NERW 10/30: Martin-Trigona -- He's Back!

[Scott D Fybush <fybush@world.std.com>]

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--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                            October 30, 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

*MASSACHUSETTS: Martin-Trigona Makes Headlines, 25 Years After WDLW
*MAINE: "Wicked TV" Comes to Bangor
*NEW YORK: Frankie Crocker Dies at 63

-----------------------------by Scott Fybush-----------------------------
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*A former MASSACHUSETTS broadcaster is making some awfully loud noises
against Clear Channel as his U.S. Senate campaign in Florida heads for
the finish line.

Here at NERW Central, we were paying only a little attention to the
charges independent candidate Andy Martin was making about Clear
Channel's contests.  If you haven't been reading the national trades
all week, they boil down to this: not only is Clear Channel trying to
pass off national contests as local ones, but the company is also
rigging those contests to favor certain markets.  Florida's attorney
general already reached a settlement with Clear Channel on the former
allegation, of course, but Martin claims the company isn't running the
required disclaimers as promised.

Clear Channel, of course, denies the allegations.  But in doing so,
the company mentioned in passing that "Andy Martin" is also known
as...Anthony Martin-Trigona.

That's a name we do recognize: Martin-Trigona bought WHET (1330
Waltham) in the late 1970s and flipped it to country as WDLW, the
calls it would use for more than a decade (and which calls supposedly
refer to the initials of an ex-girlfriend of Martin-Trigona's!)

By whichever name you call him, it seems Martin-Trigona has had a
colorful career since selling WDLW in the early 80s, including real
estate deals and politics in Illinois, and several run-ins
with the Florida court system for filing frivolous lawsuits and such.

Martin's official campaign website <http://www.andymartin.com> makes
no mention of WDLW or of the "-Trigona" part of the name, but it
certainly appears that we have an interesting answer to at least one
Boston radio "where are they now" question.

*Not much else happening this week in the Bay State -- unless you
count WMKI (1260 Boston)'s application to move its towers 20 miles out
in the ocean off Martha's Vineyard!  No, it's not April Fool's Day
yet, but it was apparently typo time somewhere at the FCC as the
station applied to go non-directional during daytime hours.  The "42
degrees" in WMKI's day coordinates appeared in the application as "41"
instead (and were dutifully repeated as such in M Street and
elsewhere), which would put the ND tower somewhere way out in the
Atlantic.  We trust that the ND operation will actually take place
from the current site on Riverside Drive in Milton, thanks...

Out west, the folks at Saga checked in to let us know their intentions
for the WHMP (1400 Northampton) simulcast on East Longmeadow's 1600,
lately WPNT.  The goal for the new station, which will become WHNP, is
to bring WHMP's programming to commuters from Northampton and Amherst
who now lose the signal when they drive in to Springfield, says PD Ted
Baker.  As for competing with the big boys, WHYN and WNNZ, "that's not
the plan right now," he tells NERW.

Some good news from the high school radio front: We heard this week
from Lt. Paul Macone of the Concord Police Department, who wanted to
let us -- and all of you -- know that WIQH (88.3) at Concord-Carlisle
High School is alive, well, and stronger than ever.  About a year ago,
Macone and several other community members banded together as "Friends
of WIQH" to help save the station from extinction.  It's now moved out
of its old trailer behind the school and into new studios within the
school building.  Engineer Ned Roos is working fulltime as WIQH's
station manager and student advisor, and best of all, 97 students from
Concord-Carlisle are working to keep 88.3 humming with local
programming.  Three big NERW cheers...and keep up the good work!

Web Watch: Independent WHUB-TV (Channel 66) is now on the Web; find
them at <http://whub.citysearch.com>.

*Up in MAINE, a new UPN affiliate is coming to Bangor's airwaves in a
month or so.  The folks who own ABC affiliate WVII-TV (Channel 7) have
purchased the channel 30 LPTV previously known as W30BD (and
previously used to relay the now-defunct Maine Public Broadcasting
MPBN-Plus service) to use as a second outlet.  "WCKD", or "Wicked Good
TV," will be the station's new moniker (we assume WCKD-LP will be the
legal call eventually), and programming will include a 10 PM newscast
produced by WVII (the market's first), as well as Fox sports
programming.  The Bangor Daily News reports Dec. 4 as the tentative
start date for "WCKD."

Daniel Priestley has officially filed for those three AMs we mentioned
a few weeks back: 1340 and 1400 in Veazie, just north of Bangor, and
1230 in Hermon, just west of Bangor.

*Over in VERMONT, a few call changes to tell you about: Hartford's
WGLV (104.3) becomes WWOD, as we noted last week.  The WGLV calls that
went with Family Radio's religious format migrate to Family's current
operation, WCMK (91.7 Woodstock), which means that WGLV is once again
simulcast with WGLY (once 103.3 Waterbury, and now 91.5 Bolton).  And
just to prove that no good callsign goes to waste, the WCMK calls,
which have now migrated from the Bolton station to the Woodstock
station, move again to the 91.9 CP in Putney heretofore known as
WCKP.  Confused yet?

*There's a new format on a CONNECTICUT AM station.  The daytime hours
on WNTY (990 Southington) are being filled with hip-hop, as "Blaze
990."  Afternoons and evenings are being leased to local programmers,
and Sundays stay ethnic at the ADD Media station.

A familiar face will return to the Nutmeg State's TV screens election
night, when Pat Sheehan shows up to help out with WTNH-TV (Channel
8)'s coverage.  Sheehan, a veteran of WTNH and WFSB, was most
recently seen as the longtime anchor at WTIC-TV (Channel 61) until his
departure this past spring.

Dana Whelan leaves WTNH, meanwhile, to return to WTIC (1080 Hartford)
as news director.

*We'll begin NEW YORK's news with the return of WFOG (1570 Riverhead)
on Long Island's East End.  The station had been silent for just under
a year (since Halloween 1999), and is now simulcasting WRCN (103.9
Riverhead), according to the message boards out that way.

WLVG (96.1 Center Moriches) wants to move to WRCN's tower on Rock
Hill, by the way.  The station has submitted an application to drop
power a bit (3 kW to 2.65 kW) but raise its antenna (from 100 m to 150
m) as part of the move from its current site just south of the LIE on
Bald Hill a couple of miles away.

The big news in the Big Apple this week was the death of Frankie
Crocker at age 63.  Crocker spent almost two decades as program director
and afternoon jock at WBLS (107.5), in two separate stints at the
station.  His resume also included stops at WWRL and WMCA, and most
recently at WRKS.  Crocker died last Saturday (10/21) in Miami.

No sooner had WCBS (880) completed its move from Black Rock to the
Broadcast Center last week (Friday 10/20, to be precise) than new
competition was on the way in the city's all-news marketplace.
Bloomberg's WBBR (1130) says it's moving away from its business focus
after six years, and aiming for the same general all-news audience
currently shared by Infinity's WCBS and WINS (1010).

Upstate, an update on the format of religious WJIV (101.9 Cherry
Valley).  New owner Jon Yinger checked in to let us know that the
rumors of a shift to a music-oriented format are just plain false --
and that WJIV ("Victory 102") will remain centered on the preaching
and teaching programs it's run for decades.

Michael Sleezer has applied for that 1440 in Gloversville.  The new
station would use 800 watts day, 500 watts at night, directional from
a two-tower array on South Street on the city's south side.

Here in Rochester, we hear the new morning show on WBBF (98.9) will
debut on November 13 -- and that Tom George, the market veteran most
recently heard pulling traffic duty, will be the host.  PD Bobby
Hatfield moves from mornings to afternoons at "99BBF" when the shifts
take effect.

WMJQ (105.5 Brockport) has apparently found a permanent tower site.
The station has been operating from a low antenna on the array of
former sister WASB (1590) for the last couple of years; now it's
applying for a full 6kw at 100 meters from the southwest corner of
Brick Schoolhouse and Wiler Roads in the town of Hamlin, some 20 miles
west of downtown Rochester.  (Guess where the NERW-mobile's heading
later this week...)