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September 29, 2003
WHAM Fires Lonsberry
*MONDAY AFTERNOON
UPDATE - Just as NERW was going to "press"
late Sunday night, embattled WHAM talk show host Bob Lonsberry
was updating his own Web
site with a blistering
screed against the community leaders calling for his dismissal.
If Lonsberry's goal was to get himself fired, he succeeded;
just after his regular shift had ended Monday afternoon (with
transit chief Bill Nojay again on fill-in duty), WHAM issued
a statement that Lonsberry had been fired "for inappropriate
behavior."
The final blow, NERW suspects, was a passage in Lonsberry's
column clearly aimed at Rochester's Catholic bishop, Matthew
Clark, in which Lonsberry called the bishop "nothing more
than a funny collar and a title, a self-important relic out of
touch with the leadership above and the worshippers below."
For someone supposedly about to attend diversity training (see
below), such comments clearly were out of keeping, as WHAM acknowledged
in saying "it became obvious to us that (Lonsberry) is not
embracing diversity or the beliefs of the station."
Will Lonsberry land at WHAM's upstart talk rival in town,
which could desperately use the publicity such a move would give
it? Who'll fill the gaps around Dr. Laura, Paul Harvey and Rush
Limbaugh on WHAM's schedule? And what about Lonsberry's Salt
Lake City gig? Stay tuned...we'll provide updates as we get that
information (as well as a NERW Mini-Rant on the situation later
tonight.)
Lonsberry had been off the air for more than a week, ever
since the Democrat and Chronicle got wind of a pair
of off-the-cuff comments made during two of his shows in late
August and early September. In the first, responding to a news
item about an orangutan escaping from the Rochester zoo, Lonsberry
headed into a commercial break by saying, "Headline - orangutan
escapes from zoo, runs for county executive. Fascinating stuff."
In the second, on September 18, Lonsberry wrapped up his show
with his usual "Listeners on the Loose" segment, in
which callers have 15 seconds to make a comment or, often, play
a sound effect down the line. In response to a caller who played
monkey noises, Lonsberry said, "Freakin' monkey's loose
up at the zoo again...and he's running for county executive.
What's with that?"
Lonsberry is a frequent and outspoken critic of Democratic
county executive candidate and Rochester mayor Bill Johnson,
who happens to be black, and the remarks were taken by many as
a racist comment on Johnson, whose supporters immediately began
circulating tapes of the comments in local media circles.
That turned out to be enough to get the D&C to
mention the comments on its editorial page - which in turn set
off a week of protests against Lonsberry and the station from
the local NAACP, a group of religious leaders and the heads of
both the local Democratic and Republican parties.
Lonsberry was absent from the airwaves all week, appearing
only in a short and reluctant-sounding recorded apology at the
start and finish of Monday's show. Attorney Frank Cegelski and
transit agency chairman Bill Nojay served as guest hosts for
the week. And after first announcing that Lonsberry would be
back last Wednesday, then today, WHAM and Lonsberry sent out
faxes Thursday night announcing that Lonsberry will stay off
the air "indefinitely" while he undergoes diversity
training. At press time, the NAACP was still demanding Lonsberry's
dismissal and threatening a boycott of the station.
(A few additional notes: we hear that several of the local
businesses for whom Lonsberry shilled had been very sensitive
about the press coverage of the situation; we're also told that
KNRS in Salt Lake City, where Lonsberry did the morning show
via ISDN, was running "best-of" segments all last week
in Lonsberry's absence.)
*Elsewhere in the Empire State: Out on Long Island, Wendy
Wild returns to her roots WBLI (106.1 Patchogue) for nights,
replacing Bobby Fester. Wild had been at WDAQ (98.3) up in Danbury,
Connecticut. More "Where are they Now?": Bob O'Dell,
former PD of Syracuse's WAQX, is the new PD at WRQK (106.9) in
Canton, Ohio, while Glen Turner, formerly of Binghamton's WMRV,
lands at WIXM (97.3 Millville NJ) as music director and midday
jock.
Up in Watertown, Mike Roach reports translator W281AA (104.1)
has flipped from relaying WTOJ (103.1 Carthage) to new Clancy-Mance
acquisition WGIX (95.3 Gouverneur), giving "Cool 95.3"
a big boost in coverage. (W281AA was recently transferred from
Clancy-Mance to Katharine Ingersoll, clearing the way for it
to simulcast an out-of-market station owned by Clancy-Mance.)
 *Some
sad news from MASSACHUSETTS: WBZ (1030 Boston) evening
talk host David Brudnoy told listeners last week that in addition
to fighting AIDS, he's also suffering from a rare skin cancer
called Merkel cell carcinoma.
Brudnoy says he's already had several lesions removed from
his face, and he'll undergo both chemotherapy and radiation treatment
in the weeks to come, which may cause him to miss some of his
shifts on WBZ, in addition to his extensive additional work as
a WSBK (Channel 38) commentator, newspaper movie critic and Boston
University journalism professor.
On a very personal level, your editor was working at WBZ when
Brudnoy's AIDS became public in 1994, and things looked awfully
bleak for him then. He pulled through that ordeal, which included
several days in a coma, and he's got my prayers in beating this,
too.
*A format change in VERMONT: Bob Vinikoor's
WNBX (1480 Springfield) has dropped its simulcast of talker WNTK-FM
(99.7 New London NH) to become "Real Oldies 1480,"
with market veteran Ray LaMire (late of WMXR in Woodstock) doing
mornings and a talented lineup of voices tracking the rest of
the day (you should hear the overnight guy!)
 *In
MAINE, Bob Duchesne signed off last week from Bangor's
WQCB (106.5 Brewer), where he was the first voice heard on the
station way back in 1986. Duchesne had been Q106.5's morning
man for all of those 17 years, and his honors included being
named the Country Music Association's small market personality
of the year in 1994.
*From NEW JERSEY comes word of some
staffing changes at WCTC (1450 New Brunswick): veteran talker
Jay Sorenson is taking over morning drive from Judith Leblein.
He'll be followed at 10 by an hour-long financial show called
"Your Money Matters," which will be followed (from
11-3) by Bernard Spigner, who moves back to middays. Spigner's
show will be followed by Jack Ellery at 3 and an hour of local
sports at 6 - and how many 1000-watt AM talk stations can you
name that are live from 6 AM until 7 PM?
*In PENNSYLVANIA, Jason Barsky departs
"Kiss" WHKF (99.3 Harrisburg), with Mike McCoy moving
over from Lancaster's WLAN-FM (96.9) to succeed him in the PD
chair. After initially saying he'd oversee both  WHKF
and WLAN-FM, McCoy had a change of heart, and now his assistant
PD J.T. Bosch has been promoted to PD at WLAN-FM. (McCoy will
keep doing the 9-noon airshift and remain operations manager
at WLAN, reports AllAccess...)
Some big staffing changes at Reading's WRFY (102.5): Morning
co-host Ted Roberts is out, and his partner Nick Harris moves
to middays from wakeups. Replacing Nick and Ted in morning drive
are "Jackie and Scott," former midday hist Jackie Hoffman
and night jock Scott St. John. Part-timer Vince Angelo gets the
nod to replace St. John at night.
In Williamsport, WLYC (1050) changes hands again: it's going
from Williamsport Communications Inc. to Carmen Nardone, for
a reported $55,000.
And in Philadelphia, WWDB (860) and WXTU (92.5) will be testing
Ibiquity's HD Radio system this week, to give visitors to the
NAB Radio Show something to listen to. (We were all set to make
the drive to Philadelphia for the show...but being the daddy
to a two-week old baby is enough to
keep us put in Rochester for the time being!)
*In CANADA, "Jack" is getting
jocks: Toronto's CISS (92.5) is bringing in Vancouver jocks Rob
Christie and Rob Pepper as its first two live air personalities.
Christie will do mornings beginning October 1, with Pepper handling
afternoons beginning October 6. (Both Robs have prior Toronto
experience as well.)
 Over on the TV side
of the Rogers family, CJMT (multilingual "Omni.2")
wants more power. The station's current signal on channel 44
barely makes it to the Toronto city line with its current 12
kilowatts of power from a short stick near Yonge and Steeles
- but now it's applying for a significant upgrade. CJMT is asking
the CRTC to let it move to channel 69, where it will run 500
kilowatts visual ERP from the top of First Canadian Place, the
second-best transmitter site in Toronto. (There's no room for
an additional analog station at the best site, the CN Tower.)
And we're told CFJR (830 Brockville) has signed off for good,
leaving CFJR-FM (104.9) as its successor.
 *The 2004
Tower Site Calendar is now available for ordering! Just as
in past years, the calendar features a dozen spiffy 8.5-by-11
inch full-color images of tower sites from across the nation
- everything from Washington's WTEM to New York's WCBS/WFAN to
Los Angeles' KHJ to WCTM in Eaton, Ohio. Unlike last year, this
year's calendar will feaure heavier paper (no more curling!)
and will be shipped shrink-wrapped on a cardboard backing to
make sure it arrives in pristine condition.
We'll be going to press soon, and hope to be shipping calendars
in time for Thanksgiving - but why wait? Order now and help support
NERW and Tower Site of the Week. Better yet, place your subscription
for 2004 at the $60 level by using the handy buttons below, and
you'll get your 2004 Tower Site Calendar absolutely FREE. What
more could you want? (Live overnight jocks, maybe?)
Don't want to order by credit card? You know the drill by
now - make those checks payable to "Scott Fybush,"
be sure to include sales tax for New York state calendar orders,
and send them along to 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue, Rochester NY 14618.
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2003 by Scott Fybush. |