NorthEast Radio Watch 10/29: Citadel Gets Huge, Shuffles Binghamton's AMs

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

*The last full week of October brought two big pieces of radio news in
the Northeast, both thanks to the folks out in Las Vegas at Citadel.
The group wasn't even in the region three years ago, but thanks to its
April 1997 purchase of Tele-Media (yielding Providence), the November
1998 buy of Wicks (and its big Binghamton cluster, about which more in
a moment), and the $63 million springtime buyout of Fuller-Jeffrey in
Maine and New Hampshire, the company has become a medium-sized regional
player.

Now it's poised to become a major group in our region, with Thursday's
announcement of the $190 million sale of Broadcasting Partners
Holdings to Citadel.  Eight of the 11 markets in which Broadcasting
Partners operated are in the region, using three different group
names.  Here's how it shakes out:

-BUFFALO: This is the big prize for Citadel, as the company picks up
Charlie Banta's Mercury group -- oldies WHTT (104.1), modern rock WEDG
(103.3), classic rock WGRF (96.9), gospel WMNY (1120), and
acquisition-in-progress WHLD (1270 Niagara Falls).  The three Class B
FMs make for one of the Queen City's three major groups (CBS/Infinity
and Sinclair-soon-to-be-Entercom are the other two players), and
dominate the younger male audience.  

-SYRACUSE: Under the Pilot name, this group -- CHR WNTQ (93.1), rock
WAQX (95.7 Manlius), AC WLTI (105.9), and news WNSS (1260) -- is again
one of the three big players, behind the group Cox is selling to Clear
Channel but well ahead of the Radio Corporation's less-potent
signals.  

-ITHACA: Pilot's purchase of WIII (99.9 Cortland) and WKRT (920
Cortland) gave the company a foothold between Ithaca and Syracuse;
there's potential yet to be explored (or spun off?) here, especially
with the prospect of overlap with Citadel's Binghamton cluster in one
direction on I-81, and the Syracuse stations in the other.  Throw in
the massive Citadel cluster just south of Binghamton in
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and things really begin to get interesting.

-NEW LONDON: As Spring Broadcasting, Broadcasting Partners owned CHR
WQGN (105.5 Groton) and little talker WSUB (980 Groton); it's in the
process of adding oldies WVVE (102.3 Stonington) to the mix as well.

-NEW BEDFORD: A smaller market where Spring had a big presence, in the
form of CHR WFHN (107.1 Fairhaven) and news-talk WBSM (1420).  This
promises to be the most interesting one to watch, since WFHN has been
playing David to Providence CHR Goliath WPRO-FM (92.3) -- which is
already a Citadel property.  We'll be keeping an eye on this one...

-AUGUSTA/WATERVILLE: Just up the road from the Fuller-Jeffrey Portland
group Citadel bought a few months ago, Pilot dominates this market
with Waterville's country WEBB (98.5)/WTVL (1490) and Augusta's CHR
WMME (92.3)/WEZW (1400).  Will the signal overlap between these FMs
and the big Portland signals, already at maximum ownership levels,
prove a problem?  Will Citadel maintain the pointless AM simulcasts
(which, in the case of Augusta, even include a separate AM transmitter
site)?  How will Cumulus, the other big group operator in town, react
to the mega-group competition?  

-CALAIS: Just one station for Pilot here, CHR WCRQ (102.9 Dennysville)
-- but then it's only a three-station market.  WCRQ is programmed out
of WMME, so any change in Augusta would likely have ramifications Down
East as well.

-PRESQUE ISLE: Pilot bought the three big FMs here -- hot AC WQHR
(96.1), country WBPW (96.9), and oldies WOZI (101.9) -- from Tim Martz
last year.  

*We return to NEW YORK for the other Citadel headline of the week, a
deal that will shuffle one of the most stable radio lineups in the
region.  Forty years ago, Binghamton's AM dial consisted of four
stations: WINR at 680, WNBF at 1290, WKOP at 1360, and WENE at 1430 in
Endicott.  Today, it still does (even though 1360 and 1430 briefly
dropped their heritage calls in the 1980s -- who remembers WRSG, WBNK,
and WMRV-AM?).  In a few weeks, it won't.

Grab your scorecards, because it plays out like this: Citadel, which
is already at its ownership limits with the 2 AM/3 FM group it bought
from Wicks, is buying the 680 frequency -- but not the WINR calls or
nostalgia format -- from Titus Broadcasting.  WNBF's news and talk
format will move down the dial from 1290 to 680, with a simulcast
lasting several months.  Since Citadel then has to spin something,
Titus ends up with the 1360 frequency (generally considered the worst
AM facility in the market), which is where WINR's calls and format
will end up.  And once the 1290/680 simulcast is over, 1290 will pick
up the WKOP calls and *that* nostalgia format, now heard on 1360.

Why do it?  With just 500 watts, the WKOP night signal is a tough
catch in growing areas like Vestal and Endicott, while the same 500
watts on the better 680 frequency (and with a more useful DA pattern)
do much more at night.  The recent daytime power boost at WINR (from a
very directional kilowatt to a looser 5kw pattern) has helped
immensely as well.  What's harder to fathom is moving the established
WNBF programming from that 1290 signal, which is quite respectable day
and night, down to the at best marginally-better 680. 

Confused yet?  Now imagine being a Binghamton radio listener!  NERW
will be making the drive to Binghamton to hear it all go down; more
details are certain to follow.

One more headline out of Binghamton, sadly enough: Micha Conover (air
name: Micha Lee), the midday jock at Citadel's WHWK (98.1), was killed
last weekend in a head-on collision on Interstate 88 near Binghamton.
Police say Conover, 21, was driving the wrong way when he collided
with a car carrying Tuong Le, his wife, and their son.  All were
kileld except for Le's wife, Nhut, who was seriously injured.  A
coroner's report said Conover was legally drunk and driving over 100
miles per hour at the time of the crash.  Witnesses said Conover had
been drinking at several bars in the hours before the crash, and a
caller to the State Police reported a pickup truck similar to
Conover's driving the wrong way on I-88 four hours before the
collision.

Elsewhere in New York, Family Life Ministries has been granted two new
translators: W210BL (89.9) in Norwich, relaying WCII (88.5 Spencer),
and W219CK (91.7) in Wellsville, relaying WCID (89.1 Friendship).
Best Media, meanwhile, has been hit with petitions to deny -- and
rightly so -- for several of its poorly-engineered (and, dare we say,
abusive) translator applications.  Fordham University filed against
the proposed 90.7 in Staten Island and 90.9 in East Port, which would
interfere with WFUV on 90.7, while in Leonardo, NJ, Newark's WBGO
(88.3) filed against an 88.1 application.  Best was also hit with
petitions in New England, as Amherst's WFCR (88.5) objected to
applications in Lawrence on 88.5 and Hartford on 88.1.  We're still
looking for anyone who can explain why Best Media wants to translate a
mixed bag of public and college stations -- or who they think they're
fooling.

The new 92.9 in Saugerties is on the air.  WRKW is running
commercial-free for now, but will sign on for real November 1 with Bob
& Tom in the morning and "quality rock" all day.  We're hearing great
signal reports for this one, from Albany well into Connecticut.

And a loss for the world of tower-hunting: One of just a handful of
Blaw-Knox diamond-shaped towers has met its demise.  WADO (1280 New
York) took down its big stick last week out on Paterson Plank Road in
Carlstadt, New Jersey, to be replaced by a new directional array for
its high-power CP.  Survivors include WFEA, WLW, WBNS, WSM, and WBT.

*A quick run around New England for the non-Citadel headlines: In
CONNECTICUT, the FCC granted Revival Christian Ministries' application
for an 89.7 translator in Vernon.  W209BK is supposed to translate
WESU (88.1 Middletown) from Wesleyan University; we suspect otherwise.

Four RHODE ISLAND stations are being sold by Back Bay Broadcasting.  A
company called "AAA Entertainment" is the new owner for WLKW (550
Pawtucket), WWKX (106.3 Woonsocket)/WAKX (102.7 Narragansett Pier),
and WKCD (107.7 Pawcatuck CT).  More on this next week...