NorthEast Radio Watch 11/16/2020: Veterans Step Back

In this week’s issue… Morning hosts retire in Wilkes-Barre, Albany - More iHeart cuts - Job cuts at Stephens, Spectrum News, too - Boston AM files for move - Bell wants a CRTC break in Montreal By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT - MA - RI - CT - NY - NJ - PA - Canada There's something about the impending end of a year - especially this one - that seems to accelerate retirement decisions. Or maybe it's the overall state of the industry these days (more on that later in this week's column) that's propelling some radio veterans to look for an exit after long careers. Either way, this past week brought retirement announcements for two veteran morning hosts in NERW-land markets: Chuck Custer at iHeart's WGY (103.1/810) in the Albany market and John Webster at Entercom's WILK in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Custer is one of those rarities these days: he's been part of the WGY team for more than three decades, all the way back to his start with the station in 1984. He's survived multiple ownerships and one big studio move in his career, which included a promotion to news director in 1994 and then to PD of the news-talk station. For much of his WGY career, Custer was paired with legendary morning man Don Weeks; since 2011, he's led the "Chuck and Kelly" morning show with Kelly Lynch. "I am not sick. I am not unhappy. I am not being pushed out the door," Custer wrote in a blog post last week. "But...I am choosing to walk out the door. I'm retiring. My last day on air will be December 18th." Custer, who's 63, says he wants to spend more time with out-of-town family and avoid Albany winters. "I'll miss almost everything about my time here except that damned 2:45am wake-up call," he wrote. *A couple of hours down I-88 and I-81, John Webster has been a morning institution in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for decades, too, although in several different roles. Starting in 1980 as a weekend host on WCDL in Carbondale, Webster settled in a few years later to a 25-year run in mornings on Scranton's WEZX (Rock 107), most of it as half of the "Daniels and Webster" morning show. In 2010, he made a big move, trading Shamrock and classic rock for Entercom and news-talk as the new morning host on WILK-FM (103.1) and its AM sisters (WILK 980, WAAF 910, WODS 1300). Webster, who's also 63, is also targeting mid-December for his last day at WILK, with a nearly identical explanation to Custer's: "I thought after 40 years, the 3 a.m. alarm clock has finally taken its toll," he told the Citizen's Voice of Wilkes-Barre. No replacement has been announced yet for Webster's chair alongside Nancy Kman at WILK, where Entercom says it's interviewing for new morning hosts. [bucket id="8276" title="Calendar Ad"] [pmpro_login show_menu="false" show_logout_link="false"] [membership level="1,3,5,7,8,9,10,11"] *While Webster and Custer exit of their own volition, many talented broadcasters didn't get that choice last week, as Stephens, iHeart and Spectrum all made cuts. Here in Rochester, NEW YORK , it was a surprise round of layoffs on Friday at WZNE (94.1 the Zone), where the entire airstaff, save one, lost their jobs. PD Violet Woods, who also hosted middays, posted that she returned to work after a coronavirus testing scare only to be told it was her last day after five years with the alt-rock station, where she'd also worked earlier for a few years. Zack Schaefer, who was Stephens' cluster marketing and promotions director as well as WZNE night host, is also out - and so is the syndicated Rover's Morning Glory, the Cleveland-based show for which WZNE was its first and sometimes only affiliate. Only Cory "Kobe" Fargo, who just came on board in August as afternoon host after losing his iHeart job in Syracuse earlier in the year, remains with WZNE, which was running jockless on Monday morning. *The cuts continued last week at iHeart clusters around the country, and it's still not clear if they're done or not. In CONNECTICUT , Gavin is out as morning co-host at WKSS (Kiss 95.7) in Hartford, and Matt Provost lost his job, which included serving as digital director for New Haven and Hartford and on-air work at WKSS and WKCI (101.3) in New Haven. In PENNSYLVANIA , Peter Morley, production director for WWSW (3WS 94.5) and WPGB (Big 104.7) is out. (Over at RadioInsight, Lance Venta has complete national coverage of the job cuts, which hit especially hard at the end of last week in Indianapolis and Austin.) *And while the company has been cagey with details, Spectrum swung the axe last week at its local Spectrum News operations across upstate New York. The cuts included several traffic reporters with radio roots, John Gabriel in Albany and Barry Vee in Rochester among them. Spectrum also eliminated news photographers and local news directors in several markets, though the exact effects of the cuts aren't clear, because some may have the opportunity to apply for new jobs with the company. (Disclaimer: your editor worked for a predecessor of Spectrum News Rochester back in the 1990s.) *Back to radio in the Keystone State: when KYW (1060 Philadelphia) begins its new FM simulcast on WPHI (103.9) next Monday, it will come with a new on-air lineup. Afternoon co-anchor Ian Bush will join Carol Mackenzie in morning drive, where Brandon Brooks is retiring after 31 years with KYW and a 48-year career in the business. Jay Scott Smith will move up from part-time to a full-time afternoon slot alongside Michelle Durham, and Denise Nakano, formerly of WCAU-TV, will become midday anchor at the Entercom all-newser. *In Pittsburgh, they're remembering Eleanor Schano, who was the first woman to work as a TV reporter and solo anchor. Schano, who spent five decades on the air in Pittsburgh, worked just about everywhere: doing commercials and weather in the 1950s at WDTV/KDKA-TV, anchoring at WIIC from 1969-74, doing news at KDKA radio, then hosting shows at WPGH in the late 70s and early 80s, anchoring news on KQV, and later hosting shows on WQED-TV and WTAE-TV. Schano died of COVID-19 on Nov. 9, at 88. [caption id="attachment_23523" align="alignright" width="300"] WKOX 1430[/caption] *A MASSACHUSETTS AM station is applying for a new transmitter site. When iHeart's divestiture trust donated WKOX (1430 Everett) to Salem-affiliated Delmarva Educational Association, we expected the AM station to move from its leased tower site in Medford (now owned by Vertical Bridge) to one of Salem's Boston-area towers. And sure enough, that's the plan: WKOX has applied to go to the WROL (950) tower in Saugus, where it will run 2500 watts day, 26 watts night, non-directional, losing most of the night coverage it now enjoys from its 1000-watt, two-tower directional signal. It's the first time the 1430 signal will move since it hit the airwaves in 1952 from the Medford site. (Back then, it was daytimer WHIL on 1540; in later years, it was WWEL and WXKS, and the Medford tower site was also the longtime studio for WXKS and WXKS-FM.) With the Medford site targeted for redevelopment, expect an application soon from the other tenant there, WILD (1090), for a new site, too. *Over at public radio WBUR (90.9), Bob Oakes announced his plans to step back from his long run as local "Morning Edition" host. Oakes, who came out of commercial radio and the old WEEI all-news format, has been with WBUR for 27 years, and will remain on board as a senior correspondent. No replacement has been named yet. And Alex Langer's silent AM signals are back on the air, at least temporarily. WZBR (1410 Dedham), WSRO (650 Ashland) and WBAS (1240 West Yarmouth) went silent over the summer amidst financial issues, but have been heard back on with a filler jazz format. *In Waterbury, CONNECTICUT , WATR (1320) has begun testing its new FM translator, W249DY (97.7). For now, the translator is only on the air a few hours a day, mainly to show off the signal as WATR searches for a buyer for the local full-service station. *In CANADA , Bell is asking the CRTC for some programming flexibility at its Montreal sports station. CKGM (TSN Radio 690) has a license condition requiring it to produce 96 hours a week of local sports talk, an arrangement Bell accepted in order to be allowed to exceed the usual ownership limits when it acquired Astral's stations a decade ago. Bell now has four English-language signals in Montreal - CKGM and the three it acquired from Astral, news-talk CJAD 800, "Virgin Radio" CJFM (95.9) and rock CHOM (97.7) - which is one more signal than it would normally be allowed. In its application, Bell says reducing the requirement to 63 hours weekly would allow it to carry more live sports play-by-play; it tells the CRTC there have been times when it's had to pass on NHL playoff games and other sports action because it would preempt required local talk hours, even when they're just repeats. (Steve Faguy, as always, has some excellent deep-dive analysis into what Bell wants and why.) [/membership]

NorthEast Radio Watch 11/16/2020: Veterans Step Back

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Site of the Week 11/13/2020: Wrapping up Houston

Site of the Week 11/20/2020: KAMU, College Station, Texas

Scott Fybush

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