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March 3, 2003
'AMC Adds Albany AM
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*With a network of seven primary
FM signals and translators that stretches north to Plattsburgh,
south to Middletown, west to Oneonta and east to Southington,
Connecticut, WAMC (90.3) in Albany, NEW YORK has
become one of the larger public radio broadcasters in the country
in recent years.
Now the network is adding its first AM signal, as it pays
Ed Levine's Galaxy Communications $500,000 for WHTR (1400 Albany),
a 1 kilowatt facility that's spent the last few years simulcasting
other stations in Levine's cluster (most recently, modern rock
WKRD 93.7 Scotia), but which has a proud history under the WABY
calls which still adorn its tower on Braintree Street in Albany.
WAMC head honcho Alan Chartock tells the Albany Times Union
that the AM 1400 signal will fill some holes in the main WAMC
signal within city limits; the big FM signal comes from across
the state line on Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts and
has some multipath problems in parts of Albany.
Expect 1400 to change calls to WAMC(AM) and begin simulcasting
the WAMC-FM signal within the next couple of months, we hear...
 Moving down the Hudson Valley,
Albany's Pamal group is wasting no time in its takeover of WYNY
(107.1 Briarcliff Manor) from Nassau; it will LMA the station
and begin a simulcast of CHR WSPK (104.7 Poughkeepsie) within
the next few weeks. And another part of the 107.1 quadcast could
soon be sold; our colleague Tom Taylor reported a rumor in Inside
Radio last week that Jarad, owner of Long Island's WLIR (92.7
Garden City), WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) and WXXP (105.3 Calverton-Roanoke),
is looking to buy WWXY (107.1 Hampton Bays) to add to its cluster
out there. That would leave Nassau with WWYY (107.1 Belvidere
NJ) and WWZY (107.1 Long Branch NJ), closer to its core of stations
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
A New York City rock institution has found a new home: Eddie
Trunk is moving his metal show from WNEW (102.7), where it was
the last music show on the schedule before the current long-term
CHR stunting began there last month, to Clear Channel classic
rocker WAXQ (104.3). He'll be heard on Q104 on Friday nights
from 11 PM until 2 AM.
In Binghamton, plenty of Radio People on the Move at Citadel
CHR WWYL (104.1 Chenango Bridge), as Kate Kelly replaces Amber
on the morning show at "Wild 104," with Amber moving
to the sales department. Middayer Christine Fox and night guy
Jerry Kidd are also out; Kelly will handle the 10-1 portion of
Fox's shift for now.
Ithaca's new WNYI (Channel 52) is changing ownership, as Bill
Smith takes control of the station from former partner Kevin
O'Keefe. Smith and his wife Caroline Powley own independent WNGS
(Channel 67) in Springville, south of Buffalo.
Kevin White is the new general manager at the Backyard Broadcasting
cluster (the old Sabre group) in Elmira/Corning.
And in Buffalo, WNSA (107.7 Wethersfield) makes a solid hire
from sports competitor WGR (550), as Bills beat reporter Chris
Browne moves over to the FM sports talker.
*RHODE ISLAND is still struggling
to recover from the devastating Station nightclub fire, and we're
sorry to report yet another broadcast connection: among the 96
killed was Nicholas O'Neill, 17, the son of WHJJ (920) talk host
Dave Kane.
 *In MASSACHUSETTS,
Boston talker WRKO (680) is rearranging its late night schedule
this week, adding Alan Colmes' syndicated talk show to the 10
PM - 1 AM slot. That takes Howie Carr's producer, "VB"
(it stands for "Virgin Boy"), off the schedule for
the moment. But weep not for VB; the word from WRKO is that he'll
be back on the schedule from 1-4 AM soon, replacing George Noory
and "Coast to Coast AM."
Over at the Infinity cluster, Kenny O'Keefe takes on a new
responsibility - he's now VP/market manager for the group, which
includes news-talk WBZ (1030), modern AC WBMX (98.5), classic
rock WZLX (100.7), oldies WODS (103.3) and modern rock WBCN (104.1).
 Speaking of WBCN,
it's losing one of its last links to its long rock radio heritage,
as Bill Abbate hangs up the headphones to close out exactly 20
years as a jock on the station. Abbate, who was doing the 2-6
AM shift at WBCN, will continue his work on WBCN's Patriots broadcasts.
And out in Shutesbury, the FCC has granted a CP to the "Sirius
Community" for a new LPFM on 100.3. We can only assume that
this is a commune full of satellite radio listeners...and don't
you dare spoil our fun by telling us otherwise!
*The FCC granted a new LPFM in VERMONT
as well; the Vermont Department of Transportation can add 94.3
in Springfield to the long list of CPs it already holds in the
Green Mountain state.
*If MAINE's northernmost UHF station
ever gets built, it will be on a new channel. The FCC this week
changed the allocation for channel 62 in Presque Isle to channel
47; the move puts the channel within the 2-51 "core spectrum"
that will remain part of the TV dial after the DTV conversion
is complete.
 *In
NEW JERSEY, the oldies are back on Atlantic City's WTKU
(98.3 Ocean City). After a year or so as "Kool 98.3,"
spinning a sort of AC-oldies blend with music from the 70s through
the 90s, WTKU flipped back to oldies over the weekend, which
should make for an interesting challenge to WWZK (94.3) Avalon,
the only oldies station in the market until now.
Up in Madison, the FCC has dismissed Fairleigh Dickinson University's
application for an LPFM at 88.1; it seemed awfully close to Newark's
WBGO (88.3), didn't it?
*In PENNSYLVANIA, Rick Strauss is
out as program director of classic rocker WMGK (102.9 Philadelphia);
former 'MGK PD Buzz Knight is programming the station for now
from his post as PD of Greater Media sister station WROR (105.7
Framingham) up in the Boston market.
Just south of Pittsburgh, Washington and Jefferson College's
WNJR is powering up. Formerly a class D station with just 13
watts on 92.1, WNJR has made the move to class A status and 91.7
on the dial. Its new 950-watt signal now carries almost to Pittsburgh
from its base in Washington, PA.
And there's a void this week in the hearts of all of us of
a certain age, with news of the death on Thursday (Feb. 27) of
Mister Rogers. Fred McFeely Rogers was part of Pittsburgh's WQED-TV
(Channel 13) beginning in 1953, even before the station went
on the air; in 1966, WQED became the home base for "Mister
Rogers' Neighborhood," and the show has been a PBS staple
ever since, even though production of new shows ended several
years ago.
Upon word of Rogers' death (he was 74 and was suffering from
stomach cancer), WQED preempted its full evening of programming
to devote four hours to remembering the station's most famous
personality.
*From CANADA comes word that the
CRTC has approved a new FM station in Belleville, Ontario. United
Christian Broadcasters will get 45 kilowatts of power at 102.3
on the dial for its contemporary Christian outlet.
Up in Ville-Marie, Quebec, the CRTC is trying to sort out
a long-running problem with CKVM (710), which has been running
without a valid operating license ever since a 1998 study showed
that the station may be causing interference to WOR (710 New
York). (NERW notes that CKVM has shared the 710 channel with
WOR since the mid-twenties, so we're not quite sure why this
didn't become a problem until 1998...)
In any case, CKVM applied to move to the FM dial (with 18.4
kW at 93.1) a few months back, and now the CRTC has approved
the application - but with an additional condition. CKVM said
in its application that it would carry four hours of weekend
programming from Radio Canada (it was one of the last privately-owned
affiliates of the network), but Radio Canada tells the CRTC it
never agreed to provide that programming. Once the confusion
is sorted out, expect AM 710 to go silent up there, probably
within a few months' time.
 *Have
you ordered your Tower Site Calendar 2003 yet? That spiffy
image of the WBEN transmitter site on Grand Island is this month's
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
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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,
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*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
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92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester NY 14618. Either way, you'll put
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