NorthEast Radio Watch 10/30: Hello DTV, So Long WOWO

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

*Digital TV is on the air in New England.  The folks at WCVB-TV
(Channel 5) moved up the debut of WCVB-DT (Channel 20) a few days to
broadcast the launch of John Glenn's shuttle mission on Thursday.
Boston was one of just two Northeast markets to see Glenn in HDTV
(well, at least those with $15,000 to spend on an HDTV set); the other
was New York, where WCBS-DT (Channel 56) is on the air.  The HDTV
transmission came from Harris, working in a joint venture with
Rochester's Eastman Kodak, which handled film-to-HDTV transfer of the
1962 mission films.  (NERW got to see a demo of those a few hours
before launch time, and they looked very nice indeed!)

In other MASSACHUSETTS news, the FCC paid a visit to Worcester State
College on Monday to shut down "WSCW" (94.9), the campus station that
moved from carrier current to unlicensed FM a few years back (and was
leaving a dead carrier up all summer, to boot).  An article in the
campus newspaper says the station was assured by the local radio
engineer who supervised the move to FM that it was completely legal,
and that the FCC said it hadn't actually received any complaints.
WSCW is now returning to carrier-current and cable audio, and
considering Real Audio and an application for licensed FM in
Worcester.

WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford)'s Ed McMahon will be off the air at Kiss 108
for the next few weeks, but it won't exactly be a vacation.  He'll be
part of the new airstaff introducing Chicago to "Jammin' Oldies" on
the former WRCX (103.5), which ditches its active rock format this
weekend to pick up the latest hot format, heavy on R&B oldies.
McMahon will be back on the air in Boston when WRCX hires its
permanent staff within a couple of weeks.

It's official: Mega Broadcasting, the buyer of WNFT (1150 Boston), is
also picking up WBPS (890 Dedham) from John Douglas' Achievement Radio
Holdings for $4 million.  If NERW remembers correctly, there was
already some cross-ownership there...and we wonder whether this sets
the stage for a duplicate of Mega's Hartford situation, with one
station (WLAT 1230 there, WBPS in Boston) doing Spanish, and the
other (WNEZ 910 there, WNFT in Boston) doing R&B oldies.

Could former Boston mayor Ray Flynn have a future in radio? Rumors are
flying that WRKO (680) is bringing Raybo on board for a Saturday
morning slot, sending Andy Moes (not "Mose," as the big Boston
broadsheet had it) to afternoons in Jerry Williams' old spot.

On the Web: WMJX (106.7) not only has new studios out on Morrissey
Blvd. to move into, it's also got a new web presence.  Check it out at
www.magic106.7.com if you're curious.

Love those inter-station squabbles: WFNX (101.7 Lynn) held a "hide the
salami" contest, in which listeners had to follow on-air clues to find
a salami with concert tickets and backstage passes attached.  The
clues in Friday's contest drew listeners towards Huntington Avenue in
Boston, and up to the tenth floor and the WBMX (98.5) studios, where
'FNX's Julie Cramer was waiting with the salami up her sleeve.  The
folks from WFNX said the stunt was payback for Mix "stealing" the
salami idea for a contest of its own...and they said if they could
have found a way to hide the salami in Mix morning guy John Lander's
car, they would have...

W29BA in Lawrence has applied (again) to extend its construction
permit.  If it ever gets built, we'll let you know...

Down on the Cape, WWKJ (101.1 Mashpee) is applying to move from its
current site near the Falmouth Town Dump, where it's running 3700
watts, to a site on Industrial Drive, just off route 28 in Waquoit,
where it would use a full 6 kilowatts.

And out in the western part of the state, WHYN-FM (93.1 Springfield),
which just installed a new antenna on its Mt. Tom tower, will
broadcast the 12th annual "Count" Chris Tracy Halloween show Saturday
night.  This year's will be on the internet, at www.whyn.com, for the
first time.

*Up in VERMONT, Burlington's former top-rated morning show is back
together after a year.  Steve Cormier and Coach Tom Brennan left the
airwaves a year ago on WIZN (106.7 Vergennes) when Howard Stern came
in.  When Cormier's six-month non-compete ended in April, he went to
WCPV (101.3 Essex), and with the end of Brennan's one-year non-compete
on October 22, he was free to rejoin Cormier for their "Corm and the
Coach" show.  The duo kicked off with a live show in front of 600
people at the Burlington Sheraton.

*In CONNECTICUT, the host of the "Electric Drum" show on WYBC (94.3
New Haven) has resigned, saying the station doesn't meet the needs of
its listeners.  Enola Aird told the New Haven Register that she was
disappointed by the station's failure to keep its promise to move the
show to a 10-noon time slot on Saturdays.  

In Bridgeport, Paging Associates Inc. has received a license to cover
for its low-power TV W28CA.

*The big news in NEW YORK is a station sale in the Albany market...and
the potential breakdown of another sale there.  Johnstown's WSRD
(104.9) and WIZR (930) are being sold to Albany Broadcasting for a
reported $2.2 million.  Why so much for a pair of stations 40 miles
out of town?  WSRD holds a CP to move to the Albany area under its new
city of license of Altamont.  Albany Broadcasting also owns WROW
(590), WYJB (95.5), WFLY (92.3 Troy), and WPTR (96.3 Voorheesville) in
the Albany market.  The sale that may NOT happen is that of WMHQ
(Channel 45) in Schenectady to Sinclair.  It seems Sinclair's plan to
sell $500 million worth of its TV and radio holdings may also stop
some pending acquisitions, and that of WMHQ is one of them.  WMHT
Educational Telecommunications was counting on the $23 million from
the sale of WMHQ to pay the bills for the construction of a new
digital TV and radio facility to replace its old digs in Rotterdam.
WMHT is now looking for other buyers for the station, which was to
have been a WB affiliate.

Down on Long Island, an Albany-area religious broadcaster wants to
build a translator.  WNGN (91.9 Argyle) has applied for an 88.1 in
Woodsburgh, just a couple of miles east of Kennedy Airport.  Further
out on the Island, Islip's WLUX (540) is cutting back on local
airstaff after the owner sold his shopper paper, which apparently
produced most of the revenue to run the adult standards station.  NERW
hears morning guy Bruce Barlow and evening guy Jim Ferguson are both
out, leaving PD Joe Roberts' afternoon shift as the only local break
in Music of Your Life and syndicated talk shows.  And WBAB (102.3
Babylon) has been granted a power boost from 3 to 6 kilowatts.

Moving back up into the Hudson Valley, a correction to an item we ran
last week that provoked a whole bunch of mail:  Former WSPK (104.7
Poughkeepsie) jock Mark Bolger is NOT, repeat NOT, working for WZMX
(93.7) in Hartford.  He's spent the last 14 months at WBWZ (93.3 New
Paltz).  Why the confusion?  A NERW reader heard Bolger at 93.7 and
mistook the WBWZ translator for the Hartford classic rocker.  By the
way, congressional candidate Bud Walker sold WBWZ and WRWD (107.3
Highland) back in 1995.  NERW regrets the errors.

Up north, WPAC (92.7 Ogdensburg) morning guy and PD Tony DeFranco can
add another title: college graduate.  DeFranco recently received his
BS in business management and economics from Empire State College;
congratulations!  Over by Lake Champlain, WMEX (102.5 Westport) has
been granted a move from downtown to Ainger Hill, north of the
village, and a boost in power to 650 watts from the present 250.

This NERW is coming out a few hours later than usual because the
NERW-mobile spent Friday night on the road to Buffalo, enjoying the
plethora of "War of the Worlds" remakes that filled the airwaves of
the Queen City.  WNUC (107.7 Wethersfield) kicked it off at 7 with
Orson Welles' 1938 classic.  Then at 8, WWKB (1520) pulled out the
tapes of the WKBW 1968 version -- and, not to be outdone, WGRF (96.9)
and WEDG (103.3) both launched into their own modern versions.  It's a
good thing we had plenty of tape decks on hand, because the WGRF and
WEDG version didn't start off as a simulcast.  Each station used its
own format and jocks for the first hour, and then once Buffalo was
under full Martian attack, the two joined for a simulcast that ended
with Irv Weinstein (now a WKBW-TV anchor, but back in 1968 one of KB
radio's top newsmen) as the last man alive in a Martian-ravaged
downtown Buffalo.  And when the simulcast split again, WGRF returned
to its classic rock format with David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," while
WEDG went back to modern rock with the help of REM's "It's The End of
The World As We Know It."  All in all, a most enjoyable night of
radio, and one more stations ought to emulate.  (The WGRF/WEDG version
came complete with a mock Website, at www.mnnetwork.com, where jocks
supposedly first got word of the explosions on Mars...) 

Tuning around the dial, we found only one other station doing War of
the Worlds on its 60th anniversary, somewhere on 570 kHz (not WSYR
Syracuse, from the sound of it, either -- anyone know who WAS doing
Martians on 570?).  We hear WSNN (99.3) up in Potsdam was also
rebroadcasting the Welles show.

And in the Big Apple, MSG has signed deals with WABC (770) for three
more years of Yankees broadcasts, and with WFAN (660) for the Knicks
and Rangers.  WFAN boss Mel Karmazin is about to take sole control of
CBS; CEO Michael Jordan announced this week that he's retiring and
Karmazin will move up to chairman of the entire company (not that he
wasn't running the whole show anyway...)

A few more gleanings from the Summer book: Country was king across
upstate New York, with WGNA way up to stay in first place in ALBANY,
followed by a flat WGY, a sagging WFLY, WQBK/WQBJ, WYJB, and WABY
AM-FM.  In SYRACUSE, WBBS was up again to stay in first.  Nes-talk
WSYR was up in second, followed by down books for rock WAQX and CHR
WNTQ, a gain for CHR WWHT, oldies WSEN, and a big slide for AC WYYY.
And in ROCHESTER, WBEE's country owned first place, followed by
news-talk WHAM, a flat AC WRMM, and a huge gain for WDKX's urban and
WBBF's oldies.  Rocker WCMF was flat, and CHR WPXY, hot AC WVOR,
modern rock WNVE, and modern AC WZNE all showed big declines.

*Finally this week, two DX notes: Montreal's CBF (690) isn't gone
after all.  We've been hearing it again all week, and suspect last
week's auroral conditions just kept it from making the trip down the
St. Lawrence and across Lake Ontario.

And on 1190 kHz, the WOWO saga is over.  The station is keeping it very
quiet, but sources tell NERW that WOWO stopped operating with 50
kilowatts at night a few weeks ago, when the Indiana station began
repairing its towers, and will never return to 50 kilowatt nighttime
operation.  Why all the silence?  Seems WOWO management is convinced
that most locals thought the station already powered down years ago,
and won't notice a change if it's not publicized.  Here at the
Rochester listening post, careful tuning around the edges of WHAM
(1180) finds WOWO's signal much diminished, and we suspect it's just a
matter of months now before 1190 at night is filled with the sounds of
WLIB in New York.  Editorializing here: it's no great loss anymore.
The WOWO we fought for back in 1994 (as the "WOWO Listeners' Guild")
is long gone.  Today's WOWO at night is nothing but satellite-fed
talk, and we can hear Joey Reynolds just fine on WOR, thanks.  As
homogenized as late-night clear-channel AM has become, WLIB just may
be a breath of fresh air.  (And yes, we're suprised to have said that,
too!)

With that, we'll go back to listening to WOWO's worthy successor for
now in the late-night AM music realms, KCJJ (1630) in Iowa City, which
ought to be a fun listen until, inevitably, the satellite takes over
there as well (or until the X-band gets as cluttered and useless as
the existing AM dial!)

See you next Friday...

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

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