In this week’s issue… An historic move in Boston – Remembering Vermont’s Condon, MA’s Levy, PA’s Brinkman – NY FM signs off – Mets on the move?
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*BOSTON – It was just walls and doors and wires.
But for longer than almost any other major radio station, WBZ (1030)’s walls and doors and wires maintained the very same address, 1170 Soldiers Field Road, Allston. That’s where Westinghouse built a new building for radio and its fledgling television station way back in 1948, and it’s where WBZ’s new owner, iHeart, made its last broadcast on Saturday night before inaugurating its new high-tech studio complex for the station at 1 Cabot Road in Medford.
Most of WBZ’s staffers said their farewells to the old building on Friday (a few, unexpectedly, for good – more on that in a moment), leaving only a handful of weekend staffers and engineers on hand Saturday to observe the history of the station’s exit from Soldiers Field Road.
For the record, anchor Mike Macklin (right) was the last live voice from the old WBZ studios just before 6 PM, while his colleague Garo Hagopian goes into the books as the very last voice ever, delivering recorded newscasts at 6 and 7.
Assistant news director Jon MacLean and master control operator Britt Chittick (left) were the last WBZ staffers on duty in the building, with Chittick holding the honor of being the final WBZ operator to sign off as control of the station shifted to Medford seconds before 8 PM. Within minutes, engineers were busy turning off the last equipment in Allston, packing up news servers and other essential equipment for the ride up to Medford, where Morgan White Jr. was the first live talk host from the new studios a few hours later.
And then it was just the ghosts of all the legends who made great radio at that address over the years – deSuze, Glick, Maynard, Brudnoy, Gil Santos, and so many more – sharing partly-empty hallways with WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WSBK (Channel 38), which remain in Allston and will likely take over some of the old WBZ radio space. (For now, anyway; rumors persist that CBS, which owns the building, will leave in the next few years and Harvard will take over the land.)
We’ll have much more in the near future on WBZ’s shiny new Medford home, which we’re looking forward to seeing while we’re in town (not to mention visits to Beasley’s new WBZ-FM studios and a few other recent moves). In the meantime, a few remnants of the long radio history remain at Soldiers Field Road: iHeart will continue to rent space at the building for WBZ radio’s auxiliary transmitter, and the WBZ Radio Hall of Fame plaques for Dave Maynard, Carl deSuze, Gil Santos and Gary LaPierre are still attached to the front of the building, awaiting an eventual move to Medford.
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*Amidst the celebration of the move and the excitement about a high-tech new newsroom, a few WBZ staffers found out they weren’t relocating to Medford after all. NERW hears that iHeart managers made a surprise newsroom announcement Friday afternoon that two traffic reporters were losing their positions, including Jim Ryan, who was mid-shift, and Matt Smialek. Their dismissals followed Wednesday’s news that veteran production guru Mike Coleman, who’d been with WBZ nearly 25 years, also wouldn’t have a job in Medford.
(More than usual disclaimers: your editor was, of course, a newswriter/editor at WBZ from 1992-97 – and had the great fun of working with Coleman on several WBZ radio promos and even the first iteration of the “Stupid” TV ads for the station.)
With WBZ’s move from 1170 Soldiers Field Road, we can think of only one major radio station that has lasted longer at a single address. Detroit’s WJR (760) has, quite remarkably, spent almost 90 of its 96 years in the “Golden Tower of the Fisher Building.” Like WBZ, WJR moved several times within the building, but it’s still there under the same shiny roof (and we got to visit its latest incarnation in 2016.) In our region, the honor appears to go to WDEV in Waterbury, Vermont, which has been in its same 9 Stowe Street space since the 1930s, followed by Lowell’s WCAP, which has been at 243 Central Street since day one in 1951 – with the same phone number, even.
*Rick Levy was an essential part of the broadcast engineering scene in eastern MASSACHUSETTS for many years, working with Emerson’s WERS (88.9), WHRB (95.3) at Harvard – and of course with almost everyone in the area as owner of Cambridge-based Broadcast Signal Lab for many years.
Known for his dedication to the community (he hosted a quarterly get-together of engineers) and for his distinctive ride, a vintage Citroen, Levy died August 18. A funeral service was held two days later. (We’d love to share your stories about Rick – weigh in in the comments below or by email!)
*Out west, we caught an unusual bit of programming as we drove through Springfield: with the opening of the new downtown casino there, the city has borrowed WZCS-LP (102.5) from the Spanish-language Catholic group that owns it; for the moment, the signal is carrying a short loop of parking and traffic information for the casino, in English.
*There was much sadness late last week in VERMONT, where veteran broadcaster Jim Condon’s long fight with cancer ended Thursday night. Condon (right), who was just 60, started out at WJOY (1230)/WQCR (98.9) in the 1980s, then famously paired up with Louie Manno at WFAN (now WMOS) in southeastern CONNECTICUT, returning to Burlington at WKDR for a long run together. Condon later ran the “Radio Deli,” served as a state representative and had been running the Vermont Association of Broadcasters. Condon’s wife, Ginny McGehee, is the morning host at WJOY, and we send our condolences to her and to their son, Thomas.
*In Utica, NEW YORK, John Simmons has been “Matt Herkimer” (named for the local brewery and the next town over) on the radio for just over half a century, most notably at WTLB (1310), country WFRG (104.3) and most recently in mornings on Ken Roser’s “Bug Country” (WBGK 99.7/WBUG 101.1). Now Simmons/Herkimer is retiring, with plans to spend plenty of time in Florida – and he’s being replaced by a familiar voice in the Roser cluster. New morning host Sandy Silverstein, aka “Brittany Lee,” had been doing middays on Bug Country (and she’s married to Bug Country afternoon jock Dave Silvers, too!); the midday shift will go to “Kiss” WSKU/WSKS night jock Alex.
In Watertown, Stephens Media Group drew some unwelcome local news attention when news broke last week that several air staffers at WCIZ (93.3) and WFRY (97.5) were gone from the stations. WCIZ’s Dianne Chase and Joe Munroe and WFRY’s “Webb Foote” and “Annie Croakley” are out, along with what may be as many as a dozen part-timers – but there’s disagreement between the staffers and the company about exactly what happened, with Stephens contending that some part-timers had voluntarily departed after the company announced plans to reduce their hours.
In Ithaca, we’d alluded last week to Mike (Kerr) McCabe’s impending departure from Saga’s WFIZ (Z95.5), and now we can tell you he’s headed to NEW HAMPSHIRE with “Z” intact as the new PD of iHeart’s WERZ (107.1 Exeter), where he’ll also do afternoons.
*There’s a new signal on the air in the Hudson Valley, where noncommercial class A WHVC (102.5 Rhinebeck) filed last week for its license to cover. We heard it on the air over the weekend carrying Redeemer Radio’s Christian programming, which leads us to wonder whether a change is in the works at Redeemer’s existing WFSO (88.3 Olivebridge), which is largely overlapped by the new WHVC.
There are also a few signals off the air in the region, where Hudson Valley Public Broadcasting’s “JAZZ FM” has pulled the plug, citing an inability to get enough underwriting and membership funding to keep going. Primary signal WJZZ (88.1 Montgomery) and its 88.1 translator in Milford PA are silent for now, while the 106.5 translator in Newburgh goes to sister station WALL (1340 Middletown), as will a 106.1 translator that’s moving to Monroe.
More radio moves in the Hudson Valley: “Mike@Nite” is making a big move away from his night slot on Townsquare’s WRRV/WRRB (92.7/96.9), heading all the way west to Missoula, Montana to program sister station KENR (107.5) out there.
*In New York City, Entercom found itself batting away headlines last week about allegations of harassment some years back at WCBS-FM (101.1); back then, of course, CBS-FM belonged to CBS Radio, and Entercom management has tried to emphasize that whatever may or may not have happened between WCBS-FM jock Dan Taylor and then-producer Craig Lenti, the culture at the cluster has changed under new management. (Our colleague Lance Venta has some commentary about the matter over at RadioInsight.)
Down the hall at WCBS (880), there’s a new logo, a new on-air imaging package and a new (first-ever) female voiceover announcer now that Entercom’s deal to use the CBS eye logo has expired. (The calls, however, can still be used for several decades – and you can read and hear more about the new sound and new look on WCBS’ website.)
Will something else be changing at WCBS soon? The Post is reporting stronger rumors that after this season, the woeful New York Mets will move from iHeart’s WOR (710) over to Entercom and WCBS. The move would give that cluster both major league teams once again, reversing the situation a few years ago that found the Yankees on WCBS and the Mets on WFAN.
*A familiar pair of voices in western PENNSYLVANIA are reuniting: Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennent, who’d been together for years on “The War Room” at several stations in Pittsburgh, will be back together starting September 24 on iHeart’s WBGG (970 Pittsburgh) and its 106.3 translator, where they’ll occupy the 8-10 AM slot. Quinn will continue to do his morning show on WYSL (1040 Avon) in the Rochester market, joined by Rose in the final hour there; it’s not yet clear whether she’ll continue to do the separate 1-2 PM hour she’d been doing on WYSL.
One of Quinn and Rose’s former homes, iHeart’s WPGB (104.7 Pittsburgh), is readying a move: it’s ending its lease on its current North Side transmitter site and applying to move west of I-279 to the tower of WPXI (Channel 11), where it would run 14.5 kW/232 m at a site shared with sister WWSW (94.5).
Family Stations is exiting its Pittsburgh dial position with a swap of its translator, W249BD (97.7 West View); it’s going to EMF Broadcasting in a swap for W215CL (90.9) down in West Palm Beach, with the expectation that Air1 will make its way to 97.7 in Pittsburgh soon.
Chuck Brinkman held down nights and then afternoons “the corner of WALK and DON’T WALK” from the streetfront studios of KQV (1410 Pittsburgh) from 1960 until 1972, introducing the Beatles in concert, among other career highlights. The Pittsburgh-area native had worked in Ohio, Michigan and at WELI (960) in New Haven, Connecticut before joining KQV; after leaving that station, he worked at WTAE (1250) and at WFFM/WMYG (96.9), then moved to Texas in 1988. Brinkman had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease when he died Friday in Plano, Texas. He was 83.
*For 35 years, “Uncle Bill” Lakatas managed WLSH (1410 Lansford) and WMGH (105.5 Tamaqua) – and even, we’re told, lived above the stations. Lakatas died August 16, at 64, after having suffered a stroke ten days earlier.
In the Lehigh Valley, Connoisseur is flipping its sports pair, WEEX (1230 Easton)/WTKZ (1320 Allentown) from ESPN to Fox Sports on September 1. (The third part of that sports trifecta, WBYN 1160 Lehighton, has been silent for a while now.) WEEX/WTKZ will keep the Lehigh Valley IronPigs baseball rights and its afternoon local “Happy Hour” show when it switches affiliation.
Up the spur in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, WBHT (97.1)/WBHD (95.7) night tracker Ralphie Aversa moves to middays today, opening up nights for a new local jock, Laura G, who moves from promotions/production at Cumulus in Atlanta. (Aversa has been tracking BHT for many years since moving to New York’s WPLJ.)
*In CANADA, CFPL (980 London) and sister station CJBX (92.7) are mourning Jodi Taylor Orr, who was on air as “Jodi Taylor” doing news at CFPL and fill-in airshifts on CJBX for the last few years. Taylor, who’d also been across town at CHST (102.3) for many years, died Aug. 18 at 53.
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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 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: August 28, 2017 *After half a century as a student-run operation on a commercial license that covers most of RHODE ISLAND, and after more than a year of uncertainty as a potential sale loomed, WBRU (95.5 Providence) is in its final days as a modern rock station. As our content partner RadioInsight.com first reported exclusively on Friday, the secretive sale process around WBRU has produced a buyer for the class B license: EMF Broadcasting, which will turn 95.5 into another outlet for its national “K-Love” format under new calls WLVO. The sale, reportedly for a price tag of $5.5 million, marks the second time in just a few years that a big Providence class B FM has suffered a reduction in local coverage. iHeart’s signal shuffle at WWBB (101.5 Providence) two years ago took that former class B down to a class A signal while leaving its local programming intact; this time, it’s the local programming that goes away, while the 95.5 signal will remain in place carrying EMF’s California-based programming. While WBRU has made only a brief statement indicating that an FCC filing for the sale will be made in the very near future, RadioInsight’s closer scrutiny of other FCC filings turned up a call change at WPVD-LP (101.1 Providence). That’s the share-time LPFM construction permit that belongs to Brown Student Radio, a university group that has no direct connection to BBS or WBRU – but which has now applied to change its callsign to WBRU-LP. *In MASSACHUSETTS, it’s a happy reunion between CBS Radio’s WBZ (1030) and Josh Binswanger, who produced and hosted the weekend “Kid Company” show there from 1990 until 1995. Binswanger began doing television work at WBZ, too, co-anchoring the noon news on WBZ-TV (Channel 4) for a year before following former WBZ colleague Tom Bergeron to the new FX network, where he was an on-air host. That launched him into two decades as a talent on cable TV, where he’s been the face and voice of numerous documentaries and other programs over the years. And now he’s headed back to WBZ to take over early next month as co-anchor of the morning news block, a role that’s passed through several hands in the decade since Gary LaPierre retired. (Most recently, it was Joe Mathieu in that seat alongside Deb Lawler; he left a few months ago and has since joined WGBH as local “Morning Edition” host.) *The death of Jay Thomas on Thursday produced plenty of obituaries remembering his gifted turns as a comic actor on “Murphy Brown” and “Cheers,” not to mention his long run as a Christmastime staple on David Letterman’s “Late Show.” But in NEW YORK – and in Charlotte and Los Angeles, too – he’s still well-remembered for his long radio career, too. The native Texan started his radio career down south, most notably working for (and apparently even owning a piece of) Stan and Sis Kaplan’s stations, including WAPE in Jacksonville and WAYS in Charlotte. It was while he was at WAYS that New York came calling, luring him to mornings at WXLO (98.7) at the height of its “99X” glory days. Thomas was arguably the first of the city’s top FM morning men, moving from WXLO over to WKTU (92.3) not long after ‘KTU dethroned WABC to become the first FM station to top the New York ratings. His run at WKTU lasted until the station’s end in 1985, when its flip to “K-Rock” as WXRK brought in Howard Stern from WNBC to do mornings. While Thomas would later do more radio – in Los Angeles at KPWR (105.9) and at SiriusXM – the rest of his career would be known more for television comedy. Thomas had been suffering from cancer; he was 69. Five Years Ago: August 26, 2013 *The end to one of the biggest “what-if” scenarios in NEW YORK radio came quietly late last week, when Cumulus Media and Clear Channel came to terms on a new agreement that will keep Clear Channel’s Rush Limbaugh on the big former ABC/Citadel talk stations now owned by Cumulus in major markets such as Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington.
The reasonably amicable resolution of what could have been an ugly dispute (there are few good options for replacement Limbaugh affiliates in many of the big Cumulus markets) continues a pattern of cooperation between the two big “C” companies: Cumulus’ stations are part of Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio streaming service, while Clear Channel’s stations now take part in Cumulus’ SweetJack daily deal site. Amicable as it may have been, though, the shift of Limbaugh from WABC to WOR will force some big changes on both stations’ schedules: *On WOR, Limbaugh’s arrival in the noon-3 PM slot will displace one of the station’s longest-running hosts, Joan Hamburg, from her current noon-2 PM airshift, which in turn opens up some interesting questions about what direction the daily WOR schedule will end up taking. There’s no reason to think John R. Gambling’s morning show is going anywhere (and we note here the death on August 17 of Gambling’s mother, Sally, at age 83; she was also, of course, the wife of John A. Gambling, John R.’s predecessor on the WOR morning shift.) What’s less clear, though, is whether Hamburg’s show will move into the 10 AM-noon slot now occupied by Mark Simone. If Hamburg does go to mid-mornings, where her service-oriented show would be an odd lead-in to Limbaugh’s politics), Simone would likely return to the fill-in/weekend duty he’d been doing for years at WOR and before that at WABC. Ten Years Ago: August 25, 2008 Last week, NERW broke the story of a major rearrangement of Atlantic Coast Radio’s Portland-market signals, and this week we can fill in all the blanks – and tell you about some changes down the road at the Nassau stations, too, not to mention a big change up in Bangor.
The Big Jab will stay in the market on a stronger signal, replacing talk on what’s now WLOB-FM (96.3 Gray) and remaining on WJJB (1440 Westbrook). And the talk programming will stay in place, too, but only on WLOB (1310 Portland). Those changes will all take place Sept. 1, and there will be new calls, too – 96.3 will become WJJB-FM, 95.5 will be WTEI and 95.9 will be WPEI. (A quick bit of NERW analysis before we move on: whether or not you believe the rumor that WEEI owner Entercom forced Atlantic Coast’s hand by threatening to move the valuable Red Sox radio rights elsewhere in the market, Jeffrey ends up with an interesting competitive position in southern Maine. While he won’t have a total sports monopoly in the market – Nassau’s WLVP 870/WLAM 1470 are fulltime ESPN Radio, and the Portland Sea Dogs are heard on Saga’s WBAE 1490 – Jeffrey will now have outlets offering both local sports talk and the Boston-centric WEEI product, not a bad hand to play if the goal is to deliver a young male audience.)
And returning to the Portland/southern Maine end of things, there’s a format shuffle coming from Nassau, too: In October, it will move classical “W-Bach” from its present homes on WBQW (106.3 Scarborough) and WBQQ (99.3 Kennebunk) to what’s now “Bone” classic rocker WHXQ (104.7 Kennebunkport). The 106.3 frequency will flip to “The Bone,” simulcasting with WHXR (106.7 North Windham) to blanket the Portland market, at the expense of York County; 99.3 will flip to “Wolf” country, simulcasting Nassau’s WTHT (99.9 Auburn) to improve the Wolf’s coverage of the full Portland market, where Nassau’s apparently looking at sagging ratings for Saga’s country giant, WPOR (101.9 Portland), and seeing vulnerability. (There are no changes planned – at least not yet – for the northern outposts of the “W-Bach” network, WBQX 106.9 Thomaston and WBQI 107.7 Bar Harbor.) Fifteen Years Ago: August 25, 2003 Last week, NERW broke the story of a major rearrangement of Atlantic Coast Radio’s Portland-market signals, and this week we can fill in all the blanks – and tell you about some changes down the road at the Nassau stations, too, not to mention a big change up in Bangor.
The Big Jab will stay in the market on a stronger signal, replacing talk on what’s now WLOB-FM (96.3 Gray) and remaining on WJJB (1440 Westbrook). And the talk programming will stay in place, too, but only on WLOB (1310 Portland). Those changes will all take place Sept. 1, and there will be new calls, too – 96.3 will become WJJB-FM, 95.5 will be WTEI and 95.9 will be WPEI. (A quick bit of NERW analysis before we move on: whether or not you believe the rumor that WEEI owner Entercom forced Atlantic Coast’s hand by threatening to move the valuable Red Sox radio rights elsewhere in the market, Jeffrey ends up with an interesting competitive position in southern Maine. While he won’t have a total sports monopoly in the market – Nassau’s WLVP 870/WLAM 1470 are fulltime ESPN Radio, and the Portland Sea Dogs are heard on Saga’s WBAE 1490 – Jeffrey will now have outlets offering both local sports talk and the Boston-centric WEEI product, not a bad hand to play if the goal is to deliver a young male audience.)
And returning to the Portland/southern Maine end of things, there’s a format shuffle coming from Nassau, too: In October, it will move classical “W-Bach” from its present homes on WBQW (106.3 Scarborough) and WBQQ (99.3 Kennebunk) to what’s now “Bone” classic rocker WHXQ (104.7 Kennebunkport). The 106.3 frequency will flip to “The Bone,” simulcasting with WHXR (106.7 North Windham) to blanket the Portland market, at the expense of York County; 99.3 will flip to “Wolf” country, simulcasting Nassau’s WTHT (99.9 Auburn) to improve the Wolf’s coverage of the full Portland market, where Nassau’s apparently looking at sagging ratings for Saga’s country giant, WPOR (101.9 Portland), and seeing vulnerability. (There are no changes planned – at least not yet – for the northern outposts of the “W-Bach” network, WBQX 106.9 Thomaston and WBQI 107.7 Bar Harbor.) Twenty Years Ago: August 24, 1998 It’s not often that a brand new radio group bursts on the scene – and even less often that such a group does so by buying nearly a dozen stations in two states at once. But that’s what Lloyd Roach, owner of WCOJ (1420) in Coatesville, PENNSYLVANIA did last week, creating a new group that will be a major presence in one market, a minor presence in another and with the potential to add significantly to its holdings in the months to come. Roach’s new “Route 81 Radio” launches with WCOJ and clusters in two markets. In the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, the group is buying WKJN (1440 Carbondale), WCWI (94.3 Carbondale) and WAZL (1490 Hazleton) from Citadel and WNAK (730 Nanticoke) from Seven Thirty Broadcasters. WKJN, WCWI and WAZL have long been somewhat forgotten corners of Citadel’s big Northeast Pennsylvania cluster. WCWI does “Cat Country,”simulcasting out-of-market WCTO 96.1 Easton PA; it’s simulcast with WEMR 1460 Tunkhannock, which presumably needs a new format now. WKJN and WAZL have been simulcasting the news-talk of WARM 590 Scranton, which was itself rumored to have been for sale. WNAK is probably the best known of the four, running a standards format that has long shown up well in the ratings up and down the valley. The deal also includes WHYL (960 Carlisle), which has been doing oldies for Citadel on the fringe of its Harrisburg cluster. Route 81 will make its biggest splash, though, in a market that’s not even near Route 81. The new company is buying the Eolin Broadcasting “Radio Works” cluster that includes talkers WENY (1230 Elmira) and WCLI (1450 Corning), AC “Crystal” simulcast WENY-FM (92.7 Elmira) and WCBA-FM (98.7 Corning), oldies WGMM (97.7 Big Flats) and oldies WCBA (1350 Corning). |
First, Atlantic Coast: As we reported last week, it’s the end of the line for “Red Hot 95.9.” That station – WRED (95.9 Saco) – will become half of a new Atlantic Coast sports station in the market, as owner J.J. Jeffrey affiliates with Boston’s WEEI and puts its sports programming on 95.9 and on WJJB-FM (95.5 Topsham), which had been half of the locally-programmed “Big Jab” sports signal.
NERW readers with longish memories will by now have noted that the initial announcement of a New England-wide WEEI network last winter included numerous Nassau stations, WLVP/WLAM among them. As WEEI relaunches its regional network plans, Nassau is still absent – but there is now a Bangor affiliate. September 1 will also bring the WEEI network to Blueberry Broadcasting’s WABI (910 Bangor) and WWBX (97.1 Bangor), replacing talk on the AM side and top 40 “B97” on the FM. That’s a pretty big signal for WEEI, and even if the WEEI network is being handled separately from the Red Sox rights, we have to wonder how much longer Stephen King will be able to hang on to the Sox over at WZON (620).
Jim Quinn is also on WAVL 910 Appolo in Western Pennsylvania from 6a to 9a , will rose joint him at 8a their or will he drop that station.
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