NorthEast Radio Watch 8/15: Back from Scranton!

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

*We begin this slightly-delayed (see below for the reason) NERW up in
NEW HAMPSHIRE, where Steve Mindich's WFNX empire is growing again.
Just a few weeks after flipping the newly-acquired 92.1 Sanford, Maine
to WPHX and a simulcast of WFNX, Mindich is paying $1.6 million for
another 92.1, WNHQ Peterborough.  

WNHQ has been owned since early last year by RadioWorks of Concord,
which paid just over $500,000 for the privilege of turning the station
into a simulcast of WJYY (105.5 Concord).  Once the deal closes
(expected to be sometime in November or December), it too will
simulcast WFNX's modern rock.  

Could WNHQ and WPHX agree to accept some interference to each other in
order to improve their respective signals?  It's certainly
possible...we'll keep you posted.

Elsewhere in the Granite State, our best wishes go out to Jared
Tuccolo of WNDS (Channel 50), who's suffering a relapse of brain
cancer after fighting off the disease as a teenager.  Co-workers at
WNDS and at WXRV down in Haverhill, where Tuccolo used to work, have
started a fund to help Tuccolo pay for a bone marrow transplant as he
awaits his November wedding to WNDS' Maureen Higgins.  You can find
more information at WXRV's Web site,
<http://www.wxrv.com/TheRiver/Happenings.html#trstfund>.

Up in Lebanon, news director Grant Bosse is leaving WTSL (1400) to
become a legislative assistant to the New Hampshire Republican
Party...and just in time for the primaries, too.  No word yet on a
replacement.

Just down the valley, Claremont's WNHQ (106.1) has been granted a
construction permit to move its tower across the Connecticut River to
Vermont's Mount Ascutney.  Q106's power will drop from 9500 watts to
1650, but the new antenna will be at 673 meters above average terrain,
almost twice the height of the current stick.  

*Speaking of VERMONT, a new station is testing in the Rutland area.
WEXP Brandon has been playing tracks off a disco CD to check
the range of its new transmitter on Grandpa's Knob in Castleton.
According to the Rutland Herald, WEXP founders Michael Carr, Gary
Savoie and Timothy Hoehn had been trying since 1989 to get the station
on the air, but ran into a series of problems with transmitter
siting.  The solution turned out to involve Jeff Shapiro's Dynacom
Broadcasting (and yes, his first name is Jeff, not Bruce -- our goof
last week!) and its application for a site change for Marlboro's
WSSH (101.5).  WSSH was willing to withdraw that application, allowing
WEXP to locate its tower on the existing Grandpa's Knob public
broadcasting site...but only on the condition that WEXP's permittee,
Mirkwood Broadcast Partners, sell the CP to Dynacom, which is in turn
being sold to Vox Media.  

So what will the new WEXP program?  The calls came from the former
105.1 Plattsburgh NY, which served Burlington with nifty local AAA
until Hall bought it and turned it into oldies WKOL a few years ago.
Will they remain?  Somehow, we see another "Wish FM" repeater on the
horizon instead.  

One more question about the new station: The FCC's records show WEXP
at 101.5 MHz, which also makes the WSSH deal make sense.  The Herald
article, though, shows WEXP at 101.9 MHz.  For the moment, we vote for
101.5 -- but we'd appreciate hearing from Rutland-area readers who are
actually picking up the station's tests, just to be sure.

While we're in Vermont, we note that WEZF (92.9 Burlington) is now
ID'ing as "Star 92.9."

*From MAINE, two bits of television news: WGME (Channel 13) in
Portland is dropping its weekend morning and midday newscasts, the
first cost-cutting attempt by new owner Sinclair.  The move leaves
Gannett's WCSH (Channel 6) as the only source of local TV news in
those dayparts -- and that's a newscast shared with WLBZ up in
Bangor.

Religious LPTV W32CA Portland has been granted a displacement move to
channel 18.

*The buzz in MASSACHUSETTS is over Greater Media's decision on where
Don Imus, and an FM talk format, will land.  The answer, as of August
23, is WSJZ (96.9), which will continue running its current
smooth-jazz format outside morning drive for a few more weeks until it
completes its metamorphosis into "FM Talk 96.9."

The station's other star talker will be former Boston Globe scribe
Mike Barnicle, with others sure to be announced as new PD Paula
O'Connor (best remembered among her many gigs in Boston as Jerry
Williams' WRKO producer) settles in.  Smooth jazz PD Shirley Maldonado
exits WSJZ in the meantime.

NERW's take: This is where the rumors hit the road.  We've been
hearing about the possibility of an FM talker in the market for the
better part of the decade.  It's a pretty safe bet that if WSJZ (or
whatever the new calls turn out to be) flops in the attempt, nobody
else will try.  Does a city that already has 24-hour talk on WRKO,
sports talk on WEEI, nighttime talk on WBZ, and satellite talk on
countless suburban outlets NEED another talker?  This ought to be the
test...and we can't wait for that Fall book.  And by the way, while
some may not think of Greater Media as a force in the talk radio
field, keep in mind that Greater was the company that turned KLSX in
Los Angeles into the first successful major-market FM talker before
trading the station away to CBS...

Down at WDIS (1170 Norfolk), it's "business as usual," says GM Bill
Walker.  He tells NERW that the station was silenced for all of six
days by June's lightning strike, but has been back on the air ever
since.  And while the FCC is still sorting out the apparently
accidental deletion of the station's license, we're pleased to note
that the Commission has reinstated the licenses of three 91.5s: WNMH
Northfield, WMHC South Hadley, and WMFO Medford.  It seems the three
were cancelled while trying to apply for replacement antennas.  Oops!

New calls arrived at Pax TV's area outlets last Saturday (August 7),
with WBPX replacing WABU at Channel 68 in Boston, WDPX replacing WZBU
at Channel 58 Vineyard Haven, and WPXG replacing WNBU at Channel 21 in
Concord, NH -- just in time for Lowell Paxson's announcement that he's
taking bids on the entire network, which seems perfect fodder for
someone's TV duopoly plans.

On the pirate front, we hear the long-running Spanish-language outlet
at 99.9 in Lawrence has left the air.  Bruce Elving's "FMedia!" brings
word of another pirate, though, a 98.7 on Martha's Vineyard calling
itself "Free Radio Martha's Vineyard."  The station is reportedly
running 40 watts from a house on an island hilltop.  Hmm...wonder if
we can find an excuse to go down for a listen?  (Research, you
know...)

Another correction from last issue: The former WRKO talker who's
joined the Webcaster "eYada.com" is Lori Kramer, not her ex-partner
Leslie Gold (which makes sense, really -- shouldn't a "station" named
after a Seinfeld episode have a host named "Kramer"?).  Gold,
meanwhile, is headed down to New York as well, to join the staff of
Infinity's WNEW (102.7).  Her producer at the talker-to-be will be
Paul Bryan, better known as "Butchie" of WRKO, who's leaving the
Entercom station just after it resolved the AFTRA dispute that kept
him and other producers from appearing on the air.

*Down in RHODE ISLAND, Capstar classic rocker WHKK (100.3 Middletown)
wants to move north.  The station has applied to move its tower up to
Portsmouth, a few miles closer to Providence, with a power drop from
4200 to 1550 watts and an antenna raise from 90 meters to 200 meters
AAT.  One correction from last month, by the way: it's WLWC (Channel
28) that's LMA'd to WJAR (Channel 10); the market's other LMA is WNAC
(Channel 64) to WPRI (Channel 12).

*From CONNECTICUT comes word that WKCI (101.3 Hamden) has won its
long-running battle to build a new tower -- unless one of the
neighbors appeals the decision.  One more name from last month's KC101
20th anniversary reunion, by the way: Danny Lyons, the first midday
guy at KC101 (and later at WNBC and WTIC-FM) came over from his
current gig across town at WEBE to join in the fun.  

We hear Danbury's WDAQ (98.3) is looking for PM and evening talent; PD
Bill Trotta is the guy to talk to about those.

Hartford's WFSB-TV (Channel 3) has been granted a CP for WFSB-DT on
channel 33 -- and station management is hinting that the move to DTV
could also involve a move out of the current Constitution Plaza
studios, and perhaps following former sister station WTIC out of
Hartford city limits entirely.

*We'll start our tour of NEW YORK this week in Albany, where two
stations are getting new call letters.  WABY-FM (94.5 Ravena) is
dropping its ABC-delivered soft AC format to become WKLI, "K-Lite," a
nickname that should be familiar to the Capital District audience.  As
"K-Lite," WKLI on 100.9 played adult contemporary music in the mid-90s
before getting a bit harder-edged as "K100" (hot AC) and now "The
Point" (modern AC).  Now "The Point" is getting new calls as well --
WCPT.  The heritage WABY calls stay in the market on Albany's AM 1400,
with an all-news format.  Who really benefits from all this
call-and-format flip-flop?  Our money's on crosstown AC competitor
WJYB (95.5)...

Heading south for a moment, WDST (100.1 Woodstock) APD/MD Dave Doud is
leaving the broadcast side of the house at 118 Tinker Street to become
PD of the radiowoodstock.com Webcaster the station operates.  Again,
no word on a replacement.

Syracuse's WMHR (102.9) has been granted a translator in Riverhead, on
the east end of Long Island.  The 90.7 transmitter will use the W214BF
calls.  It's the Mars Hill Network's first venture outside Central New
York.

Speaking of Syracuse, Clear Channel is buying again in the Salt City.
Fresh from its recent trade with Cox that netted it WSYR (570), WHEN
(620), WYYY (94.5), WBBS (104.7 Fulton), and WWHT (107.9), Lowry Mays'
company will pay a reported $3 million for Butch Charles' smooth jazz
WHCD (106.9 Auburn).  Earlier in the year, Charles' Salt City
Communications agreed to sell the station to Mag Mile Media, which is
selling its rights to WHCD to Clear Channel for $500,000 (NERW's
wondering how it can get in on a deal like that!).

WHCD is a rimshotter if ever there was one, with a tower some 25 miles
outside Syracuse city limits (and a hard-to-hear translator in
Syracuse, along with another one in Ithaca).  But it is a killer
signal in most of the Finger Lakes region, and there's the potential
for a move-in to bring it closer to the city.  Format changes?
Probably...and the smart money on any Clear Channel buy these days
goes to either "Mix" or Jammin' Oldies, both of which are already in
use at the Clear Channel cluster in nearby Rochester.

Across town at the Radio Corporation, WKRL (100.9 North Syracuse) has
applied to build a new tower a few feet from its current perch on one
of the three towers of co-owned WTLA (1200), boosting its antenna from
50 meters to 75 while staying at 6000 watts.

One more Syracuse note: WITC (88.9 Cazenovia) at Cazenovia College has
applied to the FCC to reinstate its license, which was listed as
cancelled a few weeks back.  In fairness, we've never heard this
station on the air in our many years of driving through the region.
Another station we've never heard -- but by virtue of its being way in
the middle of nowhere -- is WPSA in Paul Smiths.  The 10-watter at
Paul Smiths College on 98.3 also had its license cancelled, but has
yet to reapply.  Also up north: WUZZ (1410 Watertown) has dropped its
ABC oldies satellite service for the network's "Solid Gold Soul" urban
oldies format.  WRCD (101.5 Canton) has been granted permission to
move to the tower of co-owned WNCQ (102.9 Morristown).  And over in
Champlain, some bad news for religious WCHP (760): Its application to
crank the power up from 25 to 35 kilowatts was dismissed by the FCC
this week.

And in Buffalo, Justin Case leaves his PD gig at WYRK (106.5) to go
for the big time and the PD gig at WUSN (99.5 Chicago).  Good luck!

*Not much to note from CANADA this week -- except to mention that Don
Luzzi was more than just the GM at CHML/Y95 Hamilton when he left a
few weeks ago.  He was also running co-owned CHOG (Talk 640) and CILQ
(Q107) in Toronto.

*On the national scene: We note the passing this week of Jim Schulke,
the man who made beautiful music what it was as the founder of Schulke
Radio Productions.  Stations like WBNY Buffalo (now WJYE) and WCTO
Smithtown (now WMJC) surrendered almost total control of programming
to Schulke's automation -- but in exchange, many became the top-rated
stations in their markets.  Schulke was 77 when he died of pneumonia
at his Florida home.  

We also note the passing of UPI Radio News.  The troubled wire service
sold its radio division to AP in an attempt to refocus itself as a
(here's a shocker) Web-oriented news service.  UPI was never one of
the great names in radio news, but its passing is another sign of the
gradual demise of all but the biggest radio news services (of which we
count four at the moment: ABC, AP, CBS/Westwood One, and Metro
Networks).  UPI service is expected to end Thursday, with clients
receiving AP radio service thereafter.

*A final look at the Spring 12+ Arbitrons:

Up in Maine, BANGOR's WQCB led the ratings despite a soft book,
followed by an amazing five-way tie for second place.  The pile-up
includes: adult standards WABI(AM), CHR WBZN, rocker WKIT, and string
rises for rocker WTOS and hot AC WWBX.  Three more stations tied for
seventh: country WBFB, AC WEZQ, and hot AC WKSQ.  In AUGUSTA, country
again led the pack with WEBB/WTVL, followed by a drop for oldies
WABK/WIGY that landed them in a second-place tie with CHR WMME/WEZW.
LEWISTON's ratings found WBLM strong in first, followed by country
WTHT, CHR WJBQ, and standards WLAM AM-FM/WZOU.  Down in PORTLAND, WBLM
also led the pack, rising above a flat book for WPOR, an up book for
WJBQ, WCYY/WCYI, and WGAN.

The BURLINGTON book found a strong first-place finish for CHR WXXX, a
down book for second-place WOKO, then WCPV, WEZF, and WKOL.  Of note
is a continued rise by commercial classical WCVT.

Heading into NEW YORK, WATERTOWN's country WFRY continues to be one of
the few stations to notch a 20+ share book after book, far ahead of
rocker WCIZ, CHR WWLF, and AC WTOJ.  UTICA's book finds country WFRG a
strong number one, followed by WLZW, WIBX, and a strong comeback from
WRCK's format modification to active rock.  And in BINGHAMTON, country
also takes the lead with WHWK, followed by rocker WAAL, CHR WMRV,
talker WNBF, rocker WKGB, and a continued rise by new country
challenger WBBI (still far behind established market leader WHWK,
though).

*So why is NERW coming out on Sunday this week?  We were out of state
on Friday, checking out the radio scene in Williamsport and
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania...and it goes like this:

The three-hour drive south to Williamsport goes through Dansville,
Bath, and Corning, markets in which nothing much ever seems to
change.  South of the state line, we found ourselves riding up and
down the hills into Mansfield, where the new 92.3 is finally on the
air.  It's called WNBQ, and is allegedly a simulcast of hot AC WNBT-FM
("the Buzz") in nearby Wellsboro.  In fact, it's all but a dead
carrier, with just the tiniest hint of modulation when the radio was
cranked all the way up.  One-day problem?  Ongoing issue?  We'll know
next time we drive through, perhaps on the way down to the upcoming
National Radio Club convention.

A few dozen hills later, after miles of gazing at the future US 15
expressway being built alongside the old road south of Blossburg, we
pulled into Williamsport just in time to catch some top-hour IDs.
WLYC (1050) is back on the air from its single stick north of town --
but there was no legal, just a top-hour ID from the patriot-talk
network it's hooked up with.  News-talk WRAK, on the other hand, ID'ed
both itself (coming from a stick right next to the home of the Little
League World Series, with 1kw on 1400) and simulcast WRKK (1200
Hughesville).  And that's it for AM...WWPA (1340) was silent (though
its stick still stands next to another Little League field in South
Williamsport), while WFXX on 1450 is deleted in every sense.

On the FM side, the noncomms at the local colleges were both off for
the summer, so the dial started with WSNU (92.1) over in Lock Haven,
now doing modern rock as "the Mountain."  WHTO (93.3 Muncy) does CHR
as "Hot", WMYL (95.5 Salladasburg) is satellite standards (and the
city of license is pronounced "Salla-DAYS-burg," which we didn't
expect), and from nearby Jersey Shore, WJSA simulcasts religion on
96.3 and 1600, while WVRT does hot AC as "Variety 97-7."  Also nearby
is Avis, home of the country "Bear" on 99.9, WQBR (not that we heard a
legal from it or WVRT!).  Back in Williamsport itself, the top two
stations in the market (both with 20+ shares) are hot AC WKSB (Kiss
102.7) and country WILQ ("Q105" at 105.1).  And rounding things out is
soft AC WSFT, "Sunny" 107.9 in Bald Eagle.  The towers for WHTO,
WQBR, WKSB, WILQ, and WSFT are all on the ridge that overlooks South
Williamsport, along a pothole-filled road that offers some amazing
views of the Susquehanna Valley far below.

Heading out of town, we heard the always-reliable college rock of WQSU
Selinsgrove (88.9 from Susquehanna University), the hot AC of WQKX
(94.1 Sunbury), the country multi-cast that includes WYGL (1240
Selinsgrove) and WLGL (92.3 Riverside) to name a few, and the
classical music of WPGM (1570/96.7 Danville, with an unusual ID that
started with "Du--bul--yoo" and took forever to get to "Emmmmmmmm",
before passing through the hills to find the satellite hard rock of
WRPA (103.9) up in Laporte.

Emerging from the mountains in Clarks Summit, the NERW-mobile radio
was tuned to WVIA (89.9 Scranton) and its "Mixed Bag" AAA-ish nightly
show.  What else did we find of note in Scranton?  Not much...the
country combo of WCTD/WCTP (93.7/94.3) teaming up with sister country
stations in Easton (WCTO), Hershey (WRKZ), and Carlisle (WHYL-FM) for
an overnight simulcast...a very unusual late-night show on the
University of Scranton's WUSR (99.5), with a host who also sells
insurance launching into an on-air lecture on torts before signing off
at 12:23 AM....the 5-tower array of WARM (590) way the heck out of
town near the hamlet of Falls, PA....but the big news was on TV.  See
if you can follow this: The Fox affiliate in Scranton used to be
WOLF-TV (Channel 38), with satellites in Hazleton (WWLF 56) and
Williamsport (WILF 53).  A few months ago, we noted a call change in
which WWLF became WOLF-TV while the former WOLF-TV became WSWB.  Now
we know what actually happened:  Channel 38, now WSWB, became the WB
affiliate for Scranton.  Channel 56 made its own bid for cable
carriage across the region and became the Fox affiliate, now operating
Channel 38 under an LMA.  And somewhere along the line, someone forgot
the legal ID rules, as the Hazleton-licensed 56 signs on as "WOLF-TV
SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE/HAZLETON" and frequently IDs without even the
"HAZLETON".  Williamsport's WILF now simulcasts only 56.  And the 10PM
news produced by ABC affiliate WNEP (Channel 16) also migrated to
channel 56.  NERW wonders how this LMA will survive the five-year
sunset period implemented last week, since the 7-station market is
supposedly too small to allow a TV duopoly without a waiver.

One more new station in the market: WQPX (Channel 64), which is Pax,
at least for now.  Need we say more?

Thought not...so we'll end it for this week, and we'll meet again in
our usual spot Friday night.  See you then!

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

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