NorthEast Radio Watch 4/16: Raleigh Retires, Bruds Cuts Back Hours at WBZ

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

*The nights will soon sound different on Boston's WBZ (1030), as one
of the CBS station's talk hosts retires and another cuts back on his
workload.

Bob Raleigh told listeners this week that he'll leave WBZ when he
turns 65 June 9.  Raleigh has been gradually shedding overnight hours
for the last few years, going from five nights a week down to three,
and giving WBZ a chance to try out some potential replacements,
including Steve LeVeille, Jordan Rich, and Kevin Sowyrda.  No
permanent replacement for Raleigh has been named so far, and if the
precedent set by the death of weekend overnight host Norm Nathan a few
years back holds, it's likely the station will take its time with the
decision.  

The pre-midnight landscape on WBZ is shifting as well.  David Brudnoy
asked station management to cut his weeknight show back two hours,
ending at 10 PM instead of the present midnight.  Brudnoy tells the
Herald's Dean Johnson that the decision has nothing to do with the
AIDS virus that took him off the air entirely back in 1995, just that
five hours of radio each night, in addition to his many other duties
as college professor, movie reviewer, and commentator, leave him
"tired."  A new talk host will be hired for the 10-midnight slot;
again, no names have surfaced (although NERW can't ignore the
newsgroup buzz that's suggesting a Gene Burns return from the West
Coast would be well-received).

Elsewhere in MASSACHUSETTS, the end of 65 years of English-language
radio at WLLH (1400 Lowell/Lawrence) is finally in sight.  The station
has been running promos all week asking listeners to follow WLLH
personalities (including newsman Bob Ellis) down the dial to "the New
800 WCCM."  Mega Broadcasting is expected to begin programming WLLH
from its Charlestown WBPS/WNFT studios next week.  (Another
English-language institution, also dating back to 1934, also comes to a
close at midnight Saturday, as Mutual's last radio newscast hits the
airwaves.  While it had probably outlived its usefulness, it still
seems strange to think that the words "Mutual News" will never be
heard again.)

Entercom now has its new calls for "Star 93.7," with the FCC's
approval of WQSX for the former WEGQ Lawrence-Boston.  An
unintentional meaning to the new calls, noted by WCAP's Bill O'Neill
(who, by the way, is someone we'd listen to on WBZ overnight!): "SX"
for "Essex" County, where the station's city of license is located.
Of course, the AM in Salem beat them to it...

*In RHODE ISLAND, morning host Mike Butts has parted ways with WPRO-FM
(92.3 Providence) after a long run with the Citadel-owned CHR.
Midday jock Giovanni is taking over mornings, and Pro-FM is looking
for a new midday host.

We hear WKFD (1370 Wickford) has been off the air for quite a few
months now; could the FCC finally pull the license on this station
sometime this year?  Seems like it's been narrowly dodging the end
ever since that studio fire back in the early '90s...

*Peter Ottmar's Back Bay Broadcasting is expanding just over the state
line in CONNECTICUT.  The owner of Pawtucket's WLKW (550) and the
dance-CHR combo of WWKX (106.3 Woonsocket)-WAKX (102.7 Narragansett
Pier) is buying smooth jazz WKCD (107.7 Pawcatuck) from Gary Girard's
SaltAire, which put the station on the air a few years ago.  Could
Ottmar try to expand "Hot 106" into the casino-fueled Norwich-New
London-Westerly area served by WKCD's signal?  We'll see...

English-language soft AC has returned (temporarily) to WNTY (990
Southington), as the station drops leased-time Spanish while awaiting
takeover by ADD Media.  WNTY is operating a limited schedule, signing
off at 5PM daily and giving central Connecticut DXers a shot at some
other 990s up and down the coast.

Baseball season is underway, and for the New Haven Rock Cats, that
means the first season on WPRX (1120 Bristol).  We're told there were
a few glitches in the first game or two, but that the English-language
play-by-play and bilingual ads (WPRX is a Spanish-language station the
rest of the day) are now going smoothly.  The Norwich Navigators
continue on WSUB (980 Groton), and the New Haven Ravens can be heard
on WAVZ (1300), with some games on WELI (960).  (Some Rock Cats games
are also being heard on Hartford's WPOP 1410 as well).  While we're at
it, the Pawtucket Red Sox are on WSKO (790 Providence) and the
Portland Sea Dogs on WZAN (970).  We'll have the New York-Penn League
flagships later in the summer once that short-season A league starts
play!

While we're thinking of baseball, WESU (88.1 Middletown) has hooked
quite an announcer for Saturday afternoon's Wesleyan-Williams game.
It seems Phil Rizzuto's granddaughter attends Wesleyan, and the school
persuaded the legendary voice of the Yankees to lend his voice to WESU
for a few hours.  No Web feed, alas, or we'd be listening...but you
can find more on WESU's page <http://www.wesleyan.edu/~wesu>.

It's not a format change, exactly, but Hartford's oldies station has
been heard using the slogan "Connecticut's Jammin' Oldies."  WDRC-FM
(102.9) is owned by Buckley, not "Jammin'" specialist Chancellor
Media, so perhaps it will avoid fully falling victim to this "format
of the month," as did Washington DC institution WGAY-FM (99.5) this
week.  (The calls, which continued to grace the World Building in
Silver Spring, Maryland even during the brief period in 1995 when they
were changed to WEBR, will finally come down sometime soon.  Listeners
to WGAY's soft AC format are being directed to Chancellor AC WASH-FM
(97.1) and oldies WBIG (100.3) instead.  New calls and airstaff for
99.5 haven't been announced yet.)

Listeners to Radio Disney in the Hartford area have had a hard time
tuning in on the weekends; we hear WDZK (1550 Bloomfield) has been off
the air Saturdays and Sundays. 

*The big news in VERMONT is the sale of one of the Green Mountain
State's most powerful FM signals.  Albany Broadcasting is buying WJJR
(98.1 Rutland), along with "Cat Country" simulcast WJEN (94.5 Rutland)
and WJAN (95.1 Sunderland), for a reported $6.1 million.  WJJR's
mountaintop transmitter covers most of Vermont, a good chunk of New
Hampshire, and a swath of eastern New York north of Albany, where its
new owner already controls news-talk WROW (590), CHR WFLY (92.3 Troy),
AC WYJB (95.5), and dance-CHR WAJZ (96.3 Voorheesville).  Will format
changes be in order?  We'll keep you posted.

One puzzlement this week: We noted mention of "Talk
960/Burlington" in a recent trade publication -- could WEAV, actually
licensed across the lake in Plattsburgh NY, be about to drop the
simulcast with country WXPS (96.7 Willsboro NY) and go its own way?

*There's been a PD shakeup on NEW HAMPSHIRE's seacoast.  Mark Jennings
is moving down the hall at Fuller-Jeffrey's Dover studios, taking over
the PD job at country giant WOKQ (97.5 Dover).  Replacing him as PD of
"Arrow" WXBB (105.3 Kittery ME)/WXBP (102.1 Hampton) is Scott Laudani,
formerly of WHEB-FM (100.3 Portsmouth) before all the shakeups there
last year.  Laudani will also do afternoons on the classic rocker,
moving another former WHEB colleague, Lori B., to middays.  

Up north of Concord, the new format of WPNH-FM (100.1 Plymouth)
debuted at 2 o'clock Monday morning (4/12), as the station became
modern rock "The Planet."  Rick Ganley is the new morning host,
commuting from Haverhill, where he was working as production director
and weekender at WXRV (92.5).  (WXRV, meanwhile, brings in Jerry Mason
for evenings and music director duties.  Mason was with a different
"River," CIDR 93.9 Windsor-Detroit.)

On the AM side, WPNH (1300 Plymouth) will soon begin simulcasting its
satellite standards format on WFTN (1240 Franklin), which had been a
simulcast of country WSCY-FM (106.9 Moultonborough).

And veteran Boston sportscaster (and former Red Sox player) Rico
Petrocelli has resurfaced on Nashua's radio dial, hosting a 6-7 PM
weekday talk show on WSMN (1590).

*All our MAINE news this time involves LPTVs, for whatever reason, and
we'll start up in Bangor, where Maine Public Broadcasting is selling
Channel 30, W30BF.  This LPTV was once part of "MPBN Plus," the
network's mid-90s attempt at building a second network fed from
WMEA-TV (Channel 26) Biddeford.  Now it's being transferred to James
McLeod's Maine Family Broadcasting and will presumably go religious.

Speaking of religious LPTVs, TBN is running into some obstacles as it
tries to move W17BF Bangor and W63BR York Center out of the way of
DTV.  Applications to move them to channels 36 and 47, respectively,
fell afoul of Canadian objections and were dismissed by the FCC this
week.

*We'll start NEW YORK's news with a format change in the Watertown
market.  WOTT (100.7 Henderson) dropped its "Fun Oldies" format after
just over a year, resurfacing Wednesday morning as "Real Rock,"
claiming to play "the best classic rock and the best new rock."  The
Clancy-Mance station becomes a direct competitor to Forever's WCIZ
(93.3 Watertown).  Former morning host Mike "The Colonel" White will
move over to sister station WATN (1240 Watertown) to replace Nat
Natali, who retires at month's end.  Mornings on the new WOTT will be
handled by the syndicated "Bob and Tom" show from Indianapolis.

In the Albany market, format changes could be on the way at WABY AM-FM
and WKLI/WKBE; the stations' sale to Telemedia closed earlier this
month.  We'll keep you posted.

WKXZ (93.9 Norwich) is reportedly tweaking its format, becoming more
of a hot AC.  We haven't been through that area in quite a while, but
hope to be within range of the Station Formerly Known as "Kix"
sometime soon to hear for ourselves; we're told the new on-air ID is
simply "KXZ."

Dennis Jackson checked in to report FCC approval of his plans to move
as-yet-unbuilt WRIP (97.9) from Jewett to Windham, where it will sign
on later this year with 580 watts from more than 3000 feet up on Ski
Windham, with a clear line of sight and clear frequency up towards
Albany.  We're looking forward to hearing what Dennis and his partners
will do with this one.

Family Life Ministries is applying for an 89.3 translator in
Baldwinsville for its WCIY (88.9 Canandaigua), and NERW hopes it gets
rejected out of hand.  As we've noted in our repeated mentions of
Syracuse Community Radio's inability to find space on the Onondaga
County radio dial (for LOCAL programming, at that), the noncomm band
in and around Syracuse is full.  An 89.3 in Baldwinsville would
interfere significantly with first-adjacents WJPZ 89.1 Syracuse and
WDWN 89.1 Auburn, and has no business being there -- which, of course,
means this one's all but certain to win FCC approval.  Sigh...

Calvary Satellite Network's application for 89.5 in Arcade (east of
Buffalo) was returned this week.  

And we'll leave New York by noting that it's a bad idea to rebroadcast
two-way radio transmissions on a broadcast station.  In fact, as WCMF
(96.5 Rochester)'s Brother Wease found out Thursday morning, it's
illegal.  A listener called WCMF during a high-speed police chase that
tangled traffic on the city's west side, and played about a minute of
police transmissions over the phone for Wease and his listeners.  City
lawyers are investigating; meanwhile, in his first public statement
since becoming WCMF/WPXY station manager last week, Kevin LeGrett
apologized for the broadcast and promised it wouldn't happen again.

*Two notes from Canada this week: The CRTC is taking applications for a
new radio station to serve the Hamilton/Burlington market.  No
frequency was given, but NERW wouldn't be at all surprised to see the
long-dormant 104.9 channel (once occupied, years ago, in Niagara
Falls) reused here.

And while the CBC's "As It Happens" thought it was being clever with
an April Fools "interview" with CBC president Perrin Beatty in which
he announced the CBC would henceforth be sponsored by Disney (the
company really does have the marketing rights to the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police), the joke might be on them -- Canadian newspapers
reported late this week that the CBC is now considering brief
underwriting announcements at the start or end of programs, something
that's been unheard of since the government broadcaster went strictly
noncommercial in the 1970s.  (CBC Television, on the other hand, is
supported in part by commercials).

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*That's it for another week; see you next Friday!

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

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