NorthEast Radio Watch 12/18: Vermont Heats Up

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

*Must be the first big snowfall of the season, because suddenly things
are hopping up in VERMONT.  

Most of this week's action in the Burlington market happened with the
Capstar stations, and it started with a new home for two of them.
Last Sunday (12/13), rocker WCPV (101.3 Essex NY) and sports-hot talk
WXPS (96.7 Vergennes)/WEAV (960 Plattsburgh NY) moved in with AC WEZF
(92.9 Burlington) at Fort Ethan Allan.  The facility includes three
air studios and three production studios.  

Next shoe dropping: WXPS/WEAV's new studios came with a new format.
On Monday, the talk (with the exception of Imus in the Morning)
disappeared, replaced by "KIX" hot country.  The new format is the
first in-market challenge to the dominance of Hall's WOKO (98.9
Burlington), the longtime market leader.  PD Brian Ashton, from WCPV,
handles 2-7 PM duties, while Tim Buskey is on air from 10-2 and
the syndicated Nashville Nights show is on in the evening.  

And the third shoe (?) dropped with a transmitter move for WXPS that
will give it better coverage of Burlington.  From its old site in
Westport NY, WXPS moves to Williston NY and Rattlesnake Mountain with
1500 watts at 740 feet AAT.  In the process, WXPS' city of license
changes to Williston NY from Vergennes VT.  

There's still more news in the Burlington market: Vermont Public Radio
is wrapping up the first week of a month-long experiment aimed at
bringing VPR listeners a second public radio service.  "VPR World
Channel" will run from Dec. 14 until Jan. 14 on WWPV (88.7
Colchester), the St. Michael's College station that would otherwise
have been dark during the school's holiday.  Programming on "World
Channel" includes BBC World Service, CBC's As It Happens, The World
(from WGBH and PRI), The Connection (from WBUR), and other
international programming from WRN.  NERW wonders: How does the
proposed VPR-New Hampshire Public Radio second service in the Upper
Valley fit in with this experiment?

*Nothing from the Granite State this week, but we'll stay in ski
country and head to MAINE, where Cumulus Media added three more
stations to its Bangor-area group late this week.  The upstart group
owner will pay $4 million to buy standards WDEA (1370 Ellsworth), soft
AC WEZQ (92.9 Bangor), and oldies/Imus WWMJ (95.7 Ellsworth) from
Dudman Communications.  Cumulus already owns country gaint WQCB (106.5
Brewer) and CHR WBZN (107.3 Old Town) in the market, as well as five
stations in Central Maine.  NERW's sorry to see Dudman get sold --
group head Martha Dudman has been an industry leader through her work
with the NAB and other trade organizations -- but at the same time,
we've got to admit that Cumulus has done a decent job with its
strategy of small-market clusters.

*Onward to MASSACHUSETTS, where WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford) was one of the
Chancellor stations mentioned this week in a Los Angeles Times article
raising questions about modern-day payola.  Seems Bryan Adams' new
single was played plenty of times on Kiss and its sister stations,
while getting almost no airplay anywhere else in the country.  And,
coincidentally enough, Adams' record company, A&M, just dropped
$237,000 on a marketing campaign with Chancellor.  Chancellor says it
did nothing wrong; Kiss GM Beverly Tilden tells the Herald the station
was already playing the Adams tune and wouldn't, in any case,
jeopardize its on-air sound for the sake of a promotional campaign.
This and similar deals have been raising some eyebrows in and out of
the business; expect it to be a big story in 1999...

NERW has a feeling WBUR-FM (90.9) will be raising an objection to this
one: Toccoa Falls College in Georgia has applied for a 160-watt
translator in Winchendon on 91.1, to relay religious WRAF (90.9 Toccoa
Falls).  We'll forgo the usual rant about the translator rules this
time, but only because we'll be hitting this topic hard in a couple of
weeks in the editorial portion of our big "year in review" special.

"We won't do it again!": That's the response from CBS to complaints
about the infomercials that have been airing right in the midst of
prime access (7:30 PM) on WBZ-TV and other CBS O&Os, in place of
"Entertainment Tonight."  CBS says when the current contract is up,
the infomercials won't be back...