No Subject

*Where are they now?: Steve Martorano, last heard in the Northeast on
WBZ in the late 80s and early 90s, is out of a job in Philadelphia,
along with the other local talk hosts at CBS' WPHT (1210).  In the
latest chapter of the slow, steady decline of what once was WCAU, CBS
has canned all the local talk at WPHT, replacing it with second-string
satellite offerings such as Dr. Gabe Mirkin.  All that's left locally
on the 50 kW blowtorch is Phillies play-by-play.  

NERW wonders why the long-rumored move of KYW's top-rated all-news
product from the directional 1060 signal (which can't hit the Jersey
side or even some suburbs north of Philadelphia at night) to the
incredible 1210 signal still hasn't happened.  We're also not in the
least surprised that the 1210 talk format never achieved any ratings;
we never saw a bit of promotion for WPHT during any visit to the City
of Brotherly Love and Very Little Listenable AM.

And as long as we're in Pennsylvania, we'll note the demise of AM
easy listening in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  WICK (1400 Scranton) and WYCK
(1340 Plains) have switched to satellite oldies in place of 
beautiful music...

*Finally this week: With Pax TV about to debut, we'll run down the
seventh network's Northeast station offerings:

In Maine, channel 23 in Waterville (WBDJ, at least for now) is as yet
unbuilt.

New Hampshire will see Dr. Quinn on WPXB, Channel 60 in Merrimack, the
former WGOT.

No Pax in Vermont yet, not even on cable.

Massachusetts' Pax station will be WBPX, Channel 46 in Norwell, the
former WHRC.

Rhode Island, as noted above, will get WPXQ, channel 69 Block Island.

For Hartford and eastern Connecticut, Pax will show up on WHPX,
channel 26 New London (ex-WTWS).  The Bridgeport area will get it on
WIPX, Channel 43 (ex-WHAI-TV).

In New York, there are only two operating Pax Net stations at the
launch, WPXN (Channel 31) in New York (ex-WBIS, WUHF-TV) and WYPX
(Channel 55) in Amsterdam, serving Albany.  WSPX in Syracuse, channel
56, will be built next year, while Batavia's channel 51, WAQF, is
still in the planning stages.

Pax TV launches August 31.

*And on that note, we'll close things out for this week.  See you all
next Thursday...

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

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