No Subject

TV business news: The rumors are swirling about future ownership of
Rochester's WOKR (Channel 13), part of the Guy Gannett group that's
for sale -- and the leading one right now has Hicks, Muse-owned
Sunrise Television selling WROC-TV (Channel 8) to buy the much
higher-rated WOKR across town.  WOKR's buyer should be announced any
day now; we'll keep you posted.  Meantime, the NFL season won't bring
as much good news to Syracuse CBS affiliate WTVH (Channel 5) as it had
hoped.  WTVH would have been the closest station outside the Buffalo
Bills' blackout zone, bringing games to viewers near Rochester just as
WSTM (Channel 3) did for years when NBC had the AFC.  But the league
recalculated its blackout zones and realized that a tiny piece of tiny
Yates County, on the fringe of the Syracuse TV market, is less than 75
miles from the Stadium formerly known as Rich -- so no Bills games on
WTVH this fall.  Bar owners in Ontario and Wayne counties, who used to
depend on Rochester fans driving east to see the games on cable, will
have no easy source for the games now.  Even Utica, nearly 200 miles
from Buffalo, will be affected; it has no CBS affiliate, and so WTVH
serves that function.  The nearest CBS stations outside the blackout
zone now are WWNY (Channel 7) in Watertown and WBNG (Channel 12) in
Binghamton.

Across the border: Cambridge's CIAM (960) is gone, replaced by CIZN
(92.9, "the Zone," and suffering mammoth co-channel problems with
Buffalo's WLCE).  The CRTC is now taking applications from
broadcasters interested in the soon-to-be-vacated 690 and 940 spots in
Montreal; early money is on CKAC (730) and CJAD (800) making the moves
to the non-directional clear channels.  Expect a similar application
process within a few months for Toronto's 740 frequency.  And if you,
like us, were thinking of taking a drive to Lindsay to see the towers
of the former CKLY 910, don't bother -- we're told they're gone.

*And speaking of gone, we note this week's saddest story.  After more
than 60 years, the newsrooms of Mutual Radio and NBC Radio will be
closed for good August 31.  The networks' owner, Westwood One, is
contracting out with (largely co-owned) CBS to provide news to the
shells that remain of those once-great networks.  NERW notes that this
news follows by just days that of the death of Fred Lowery, the Maine
native who was one of Westwood's best-known anchors.

*Travelogue time: Last weekend found the NERW-mobile pointed south,
for the hills near Olean and the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association
convention.  We spent more time listening to stations outside the
region than within, but we did notice a much more professional sound
to locals WMXO (101.5) and WMNS (1360), which have changed ownership
since we were there last year.  We also spent some time just south of
the state line, in the satellite-radio wasteland of PA towns like
Smethport, Coudersport, and Port Allegany.  There were a few bright
spots -- the local full-service on Bradford's WESB (1490), the folk
show on Kane's WPSB (90.1, relaying WPSU 91.5 State College), the
local hot AC on WKBI-FM (93.9) and CHR on WPKK (97.5) from St. Mary's,
and the local AC on WNAE (1310 Warren).  We also got a kick out of the
remote broadcast (from across the state!) of high-school girls'
softball on little WWCB (1370) in Corry, before returning to New York
State.

*And that's it for this week!  See you next Thursday...

- -=Scott Fybush - NorthEast Radio Watch - (c) 1998=-

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