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July 21, 2003
Sporting News Lays Off WWZN Staffers
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*A short column this week (is everyone
away on vacation?) - but some big news to tell you about in MASSACHUSETTS:
Sporting News Radio laid off about 20 staffers at its struggling
WWZN (1510 Boston) last week, axing its morning show and its
ties to the Boston Globe in the process.
Among the layoffs announced Friday were morning hosts Kevin
Winter and Holden Kushner, who had been doing that shift with
Ryen Russillo. Russillo stays with WWZN as part of an expanded
"Die Hards" afternoon show (with current hosts Anthony
Pepe and Mike Winn); Eddie Andelman and Dave Jageler stay on
board as well with their noon-3 PM show, and the station still
has the Celtics' broadcast rights. Other than those shows, though,
WWZN will now be a relay of Sporting News' national network programming...and
Boston has never been a kind market to nationally syndicated
sports talk.
Over on the FM dial, a few changes in the airstaff at WXRV
(92.5 Haverhill): Susan Sullivan is now doing the morning shift
there, moving music director Dana Marshall to the 7-midnight
slot, or so the station's Web site claims.
Way out in western Massachusetts, the WNYT translator on Mount
Greylock will soon be back on the air. The former W51AE, displaced
by the arrival of WNYA on channel 51 from Pittsfield, now has
new calls W38DL and will be on the air on channel 38 in a few
weeks, we're told.
*In NEW HAMPSHIRE, Barry Lunderville
is about to add another station to his growing holdings, as he
gets ready to take over operation of WMOU (1230 Berlin) from
Steven Griffin's Jericho Broadcasting. Lunderville, who owns
WLTN (1400 Littleton), WLTN-FM (96.7 Lisbon) and WXXS (102.3
Lancaster), tells the Berlin Daily Sun that he had the
chance to buy WMOU three years ago and regretted passing it up.
He'll take over with an LMA from Jericho on July 28, adding
a simulcast of WLTN-FM's morning show (with local inserts); it
appears that WMOU's long-running "Forum" talk show
may be over, now that host Rod Ross has left the station and
moved to Florida.
Meanwhile on the Seacoast, an organization called "Gritty"
has been granted an LPFM in Dover at 101.5.
 *In VERMONT,
the Radio Free Brattleboro gang are back in the studio - but
not on the airwaves, just yet. After being silenced by the FCC
a few weeks back, RFB has resumed broadcasting some of its shows
on its Web site, www.rfb.fm, while it seeks a new way to get
its signals out to the locals.
*A reminder from PENNSYLVANIA that
working on towers can still be a dangerous occupation: 26 year
old Clifford T. Williams of Kentucky died last Tuesday (7/15)
after falling 400 feet from the new Greene Township tower of
WOGF (104.3 East Liverpool OH). Williams was working for World
Tower of Kentucky; OSHA and state officials are still investigating
the cause of the fall.
*We'll start our NEW YORK report way
out on the East End of Long Island, where WWHL (92.9 Southampton)
changed calls to WHBE last week. 92.9 is still carrying the AAA
programming of "EHM," while WEHM (96.7 East Hampton)
itself has flipped to Bloomberg business news. A call swap is
expected; meantime, the WEHM Web site is a confusing mess, with
graphics that still proclaim "96-7 EHM" and text that
reads "92-9"...
In New York City, WWRL (1600) has a new afternoon co-host
for Felipe Luciano: he's former WEVD (1050) talker Sam Greenfield.
Meanwhile, "Blink" WNEW (102.7) named Don Leake, aka
"Postmidnight," the winner of its talent search for
a new late-night jock.
On the IBOC front, Arthur Liu turned on the digital at WZRC
(1480 New York) and WPAT (930 Paterson NJ) last week; while we
don't believe the doom-and-gloomers who say WZRC's digital sidebands
will throw noise over WGHT (1500 Pompton Lakes NJ) - have they
ever tried to hear WZRC's analog signal so deep within
1480's null? - we also can't imagine much of a demand for IBOC
receivers among listeners to the lo-fi leased-time broadcasts
on 1480 and 930, either. (Not that any such receivers are available
to consumers yet, anyway...)
Up in Albany, former WNYQ (105.7 Queensbury) PD Jackie Donovan
is now the operations coordinator for Clear Channel's market-wide
traffic operation, scheduled to start service on September 1.
Way up in the North Country, David Mance's Clancy-Mance Broadcasting
closed on its purchase of the three Wireless Works stations (WSLB
1400/WPAC 92.7 Ogdensburg and WGIX 95.3 Gouverneur) last week;
for once, we actually believe that no major changes are planned,
though Mance is reportedly planning to apply to take both class
A FM signals to 6 kilowatts each.
In Buffalo, Tom Bauerle signed a long-term deal to keep hosting
his late-morning talk show at Entercom's WBEN (930 Buffalo);
here in Rochester, was that former WZNE morning team Karlson
and McKenzie taking over oldies WBBF (93.3 Fairport) last weekend
to spin some oldies?
 In
CANADA, CIZN (92.9 Cambridge ON) quietly left the air
on Sunday afternoon (7/20), making way for the Monday morning
debut of its new incarnation as CJDV (107.5), with higher power
and less interference from Buffalo's WBUF - and a new format,
too.
"Dave 107.5 FM" is playing "80s, 90s and whatever,"
the latest take on the Canadian trend towards classic hits/hot
AC mixes, as seen in Ottawa, Toronto and elsewhere on similar
stations branded as "Jack" and "Bob." Will
the trend head south of the border? We'll be keeping an eye on
it...
Up in Cottage Country, new CKHA (100.9 Halliburton) signed
on over the weekend, playing a wide variety of music with a staff
of community volunteers. It's calling itself "Canoe FM,"
we're told.
And in Toronto, the CRTC reaffirmed its grant of a new license
on 101.3 to "Canadian Multicultural Radio," despite
a National Post story that linked the group to the
World Tamil Group, an organization that reportedly has ties to
the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka. CMR says the stories were
planted by unsuccessful competing applicants for the frequency,
and the CRTC issued a terse statement saying it stands by its
decision to grant CMR the license.
*And that's it for another week...see you in seven!
 *Have you ordered
your Tower Site Calendar 2003 yet? That spiffy image of
the WBEN transmitter site on Grand Island is just one of a dozen
exciting images...and it's accompanied by many 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: 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.
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*The twelfth edition of the M
Street Radio Directory will soon go to the printer,
and we'll have a special offer for NERW readers coming within
a few weeks. Stay tuned!
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2003 by Scott Fybush. |