NorthEast Radio Watch 7/24: Williams, Walker Split at WBZ

[fybush@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush)]

*If at first you don't succeed...shuffle your anchors around and try
again.  That seems to be the philosophy at WBZ-TV (Channel 4), where
the latest anchor shuffle splits the team of Jack Williams and Liz
Walker after almost 20 years together.

Here's how it plays out: Walker will move from co-anchoring the 6 PM
newscast to a new hourlong newscast at 5.  Williams will anchor the 6
by himself, at least for now (although Virginia Cha is rumored to be
joining him there sometime soon), and Joe Shortsleeve gets promoted to
co-anchor at 5 and 11.  Getting ousted from their evening spots are
veteran meteorologist Bruce Schwoegler and anything-but-veteran
wrestling announcer-turned-anchor Sean Mooney.  Schwoegler moves to
weekends for now, although NERW hears he's looking at other jobs both
on and off the air.  Mooney goes to mornings after less than a year as
11PM co-anchor; always-tactful BZ chief Ed Goldman tells the Globe
he's "not going to say we screwed up" by putting Mooney in such a
high-profile slot.  Ed Carroll, who came to WBZ from Springfield's
WGGB (Channel 40) a few years back, gets the top weather slots at 5,
6, and 11, with Barry Burbank joining Mooney, Suzanne Bates, and Scott
Wahle on the morning crew in Carroll's old spot.  At noon, WBZ radio
legend Gary LaPierre keeps his TV side gig.

NERW's sorry to see Schwoegler get demoted; as with Williams' removal
from the 11 last year, we don't see what's to be gained by taking a
well-liked, well-respected broadcast veteran off the air.  

In other MASSACHUSETTS news, Delilah's syndicated love-songs show is
returning to her old stomping grounds in Greater Boston, by way of
WSRS (96.1) in Worcester, which added the nighttime program this week.

Somebody tell the folks at 5 TV Place they can go home now: This
week's issue of "TV Guide" has an article about children's TV, with a
mention of the "now-defunct WCVB" in Boston.  (Well, it must be --
after all, WHDH-TV is alive and well, right?)

WSRO (1470) in Marlborough has a new hurdle to face in its attempt to
build a new tower on its property.  The Marlborough City Council
denied the station's request for a tower move this week; an appeal is
planned.  By the way, Boston Herald columnist Don Feder's show on WSRO
and WRPT (650 Ashland) is on summer hiatus; we should all have jobs
like that!

The Lowell Folk Festival kicks off Friday night, and once again this
year, Lowell's radio stations are planning to outdo each other with
coverage.  WJUL (91.5) at UMass Lowell and WLLH (1400) will both
broadcast the whole thing, as they've done for years.  And once again
this year, WCAP (980) will join them downtown.  (An aside: your
editor, a WCAP alumnus, remembers the days when the station's Folk
Festival coverage consisted of parking an empty remote van downtown
while broadcasting satellite talk all weekend...)  And Boston's WGBH
(89.7) will once again broadcast from the festival during Mai Cramer's
Friday night blues show and Dick Pleasants' Saturday folk show.

And the inevitable displacement application: W67BA in Dennis, which is
owned by WZBU (Channel 58), has applied to move to channel 24.

*In CONNECTICUT, the FCC has dealt a setback to "La Nueva Radio
Musicale," the unlicensed Spanish-language staton in New Haven.  Owner
Hippolito Cuevas did the right thing and applied to the Commission for
a waiver to be licensed below 100 watts.  The FCC rejected the waiver
request, and ordered the station off the air.  We're waiting to hear
from our New Haven listeners whether 104.5 is indeed silent now.

*In NEW YORK, the morning team of Mason and Sheehan will soon be
history in the Albany market.  After moving from WPYX (106.5) to WXCR
(102.3 Ballston Spa) last year, the duo apparently failed to provide
the ratings boost that the newer rock station hoped for, so WXCR is
buying out their contract effective August 31.  Across town at
WFLY...was the Hillary Clinton banner stunt we told you about last
week actually done with the full knowledge of station management?  And
was the one-day "suspension" of the jocks involved actually a planned
publicity stunt?  That's what we're hearing, and we're not
surprised. And, hey, it landed WFLY a mention in "Time" magazine this
week...

There's a new morning drive host at classic rock WQRV (93.3
Avon-Rochester), and she won't have to change her commute much.  Marti
Casper moves down the hall to the "River" from her current job as
co-host of the top-rated "Coffey and Casper" morning show on WBEE-FM
(92.5).  Both stations are owned by Entercom.

Up in the hinterlands between Utica and Watertown (about which, more
later), David Atwood's Atwood Broadcasting Corp. is selling WBRV
(900/101.3 Boonville) and WLLG (99.3 Lowville) to William Flack's
Flack Broadcast Group for a reported $250,000.  An update to last
week's sales: we're told the price on WLSV/WJQZ Wellsville was
$850,000.

Movin' on up: Two Corning-area FMs, WCBA-FM (98.7) and WGMM (97.7 Big
Flats) have applied to move across the river to a new tower site in
the hills southeast of the city.  They'd each cut their power by about
half, but move up almost twice as high -- and in hilly terrain like
the Southern Tier, height is what matters.  WCBA-FM and WGMM are
currently on the same tower as WNKI (106.1), up in the hills north of
town.  That tower also used to hold WCLI (1450), which moved last
year to diplex with sister station WCBA (1350) on Davis Road.

And the inevitable displacement applications:  Sonny Persad's
Auburn-area LPTVs have both applied to move, with W54AK Auburn going
to 32 and W69AN Union Springs-Cayuga to 15.  WMHT's W04BD Glens Falls
wants channel 47, while W04AJ Schoharie would go to 8.

*There's a new unlicensed station in VERMONT, and this "Radio Free
Vermont" on 96.5 is trotting out the hoary (and repeatedly
discredited) claim that it's purely an "intrastate" broadcaster and
thus not covered by FCC jurisdiction.  Their website at
http://www.sover.net/~rfv is an unusual combination of big-band music
and hardcore right-wing "patriot" links.  NERW wonders: if what RFV is
doing is so very legal, why doesn't the website include any actual
information about the station's location, phone number, personnel,
etc.?

*In MAINE, the morning show on WLAM (870 Gorham), WLAM-FM (106.7 North
Windham), and WZOU (1470 Lewiston) has a new addition.  Veteran TV
sportscaster Frank Fixaria is joining radio veteran Bud Sawyer on the
show.

Cumulus has closed on its $6.4 million purchase of WQCB (106.5 Brewer)
and WBZN (107.3 Old Town).