NorthEast Radio Watch 10/22: The WMEX Follies

[Scott D Fybush <fybush@world.std.com>]

*As Alex Langer prepares to transform little WJLT (1060 Natick) into
the latest revival of Boston's WMEX, he's hiring some big names to
help.  In what has to be one of the more curious career moves in
Boston media, Mark Berryhill is leaving his news director job at
WHDH-TV (Channel 7) to become vice president and general manager of
the new 'MEX.  The move leaves Channel 7 with a serious management
gap, since assistant news director Staci Feger-Childers announced her
departure from 7 Bulfinch to become news director of Buffalo's WKBW-TV
(Channel 7) earlier in the month.

So...just what does Berryhill see in a little AM daytimer?  The plan
is to bring well-known voices like Jerry Williams back to the Boston
talk scene on WMEX, from a studio in a yet-to-be-announced downtown
Boston location.  Also moving to the 1060 spot will be Upton Bell, now
heard on WRPT (650 Ashland), whose frequency will become home to the
WJLT calls and religious format now on 1060.  (The WMEX calls, by the
way, have been hibernating on AM 1530 in McConnellsburg, PA, the once
and future WVFC...just in case you wondered.)

We'll see how successful this bet of Berryhill's and Langer's is when
we hear WMEX powering down at, oh, 4:45 on a December afternoon...

Moving west in MASSACHUSETTS, we find a new news director at WTAG (580
Worcester).  Hank Stolz is promoted to the post while keeping his
current morning host gig; joining him in the newsroom is Boston FM
(WBCN, Greater Media) veteran Sherman Whitman.

Amherst will now have two full-time public radio outlets in town.  For
several years, WFCR (88.5) has been leasing part of the broadcast day
of crosstown WTTT (1430) to carry additional news and talk
programming.  Now that service is going 24/7, under the new calls
"WPNI" (known on-air as 1430/PNI).  

Back to Boston for a few more news notes: Beau Raines is leaving KCFX
(101.1) in the Kansas City market to become PD at WROR (105.7
Framingham), replacing the now-consulting Harry Nelson.  And we note
the passing of one of WGBH-FM (89.7)'s longest-running voices.  Bill
Cavness died Monday (10/18) at age 75.  In addition to hosting
"Reading Aloud" and "Chamberworks," Cavness founded "Morning pro
Musica," the show better known for Robert Lurtsema's years at the
helm.

*Next stop, NEW YORK, where Saturday found two of the Big Apple's
best-known media voices silenced for good.  Jean Shepherd's late-night
rambles on WOR (710) showed a generation of listeners what real
storytelling is all about.  In addition to radio, Shep wrote books,
movies ("A Christmas Story"), spent some time in television -- and all
but disappeared from public view in the last few years.  He was living
in Sanibel, Florida, enjoying his hobby of amateur radio (as K2ORS),
and making occasional speaking tours.  Shepherd was 78.  

On the TV side, Jim Jensen was one of New York's top-rated anchors,
with a career at WCBS-TV (Channel 2) that began in 1964 and survived a
bout with drug rehab in 1988.  Jensen retired in 1995, and had been
hospitalized for heart trouble when he died Saturday morning (10/16).
Jensen was 73.

Moving upstate, WWLE (1170 Cornwall-on-Hudson) is getting a new
owner.  Charles Stewart Sr., who publishes the Hudson Valley's only
black newspaper, is paying $100,000 for the station, which currently
simulcasts country WRWD (107.3 Highland).  It's expected to switch to
an urban format, the Valley's first, when the deal closes.

More talk for the Hudson Valley?  If you're listening to WGHQ (920
Kingston), that's what you'll find.  The station dropped ABC Stardust
this week to take on syndicated talkers like G. Gordon Liddy, Bob
Grant, and Tom Leykis.  Also dropping standards was WGNY (1220
Newburgh), which is doing local talk by morning and AP All News the
rest of the day.

Smooth jazz didn't stay away from Albany for very long after being
dumped by WHRL (103.1).  Albany Broadcasting's WZMR (104.9 Altamont)
is killing off its short-lived modern AC format to pick up Kenny
G. and company as "Smooth Jazz 104.9."  Of perhaps more lasting import
at Albany Broadcasting is the impending retirement of market fixture
Joe Condon, who's retiring from WYJB (95.5) at week's end.  Condon
joined then-WROW-FM in 1969, and has been hosting afternoons there for
what seems like forever.  Next up?  He'll join his wife at her
communications consultancy, as well as investigating Internet radio.

Tension between WJJL (1440 Niagara Falls) and its city of license is
driving the station out of town.  WJJL's owners have been at odds with
city officials since a surprise health inspection last year (following
on-air criticism of the fire department) prompted Niagara Falls to
order WJJL's Main Street building condemned.  What's more, 'JJL says
the city wants to charge the station $50,000 for the permits to build
a directional array to increase its day power from one kilowatt to
five.  So WJJL is leaving town...making plans to build new studios in
Southgate Plaza, off Union Road in West Seneca, some 30 miles south of
the Falls.  What's more, the town fathers in West Seneca say they'll
help WJJL find space in town to build that directional array, which
would make WJJL the second Niagara Falls station to beam its signal
north across Buffalo into its city of license (WHLD 1270 is leaving
its current site on Grand Island to do the same), and the last NF
station to move its studios out of town.  WJJL mixes eclectic oldies
with talk and leased-time ethnic.  (One thing NERW wants to know: When
WJJL leaves its current site on Buffalo Road, can we have the old blue
"W J J L" letters scattered around the tower base?)

One final Buffalo note: We heard a 1630 TIS from the Peace Bridge
earlier this week, joining the Thruway's 1610 that stops the scan all
over town.

*Back to New England we go, starting in VERMONT, where WCLX (102.5
Westport NY) is now a fairly potent Burlington signal from its new
site across the lake.  The station is running oldies in stereo right
now...but in a few weeks, it will switch to progressive rock, under
the guidance of many of the same folks who used to run the late WEXP
(105.1 Plattsburgh, now oldies WKOL).  NERW is pleased, and planning a
trip to the Champlain Valley sometime soon...

Speaking of WEXP, the current holder of those calls, 101.5 in Brandon,
has taken on an actual format.  "Express 101" is running CHR,
commercial-free at the moment, aimed at the Rutland market.  

And speaking of Rutland, it seems that pirate at 96.5 is leaving the
air at month's end.  Is there an object lesson here about the
viability of commercial LPFM...or just an object lesson in how NOT to
make friends and influence people?  Or was the FCC about to pounce --
and was Mr. Personality more afraid of how his case would hold up in
court than he's been letting on?  So long, Monty...and good riddance.
(Post whatever slander you'd like on your message boards -- your link
to them is bad, by the way -- we'll not be stopping by again to see
what the three people who post to them are saying...)

Back to the legitimate broadcasters, and what appears to be a
three-way swap of calls and formats.  Last week, we told you that
103.3 in Waterbury had become WLKC with an AC format.  Now we can
report that the WGLY calls and religious format formerly heard on
103.3 will soon reappear on 91.5 in Bolton, presently known as WCMK
and operating on 91.7.  WCMK's owner, Christian Ministries, is leasing
AM 1070 in Plattsburgh (now home to the WGLY calls), and will move the
religious programming now heard on WCMK to the AM side as the swap and
FM frequency change take place.  Finally, the WDOT calls last heard on
1070 in Plattsburgh (and before that in Burlington for years) have
resurfaced on WSHX (95.7 Danville), the Northeast Kingdom outlet for
Steve Silberberg's "Point," based at WNCS (104.7 Montpelier).

*There's a tower down in NEW HAMPSHIRE, we're told.  It seems some
blasting atop Mount Uncanoonuc caused the WQLL (96.5 Bedford) tower to
topple onto the transmitter shack, taking the station silent.  While
it rebuilds, it's using 300 watts from a single-bay backup antenna on
the nearby WZID (95.7 Manchester) stick on Uncanoonuc.

And we hear Richard Lightfoot is selling WKNE (1290/103.7 Keene) for
real -- this time to Tele-Media, the broadcast group whose first
foothold in the Granite State was WNNH (99.1 Henniker) a while back.
More details on this one next week...

*Over in MAINE, we note the passing of Parker Vincent, the man who
built WMTW-TV (Channel 8) high atop Mount Washington in 1954 and
remained on board as its engineer for almost 30 years.  Vincent's
broadcast career began in Massachusetts in the 1940s.  He had been
living in Boothbay Harbor at the time of his death October 11.

And we see that Maine Public Broadcasting has received a construction
permit for 90.5 in Camden.

*One RHODE ISLAND format change: So much for the AAA at WERI-FM (99.3
Block Island); it's now WADK-FM and running a swing/jazz format.  The
WERI calls had been in the South County area for decades, most of the
time at AM 1230, now public radio WXNI.

*And we finish off in CANADA (where we spent the last few days, thus
explaining why we reach you a day or so later than usual), where
Toronto's newest CHR station found an interesting way to promote
itself: it bought airtime on its competitors.  Of course, CKFM (Mix
99.9), CIDC (Hits 103.5), CHUM-FM (104.5), and CING (Energy Radio
107.9) didn't known they were selling airtime to CISS (Kiss
92.5)...and when the pre-paid ads for "INSIDEentertainment.net" came
in from an ad agency, the stations gladly ran them, blithely unaware
that the site was loudly promoting Kiss.  Of course, starting the ad
campaign on Friday night didn't hurt, either...

We heard the new 94.3 from Chatham whilst visiting London on Thursday,
but it turns out CKUE-FM doesn't get into the Forest City all that
well.  The modern rock format seems to be out of testing mode now,
though.

And we'll close with the rebirth of 940 in Montreal: CIQC will move up
the dial from 600 on the morning of November 24, according to the
Montreal Gazette.  When it happens, Jim Duff will lose his morning
show, as the all-news format and "940News" moniker take over.  Whither
690?  We suspect CKVL will make its move that day, too, even though La
Presse and the other French dailies haven't been covering it as
closely.

*That's it for this week...back next Friday with more!

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

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