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February 3, 2003
Smith, Barber End 18 Years at WPLR
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*CONNECTICUT's longest-running morning
team hung up their headphones last week after nearly two decades
on the air - and not completely willingly. It's been no secret
for the last year or so that Bruce Barber was looking to leave
the "Smith & Barber" morning show on WPLR (99.1
New Haven), but it still came as a surprise to listeners when
the show was nowhere to be found last Friday morning.
Station officials say Barber had mentioned several times that
he was getting bored with the show; they considered keeping co-host
Brian Smith as a solo act, but decided instead to buy out the
rest of the duo's contracts. The decision came as a surprise
to Smith, who tells Connecticut media outlets he wasn't expecting
the show to end when it did.
The show's sidekicks, Megan Doll and Billy Winn, will stay
on board when WPLR's new morning show launches later this month.
Chaz and AJ come to the Cox rocker from Barnstable's WRCN (103.9
Riverhead) on Long Island; Chaz is a former night jock at WPLR.
Barber tells the New Haven Register that he's planning
to start an Internet site to give parents advice on raising children;
Smith says he has some possibilities but nothing definite. And
while Cox offered the pair a chance to do a farewell show on
Friday, they declined, saying it's hard to wrap up 18 years in
four hours.
One other bit of Nutmeg State news: WHCT-LP (Channel 69) in
Hartford has been granted a license to cover for its move down
to channel 38. We'd love to hear from readers in the area who
can tell us what this one is programming lately!
*MASSACHUSETTS is home to one of the two stations in America
whose call letters are the same as its city of license (WACO
in Waco, Texas being the other) - and listeners to WARE (1250)
in Ware have something new to enjoy this week.
New owner Success Signal Broadcasting (helmed by Marshall
Sanft, former owner of WESO in Southbridge) launched an oldies
format on WARE Saturday, featuring veteran central Massachusetts
jock Fred King in morning drive, a daily "Polka Hour"
from 11 to noon (and all morning on Sunday), and an interesting
lineup of local talk shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Dennis Jackson (of WQQQ/WMEX/WRIP fame) has a hand in this one
too; he and programmer Jay "Biggie" Fink are behind
the deep, deep oldies format on the 5000-watter, which blankets
the territory between Springfield and Worcester.
More deep oldies are being heard at 1520 on the dial: we hear
that WGAM (1520 Greenfield) has finally changed calls to WIZZ
and is running commercial-free for the moment.
The local cable newscasts that served Lowell and Cape Cod
for more than a decade are history; cost-cutting at AT&T
Broadband pulled the shows off the "AT&T 3" channel,
their most recent homes - and left a number of talented small-market
newspeople out of work.
The FCC granted a CP this week for the new channel 51 in Pittsfield;
as expected, the Albany-market station will be on Berry Mountain,
northwest of Pittsfield, running 1580 kW visual.
Think the noncommercial FM dial is crowded enough in eastern
Massachusetts? California-based Calvary Satellite Network doesn't;
its two-year-old application for a new station on 90.5 in Scituate
was accepted for filing this week. It proposes 5 watts vertical,
21.6 kW horizontal at 88 meters above average terrain, from a
site nowhere near Scituate on route 3A near Manomet, southeast
of Plymouth - with a directional antenna, yet, nulled towards
Cape Cod (and adjacents WCCT 90.3 and WKKL 90.7). All that, and
do you think there will be even a minute of local programming
aimed at Scituate? Insert the usual rant here...
Down in the New Bedford market, WFHN (107.1 Fairhaven) was
granted a license this week for its transmitter site at UMass
Dartmouth - even though the station wants to move back to its
old site at Popes Island, closer to downtown New Bedford. WFHN
had been operating from Fairhaven under a construction permit
for the last couple of years; if it hadn't filed for a license,
the CP would have expired.
*Across the line in RHODE ISLAND,
the FCC has flagged the proposed sale of WWKX (106.3 Woonsocket)
and WAKX (102.7 Narragansett Pier) to Citadel; that's no great
surprise, given Citadel's market share in the Providence market
- but we don't expect much delay in the sale as a result.
The proposed sale of WALE (990 Greenville) to Jerry Evans'
Moon Song Broadcasting never went through last year - and now
owner Francis Battaglia has an additional headache in addition
to his Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings: the FCC has fined him
$4,000 for not reducing the power at his KFNX (1100 Cave Creek-Phoenix
AZ) at sunset. (NERW hears this has been a problem at WALE, as
well...)
*A format change in NEW HAMPSHIRE: WLTN
(1400 Littleton) flips from news-talk to oldies; the station
(and sister WLTN-FM 96.7 Lisbon) is being run by veteran New
England broadcaster Barry Lunderville (who owns nearby WXXS 102.3)
under an LMA, with an option to buy.
Down in Keene, the FCC has cancelled the license of W288AM
(105.5); last we heard, the translator had been relaying WRSY
(101.5 Marlboro VT).
*MAINE Public Broadcasting announced
budget cuts last week, including cutting back six jobs. The statewide
broadcaster says it's $385,000 short, thanks to dropoffs in viewer
donations and cuts in state funding. It will add pledge drives
and eliminate weekly production of its "Speaking in Maine"
radio show to help make ends meet.
Winslow's WWWA (95.3) has applied to boost power and move
its transmitter. The religious station wants to become a class
C3, running 5800 watts at 205 meters from a new site just east
of Norridgewock.
 *Down
to NEW JERSEY we'll go, next, to find another change
of simulcast at Millennium's cluster in the Atlantic City market.
WKXW (101.5 Trenton)'s talk programming moved last year from
WBSS (97.3 Millville, now hot AC "Mix" WIXM) to WKXW
(1450 Atlantic City, the former WFPG) - and at the same time,
the hot AC moved from "Shore" WKOE (106.3 Ocean City)
to WIXM.
 WKOE became CHR "Hot
106.3," but it didn't last; as of Saturday, "Hot"
is gone and WKOE now carries the simulcast from "New Jersey
101.5." What of WKXW(AM), then? It's now doing ESPN radio,
still with Harry Hurley's local morning show.
Over in Brigantine, Calvary Satellite Network has been granted
a new signal on 90.5. The new station will run 1.31 kw, vertical
only, at 33 meters - with a directional antenna from a site just
east of Smithville, New Jersey.
*Still no new format at NEW YORK's
WNEW (102.7), though Allan Sniffen's New York Radio Message Board
has been carrying some very detailed descriptions of a female-leaning,
entertainment-heavy pop format to be programmed by John Sykes
and Andy Schuon (of MTV and VH1 fame). With the stunting now
promoting a new station coming "this spring," it sounds
as though it may be a few months before we see whether this one
pans out or not...
 South of Albany, WCKL (560 Catskill)
is changing hands from Concord Media to "Black United Fund
of New York"; no word yet on what changes might come to
the station, which is now doing standards.
Albany talk host J.R. Gach has a new home: the former WGY
(810 Schenectady) afternoon host, whose career there ended when
he was diagnosed with mental illness last year, is now doing
mornings on Galaxy rocker WKRD (93.7 Scotia).
In Kingston, WBPM (94.3) is now being run by Cumulus from
its Pendell Road studios in Poughkeepsie; "Cool 94.3"
has added a local morning show with Nick Robbins (from sister
station WCZX 97.7.)
Up in the Glens Falls market, Vox has parted ways with WNYQ
(105.7 Queensbury) program director Jackie Donovan; Justin Clapp
adds WNYQ programming duties to his operations manager title
at the cluster there, while Chad Herron (late of WLZW in Utica)
comes on board as afternoon jock/production director.
Rochester jazz station WGMC (90.1 Greece) had its application
for a power increase returned this week by the FCC; we'll keep
you posted as this one progresses.
 And over in Buffalo,
WWKB (1520) finished off its first week of oldies with plenty
of publicity and message-board chatter - and spent most of the
week as the only station on the radio here at NERW Central.
So far, we're enjoying most of what we're hearing, especially
when it comes to Jackson Armstrong's screaming 6-10 PM shift,
which just may be the best voicetracking we've ever heard. We're
still a little disconcerted by hearing the early 60s "Futuresonic"
jingles mixed in with 70s rock, but it's still early in the game
over there, and we're sure some of those kinks will be worked
out as 'KB gets back on its feet after all these years.
On the DTV front, Clear Channel won extensions this week for
WIXT-DT (Channel 17) in Syracuse and WETM-DT (Channel 2) in Elmira.
Up in Watertown, expect WWNY-DT (Channel 35) on the air within
a few months, we're told; on the analog side, WWNY-TV (Channel
7) morning host Mark Mason has accepted a buyout offer and will
soon be leaving the CBS affiliate.
We're very sorry to have to report the death of Stan Martin,
whose career in New York City radio included stops at WPIX-FM,
WHN, WKTU, WNEW and WFAN. Martin was best known, though, for
his 1992-1998 run as program director of WQEW (1560), the last
attempt at programming pop standards on the New York City dial.
Since WQEW's flip to Radio Disney, Martin had been doing standards
shows in syndication and on-line. He suffered a stroke recently,
and died Tuesday (January 28) at Lenox Hill Hospital. Martin
was 64.
We also remember Stan Hayes, who was the very first voice
heard on WINR-TV (Channel 40, now WICZ) in Binghamton when it
signed on in 1957. Hayes, who later went on to be the news director/anchor
on WBJA (Channel 34, now WIVT) in the seventies, died Friday
(Jan. 31).
And one late bit of news for the DXers out there: just as
this issue of NERW was going to press, we heard from WBBR (1130)
chief engineer Bob Janney, who tells us there will be a silent
period on WBBR and WEVD (1050) next weekend. Listen for something
else on both channels between 1:00 and 4:00 AM on Saturday morning
(Feb. 8) and Sunday morning (Feb. 9); WWDJ (970 Hackensack NJ)
will also be off, at least briefly, during those times.
*From PENNSYLVANIA comes word that
oldies station WPAM (1450 Pottsville) went dark on Friday. The
station had been under a five-year LMA to crosstown WPPA (1360)
and WAVT (101.9), but when that expired, there was nobody around
to run 1450. We hear it'll be back under new management, eventually.
Philadelphia's WURD (900) is being sold as part of the gradual
spinoff of Mega Communications' non-core properties; the kilowatt
daytimer (now with 42 watts at night) goes to Levan Communications,
which we hear is associated with the former owners of crosstown
WHAT (1340). Expect the black-oriented talk that's been running
on a leased-time basis to continue under WURD's new ownership.
WQBR (99.9 Avis) has been granted its power increase; the
country station will move its tower slightly to the northeast
and go up in height, to 570 watts at 321 meters. Now if we could
just hear a legal ID there...
Bible Broadcasting was granted a license to cover last week
for WYFU (88.5 Masontown), so we'd expect that religious station
is now on the air.
And just over the state line, the three-way power increase
was granted last week for WAKZ (95.9 Sharpsville PA/Youngstown
OH), WAKS (96.5 Akron OH) and WNPQ (95.9 New Philadelphia OH).
*And we'll finish things up in CANADA,
where NewCap's new CIHT (89.9 Ottawa) is getting ready for a
launch Friday afternoon as dance/CHR "Planet." It could
soon have company on the AM dial; "Fondation Radio Enfant"
has applied to revive the 1250 frequency (last used by Radio-Canada's
CBOF, which moved to 90.7 a decade ago) for a French-language
children's format, with 1000 watts day, 100 watts night.
Montreal's CJAD (800) is shuffling its hosts; Andrew Carter
moves from "The World Today" in the afternoons to the
morning show, while Ric Peterson takes over afternoons.
An LPTV in Quebec City? That's what "Tele-Mag Inc."
wants; it's applying for 50 watts (!) on channel 9 for a community
station there.
And out in Truro, Nova Scotia, Barry Reid's "Hope FM
Ministries" wants 50 watts on 98.5 for a Christian contemporary
station.
 *Have
you ordered your Tower Site Calendar 2003 yet? That spiffy
image of the WBEN transmitter site on Grand Island is the March
image...and it's accompanied by more than a dozen others (including
Providence's WHJJ; Mount Mansfield, Vermont; KOMA in Oklahoma
City; the legendary WSM, Nashville; WGN, Chicago 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 is currently shipping! Calendars
are in stock, and orders placed now will ship within 24 hours!
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.
International orders: Calendars are US$18 to Canada,
US$20 to the rest of the world, postage included. Send checks/international
money orders (in US dollars) to the address above, or e-mail
for credit-card ordering information.
*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.
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2003 by Scott Fybush. |