NorthEast Radio Watch 2/5: WKOX, WLLH Sold

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

*This just in to NERW Central at press time: Framingham's WKOX (1200)
is being sold.  Rumors have been flying for several years about the
fate of Fairbanks' last station, and now we can tell you that for
$14.5 million, it's going to "B-Mass Holding Company, LLC," headed by
one Edward Karlik.  Much more on this one next week.

*A 65 year radio tradition in MASSACHUSETTS' Merrimack Valley is
nearing its end.

Arnold Lerner's Merrimack Valley Wireless Talking Machine Company has
agreed to sell WLLH (1400 Lowell/Lawrence) to Mega Broadcasting for a
reported $936,000.  By early March, WLLH will drop its adult standards
format (and leased-time ethnic nights and weekends) for a Spanish
dance format, to be run in conjunction with Mega's WBPS (890 Dedham)
and WNFT (1150 Boston).  

Local English-language radio in the valley has been disappearing at a
rapid clip in the last few years.  The FMs in Lowell (99.5,
ex-WLLH-FM, WSSH, WOAZ, and now WKLB-FM) and Lawrence (93.7, ex-WGHJ,
WCCM-FM, WCGY, and now WEGQ) have been operating from Boston studios
and aimed at Boston audiences for most of the 90s; Haverhill's WXRV
(92.5) still operates from the old WHAV studios on How Street but
targets a much broader audience; and WHAV (1490 Haverhil) and WNNW
(1110 Salem) are running Spanish-language formats under the ownership
of Costa-Eagle, which also runs mostly-English WCCM (800 Lawrence).  

That leaves WLLH, with its synchronous transmitters in Lowell and
Lawrence, and WCAP (980 Lowell) -- and soon, just WCAP, which is
likely to keep going with its talk format and resist all purchase
offers as long as founder Maurice Cohen lives.  

The radio scene out in Southbridge is changing fast.  On the FM side,
WQVR (100.1) turned off its transmitter this week in preparation for a
transmitter move and ownership change.  The new site will put a better
signal into Worcester and, we're told, come with a new format as
well.  There's a new format on WQVR's former AM sister station, WESO
(970).  PD Bruce Marshall checked in to report that WESO has switched
from satellite standards to Jones' Good Times Oldies format, with a
local morning show featuring Tony Powers, Marshall, and Ann Renda
(formerly at WTAG).  There's also a trading post show weekdays from
9-10 AM and a Saturday talk block.  And while we're in Central
Massachusetts, we'll note that WORC-FM (98.9) has been granted a city
of license change from Webster to Spencer.  Funny how the station's
stated intention of "eliminating short-spacing to WPLR and WPLM-FM"
also ends up putting it much closer to Worcester...

Cape Cod needs another FM allocation the way Howard Stern needs
another FCC complaint...but where there's an open frequency there's
sure to be an applicant or two, so the FCC added a class A allocation
to Brewster this week at the request of the "Brewster Broadcasting
Company" and Ernie Boch.  The 94.3 channel was made possible by Boch's
WXTK frequency change (to 95.1 from 94.9) last year -- and it's
another case where the FCC was able to convince itself that Brewster
had no "local broadcast service" even though it sits right on the edge
of one of the most over-radioed markets, on a per-capita basis, in the
country.  Oh yeah, it's also home to the main studio of one station
(WFCC) and transmitters of two (WFCC and WYST), not that that
matters.  Have we mentioned lately that we think the allocation rules
need to be revised?

Before we leave the Cape, a note that WCDJ (102.3 Truro) has been
granted yet another extension of its construction permit, still
unbuilt after more than a decade.  Oddly, this one wasn't marked in
the FCC's daily releases with a note about the new "build it in 18
months or it dies" policy that's being applied to long-lived CPs like
WCDJ.

Brockton's WCAV (97.7) has been granted a transmitter move that will
put it north of town and closer to Boston.

And while we neglected to note it last week, WLVI (Channel 56) will be
the new broadcast home of the Boston Red Sox for 1999.  Is it time for
spring training yet?

The NERW Roving Accuracy Patrol gives the Globe a free pass this
week...but our teeth were gritting over February's Boston Magazine
article about the selling off of local Boston businesses.  Jon Marcus
tries to claim that "Infinity was sold to CBS and, with it, radio
stations WBZ, WBCN, WODS, and WZLX" -- which will come as a shock to
anyone who was, like your editor, working at WBZ when its
Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse owners bought Infinity (which was never
based in Boston, anyway) and, later, CBS.  Meantime, the article fails
to mention how Boston's Rich Balsbaugh and American Radio Systems did
indeed sell their stations to out-of-towners Chancellor, CBS, and
Entercom...

*Two station sales this week in RHODE ISLAND:  Keating Willcox becomes
a duopoly owner in Woonsocket with the purchase of WNRI (1380), just a
year after he bought WOON (1240).  And Boston's Charles River
Broadcasting is making an Ocean State move with the $738,000 purchase
of WVBI (95.9 Block Island) from Tim English.  Like Charles River's
WCRB (102.5 Waltham) and WFCC (107.5 Chatham), WVBI is a classical
station -- but until now, one with a limited schedule and extremely
limited signal (NERW had trouble hearing them the one time we were
*on* Block Island!).  We expect Rob Landry and the rest of the 'CRB
engineering team will have 95.9 reaching out much better soon.

Speaking of that FCC CP-cancellation policy, WLKW (550 Pawtucket) no
longer has that long-standing CP to boost power to 5 kW-D/3.4 kW-N.
They stay at 1000/500 watts, DA-N.

*A few notes from NEW HAMPSHIRE: WVFM (105.7 Campton) is now running a
simulcast of new owner Steve Silberberg's WXRV Haverhill MA, at least
temporarily.  Those lucky listeners in Waterville Valley...

And we're told WKNE (1290 Keene) has dumped the oldies altogether and
is now ID'ing as "News Talk 1290."

*A northern MAINE FM station has a new frequency and much better
coverage.  On Tuesday afternoon (2/2) at 4:45 PM, WOZI Presque Isle
turned on its new transmitter on Mars Hill, moving from 101.7 to 101.9
and beaming its oldies format over a much larger area of Maine and New
Brunswick.  The WOZI antenna is now co-located with sister CHR WQHR
(96.1).

John Potter, late of Boston's WODS (103.3), has made the move to TV
and Down East Maine.  Starting February 15, he'll be anchoring the
news on Bangor's ABC affiliate, WVII (Channel 7).  

And as we'd predicted last year, WJJB (900 Brunswick) is now
simulcasting the sports programming of WJAE (1440 Westbrook).  Both
stations use the "WJAB" calls except at the top of the hour.

*There's been a partial format change at WNTY (990) in Southington,
CONNECTICUT.  The station's airtime from noon until midnight is now
leased out to Spanish-language programmers who run it as "La Brava
990," apparently the same ones who used to program WMMW (1470 Meriden)
until its recent sale.  Our listeners in the area report WNTY isn't
ID'ing after 5PM, and appears to be using its 2500-watt day power long
after it should switch to 80 watts at night.  WNTY's adult
contemporary format stays in place from 6AM until noon, at least for
now.

WPRX (1120 Bristol) has been sold.  Nievezquez Productions is paying
Connecticut Communications House II $925,000 for the Spanish-tropical
station.

Is "One on One Sports" about to disappear from the Hartford airwaves?
The Courant reports WPOP (1410) will drop the network at month's end,
possibly replacing it with a 24-hour ESPN Radio feed.

And the New Haven Register checked up on La Nueva Radio Musical in the
wake of the FCC's talk of legal LPFM last week, to find that the
station remains on the air at 104.5 while it awaits further rulings on
LPFM.  The FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making suggests that the
agency will look much more favorably on unlicensed broadcasters who
shut down right now and await legal LPFM, instead of the ones that are
still on the air when it comes time to apply for LPFM licenses.  We
note also that 104.5 looks like it could qualify for at least 100, and
possibly 1000, watts if the FCC's proposal becomes reality.

*The big story in NEW YORK is the sorta-format change at WPLJ (95.5
New York).  The only staffers still remaining at the Disney outlet are
the morning team of PD Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill, and
overnighter Dave Stewart.  Everyone else was swept out with the change to
mainstream hot AC and "New York's Hit Music Station," according to the
trades...except for afternoon guy Rocky Allen, who's settling in to
his new spot across the hall at WABC (770).

Also in the Big Apple, WWRL (1600)'s CP for 25 kilowatts has
apparently been cancelled, which doesn't make sense to us here at NERW
- -- wasn't that why WWRL bought and silenced WQQW, WERA, and WLNG(AM)?
And could this explain why something called the "Fair Communications
Community" has applied for a noncommercial station of 1590 in
Oakville, Connecticut?  More next week...

Salvation Radio is applying for a 91.9 in Brooklyn, again.

Out on Long Island, John Thomas has departed his PD post at WBLI
(106.1) over the usual "philosophical differences;" no replacement has
been named yet.

Heading up the Hudson, the new WAJZ calls are in place on the former
WPTR (96.3 Voorheesville).  Across town, WPYX (106.5 Albany) PD Buzz
Brindle checked in to let us know that his station hasn't exactly
changed format to classic rock, it's just emphasizing the older stuff
on the playlist.  Three Albany-area FMs (WDCD-FM, WXCR, and WXLE)
spent much of last Sunday off the air for tower work.  Bob Grant
fans in the Capital District will have to tune him on on his flagship
station, WOR New York (not a diffficult task in that area) -- his show
has been dropped by Albany's WROW (590) in favor of local politico Bob
Schulz.  And WQBK/WQBJ PD Kelli McNamara has departed for a marketing
job at Underground Online in New York; no replacement has been named
yet.

Dennis Jackson says the new WRIP calls on his 97.9 CP in Jewett stand
for "Rip Van Winkle," the legendary inhabitant of the Hudson Valley
who could have heard 97.9 if he'd only lived two centuries later.  The
station has applied for a chnge of COL to Windham, too.

Moving along to central New York, Bible Broadcasting has applied for
WYFY as the new calls on 1450 in Rome, ex-WODZ.  We'll be through that
area in a few days and will be checking for an actual format change.

In Syracuse, WOLF (1490) has dropped its CP for 50-kilowatt daytime
operation on 1510, and it's also switching to non-directional status
on its licensed 1490 channel, now that the station it was protecting
(CFRC Kingston) has been silent for more than a decade.

Up north, St. Lawrence University's public-radio arm has applied for
new stations on 88.1 in Chateaugay (where WYUL 94.7 is applying to
move its transmitter...more on this next week) and 91.1 in Morristown.

Rochester's Jacor "Kiss" simulcast is getting new call letters, at
least on the half that will still be audible in the Flower City after
Randy's Big Transmitter Shuffle later this spring.  WYSY (106.7
Irondequoit) is shedding the old "Sunny" calls in favor of WKGS.  No
call change has been applied for at the other half, WMAX-FM 107.3
(already ID'ing with the new COL of South Bristol even though it
hasn't moved), and the new calls weren't being used on the air as of
Friday night.  Speaking of Jacor/Rochester, it's been a week of sloppy
audio all over the place -- WHAM (1180) has been working the bugs out
of its new Prophet System digital audio server, leading to plenty of
cut-off and miscued stagers and spots, while the remaining half of
"Sunny," WISY 102.3 Canandaigua, failed to legal ID once in four hours
of listening this afternoon.  (The things we'll subject our sensitive
NERW ears to in the name of research...)

A few more cancelled CPs: WACK (1420 Newark)'s for 730 watts at night
(it remains at 500), and WJJL (1440 Niagara Falls)'s for 5000/750
watts from a new directional array.

Up across the border, Toronto's CISS (92.5) has been sold by Rawlco to
Rogers, and promptly changed format late Friday (2/5) from country to
CHR as "Power 92."  Rogers also owns CFTR (680) and CHFI (98.1) in
Toronto.  NERW thinks this'll make it much easier for us to figure out
which 92.5 we're hearing as we drive between Buffalo and Rochester,
where the short-spaced allottments in Toronto and Rochester (WBEE-FM)
clash noisily, and until now, both with country music.  Toronto
country lovers will have to try for Buffalo's WYRK (106.5) on the FM
side or switch over to Hamilton's CHAM (820) or Oshawa's CKDO (1350)
on AM.  And in Cornwall, CJSS (1220) has been granted a move to FM on
101.9.

*Anybody listen to 690 lately?  With the demise of CBF Montreal, which
turned off its "listen to us on FM loop" late on the night of Jan. 23,
it's been a DXers' playground (at least for those of us away from
powerful 680 stations!).  We've heard WNZK Dearborn Heights (the night
half of that unusual 680/690 day-night split), WOKV Jacksonville FL,
and WZAP Bristol VA...and we're still hoping for Tijuana before
something new signs on in Montreal!

*Ratings...and now we're down in "twice-a-year" territory as we plumb
the depths of the Fall 12+ Arbitrons, starting in WATERTOWN, where
country giant WFRY is flirting pretty close to a 30(!) share.  WCIZ's
move to 93.3 is paying off with a big ratings jump as well (WFRY and
WCIZ, which are co-owned, take in almost half the market's 12+
listeners together), followed by CHR combo WBDR/WWLF with a down book,
news-talk WTNY, oldies WOTT (with a down book in its first full outing
after dumping country), and hot AC WTOJ.

In BINGHAMTON, perennial leader WHWK jumped back into first place,
followed by a sagging CHR WMRV.  Rocker WAAL was flat in third,
news-talk WNBF was down, and oldies WYOS was up.  Among the newcomers,
country WBBI and modern AC WCDW were both up...but still lingering in
the lower realms of the ratings.

UTICA's ratings find country WFRG/WRUN up a bit to stay in first,
followed by a sagging WLZW and mostly-flat performances for WOUR,
WIBX, WSKS, and WKLL.

Up in BURLINGTON, Vermont, WOKO continued the country trend with a
ratings gain to stay on top.  CHR WXXX had a strong second-place
finish, with WEZF flat in third.  Dropping to fourth, and losing more
than half its 12+ audience from Spring, was classic rock WCPV (despite
the reunion of the Corm & the Coach morning show).  Oldies WKOL nearly
doubled _its_ Spring numbers, followed by a rising WBTZ and a sagging
WIZN.

As we head into MAINE, we find country WPOR leading the PORTLAND 12+
book, followed by a strong showing for news-talk WGAN and a flat book
for classic rocker WMGX.  Fuller-Jeffrey's CHR WJBQ and rocker WBLM
were both down, with 'BLM dropping to fifth overall from first in the
last book.  Over in LEWISTON-AUBURN, though, WBLM led the pack,
followed by country WTHT, WJBQ, and WPOR.  Standards WLAM showed up in
fifth -- but that doesn't include the simulcast with WZOU (1470
Lewiston), which, if added in, pushes the station to a tie with sister
WTHT for second.  Augusta-market WABK was in sixth, with Auburn-based
(but Portland-focused) hot AC WMWX trailing it.

BANGOR's book finds country WQCB leading the pack, despite a drop from
Spring.  CHR WBZN stayed in second but also fell a bit 12+.  Rising
into third was talker WVOM and its new simulcast on WBYA, and dropping
to fourth was rocker WKIT.  Five stations all tied for fifth:
standards WABI, country WBFB (with a very good book), AC WEZQ, hot AC
WKSQ, and oldies WWMJ.  Below them, sports-talk WZON and hot AC WWBX
both posted gains from Spring.

*Out there on the Web: WPXY Rochester OM Clarke Ingram is also a fan
of the old DuMont television network -- and when he realized there was
no site devoted to DuMont, he stepped forward to build one.  You can
find it at <http://users.aol.com/cingram/television/dumont.htm>, and
it's a treat.

*And that does it for this week...next time out, more ratings, more on
LPFM, and maybe we'll hear a legal on WISY so we don't have to hear
any more Dan Hill songs....

- -=Scott Fybush - NorthEast Radio Watch - (c) 1999=-

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #300
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