NERW NAB Show Update: Crystal Awards, WTC Tower and Jon Rish

By SCOTT FYBUSH

LAS VEGAS – It was a long and very busy Tuesday on and off the floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center, so today’s NAB Show update is in more of a headline form than yesterday’s; fear not, though – we’ll have some more extensive thoughts about the show coming your way tomorrow and in next Monday’s regular issue!

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First, congratulations to Emmis’ WQHT (97.1 New York), the lone NERW-land outlet to take home a Crystal Radio Award for public service at Tuesday’s radio luncheon. (Other nominees on the list included WGHT in nearby Pompton Lakes, N.J., which has consistently overcome flooding of its own building to keep its corner of north Jersey informed during natural disasters.)

Tuesday’s session lineup included a tantalizing preview of the new broadcasting facilities at One World Trade Center, where Durst Organization assistant VP/director of broadcast operations John Lyons says the 400-foot spire atop the building will be topped out as soon as this week. Lyons is tight-lipped about which New York City broadcasters are expressing interest in putting main or backup transmitters at the new 1WTC, where negotiations are still underway with potential FM and TV tenants; until the lineup of tenants is established (and the FCC rules on DTV channel repacking), the exact antenna configuration atop the new building won’t be finalized.

Back home, the big news in broadcasting was coming from the Boston Red Sox radio network, where Jon Rish has abruptly exited the pre- and post-game shows (and fill-in duty as play-by-announcer), reportedly due to a threatened 30 percent cut in his salary. Rish was apparently working without a contract, and notified WEEI of his departure just three hours before the Sox home opener on Monday.

Much more on this story in next Monday’s NERW…and on NAB in tomorrow’s update!

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*It’s 2013! Do you have your 2013 Tower Site Calendar yet? It can be on your wall in just a few days, if you order right now!

This is the 12th edition of our annual calendar, which features photos of broadcast towers taken by Scott Fybush on his travels.

The 12-month wall calendar boasts a full-color photo each month of a well-known broadcast transmitter site.

This year’s edition includes sites in Florida, Wisconsin, Kentucky, California, Iowa, Idaho, Las Vegas, Colorado, Boston, Cleveland, Albuquerque, upstate New York and western Massachusetts. We’ve also redesigned the calendar to make it more colorful (don’t worry; the pictures are still pristine) and make the spiral binding our standard binding — your calendar will hang even better on your wall now! And of course, we still have the convenient hole for hanging.

Order 20 or more for a 10% discount! And while you’re at the Fybush.com store, check out the new National Radio Club AM Log and the final stash of FM Atlas editions.

For more information and to order yours, click here!