Will ABC Dump WLNE?

TOWER SITE CALENDAR 2011 - NOW DISCOUNTED!

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Tower Site Calendar 2011 features more than a dozen great images of radio and TV broadcast facilities all over the country (and even beyond - this year's edition takes us to Mexico!)

Thrill to a night shot of KFI's new tower! Check out the WAEB Allentown array just after it lost a tower - or enjoy the history at venerable sites like those of KID in Idaho Falls, WCAP in Lowell, KTKT in Tucson and Rochester's Pinnacle Hill.

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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, ten and - where available - fifteen years ago this week, or thereabouts.

Note that 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.

One Year Ago: March 22, 2010 -

• "Hello, Luv - this is Ron Lundy from the greatest city in the world!" That was the greeting Ron Lundy gave his listeners at the start of each airshift for more than three decades in New York radio, first as a key part of the airstaff at WABC (770) and then as an oldies jock on WCBS-FM (101.1).
• The Memphis native returned to the south after retiring from WCBS-FM in 1997, and it was there that he died last Monday (March 15) at age 75. Lundy came to New York in 1965 after a five-year run as the "WIL Child" of St. Louis top-40 station WIL (1430), where he crossed paths with another up-and-coming DJ by the name of Dan Ingram. Ingram recommended Lundy for an overnight opening at WABC, and it didn't take long at all for Lundy to get bumped up to the midday shift, which remained his home for the rest of his New York radio career - and it was Lundy and Ingram, side-by-side in the famous eighth-floor studio, who signed off WABC's top-40 format in 1982. Two years later Lundy was back on the air at WCBS-FM, and it was by his own choice that he left the midday shift there in September 1997 to move to Mississippi with his wife Shirley.
• *A decade and a half before Ron Lundy rocked the WCBS-FM studios at Black Rock, Joe Dembo was the CBS executive who transformed the network's other New York signal, WCBS (880), into the city's second successful all-news voice. Dembo, who also died last Monday (March 15), came to WCBS in 1960, becoming the station's executive producer and news director before being promoted to news director for CBS Radio News, the post he was holding in 1967 when Bill Paley named him vice president and general manager of WCBS with the command to take the station to 24-hour news.
• Dembo hired a staff that included Charles Osgood, Lou Adler and Pat Summerall, and after a rocky start (the station actually launched on WCBS-FM after a small plane hit the AM tower the day before the format flip), WCBS quickly emerged from also-ran status to become a fierce challenger to Westinghouse's WINS (1010), which had itself gone all-news in 1965. Dembo returned to the network side in 1971, working as Rome bureau chief for CBS News and later as producer of the CBS Morning News and as an anchor for the network's hourly radio newscasts. He eventually became CBS' vice president in charge of CBS Radio before retiring in 1988. After leaving CBS, Dembo began teaching journalism at Fordham University, where he continued to teach until last year. He also served as acting president of NPR and spent three years on that network's board of directors. Dembo was 83.
• If it's dedication you're looking for, the folks at northern NEW JERSEY's WGHT (1500 Pompton Lakes) might be good people to ask. As we'd mentioned last week, the little AM station sits right on the banks of the Ramapo River, which crested at some seven feet above flood stage after that "storm without a name" that ravaged the East Coast. WGHT's studios take on water when that happens, and this time it was a whopping 13 feet of water that inundated the lower two floors of the building. Fortunately, the WGHT facility was designed for just such an event: the studios and transmitter are on the top floor, and the three towers and transmission lines are elevated high above the swampy land out back - and that meant that WGHT was able to stay on the air with emergency information throughout the storm and its aftermath, though staffers had to use a fire boat to get to the building.
• Elsewhere in the region, the other stations that were knocked off by the storm and its floodwaters (most prominently Boston's WWZN 1510, which was flooded out, and New York's WLIB 1190, which lost power at its New Jersey transmitter site) were all back on the air by Tuesday, and there's no word of any permanent damage.
• Our PENNSYLVANIA news, such as it is, is largely about Radio People on the Move: Michael "Mad Dog" Ovadia is out at Cumulus' WSOX (96.1 Red Lion) after a dozen years at the oldies station, most recently as APD and morning host. "Mad Dog and Dave Show" co-host Dave Crockett is now holding down mornings solo. In Philly, Clear Channel's WIOQ (102.1) has found a replacement for former night jock Jessie Jordan. "Maxwell" arrives from sister station WNCI (97.9) in Columbus, Ohio next week to start his new "Maxwell's House" show. No word yet on replacements for Jordan's other two roles as APD and music director at Q102.
• In Philadelphia, the wrecking ball is leveling the famed "Concrete Donut" at City Line and Monument, the round studio building that WFIL radio and TV built in 1964 as its state-of-the-art new home. That building replaced the building at 46th and Market that went up in the late forties as one of the first purpose-built TV studios (and the eventual birthplace of "American Bandstand"); by the turn of the century, though, the building had become too cramped for the former WFIL-TV, now WPVI (Channel 6). The ABC-owned station built another state-of-the-art building last year right next door to the 1964 building, and the pressing need for more parking on the site meant the end for the "Concrete Donut," shown here in a photo from last September, just after WPVI moved out.
• There's a significant obituary leading off our MASSACHUSETTS news this week as well. While the general public will remember Edmund Dinis as the district attorney who prosecuted the Chappaquiddick case, the New England radio community knows Dinis as the longtime owner of WJFD (97.3 New Bedford), the most prominent broadcast voice for the Portuguese community that's such an important part of the region. The son of an Azorean immigrant, Dinis entered politics on the New Bedford city council in the early fifties, later serving as a state senator before becoming Bristol County district attorney in 1959. On a trajectory to higher office, Dinis' political career was derailed by Chappaquiddick; controversy over his inquest into the case contributed to his reelection loss in 1970, and subsequent bids for Congress in 1976 and for a return to the DA's office in 1982 failed as well.
• Out of office, Dinis returned to his career as an attorney, but along the way took an interest in media. In 1975, he bought what was then WGCY from Gray Communications, renaming the all-Portuguese station WJFD after the initials of his father, Jacinto F. Dinis. Dinis later added a Springfield station, WSPR (1270), to his holdings, a prelude to what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to build a new AM signal, WLAW (1270 North Dartmouth), on the South Coast. Had the AM station been built, it would likely have taken the Portuguese format from WJFD, allowing the FM to flip to an English-language format; in the end, battles with zoning authorities forced Dinis to allow the construction permit to expire unbuilt just before the turn of the century. Dinis died March 14 at age 85; for now, "Radio Globo" continues to be run without changes, though speculation is already swirling about the station's future.

Five Years Ago: March 20, 2006 -

• Few TV anchors have ever had the impact on a market that Bill Beutel did over more than three decades in NEW YORK at WABC-TV (Channel 7). The Cleveland native came to the third-rated station in 1962 after a stint with CBS radio, working for both the local news and for ABC's network news operation. In 1968, Beutel went to London as ABC's bureau chief there. Two years later, he returned to New York and WABC-TV to launch a new experiment called "Eyewitness News," and in the years that followed, Beutel and co-anchor Roger Grimsby set a new standard for hard-hitting, fast-paced local TV news. Beutel and Grimsby remained together on the anchor desk (and atop the ratings) for 16 years, with Beutel taking on another assignment in 1975, serving as anchor of "AM America," the ABC network morning offering that would evolve (without Beutel) into "Good Morning America" the following year. Beutel left the anchor desk at WABC in 2001, though he remained with the station as a reporter until his retirement in 2003. Beutel died Saturday at his home in Pinehurst, N.C. He was 75.
• There's a format change of sorts on the NEW JERSEY shore, where WJSE (102.7 Petersburg) moves from modern rock "Digital 102.7" to a more mainstream approach as "102.7 the Ace." Early listening suggests that there's still plenty of modern rock mixed into the "Ace" format.
• In PENNSYLVANIA, the "Frank" flip at WBYN-FM (107.5 Boyerstown) brought new calls last week - the station's now WFKB.
• In Philadelphia, Chio starts his new morning gig on Beasley's "Wired" WRDW-FM (96.5) today.
• Absolute Broadcasting is growing its station holdings in NEW HAMPSHIRE. The company, which owns WSMN and WSNH in Nashua, has reached a deal to buy WKBR (1250 Manchester) from Steve Silberberg's Devon Broadcasting. Absolute will begin operating WKBR today, flipping it from oldies to Fox Sports Radio as "Fox Sports 1250." The station will also carry the "Friday Night Lights" football show from WSNH. No purchase price has been announced so far.
• While Steve Silberberg is selling his AM in New Hampshire, he's buying one in VERMONT. The FCC granted his White Park Broadcasting a waiver to acquire WVAA (1390 Burlington). Why the waiver? With the FCC's current market-based crossownership rules, Silberberg's holdings in the Montpelier-Barre and Upper Valley areas all counted against his Burlington ownership cap. Arbitron's designation of separate markets in those areas would eliminate that issue, but there's normally a delay before a change of designated market for a station can be reflected in a license-transfer application. That's been waived, and now WVAA can officially join WTWK (1070 Plattsburgh), WRSA (1420 St. Albans), WFAD (1490 Middlebury), WUSX (93.7 Addison) and WLFE (102.3 St. Albans) in Silberberg's Burlington-market holdings.

10 Years Ago: March 19, 2001 -

• The slow, steady parade to oblivion for the rhythmic oldies format claimed another victim Friday afternoon (3/16). CONNECTICUT was the scene this time, and Infinity's "dancin' oldies" WZMX (93.7 Hartford) the station in question. As 5 PM rolled around, "Z93-7" launched into Donna Summer's "Last Dance" and part of a promo before announcing "Now...Hartford has become HOTford" and relaunching as "Hot 93.7," the city's first true urban FM.
• We enjoyed the chance to hear something different on 1080 kHz late Saturday night, thanks to a jointly-scheduled equipment test that took both WTIC and KRLD in Dallas off the air at the same time. Here at NERW Central in Rochester, WTIC's signoff at 1:35 AM was followed by two dueling Spanish-language stations, which we believe to have been WVCG (Coral Gables FL) and a Cuban. Just after 2:00, KRLD returned to the air; WTIC returned to the air at 2:30.
• The FCC's decision last week to clear the way for dozens of station transfers to be completed was good news for two stations in MAINE, among others. Cumulus had been stalled in its attempt to buy WSKW (1160 Skowhegan) and WCTB (93.5 Fairfield) from Mountain Wireless, thanks to the previous Commission's policy of "flagging" transfers that could result in over-concentration of market revenues.
• Nothing doing this week in VERMONT, so we'll jump across Lake Champlain to the North Country of NEW YORK and the debut of a brand-new FM station. WYSI (96.1 Norwood) made it on the air Friday (March 16), but not with the format we'd suspected from its calls. Instead of relaying co-owned "Yes FM" (WYSX 98.7 Ogdensburg/WYUL 94.7 Chateaugay), WYSI is simulcasting the softer AC sounds of another Tim Martz station, WVLF (96.7 Canton). (Thanks to North County correspondent Michael Roach for keeping an ear on 96.1 for us all these months!)
• The FCC's decision on flagged applications was good news for Clear Channel in central New York; the company gets to add Kenneth Roser's WLFH (1230 Little Falls) and WOWB (105.5 Little Falls)/WOWZ (97.9 Whitesboro) to its group. Just to the west, outside of Syracuse, Clear Channel also gets to add Cram Communications' WVOA (105.1 DeRuyter).
• Here in Rochester, 98PXY is dead -- at least, that's what the liners on the suddenly jockless Infinity CHR (WPXY 97.9 Rochester) have been claiming since Friday morning. The stunt ends Monday morning, when 'PXY will apparently announce it's "dead serious" about the latest Infinity group-wide contest...
• Heading south to NEW JERSEY, Citadel's bowing out of the Atlantic City market with a $19.4 million sale that puts Charlie Banta back in the radio picture. Banta cashed out of his Mercury group with a sale to Citadel back in 1999. Now he's the lead partner in the Millennium Radio Group, which is picking up three stations and LMA rights to a fourth from Citadel. The stations are AC WFPG-FM (96.9 Atlantic City), country WPUR (107.3 Atlantic City), Comedy World affiliate WFPG (1450 Atlantic City) and the LMA on modern AC WKOE (106.3 Ocean City), which had been Citadel's only Garden State properties.
• What's Alexander Langer planning for his next big PENNSYLVANIA move-in? We've seen the application for WVFC (1530 McConnelsburg), and the plans look like this: The station, presently an obscure daytimer at the southern edge of the state about halfway between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, would move to 1180 and change city of license to King of Prussia, a suburb of Philadelphia. The new 1180 would run 2300 watts, daytime only, from three towers at the WWDB (860) site on Germantown Pike (from the looks of it, one of the three would be part of the 860 array and the other two would be new 60-meter sticks). The FCC accepted the move-in application this week; we'll keep you informed as it works its way through the system.

15 Years Ago: New England Radio Watch, March 20, 1996

• A clarification about the status of folk station WADN 1120 Concord MA: A pair of trailers are in place at the transmitter site off Rt. 62 in South Acton, but they are NOT yet being used as studios and offices. WADN is planning to move out of its current studios in Concord's Damonmill Square complex, but has not done so yet.
• A reshuffling of the schedule at WABU-TV 68 in Boston means that Charles Adler's "Adler On Line" talk show is now radio-only on WRKO 680 from 7 to 10pm weeknights. The 8-9pm hour had previously been simulcast on TV 68. Now Adler is on TV from 4-5pm daily.
• More consolidation down in southwest Connecticut, as Commodore Broadcasting buys WSTC 1400-WKHL 96.7 Stamford. Commodore already owns WNLK 1350-WEFX 95.9 Norwalk, WRKI 95.1-WINE 940 Brookfield, and several stations in nearby Westchester County, NY.
• More information on the demise of WDIS 1170 Norfolk, MA. Reports in the local weekly indicate the station had its power cut off after failing to pay an electric bill in the neighborhood of $2,000. Owner Albert Grady is reportedly working on getting it back on.