|
October 21, 2002
"HD Radio" Launches at WOR
 By SCOTT FYBUSH
*Like it or loathe it, Ibiquity's "HD
Radio" system now has the official blessing of the FCC (all
day for FM, daytime only for AM) - and New York's WOR (710) couldn't
wait to be first in the country to sign on with the system.
FCC approval came Thursday, October 10, and when the sun rose
over New Jersey the next morning, "WOR-HD" was on the
air, to decidedly mixed reviews. Since receivers for the digital
system aren't yet available, the initial reaction came from analog
listeners. At least among the trained ears of the medium-wave
DX community, the initial reports suggested that WOR's analog
audio, constrained by the bandwidth requirements of the digital
signal, sounded much thinner than usual. And since the "in-band,
on-channel" system actually utilizes bandwidth from adjacent
channels as well, there were immediate reports of significant
digital hash as far down the dial as 690 kHz and as far up as
730 kHz.
We'll have more thoughts in the weeks to come about the viability
of the "HD Radio" system for AM, in particular where
night service is concerned...stay tuned.
*Elsewhere in NEW YORK, the fight over the low end
of the FM dial continues in earnest. We've already reported on
the battles between WFUV (90.7 New York) and WFMU (91.1 East
Orange NJ) over WFUV's attempts to improve its signal; now we
hear Seton Hall's WSOU (89.5 South Orange NJ) has filed a petition
to deny against Columbia University's WKCR (89.9 New York) as
it attempts to restore the signal it lost when the World Trade
Center went down.
Disney made it official last week, filing with the FCC to
convert its LMA of WEVD (1050 New York) into a $78 million purchase
from the Forward Association.
Way up north, "New York Educational Broadcasters"
was granted its long-pending application for 88.7 in Rouses Point,
just a hair to the south of the Quebec border. The new station
will run 3.4 kW with a directional antenna from 45 meters above
average terrain - but if the goal is to serve Montreal, we don't
think NYEB will get what it wants; in the eight years since the
application was first filed, the CBC signed on CBME on 88.5 with
its Radio One service from the heart of downtown Montreal, which
will keep that 88.7 from being heard anywhere near the big city.
The folks behind Ithaca's even longer-running channel 52 construction
permit are trying once more to get the station built before the
CP finally expires on December 7: they've now asked the FCC for
permission to sign the station on with just 26 kW visual from
94 meters below average terrain, from the tower near Ithaca
College. That would be an interim operation while the station
tries to negotiate a deal with Syracuse's W51BA, which won Class
A status while channel 52 wasn't looking, thus protecting it
from being bumped by 52, which hopes to serve the Syracuse market
from the vacant tower next door to WSYT (Channel 68) and WNYS
(Channel 43) near Otisco.
Speaking of WSYT, it was admonished by the FCC this week for
delays in building WSYT-DT (Channel 19); owner Sinclair hopes
to move the DT operation from WSYT's current tower to the nearly-completed
new WSTM tower at Sentinel Heights south of Syracuse.
Here in Rochester, a judge has ruled that a $17 million lawsuit
against WCMF (96.5) morning host Alan "Brother Wease"
Levin can proceed; he's being sued by former sidekick Cindy Pierce
for breach of contract for saying nasty things on the air about
Pierce after reaching a settlement two years ago in Pierce's
initial sexual harassment suit against Wease and the station.
Suppose anyone else besides your editor and another local
TV DXer have noticed the absence from the airwaves of W47BM (aka
WROH-LP), the home shopping LPTV on channel 47 in Rochester?
It's been gone for more than a week now...
And down in Jamestown, the FCC has approved one more LPFM
application for processing: the Lighthouse Baptist Church wants
105.9 there.
*We'll go to PENNSYLVANIA next, and
we'll start right at the western edge of the state, where WAKZ
(95.9 Sharpsville) will get to double power to 6 kW as part of
a three-way deal with other stations near its frequency in adjoining
parts of Ohio. WNPQ-FM (95.9 New Philadelphia OH) will go up
to 4.1 kW and WEEL (95.7 Shadyside OH) will go from a class A
to a class B1 operation with 6.75 kW. What's behind it all? Clear
Channel, mostly; WAKZ is the Youngstown market "Kiss"
station and WEEL is part of the company's Wheeling cluster, and
CC was happy to sign off on a bit more interference to its WAKS
(96.5 Akron) and WKST-FM (96.1 Pittsburgh) in exchange for more
power in each market.
 The real "more
power" winner this week was WAMO-FM (106.7 Beaver Falls),
which left behind its old tower overlooking Beaver Falls (still
in use by former sister station WBVP 1230) in favor of a new
site in Wexford, along I-79 north of target market Pittsburgh.
WAMO lost some Pittsburgh audience a few years back when it traded
away its huge signal on 105.9 to Clear Channel (it's now modern
rock WXDX) in exchange for the Beaver Falls stick, which served
Youngstown better than Pittsburgh most days; this move will help
the urban station get its signal back to the neighborhoods it's
targeting anyway.
And speaking of Pittsburgh, Keymarket's "Froggy 104,"
WOGF (104.3 East Liverpool OH) filed this week to move its transmitter
from East Liverpool itself across the state line. The new facility,
with 13 kW directional at 219 meters, would be south of Georgetown,
Pennsylvania, quite a bit closer to the Steel City. (One final
Keymarket-related note from Da Burgh: the He's Alive folks returned
their license for translator W253AD in Glenshaw, which had to
leave the air when "Froggy" WOGI 98.3 moved in from
Charleroi to Duquesne.)
Across the state in Chambersburg, Four Rivers Community Broadcasting
(the folks behind contemporary Christian WBYO 88.9 and its relays)
have a new CP: WZZQ on 88.3 will run 140 directional watts when
it signs on.
WISL (1480 Shamokin) will be back on the air November 1 under
its new Basic Broadcasting ownership; new GM Sam Jordan (late
of WAAT 750 in Olyphant) checked in with NERW to report he'll
be running an oldies format on the station, and he's taking resumes
from announcers and sales folks at 18 Rosecrans Lane, Loganton
PA 17747-9811.
The Keystone State's LPFM applications are finally ready for
FCC processing. The Commission released its list of grantable
applications (non-mutually-exclusive and technically acceptable)
last week, and it looks like this:
- 92.7 Meadville Meadville Educational Assn.
- 92.9 Cambridge Springs Cambridge Community Radio Assn.
- 92.9 Gap Octave Electroplex LLC
- 94.7 Marienville (M.O.G.U.L.)/(M.O.G.L.E.) (whatever
that is - Ed.)
- 94.9 Warren Calvary Chapel of Russell
- 95.5 Erie EE Dept. of Gannon University
- 95.9 Erie Erie Christian Broadcasting
- 99.5 Brookville Brookville Area School District
- 100.1 Beaver Springs Beaver Springs Faith Baptist
Church
- 100.3 Carlisle Fiat Educational Radio Assn.
- 102.9 Chambersburg Dack, Inc.
- 103.5 La Plume Keystone College
- 103.7 Indiana Godstock Ministries
- 104.5 State College Islamic Society of Central PA
- 104.9 Shawnee-on-Delaware Shawnee Presbyterian Church
- 107.3 Plymouth Abundant Life Ministries
- 107.7 Altoona Lay Stewardship Educational Assn.
- 107.9 Girardville Golden Age Communications
*Not much from NEW JERSEY this week,
just the granting of a license to cover for Ibiquity's test station
on 1700 in Warren (WI2XAM, which will test whether the "HD
Radio" system can work on medium-wave at night) and the
deletion of the CP for Mercer County Community College's 91.3
translator in Long Branch (W217BG, which was to have relayed
WWFM from Trenton).
Oh - and one more LPFM app: 107.9 Lakewood, from the American
Institute for Jewish Education.
 *Up
to CONNECTICUT next, where a college station will be boosting
power considerably. WCNI (91.1 New London) was finally granted
its long-pending application to move to 90.9, becoming a class
B1 operation with 8800 watts (vertical only) at 57 meters above
average terrain. The move should eliminate some adjacent-channel
interference with Connecticut Public Radio's WRLI (91.3 Southampton)
across Long Island Sound.
Over in West Hartford, classical WTMI (1290) wants to go 24
hours; the former WCCC(AM) has applied to add 11 watts of night
power to its current daytime 490-watt signal. (NERW looked at
the application, and we note a complicated mess of post-sunset
authorizations ranging from 75 down to 11 watts, not to mention
500 watts pre-sunrise!)
Sorry to report the passing (on October 16) of N. Thomas Eaton,
who served as news director at WTIC (1080) and WTIC-TV (Channel
3, now WFSB) from 1941 until 1985. Eaton began at WTIC radio,
covering World War II. After the war, the Hartford Courant
reports, he helped to found the Radio News Directors Association
(the ancestor of today's RTNDA). Eaton was the first news director
of channel 3, and stayed with the TV side when it split from
WTIC radio in 1974, retiring 11 years later. Eaton was 86; his
survivors include son Robert Eaton, a senior vice president and
managing editor at ESPN.
And say goodbye to WHTX-LP; the LPTV had its callsign deleted
this week after failing to make the move from channel 10 (where
it's being displaced by DTV) to channel 28.
 *From
RHODE ISLAND comes what may be advance word of a call
and format change at what's now WZRI (100.3 Middletown). We've
hinted in past weeks that the Providence-oriented 80s pop station
is dropping its "Z100" nickname and format to focus
its efforts on the New Bedford-Fall River area, which gets a
solid signal from 100.3's newish home on the WLNE (Channel 6)
tower in Tiverton; now we can even show you a logo and calls,
thanks to what appears to be an early leak of the station's new
Web site (if not, it's one
heck of a smokescreen!) It looks as though Michael Rock will
be the morning jock once the new format launches, and it appears
the station will be run from Citadel's WBSM/WFHN in New Bedford
rather than from Citadel's East Providence offices.
*Not much happening in MASSACHUSETTS,
though we do have word this morning that Radio One has managed
to get the FCC to reduce the fine against its WBOT (97.7 Brockton)
from $21,500 to $9,500 after demonstrating that the station did
in fact have a public file when an agent visited it a couple
of years ago (though nobody was able to produce it!)
 New to the DTV scene: WSBK-DT
(Channel 39) has taken to the air, nearly filling out the Boston
DTV dial. On the next tower over in Newton, WBUR (90.9 Boston)
was granted its application to modify its directional pattern;
we suspect this has something to do with the WCNI move to 90.9,
above...
Sorry to report that Peter George's license for translator
W221AG (92.1 Wareham) has been cancelled; the little transmitter
hasn't been on the air for a few years, and the FCC's finally
catching up with some back business and cancelling long-dormant
facilities such as this.
And we're hearing about a "Cape Ann 101" that's
being listened to up Gloucester way. We think we may know
who's behind it, and if we're right, that area's in for a treat
at 101.3, license or no...
*One of the founders of WSCY (106.9 Moultonborough,
NEW HAMPSHIRE) has died; Brad Tiffany passed away September
29, though we're just getting word about it now.
*The FCC has dismissed one VERMONT LPFM
application; don't look for Huntington Valley Arts to be getting
94.3 in Richmond. Meanwhile in Burlington, we're still waiting
for the new country format and WVAA calls that are supposed to
be replacing talk at WKDR (1390)...
*Just two bits of news from MAINE as
well: In Farmington, the University of Maine at Farmington's
WUMF has made the move from 100.5 to 100.1, with a whopping 13
watts. And in the Bangor market, Glenn Simpson has parted ways
with the morning show at Stephen King's WKIT (100.3 Brewer).
*The big news from CANADA is the
passing of a veteran jock in the Toronto market: Earl Warren,
who was a key part of the CFRB (1010) airstaff from his arrival
in Toronto in 1961 until his dismissal in 1983, died Saturday
(Oct. 19) at age 69. The Regina native moved over to "FM108"
CING (107.9) in Burlington after leaving CFRB, then landed at
CHWO (1250 Oakville), staying at the station with a Sunday morning
show that continued into the station's current incarnation as
AM 740.
We're also sorry to report (via Wayne Harrett's On the
Air in Atlantic Canada) the passing of Ken Packham, the former
morning host at Halifax's CHFX (Country 101.9) and CFDR (Kixx
780). Packham died of a heart attack October 11.
Back in Ottawa, the CRTC has given two new stations extensions
of time to take to the air: Aboriginal Voices Radio won't have
to sign on at 95.7 until July 4, 2003, while the new ethnic station
at 97.9 (a project of Toronto's CHIN) gets until April 4 to make
its debut.
In Quebec, religious CION (90.9 Quebec City) has applied for
an 11 kW relay in Saguenay (the former Chicoutimi) on 106.7.
And way out there on Prince Edward Island, viewers of the
CBC's CBCT-TV (Channel 13) are saying so long to Roger Younker,
who's left the station after 25 years as its evening news anchor,
most recently on the cut-back Canada Now broadcast.
 *Have you ordered your Tower Site Calendar
2003 yet? (Yes, the very calendar that's even inspired its
own comic strip on
cnyradio.com!)
If you liked last year's edition, you'll love this one: higher-quality
images (including Providence's WHJJ; Mount Mansfield, Vermont;
Buffalo's WBEN; KOMA in Oklahoma City; the legendary WSM, Nashville
and many more), more dates in radio history, a convenient hole
for hanging - and we'll even make sure all the dates fall on
the right days!
This year's calendar will go to press in late October, and
if you order now, you'll have yours in hand by mid-November,
in plenty of time for the holidays. And this year, you can order
with your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express by using
the handy link below!
Better yet, here's an incentive to make your 2003 NERW subscription
pledge a little early: support NERW/fybush.com at the $60 level
or higher, and you'll get this lovely calendar for free!
How can you go wrong? (Click here
to visit our Support page, where you can make your NERW contribution
with a major credit card...)
You can also order by mail; just send a check for $16
per calendar (NYS residents add 8% sales tax), shipping included,
to Scott Fybush, 92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester
NY 14618.
*And we're also happy to announce that
our good friends at M Street have released the 11th edition of
the M Street Radio Directory. With the disappearance
of the old Vane Jones log and the declining accuracy of the Broadcasting
Yearbook, the M Street directory is widely regarded as the most
accurate, most comprehensive source of information on the US
and Canadian radio scene - and we're thrilled to be able to offer
it to you at a substantial discount!
The directory includes power, frequency, ownership, key personnel,
formats, ratings and much more information for every radio station
in the U.S. and Canada, and now runs almost 900 pages in an 8.5"
x 11" softcover book. List price is $79 (plus $7 shipping/handling),
but if you order through fybush.com/NorthEast Radio Watch, you
can get this invaluable resource on your shelf for $69 (plus
$7 s/h) - a $10 savings! And your purchase benefits the continued
publication of NERW and Tower Site of the Week, so everybody
wins!
You can order in either of two ways: to order by major credit
card, call 1-800-248-4242, ask for Irene, and tell her
you want the "NorthEast Radio Watch" discount. Or,
send check or money order for $76 ($69 + $7 s/h) to Scott Fybush,
92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester NY 14618. Either way, you'll put
the most trusted, accurate information about the radio industry
in print today on your bookshelf.
*We're back to our regular schedule for a while, now that
we're done with a fantastic visit to Dallas-Fort Worth (thanks
to Wally Wawro, John Callarman, et al!) You'll see some
of those pictures very soon on Tower
Site of the Week...stay tuned and we'll see you back here
next Monday!
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
2002 by Scott Fybush. |