Goodbye, Luv - Ron Lundy Remembered

 

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March 23, 2009 -

• There's word just in from CTVglobemedia that the plug is once again being pulled on oldies on the Toronto AM dial. Thursday morning at 5, CHUM (1050) will give way to "CP 24 Radio 1050," which sounds like it will be mainly a simulcast of CTV's "CP24" cable news channel. With the CRTC's recent rule change allowing oldies formats on the FM dial, will Toronto see a move of oldies to FM...or is this curtains for the format for good? More next week...
• During George Weber's years on NEW YORK's WABC (770), he built up quite a following as the talk station's morning "News Guy," and even after losing that gig in early 2008, after the Curtis & Kuby morning show where he'd worked gave way to Don Imus, Weber stayed active as a reporter and anchor with ABC Radio News. He was scheduled for several shifts last week at ABC, and after he didn't show up Saturday, concerned co-workers called the police. They entered Weber's apartment in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens neighborhood Sunday morning, where they found him apparently stabbed to death. Neighbors told the New York Post they believe Weber was murdered sometime Friday night. (The last entry on Weber's blog was dated Friday.) Police say there were no signs of forced entry, but neighbors told the paper the apartment had been ransacked.
• Weber was a native of the Philadelphia area who started his career at WBUX (1570 Doylestown PA), then worked at WAEB (790 Allentown) before heading west in the mid-eighties, where he worked at KIMN in Denver (alongside his future WABC program director Phil Boyce), KOA in Denver, KGO in San Francisco and KOGO in San Diego before joining WABC in 1995.
• Moving upstate, there's a surprise from Oneida, where one of the region's truly old-school mom and pop stations has been sold. We didn't know WMCR (1600) and WMCR-FM (106.3) were for sale, and it appears owner Vivian Warren, who bought the stations in 1969 and continued to run them after the 2005 death of her husband and co-owner, Bill, wasn't actively trying to sell them. But when Cooperstown-based James Johnson came calling with an offer, Warren decided to accept - and now the stations are about to get their first ownership change in four decades.
• From what Johnson tells the Oneida Daily Dispatch, the stations are going into good hands. Beginning in 1995, Johnson built a three-station cluster in Norwich (WKXZ/WBKT/WCHN) into the eight-station BanJo group before selling the stations to Double O Radio in 2004 for nearly $10 million. Since then, he's bought and sold restaurants and real estate and invested in a Broadway musical, as well as getting elected to the Otsego County board of representatives.
• In TV news from around the Empire State, seven stations have told the FCC they intend to drop their analog signals prior to the June 12 finale of full-power analog TV. Citing ongoing problems with their analog transmitters, the northern New York PBS duo of WPBS-TV (Channel 16) in Watertown and WNPI (Channel 18) in Norwood will go dark on analog April 12, followed on April 16 by two more PBS signals - WMHT-TV Schenectady and WNED-TV Buffalo, both on channel 17 - along with Binghamton Fox affiliate WICZ (Channel 40). On April 25, Elmira's ABC affiliate, WENY-TV (Channel 36), will end its analog broadcast; it's flash-cutting to digital on 36, having never built out its interim channel 55 digital assignment. And on May 4, religious WNYB (Channel 26) in Jamestown will pull the plug on its analog signal
• Need a concrete sign of the downturn in the economy? Just look to eastern PENNSYLVANIA, where Nassau, unable to carry out its LMA-to-buy agreement due to "dislocations in the credit markets," is handing WFKB (107.5 Boyertown) back to its owner, Lancaster-based WDAC Radio Company, on April 1. The back story here: Back in October 2005, WDAC signed a $22 million deal under which the 107.5 signal, until then doing religion as WBYN-FM, would be leased by Nassau, with three years to come up with the money to convert the LMA into an outright purchase. Nassau flipped the FM to classic rock as "Frank FM," targeting the nearby Reading market, while the WBYN calls and religious programming moved to the former WYNS Lehighton on AM 1160, which Nassau has been leasing to WDAC ever since. As we told you in our October 6, 2008 issue, Nassau ended that three-year period without the funding to close on the purchase of WFKB by the end of the LMA on November 30. The companies agreed to extend the LMA by four more months, but with no improvement in economic conditions since then, the deal will expire at the end of March. (And in fairness to Nassau, the softening of the radio sales market means the $22 million price tag placed on 107.5 back in 2005 now looks rather high, suggesting this might have been a deal not worth consummating in the end.)
• Here's how things play out from here: at the end of the day March 31, "Frank" will cease to exist on 107.5, with the station reverting to WDAC management and reclaiming its old WBYN-FM calls and "Alive" religious format. As for 1160 up in Lehighton, that signal will revert to Nassau management, and we'd guess it will return to its prior format, simulcasting the ESPN sports programming from Nassau's WEEX (1230 Easton)/WTKZ (1320 Allentown).
• Our NEW JERSEY news is sad news this week, starting with an obituary for Mike "Spyder" McGuire, who'd been doing afternoons at WJRZ (100.1 Manahawkin) for the last decade, and mornings at WAYV (95.1 Atlantic City) for two decades before that. McGuire had been fighting colon cancer for the last few months, taking a leave of absence last October before returning to the air briefly in January. McGuire, who was also heard on the station's weekend "Beatles Brunch," his particular pride and joy, died March 15 at the too-young age of 55.
• The fallout from the economic collapse in CANADA continued to dominate the headlines there this week, and nowhere more so than in Hamilton, Ontario, where fans of CHCH-TV (Channel 11) joined political leaders and some of the station's staffers in a bid to save the station as a local voice. While owner Canwest Global continues to mull over the station's future, including a possible sale to a group made up of current staffers, viewers marched from Hamilton City Hall to the station's Jackson Street studios for a parking lot rally on Tuesday in hopes of reminding Canwest officials that there's a 55-year history of local programming in Hamilton that's in danger of being wiped out if station operations are cut back even further.

March 21, 2005 -

• Back in the fifties and sixties, just about every TV market had its own beloved local kid's show host. In Boston, it was "Big Brother" Bob Emery and Rex Trailer; in Buffalo, Dave Thomas and "Rocketship 7." And in NEW HAMPSHIRE, it was "Uncle Gus" Bernier on Manchester's WMUR-TV (Channel 9). Bernier joined WMUR radio (610, now WGIR) in 1944 as an announcer, moving over to the TV side of the operation a few years after its 1954 debut. "Uncle Gus" began by accident, according to Ed Brouder's authoritative history of New Hampshire broadcasting, Granite and Ether, when station manager David O'Shea asked Bernier to go into the studio and introduce the afternoon cartoon show. The rest was two decades of history, as an appearance on the "Uncle Gus Show" became a rite of passage for young New Hampshirites (after a wait that could last a year and a half.) Bernier retired to the Florida Keys, later moving to Hawaii, where he died in his sleep Saturday morning. He was 85.
• Meanwhile on the present-day Granite State radio dial, Nashua's WHOB (106.3) indeed made the flip to "Frank FM" on Thursday, replacing its hot AC with classic hits. WHOB morning drive host Sarah Sullivan adds PD duties, and new calls WFNQ are said to be on the way.
• In MASSACHUSETTS, there's a big PD vacancy - two of them, really - as Jon Zellner departs Infinity's WBMX (98.5 Boston) and WODS (103.3 Boston) and his corporate gig as the company's VP for hot AC to take a newly-created gig at XM Satellite Radio as senior VP, music programming. Zellner's WODS duties are being handled by Pete Falconi for now; no word on who's handling Mix.
• One of the iconic voices of NEW YORK radio has died. Ted Brown (along with his then-wife, "the Redhead") was the morning voice on WMGM (1050) from 1950 until 1962, when the station returned to its former calls of WHN. Brown soon headed up the dial to WNEW (1130) and afternoons (mornings at that point still being the domain of Klavan and Finch), where he'd remain for most of the decade, becoming known for his wry humor and for on-air stunts that included getting drunk on the air at holiday time (with a police officer present) to illustrate the dangers of drunk driving. In 1970, Brown moved to afternoons on WNBC (660) and went nationwide as one of the "communicators" on NBC's weekend Monitor. He returned to WNEW's afternoon drive in 1972, moving to mornings in 1978 upon Gene Klavan's retirement and remaining there until his own retirement a decade later. Brown returned to WNEW's airwaves on the station's final day in 1993, becoming one of the last voices heard there before WNEW signed off for good.
• In later years, Ted was heard on WRIV (1390 Riverhead) and on WVNJ (1160 Oakland NJ). He suffered a stroke in 1996 that left him incapacitated. Brown died in his sleep Sunday morning (Mar. 20) at his New York home.
• In NEW JERSEY, Jack Ellery is returning to mornings on WCTC (1450 New Brunswick) as the Greater Media news-talker says goodbye to former morning host Jay Sorensen, who departed on Friday. Ellery, who began on WCTC's morning drive back in the sixties, is now on his third go-round at the station. He'd been doing afternoons there, a slot which will now be filled by the syndicated Jerry Doyle show.
• In CANADA, it's the end of the line for controversial Quebec City morning man Jean-Francois "Jeff" Fillion, who walked off his CHOI (98.1) show midway through Thursday morning's edition. CHOI is, of course, the station whose license was nearly pulled by the CRTC a few months back, largely over Fillion's outspoken morning show. And while CHOI owner Genex Communications continues to appeal that decision, it's been having other troubles with Fillion, most notably a civil suit filed by TV weathercaster Sophie Chiasson accusing Fillion of slandering her. (She's seeking C$425,000 from Fillion and CHOI.) Genex owner Patrice Demers says there's no chance Fillion will return to CHOI's airwaves, and that the current CHOI morning team will continue without him.

March 24, 2000 -

• There's a tower missing in central MAINE -- one of the three at WFAU (1280 Gardiner), to be precise! NERW reader Rob Sobczak reports driving by the site (also home to the studios of WABK and WKCG) and seeing two AM sticks instead of the three. It seems the missing one fell sometime Wednesday night, though the circumstances remain a bit unclear. WFAU remains on the air from the remaining two towers; no word yet on power or pattern reductions as a result.
• Just outside Bangor, Communications Capital Managers strikes again, adding one more station to the group it's assembling in the market (WVOM/WBYA, WKSQ, WLKE, WBFB). This time, it's WGUY (102.1 Dexter), for the price tag of $1.475 million, from Dan Priestly's Innovative Advertising Consultants. NERW thinks WGUY would make a useful simulcast to one of the other rimshots in the group...WBYA, perhaps?
• Down to MASSACHUSETTS we go, to find yet another high-powered AM signal on its way to the airwaves. Carter Broadcasting's WCRN (830 Worcester) has quietly become that city's most potent AM signal, especially with the grant this week of a daytime power increase from 5 kilowatts to 50. WCRN's new daytime signal will use the same three towers and the same pattern as the current signal, nulling towards the southwest to protect WRYM (840) in New Britain, Connecticut.
• WBOS (92.9 Brookline) has a new program director, but nobody will need to give Shirley Maldonado a tour of her new offices -- until a few months ago, she was PD of WBOS' sister station, WSJZ (96.9 Boston). It didn't take long for the rumors to begin flying of a WBOS format change to WSJZ's old smooth jazz format...but here at NERW we're still sticking to our New Year's resolution not to speculate on WBOS format changes. It's getting hard...
• The FCC is citing some of the Clear Channel spinoffs for a closer look at market-concentration issues, and oddly enough, Springfield is one of them. Saga, which already owns WAQY (102.1 Springfield) and WPNT (1600 East Longmeadow), is adding just two more stations: WHMP-FM (99.3 Northampton), a small player in the Springfield market, and WHMP (1400 Northampton), which doesn't factor in Springfield at all. We don't expect this to slow down the deal much.
• Just after press time last week, we learned that WAVM (91.7 Maynard) and the folks from WUMB (91.9 Boston) have been sitting down in an attempt to work out their differences over their mutually-exclusive applications for 91.7 in Boston's far northwest suburbs. The word is that a share-time deal could be in the works...and we think it's an awfully good sign that WAVM's Web site has taken down its anti-WUMB page. Next big question: Can WAVM and WUMB working together overcome the religious-translator-network applications that also threaten both stations in the area?
• Coming soon to a TV dial near you: "WHUB." That's the new name for USA Broadcasting's home-shopping outlet, now known as WHSH (Channel 66) in Marlborough, and before that as music-video WVJV "V66." July 1 will be the starting date for the new programming on the independent station, following in the heels of USA's WAMI in Miami, KSTR Dallas, and WHOT Atlanta. Look for WHUB-TV to build downtown studios and try to line up major-league sports committments to build its image in town, just like the other three stations have done.
• (Two interesting notes here: First, Broadcasting & Cable reports USA almost had a deal in the bag to buy WMFP (62 Lawrence) a few weeks back, which leads us to wonder whether "WHUB" was almost ready to debut from a stick in downtown Boston and leave 66 with home shopping. Second, it's not the first time a Boston broadcaster has tried to use the "WHUB" calls, which have long been used on the AM dial in Cookeville, Tennessee. Back when Westinghouse thought it was about to buy WKOX, circa 1993-94, the plan was to take AM 1200 sports talk as "The Hub." Needless to say, it never materialized.)
• The rumors in RHODE ISLAND turned out to be true: Steve Mindich is indeed buying WWRX (103.7 Westerly) from Clear Channel in one of the final spinoffs of the AMFM purchase. No price has been put on the deal, though we're hearing 16-18 times cash flow rumored. The move will give Mindich's FNX modern-rock network a huge boost to the south, picking up everywhere from the far southern suburbs of Boston (where flagship WFNX 101.7 Lynn is blasted by Clear Channel's WWBB 101.5 Providence) all the way to eastern Connecticut.
• More on that Elmira TV sale we mentioned last week: It's not just WBGH-LP (Channel 8) in Binghamton going from Smith to Ackerley; it's also parent station WETM (Channel 18) in Elmira. Ackerley apparently began LMA'ing WETM in February, giving the company stations in Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Binghamton (all ABC affiliates), and now Elmira as well. As for WBGH-LP: it's dropped its simulcast of WETM's 6 and 11 PM newscasts in favor of simulcasting Ackerley's WIVT (Channel 34) in Binghamton. And by doing it with an LPTV, Ackerley manages to do what would probably be impossible with a full-power station under duopoly rules: it gets to provide both ABC and NBC service to Binghamton. (Could WETM eventually wrest the ABC affiliation away from Elmira's WENY, also under new ownership? We shall see...)

New England Radio Watch, March 28, 1995

• Although Haverhill MA's WHAV 1490 (1 kw ND-U) flipped from oldies to Spanish talk a few weeks ago, the fireworks have just started. Seems the whole thing is closely intertwined with the long-running rivalry between the small Haverhill Gazette and its much larger competitor 10 miles away in Lawrence, the "Eagle Tribune." The Gazette put WHAV on the air some 50 years ago, and sold it about a decade ago, with the hope that WHAV would continue to be a local voice for news and public affairs. So the Gazette's local owners were distressed to hear WHAV becoming the second all-Spanish station in the Merrimack Valley (and the fourth to run some Spanish), and
  with a satellite format out of LA, at that! To make matters worse, WHAV's new operators (and, with an LMA-to-buy, its prospective new owners) apparently have financial ties with the Eagle Tribune! (This is the same firm that owns and operates WNNW, 1110 in Salem NH, serving Lawrence and Haverhill with a Spanish format).
• In the meantime, WCCM in Lawrence has started paying much more attention to Haverhill news, and today a Gazette official turned up on WCCM's talk show to talk about how the Gazette now wants to lead a fight to prevent this LMA from becoming a sale...and to bring WHAV back to local news etc. Among the things the Gazette will be focusing on will be some problems with the way the LMA is working (most noticeably, the near-complete lack of legal IDs on WHAV - I listened for 2 hours this weekend and heard not a one), and perhaps a problem with unauthorized transfer of main studio location as well (WHAV is apparently operating from WNNW's studio at 462 Merrimack St., Methuen). We shall see where this all goes.
• WBMA 890 - yes, them again - launched their first local sports talk show Monday morning 3/27, as former Red Sox player Rico Petrocelli hosted 3 hours from 6-9am. It's the first break in the satellite Prime Sports since it debuted last month. Studios are now at "a temporary location in Kendall Square, Cambridge," and will reportedly move to Flagship Wharf, Charlestown, soon. As for this station's call letters: They want to be known as WBPS (for Boston Prime Sports) -- although the Globe, with its uncanny sense for mucking up all things radio, called them "WPBS" this past weekend. But they are apparently either too cheap or too lazy or both to spend the $55 to file for a call change. So they run IDs like this: "WBMA Dedham Boston is WBPS AM 890, Boston's New Sound of Sports."