owners.

A correction from last week: it's WMAJ (1450 State College) that changed calls to WQWK last week when the former WQWK (103.1 State College) became news-talk WRSC-FM. WRSC (1390) continues to simulcast the Kevin and Pat morning show with WRSC-FM, but it's now split off for the rest of the day, with the AM carrying progressive talk. As for 1450, the change from the venerable WMAJ calls (still heard on FM) did not come with a format change - it's still running ESPN sports.

In Philadelphia, Marconi Broadcasting's WHAT (1340) has lured Jim Clark south from Albany to be its new PD. Clark had been the morning co-host at WFLY (92.3 Troy); at WHAT, he'll oversee the station's standards programming and host the 10 AM-5 PM shift, presumably voicetracked for at least part of that shift.

In Pittsburgh, WDUQ (90.5) is looking for a new local host for "Morning Edition" as Katherine Fink departs after eight years. She's heading to Columbia University to study for a doctorate in journalism; her last day was Friday.

In TV news, ABC's WPVI (Channel 6) is getting ready for its big move - or rather, its very short move, since its new state-of-the-art studio building is right next door to its 1960s-vintage "studio in the round" on City Line Avenue and Monument Road. WPVI's office staff has already made the move to the new building, and the on-air staff is expected to be in place by September 20.

And we're sorry to note the passing of Christopher Borod, better known on-air as "Chris Gable" during stints as air talent at New York's WYNY and Philadelphia's WMGK, as well as PD at WRKZ in Hershey. Borod had been working off-air at McKesson Inc. in recent years; he died August 12 at age 56 in Hershey.

*Greater Media is taking another stab at a power increase on the NEW JERSEY shore: after an earlier construction permit to increase the height of WRAT (95.9 Point Pleasant)'s tower was cancelled back in 2006, WRAT has again applied for - and been granted - the height boost. If it's built, it will take "The Rat" from its present 4 kW/239' to 1.45 kW/476' from a taller tower at its present site in South Belmar.

New Jersey's distinctive noncommercial WFMU (91.1 East Orange) now has a better signal up Manhattan's west side: it's filed for a license to cover for WFMU-FM1, a 22-watt on-channel booster with a directional signal aimed north from the 4 Times Square tower site.

Way down the shore, we note that Rick Brancadora has finally made the call change on his FM: WILW (94.3 Avalon) is now WIBG-FM.

And we send our best wishes out to "Big Jay" Sorensen, the veteran jock last heard on WJRZ-FM (100.1 Manahawkin), who's recovering from emergency surgery over the weekend. The good news, we're told, is that the recovery is going well, and he's expected to be out and about - and to "Be Big" - in no time.

*The last AM station in Sudbury, Ontario is following the trend in CANADA and moving to FM. Rogers' CIGM (790) signed off Sunday night at midnight, giving way to Newcap's CIGM-FM (93.5) as part of a station swap that traded the Sudbury station for another AM-moving-to-FM in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

CIGM-FM began transmitting late last week with a stunt: it's doing "Classic Chinese Hits" as "Kung Pao 93.5 FM," a faux format that's been heard several times south of the border, most recently at what's now WVHT (100.5) in Norfolk, Virginia. The new 93.5 is expected to debut its real format within the next few weeks.

*There's a subtle but significant name change coming to the chain of Astral Media FMs in Quebec now known as "Energie FM": CKMF (94.3 Montreal), CKTF (104.1 Gatineau-Ottawa), CHIK (98.9 Quebec City) and seven sister stations will soon be known as "NRJ-FM." In French, those letters are pronounced "Energie," just like the current nickname - but the change to "NRJ" is part of a licensing deal with France's NRJ-FM, one of that country's most popular nationwide broadcasters. This is Astral's second licensing deal with a European broadcaster - it launched "Virgin Radio" on several of its Anglophone signals last year.

On TV, there's a new identity coming to Quebec's "other" commercial province-wide TV network. In keeping with the recent Canadian trend toward single-letter network identities ("A" and "E!" in Anglophone Canada), TQS will become "V," apparently as early as next week. The new "V" identity is supposed to reflect several French words that start with the letter, including "vitesse" (speed) and "vedettes" (stars).

The demise of Montreal's Aboriginal Voices Radio station, CKAV-FM-10 (106.7), is good news for another new station there: Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio, which had been granted a license to operate on 106.3 under the condition that it find a new frequency if that signal caused interference to AVR on 106.7, no longer has that condition in its license now that CKAV-FM-10 is history.

One more Montreal move: CFQR (Q92.5) morning co-host Aaron Rand is now a solo act, as the Corus-owned station sends co-hosts Tasso Patsikakis and Suzanne Desautels packing. "Aaron and Tasso" had been working together since 1989, and Desautels had been with them since 1999.

On its second attempt, Groupe Radio Antenne 6 Inc. has been granted permission to move CFGT (1270 Alma QC) to FM, with 50 kW on 97.7. Antenne 6's first application to move CFGT to FM was denied due to overlap with sister stations CKYK Alma and CHRL Roberval, but Antenne 6 is altering CHRL's signal to avoid that overlap. CFGT is the last AM remaining in the Saguenay market up north, and one of only a tiny handful of AMs remaining in the province outside Montreal.

Near Quebec City, CHEQ (101.7 Ste.-Marie-de-Beauce) has been granted permission to change frequency to 101.5 and to boost power, from 4.7-kw/79' to 26-kw/214'. While the move will give CHEQ a fringe signal into the provincial capital, the CRTC says its real purpose is to improve CHEQ's ability to compete in its home market against incoming signals from Quebec City.

A small Quebec City FM signal is getting caught in a regulatory squeeze play: Sortir FM's tourist-information CKJN (90.3) got the thumbs-down last week from the CRTC in its attempt to move to 106.9, boosting power from 16 to 100 watts. The CRTC cited a conflict between the station's own application and the technical analysis performed by Industry Canada, which used a different power level - and it says there's a potential problem with interference to a co-channel station in Trois-Rivieres. In the meantime, though, CKJN may have to go off the air if it can't get the situation resolved quickly, since its operation is secondary to a new license in nearby Montmagny on 90.3.

In Moncton, N.B., Milkman UnLimited reports that Scotty Horsman, late of CKCW-FM (K94.5) and CJMO (C103), is the new morning man at CJXL (XL 96.9), where he starts today on "XL Mornings with Scotty Horsman and Tony Smith."

And in Toronto, it was a quiet end to more than a half-century of broadcasting from one of the city's most famous radio addresses: last Monday (August 17), CHUM-FM relocated from 1331 Yonge Street to its new digs at 250 Richmond Street West. That sets the stage for the wrecking balls to move in at 1331 Yonge, as the site is redeveloped with (what else?) high-rise condos...though at least the iconic CHUM sign has been relocated to the new studios.

Down the street at Corus' CFNY (102.1 the Edge), "Fearless" Fred Kennedy is the new afternoon jock, moving in from Edmonton and displacing Dave Bookman to evenings.

SCHEDULE NOTE: We'll be back next Monday, Aug. 31, with the last of our summer double issues, and then we'll be off for Labor Day, Sept. 7, before returning for the fall season September 14. See you then!

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