We won’t be worrying about that anymore: as of late last week, the FCC has signed off on the Cumulus acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting – and within hours, the Atlanta-based Cumulus had taken over at the former Citadel stations, complete with new IDs on the air and new e-mail addresses for the staff.
What we didn’t realize last week was just how fast those changes would take place.
On Monday night at 8, a special hour of “Nightside with Dan Rea” will be devoted to WBZ’s history as well, with a guest list that includes current morning man Joe Mathieu and his longtime predecessor, Gary LaPierre.
NorthEast Radio Watch 1/13/2025: TJ Exits, “La Exitosa” Exists
In this week’s issue… TJ Pops Back Down - Giovanni's Surprise Return - Townsquare Turns Off Two - Remembering MA's Bob Nelson, PA's Diamond
NERW 9/19/2016: NBC Boston’s New Signal?
In this week’s issue… NBC’s latest Boston signal move – Gambling retires (again) – Lawsuits tangle MRBI, Sheridan – Neil Rockoff, RIP
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*We still don’t know with any certainty exactly where most over-the-air viewers in will see the new “NBC Boston” when the affiliation moves from WHDH (Channel 7) at the end of 2016 – but there’s a new signal on the air in greater Boston that may give us another clue into at least some of NBC/Comcast’s contingency plans.
While the station Comcast already owns in the market, Telemundo affiliate WNEU (Channel 60), can only be seen over the air in its home base of NEW HAMPSHIRE, WNEU has long had a low-power repeater in the Boston market. WTMU-LP had been on analog channel 32 from the Pru, then held a CP for digital operation on RF 46 from the towers on the Malden/Medford line. In 2009, it applied for more digital power (11.2 kW) from the 350 Cedar Street tower in Needham, home to many of the market’s full-power DTV signals (CBS’ WBZ and WSBK, Hearst’s WCVB and public TV WGBH/WGBX).
A CP for that move was granted in 2010 and was set to expire more than a year ago, on September 1, 2015. And that was that, right?
Not so fast…because that very facility signed on just last week from Needham, with a signal that’s being seen decently within much of Route 128.
WTMU-LP is far from a perfect solution for “NBC Boston,” if that’s what’s behind this surprise addition to the Boston DTV dial. Even if there’s some explanation for how the new DTV signal made it to air a year after CP expiration (and we suspect there’s some answer out there), its signal is still far inferior to the megawatt flamethrowers of WBZ, WCVB and WHDH. And there’s also the complicating factor that NBC/Comcast doesn’t actually own WTMU-LP, which is licensed to Spanish-language ZGS Broadcasting.
Monday midday update: We’re told the FCC suspended CP expiration dates for low-power stations as part of the DTV repack, which explains why the signal could be activated now – and Monday morning, Comcast filed a $100,000 deal to buy WTMU-LP from ZGS, with new calls WBTS pending.
*Even if we don’t yet know exactly where NBC Boston will be seen, we’re learning more about who’ll be seen there. Phil Lipof, who left WCVB (Channel 5) in June, and who’d been widely rumored to be headed to NBC Boston and New England Cable News, officially joined the team there last week. Lipof and NBC Boston/NECN VP/news Kenny Plotnick have worked together before – Plotnick hired him at WABC-TV (Channel 7) in New York in 2006.
And there’s another new sight on the Boston airwaves: Cox’s Fox affiliate, WFXT (Channel 25), took the wraps off its new newsroom set Sunday night. After six weeks of originating news from a temporary set in another studio down the hall, WFXT is back in its huge two-story newsroom studio in Dedham.
The new set features a huge video wall (20 feet long and 6 feet tall) and several additional video screens that flank a view of newsroom cubicles and control rooms; it also removes the last on-air vestiges of the old Fox O&O “25” logo that was replaced last year.
THE 2025 TOWER SITE CALENDAR IS SHIPPING NOW!
Behold, the 2025 calendar!
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (can you guess? you don’t have to if you buy the calendar!).
We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for immediate shipping!
This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
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*John R. Gambling has ended his rambling on NEW YORK radio, this time apparently for good. The third-generation Gambling hosted the family morning show, “Rambling with Gambling,” on WOR (710) from 1985 until 2000, then worked at WABC (770) from 2000 until 2008, went back to WOR until 2013, and had most recently been doing the 11 AM to 1 PM shift at Salem’s WNYM (970).
On Friday, Gambling told listeners to “970 the Answer” that because of health problems – a broken kneecap – he can’t even do the show from his home studio, as he’d been doing, and so he’s ended the show effective immediately. It’s not yet clear who’ll take over that slot at WNYM, which is mostly syndicated after Joe Piscopo’s morning show.
While Gambling departs, a familiar name has returned to the New York airwaves after a long absence. Joey Reynolds, a longtime fixture at WNBC and WOR, started a new weekend show Sunday night at WABC (770), where he’s being heard at 9 PM. The new Reynolds show will also air on KABC (790) in Los Angeles (did you see our farewell to their classic studios in Tower Site of the Week this week?) and will eventually be syndicated. (photo by Russ DiBello)
*Upstate, Tias Schuster has departed iHeart in Rochester, leaving a vacancy in the PD chair at WDVI (100.5 the Drive) and WKGS (Kiss 106.7). Schuster’s been promoted to senior VP of programming at iHeart’s Norfolk, Virginia cluster, where he’d been PD at crosstown WNVZ from 2007 until 2012. (And we note, belatedly, that WKGS has picked up the syndicated “Brooke and Jubal” morning show, apparently back in July.)
*In Syracuse, Craig Fox’s Foxfur group has reached a $16,000 settlement to close out a dispute over whether it exceeded ownership caps as it was swapping signals with Family Life Ministries earlier this year.
The FCC says when Foxfur began LMA’ing Family Life’s 92.1 (ex-WSEN-FM, now WOLF-FM), the LMA became attributable under Fox’s ownership cap, putting him in control of more stations than the FCC allows. (That’s true even though Family Life simultaneously began operating Fox’s 105.1 signal, ex-WOLF-FM, now WCIS; even though Fox wasn’t operating the signal, it still counted under both his cap and Family Life’s, thanks to the quirky FCC rules.)
The FCC originally proposed a $20,000 fine for the violation, but the consent decree reduces that fine and allows the station swap to proceed. (In the meantime, Fox put the “Wolf” country format on its WOSW 1300 Fulton, then granted Family Life permission to “simulcast” WOSW on 92.1, which effectively allowed Fox to keep his programming on 92.1 while staying within the letter of the FCC’s rules.)
*We’re sorry to report the death of Neil Rockoff, whose career in radio management included time in New York City in the late 1970s as VP/GM of WHN (1050) in its country heyday, as well as chairman of the radio division of parent Storer Broadcasting. Rockoff also headed NYMRAD, the marketing alliance of New York radio broadcasters. He later worked in Miami and Los Angeles, including a stint at the helm of KHJ. Rockoff was 78 when he died Sept. 7.
*Across the river in NEW JERSEY, a newly-filed lawsuit is bringing some light to the murky world of leased-time ethnic radio. The suit by Korean Radio Broadcasting (KBC) against Arthur Liu’s Multicultural Broadcasting (MRBI) alleges that MRBI let the signal of WWRU (1660 Jersey City) deteriorate in 2013, without ever giving KBC credit for time that the station was at reduced power or off the air.
KBC moved its programming to WNYZ-LP (Channel 6, aka 87.7) in late 2014, and it’s also suing K-Radio, the Korean-language programmer that replaced it on WWRU. KBC’s lawsuit against K-Radio accuses its employees (some of them former KBC employees) of representing themselves as still working for KBC.
How much was KBC paying MRBI for a 24/7 lease of WWRU? The lawsuit says the most recent lease was for $156,000 per month, which means MRBI was taking in just shy of $2 million a year just to keep the station on the air.
*In Worcester, MASSACHUSETTS, Gois Broadcasting’s WORC (1310) is trying for a new translator frequency after its plans to move W230AO (93.9 Speculator NY) to 97.3 hit major opposition from New Bedford’s WJFD. The Portuguese-language broadcaster from the South Coast has a loyal audience even in areas like Worcester where its signal is fringe at best, and it’s been protesting both the WORC translator and Barry Armstrong’s attempt to use 97.3 to the east as a translator frequency for WBNW (1120 Concord).
Now Gois is instead applying to move W230AO to 106.1, where it would beam into Worcester with 45 very directional watts from a site in Leicester. (It had originally hoped to use 130 watts on 97.3).
*A happy 95th birthday today to Boston’s WBZ, which signed on September 19, 1921 from the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield! It’s a reminder that we’re nearing a whole bunch of centennials in the next few years, including those of 9XM/WHA in Wisconsin and Montreal’s XWA/CFCF (now, sadly, defunct) in 2019 and then the 2020 centennial at KDKA in Pittsburgh that will get plenty of media attention while keeping all of us media historians busy arguing that radio as we know it did not, in fact, start in November 1920 in western Pennsylvania. (But will we be in Pittsburgh on November 2, 2020? Of course we will…)
*Radio People on the Move in CONNECTICUT: Zac Davis exits as PD of iHeart’s top-40 stations, WKSS (Kiss 95.7) in Hartford and WKCI (KC101) in New Haven, headed to a new post as senior VP of programming at iHeart in Richmond, Virginia.
*In RHODE ISLAND, Holly Paras moves up from sales director to VP/market manager for Cumulus in Providence, filling the gap left by John Sutherland’s departure in June. Paras is the third to take the helm at that cluster (WPRO/WEAN, WPRV, WPRO-FM, WWLI, WWKX) in just over a year.
*Radio People on the Move in VERMONT: Chantal exits mornings at Sison’s WXXX (95.5 South Burlington) to head over to Vox’s WEZF (92.9), where she takes the afternoon slot vacated by Eric Forand.
*More shuffles may be on the way in eastern PENNSYLVANIA: Jon Marks is reportedly exiting the morning show at Greater Media’s WPEN (97.5 the Sports Fanatic) when his contract is up a month from now. Marks is working on his own new website, PhillyFootballTalk.com, and the rumor mill has him resurfacing on the radio, perhaps across town at WIP (94.1), which still hasn’t replaced Josh Innes. (Innes, meanwhile, has been active online, hosting live streams from his sofa on Facebook while he looks for a new gig…)
Out west, a dispute over rent has caused Sheridan Broadcasting Company to lock a former subsidiary out of its downtown Pittsburgh offices.
Sheridan lost control of American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) back in May, and while AURN says it’s been paying rent to stay in the third-floor offices it occupied in Sheridan’s building, SBC says it hasn’t been getting the money. So Sheridan has now padlocked the floor, and we’re following the New Pittsburgh Courier‘s ongoing reporting to see how this dispute plays out.
*In CANADA, the CRTC has told CFMS (105.9 Markham) that it can’t have the power increase it’s been seeking. “105.9 the Region,” which combines English-language suburban programming and ethnic shows aimed at an Indian audience, wanted to go from 379 watts average/1.3 kW max DA/9 m up to 981 watts average/2.5 kW max DA/51 m, moving the transmitter west from Markham to Richmond Hill. That didn’t sit well with the CRTC, which expressed concern that the proposed increase would extend the CFMS signal to Richmond Hill and Vaughan without actually improving it in Markham, the station’s home base. The CRTC also rejected CFMS’ claim that the power increase would improve its HD Radio signal; “while the Commission is supportive of efforts to experiment with HD Radio,” it wrote, “it is of the view that such efforts do not justify an increase to the service area of a station’s main analog signal.”
In the Maritimes, Canadian Radio News picks up on a rebranding in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where CJLS (95.5) stays AC but moves from “The Wave” to “Y95” under new owner Acadia Broadcasting.
Catching up on some news out of Quebec: Saroja Coelho is the new host of “Breakaway,” the CBC Radio One provincial afternoon show heard everywhere outside Montreal and Gatineau-Ottawa; she moves from a correspondent job in Berlin to become the first permanent host of the show in two years since Jacquie Czernin’s departure.
On TV, Laura Casella is leaving CITY-TV (CJNT 62)’s Breakfast Television to take the morning anchor job on Global Montreal (CKMI 46)’s Morning News, starting October 2. Former CKBE (92.5 the Beat) jock Kim Sullivan has been named to do weather alongside Casella. And police in Montreal are investigating a second arson attack against Haitian radio station CJWI (CPAM Radio Union 1410). Police say someone threw an incendiary device through the window of the station on Boulevard Cremazie E. early Sunday morning, doing only minor damage and causing no injuries. There had been a similar attack there several months ago. (The studio there is now also used by sister station CJMS 1040.)
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From the NERW ArchivesYup, we’ve been doing this a long time now, and so we’re digging back into the vaults for a look at what NERW was covering one, five, ten, fifteen and – where available – twenty years ago this week, or thereabouts. Note that the column appeared on an erratic schedule in its earliest years as “New England Radio Watch,” and didn’t go to a regular weekly schedule until 1997. One Year Ago: June 8, 2015 *When Buffalo’s WIVB (Channel 4) cut to the WGRF (96.9) studios on Thursday morning during the Make-a-Wish Radiothon, it was more than just a normal liveshot. After four decades on the radio in Buffalo and 30 years at “97 Rock,” morning institution Larry Norton had a surprise announcement to make:
As of December we will be devoting more of our time to works of charity, for God and for our church. I can’t thank the people of Buffalo enough for their support for me and the charities of Western New York that together we have helped over the last 40 years. From the entirety of my heart, thank you Buffalo! Rock and Roll Never Forgets, and I will always Love You. Norton’s planned departure December 4 will end one of Buffalo’s legendary radio careers. After graduating from Amherst High School and Buffalo State, he worked at WPHD (103.3) and joined what was then WGRQ to do middays in 1984. Norton’s first run at 96.9 was a memorable one: he staged a marathon broadcast to persuade the Police to add Buffalo to their tour schedule, a successful stunt that reportedly earned him a reprimand from the band for forcing them to rearrange their tour dates at short notice. But Norton’s initial “Q-FM” run was relatively brief one, interrupted by the station’s 1986 format change to AC, which sent Norton down the road to Rochester to do production at WCMF. When new ownership brought “97 Rock” back in 1988, Norton was an important part of the new format. His morning show has consistently pulled high ratings, and his community involvement has been top-notch. That Make-a-Wish radiothon? It’s raised nearly the million dollars over the years for the charity, and it’s just one of the good things Norton has done for Buffalo. (Which reminds us: how in the world is Norton not in the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame? And is it too late to add him to this year’s ceremony, scheduled for Thursday night at the WNED studios?) *Sad news from MAINE: Dan Priestly, one of the good guys in local broadcasting, lost his long battle with cancer on Tuesday. Priestly was a graduate of Bangor High School and Husson College who spent his whole career in local radio. He owned WGUY (102.1 Dexter) and WIGY (97.5 Madison) in the 1990s, then built several new AMs from scratch: WNZS (1340 Veazie), WWNZ (1400 Veazie) and WGUY (1230 Veazie), adding translators to WNZS and WGUY later on. Priestly was 68. A memorial service is scheduled for this afternoon in Bangor; gifts in Priestly’s memory can be sent to the Lafayette Family Cancer Center, c/o EMHS Foundation, P.O. Box 931, Bangor, ME 04402-0931. *Reunion season is in full swing in upstate NEW YORK. Every two years, Ray Ross and his Binghamton Broadcasters crew put on a fun evening of memories and honors, and 2015 was no exception. Saturday night’s gathering brought dozens of attendees together, some from as far afield as Texas. This year’s guest star was Anne Serling, youngest daughter of Rod, who was signing copies of her recent book, “As I Knew Him,” and who shared some touching thoughts about her famous father’s deep love of broadcasting and of his native Binghamton.
Top: Serling and Ray Ross (left), Parker addresses the crowd (right); Bottom: Mosher and the audience (left), Gilinsky (right)
David Donovan of the New York State Broadcasters Association was on hand to honor Bill Parker, the dean of Binghamton TV, reprising Parker’s recent induction into the New York Broadcasters Hall of Fame, which led to several standing ovations. Dave Lozzi of WMXW (Mix 103) received the Audio-Technica Working Broadcaster award, Doug Mosher of WAAL (99.1) was named “Broadcaster of the Year,” Dave Whalen of Time Warner Cable was honored with the Bill Parker Distinguished Service Award, and Steve Gilinsky, who’s about to become sole owner of WLTB (Magic 101.7), was named “Living Legend.” *As PENNSYLVANIA and New York prepare for the majesty (and traffic congestion) of the impending Papal visit, Catholic radio is about to come to the Philadelphia market in a big way. Radio Disney turned off WWJZ (640 Mount Holly NJ) a week ago as it handed off the license for the 50 kW daytime signal to Starboard Communications, which hopes to have its Relevant Radio Catholic format on the 640 AM airwaves before the Popemobile hits the streets of Philadelphia. Relevant Radio’s shows, including John Harper’s morning show, will be originating from Washington, Philadelphia and New York during the Papal visit – and we even spotted a billboard along Route 3 in Secaucus over the weekend promoting Papal coverage on Starboard’s WNSW (1430) for the New York market. Five Years Ago: September 19, 2011 *For many years now, one of the more challenging bits about being an editor of a radio industry trade publication has been trying to keep the holdings of the various “C companies” all straight. With Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Citadel and Cumulus all very active players across the region, it was always just a little bit too easy to inadvertently label a Cumulus cluster as “Citadel” or vice versa.
Across most of the region, the merger came with little overlap: Citadel’s clusters in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Allentown, Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton, New London, Providence, Portland, Augusta and Presque Isle had no in-market competition from Cumulus stations, and the Cumulus signals in the New York City suburbs and nearby Connecticut mesh nicely with the former Citadel stations in the city itself, WABC and WPLJ. (Because of the reach of WABC and WPLJ and the sprawling size of the New York metro, Cumulus will have to spin off one former Citadel station at the fringes: WELJ 104.7 is licensed to Montauk, NY, and even though it serves New London, Connecticut, it would have pushed Cumulus over the New York City market limits.) And then there’s Harrisburg, PENNSYLVANIA, where Cumulus and Citadel were active competitors. In last week’s issue of NERW, we laid out the changes that were coming, including the spinoff of Citadel’s WCAT-FM (102.3 Carlisle) and the Justice Depatrment-mandated format swap that’s sending away the classic rock format of WTPA with the Palmyra-licensed 92.1 signal that was doing rhythmic top-40 as WWKL, “Hot 92.”
On Friday morning at 6, WTPA moved down the dial to 92.1, while “Hot 92” moved up the dial (and a little closer to the core of the Harrisburg market) to WTPA’s old spot at 93.5 on the dial. *It’s birthday time for the oldest surviving radio station in MASSACHUSETTS: WBZ (1030 Boston) turns 90 on Monday, and there’s no shortage of celebrations, both on and off the air. Steve LeVeille’s overnight talk show is devoting two nights to radio history: on Monday night (Tuesday morning) at midnight, beloved Boston radio historian Donna Halper (PhD!) will be Steve’s guest – and if you’re reading this week’s column early enough, tune in Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight to hear yours truly on the air with Steve.
Gary is part of the very exclusive club of “WBZ Hall of Fame” honorees, and that club will add another member on Monday afternoon. (The station’s not saying who will get the nod this time, but we’ll be on hand when the latest plaque outside the building is unveiled.) MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Today’s induction will honor longtime ‘BZ morning man Carl deSuze, and it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate choice. Full coverage in the next NERW… *It’s reunion and awards season all across upstate New York – and the fun kicked off here in Rochester Saturday night with the first-ever Rochester Radio Reunion, which drew more than 150 veterans of the Flower City radio and TV dials.
WHAM-TV (Channel 13) anchor Don Alhart emceed the event, which was organized by veteran broadcasters Larry White, Dan Guilfoyle, Pat Grover, Orest Hrywnak and John Gubiotti. Rochester radio alumni from at least ten states came in for the event, including former WSAY/WBBF jock Dave Mason (in from San Diego), WKLX PD Cary Pall (in from Cincinnati), Rich “Albert” Petschke (now in Washington State) and many more. *It’s the end of the line for an AM signal in VERMONT‘s Upper Valley: WNHV (910 White River Junction) has surrendered its license. The sports station went off the air in May 2010 after its transmitter failed and later lost the use of its longtime tower site – and now owner Nassau has thrown in the towel on trying to resurrect the signal. Much of the former WNHV coverage area can hear the same “Score” sports format on sister station WTSV (1230 Claremont), which remains on the air. Ten Years Ago: September 18, 2006 It’s a week of big changes on the eastern MASSACHUSETTS television dial – perhaps the biggest since the ownership and affiliation changes that rocked the Boston market in the mid-nineties – and once again, maverick station owner Ed Ansin is driving much of the action. Ansin’s 1993 purchase of then-CBS affiliate WHDH-TV (Channel 7) introduced a new hard-driving tabloid style of news to the market, carrying the station from also-ran status to first place in the ratings. His move to NBC two years later (when former affiliate WBZ-TV became a CBS O&O) touched off more than a decade of tension between the Peacock network and Ansin’s Sunbeam Broadcasting. Boston is the largest market where NBC doesn’t own its affiliate, and for the last few months, there’s been a growing buzz that the network wants to change that. Since Ansin’s not selling, the rumor mill quickly settled on Tribune’s struggling WLVI (Channel 56), the WB-turned-CW affiliate whose “Ten O’Clock News” was once the premiere prime-time newscast in the market. The growth of Fox’s WFXT over the last few years has damaged WLVI’s ratings, and Tribune has made no secret about its desire to sell some of its weaker outlets. (It’s already parted with stations in Atlanta and Albany.) With NBC openly sniffing around the market, and Ansin in danger of losing the lucrative affiliation, the next step was obvious: Ansin announced last week that he’ll pay Tribune $113.7 million to bring WLVI under the Sunbeam umbrella. (Tribune paid $25 million when it bought WLVI from Gannett in 1994.) The result: WLVI’s current home on Morrissey Boulevard will be shuttered, most of its 130 or so employees will end up out of work, and the current “Ten O’Clock News” operation will be replaced with a 10 PM newscast produced by the existing WHDH news department, with a few WLVI refugees being added there to help. Fifteen Years Ago: September 17, 2001 Almost a week after the attacks on the World Trade Center, New York’s TV dial continues to return to something resembling normalcy. WABC-TV (Channel 7) returned to the air with a low-power signal from the Armstrong tower in Alpine, N.J. on Saturday afternoon, with WNET (Channel 13) restoring its signal Sunday evening from the Empire State Building, again at low power. That leaves WWOR (Channel 9) as the last VHF signal to return. It plans to join sister Fox outlet WNYW (Channel 5) from Empire sometime this week. Pax’s WPXN (Channel 31) is being seen over several LPTVs, including W23BA (Channel 34) in East Orange, N.J. and WPXU-LP (Channel 38) in Amityville, L.I.; there’s no word on when WPXN itself will get a signal back on the air. On the FM side, WNYC-FM (93.9) was the last of the World Trade Center FMs to restore a signal on its own frequency; it returned from Empire at 3:00 Sunday afternoon. The next project for all the affected stations is to turn these low-power emergency installations into full-power transmission facilities that can be used for the long haul. Despite all the talk of rebuilding the Trade Center towers, any reconstruction would be years in coming, and that means the Empire State Building and the Alpine tower are likely to remain the area’s primary TV sites for a while. New England’s oldest radio station, Boston’s WBZ (1030) celebrated its 75th anniversary this week, with much merriment both on and off the air. Off-air, the big event was a party for staff and clients Wednesday night at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Guests of honor from ‘BZ’s past included Carl deSuze, Dave Maynard, Guy Mainella, Don Kent, Ken Meyer, Don Batting, and Bob Wilson. On-air, many of those same voices were heard during special segments on the anniversary morning, September 19, along with anniversary greetings from many of the state’s politicos, plus Paul Harvey and a birthday poem from Charles Osgood. The David Brudnoy talk show Thursday night included chats with Dave Maynard, a ‘BZ vet since the late 50s, and former producer-talk host Ken Meyer. And this Saturday, September 21, ‘BZ’s “Sports Saturday” will mark the anniversary by bringing many of Boston’s legendary sports voices in for a special show from 12:30 to 6:30pm. Down in Southern Connecticut, Cox’s adult-contemporary WEZN (99.9) in Bridgeport is changing its name. The station now bills itself as “Star 99.9.” NERW Connecticut correspondent Bill Dillane says no call changes are planned; it’s just that the old “WEZN” identity didn’t mesh too well with the upbeat AC the station is playing these days. WEZN’s big competition is WEBE (107.9) in Westport. |
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