|
October 27, 2003
 WHLI
Loses A Good Guy
*The roster of living top-40 legends gets
smaller every day, it seems, and last week we lost another one.
On Friday morning (10/24), Dean Anthony died at age 68.
Anthony put down radio roots at Washington's WPGC before coming
to NEW YORK in the fall of 1964 to become one of the "Good
Guys" at the legendary WMCA (570). Anthony held down the
overnights at WMCA for four years, then left (with most of the
other staffers) in 1968, only to return a few months later and
stay through the start of WMCA's talk format in 1970.
Later, Anthony worked at "97DJ" (WWDJ 970 Hackensack)
and did mornings on WTFM (103.5 Lake Success) before joining
the staff of WHLI (1100 Hempstead) in 1981. For the past 22 years,
he served as program director (later VP/PD) and midday jock at
WHLI, giving up the airshift just a few weeks ago as his cancer
progressed.
*Other news from the Empire State: WEPN (1050 New York) PD
Kevin Graham is heading west to become PD of Infinity's all-sports
WXYT (1270 Detroit). And there's another NERW-land connection
to this move: at WXYT, Graham replaces Gregg Henson, who's headed
to sister station WKRK (97.1 Detroit) to replace Scott &
Casey, the former New Jersey 101.5 (WKXW-FM Trenton) talkers
who just got dropped from WKRK last week.
A Binghamton radio veteran is shifting stations: Bill Flynn
is picking up his weekend polka show and moving it from Clear
Channel's standards WINR (680 Binghamton), where he's worked
for the last four years, to oldies "Cool 100.5" WCDW
(100.5 Susquehanna PA). Flynn was also voicetracking the morning
show on WINR; on WCDW he'll be heard with polkas Sunday morning
from 7-10 and with oldies ("The Other Side of Bill Flynn")
on Saturday afternoons from 4-7.
(WCDW's press release also reveals the format for new sister
station WPHD 96.1 South Waverly PA; it'll be "Cool 96"
when it signs on.)
In Syracuse, Alexis gets a big promotion at rocker 95X (WAQX
95.7 Manlius); she adds PD stripes to her afternoon jock duties,
while Ryno gets promoted to APD/MD.
On the TV side, Doug Logan has parted ways with WIXT (Channel
9) after 19 years in the sports department there, most recently
as sports director. Is Logan headed to the new Time Warner Sports
channel? That's the hot rumor around town (especially with Time
Warner poised to launch its News 10 Now all-news channel in Central
New York on November 7...)
Up north, Danny James is leaving WRCD (101.5 Canton) just
ahead of the cold North Country winter, leaving behind the PD
and night jock spot there for a new job in Fort Walton Beach,
Florida, waking up the Panhandle on WWAV (102.1).
And here in the Rochester area, the planning board in the
suburb of Greece has given Clear Channel approval for a new 30,000-square
foot building and 160-foot STL tower at the Canal Ponds Office
Park. The facility would be the new home of Clear Channel's seven
local radio stations, which are eager to move from the cramped
Midtown Plaza facility that was originally built for only WVOR
(100.5) and WHAM (1180) back in the mid-eighties. (NERW notes
that one of the Clear Channel outlets, WISY 102.3 Canandaigua,
has a new "main studio"; we noticed a "Sunny 102"
storefront on Main Street in Canandaigua when we were down that
way a few weeks back...)
*One NEW JERSEY call change: WBNJ
(93.1 Wildwood Crest) changes to WDTH, matching "Touch"
simulcast partner WTTH (96.1 Margate City).
 *There's
a new morning team in western PENNSYLVANIA: Welch and
Woody are out at "Y108" (WDSY 107.9 Pittsburgh) after
five years. Co-host Chris DeCarlo stays, joined by 10-year Y108
vet Monty.
Down the street at Saul Frischling's WLTJ (92.9 Pittsburgh)
and WRRK (96.9 Braddock), a copyright-violation lawsuit is causing
more headaches. SESAC, the little licensing agency that represents
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and the Bob Dylan
catalog, won a $1.26 million judgment against the stations last
week for playing SESAC songs without a license - at $150,000
per song. An appeal is almost certain...
Up along I-80, Vox is selling WCED (1420 DuBois). Jay Phillipone's
Priority Communications adds WCED to its group for the bargain
price of $150,000.
And over on the other end of I-80 in northeast Pennsylvania,
Kevin Fennessy is fighting a $20,000 fine assessed against his
WFBS (1280 Berwick). The FCC says WFBS had repeated, willful
violations of tower fencing and lighting rules; Fennessy says
the problems stemmed from the station's previous owners - and
he has FAA approval to keep the tower, just a hair over 200 feet
tall, unlit. (NERW wonders how the FCC even got to the tower
base to see whether there was a fence; the rocky, bumpy "road"
that heads up the hill to the 1280 tower was enough to keep the
NERW-mobile away when we were up that way over the summer...)
*CONNECTICUT Public TV will stay
in the sports business for another five years. Its broadcasts
of UConn women's basketball are the highest-rated local public
TV programming in the nation - and now CPTV has signed a $4.01
million contract to continue carrying the Huskies through the
2007-2008 season.
New R&B/hip-hop outlet WPHH (104.1 Waterbury-Hartford)
is getting a PD: Nicole S. will move to Hartford next month from
her current job as programming coordinator at sister "Power"
WWPR (105.1 New York).
*In MASSACHUSETTS, Salem is indeed
picking new calls for its soon-to-launch talker on 1150 in Boston.
After contemplating "WYTS" and then "WJTK,"
it now appears that the station will be WTTT when it launches
in early November. (Those calls have a long Bay State history,
having spent four decades on what's now WPNI 1430 in Amherst.)
 Up in Lowell, the
former WJUL (91.5) began using its new WUML calls last week.
In Athol, the oldies on WAHL (99.9) gave way to classic rock
under the new ownership of Steven Silberberg's Northeast Broadcasting
last week. What was "Oldies 99.9" under Citadel is
now "Eagle," with new calls of WNYN-FM pending.
Speaking of Citadel's Worcester cluster, Jay Beau Jones was
promoted last week, adding OM duties for WXLO, WORC-FM and WWFX
to his PD job at WXLO/WORC-FM.
*CANADA's newest radio signal is
in the Kitchener-Waterloo market, where CanWest Global began
testing last week on CKBT (91.5 Kitchener), the new "91.5
the Beat." Initial signal reports suggest the 4000-watt
signal is making it almost to the western suburbs of Toronto,
at least for DX aficionados.
Some changes at the CHUM stations in Brockville: Milkman
UnLimited reports Danny Wylie is moving from mornings/music
director on CJPT (Bob 103.7) to afternoons on sister station
CFJR-FM (104.9). Mike Reed arrives from Timmins to do mornings
on Bob, while Bill Porter comes up from CHUM in Peterborough
to do afternoons on Bob.
Down in Cobourg, Don Martin moves from mornings/PD on CHUC
(1450) to the sales department, with Joe Edwards replacing him.
And in Hamilton, Tom Tompkins is the new PD at CHAM (820)
and CKOC (1150), replacing the retiring Nevin Grant.
 *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.
Thanks for your support!
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
2003 by Scott Fybush. |