NorthEast Radio Watch 11/26: Connecticut Pirates in Court

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

*It's been a slow, slow week in Northeast radio, what with the
U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and all, leaving two CONNECTICUT pirates
with the week's top headlines.

On Tuesday, it was Radio Avivamiento's turn in federal court in
Hartford, as the 97.1 Spanish pirate fought the FCC's attempt to get
an injunction preventing further broadcasts.  The Hartford Courant
reports the station's lawyer, Patrick Edwards, "cheerfully" admitted
the station was breaking the law when it went on the air two years
ago. 

The station's owner, the Rev. Samuel A. Girona, tells the Courant he
tried to buy a licensed station (WKND 1480 Windsor), but the purchase
price of $750,000 was out of his range.

The FCC's lawyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Soloway, told judge
Alvin Thompson that the law is clear, and requires the unlicensed
station to be shut down.  

Thompson did not issue a ruling at the hearing; a written decision
will follow sometime soon.

Meanwhile in Waterbury, the FCC has been granted authority to shut
down "Waterbury Hispanic Communications," an 88.5 pirate operated by
one Efrain Gonzales.  NERW hears the station is indeed off the air
pending further legal action.

On the TV side in the Nutmeg State, Tribune Broadcasting has applied
to the FCC for permission to buy WTXX (Channel 20) in Waterbury
outright, converting the UPN station from its present LMA with
Tribune's Hartford Fox affiliate, WTIC-TV (Channel 61).

There's been no UPN-to-duopoly application yet for WBNE (Channel 59)
in New Haven, but NERW hears the WB affiliate is making plans to
launch a newscast in the spring, produced in cooperation with LMA
partner WTNH (Channel 8).  The newscast would join the WTIC-TV/WTXX
semi-simulcast in the 10 PM news race.

*Over to RHODE ISLAND, where two well-known names are signing new
radio deals.  At WPRO (630), it's Springfield talk veteran Dan Yorke,
who moves across state lines to take the 3-6 PM slot last held down by
Carolyn Fox before her move to WWRX (103.7 Westerly).  Yorke spent
more than a decade at WHYN (560) and WNNZ (640 Westfield) in the
Springfield market.  Meanwhile, upstart talker WLKW (550 Pawtucket)
has signed Mary Ann Sorrentino, more than a year after she was ousted
from her late-morning slot on WPRO.  Sorrentino will do noon-3 on
WLKW, replacing the team of Tom DiLuglio and Jerry Zarrella.  

More on that WRNI application for 91.3 in Wakefield: We hear it may be
directional to avoid interfering with WDOM in Providence, if such a
thing is possible -- which suggests that it's what we'll call a "phony
primary," one of those noncomm stations that doesn't really serve
anyone but can be used to feed lots of translators.  Stay tuned for
the 1999 Year End Rant in a few weeks for more thoughts on the many
and varied ways in which the translator rules are being abused...

*The big story -- in fact, the only story of note -- in MASSACHUSETTS
broadcasting this week is the new Red Sox TV contract.  The three-year
deal will put roughly 70 Sox games on Fox O&O WFXT (Channel 25), with
the rest landing on (partly Sox-owned) New England Sports Network and
the Fox network package.  WFXT replaces last year's JCS syndication
effort, which used WLVI (Channel 56) as its Boston outlet.  The new
deal runs for three seasons.

Pirate watch: We're hearing about a 96.5 in Mansfield, going by the
name "Comedy Radio 96.5."  

*Just one update this week in NEW HAMPSHIRE: the sale price of Richard
Lightfoot's WKNE AM-FM Keene (along with WKVT AM-FM Brattleboro VT)
was $8.9 million.  No word yet on when new owner Tele-Media will close
on the purchase...

*And with nothing else going on in northern New England, we slip back
across the state lines into NEW YORK, where the FCC has granted
Liberty Communications Family Broadcast Group's application for a new
station in Watertown.  The new 90.1 will run 1 kilowatt from 152
meters above average terrain, broadcasting from the tower of WWNY-TV
(Channel 7) on Route 126 in the hills east of town.  We're guessing
religion for this one (albeit with a local licensee, based in nearby
Dexter, New York).

Another inexplicable translator approval to report, this time in
Syracuse: Family Life Radio has been granted 89.3 in Baldwinsville,
just outside Syracuse.  W207BH will run 4 watts from a tower on East
Sorrell Hill Road (adjacent to I-690 north of the Thruway), relaying
WCIY (88.9 Canandaigua).  How the FCC approved this one, what with
Syracuse University's WJPZ and Cayuga Community College's WDWN Auburn
both operating on first-adjacent 89.1 within 15 miles of the proposed
site, is hard to understand.  (How Syracuse Community Radio missed out
on this one is even harder to comprehend...)

While we're in the Syracuse area, we note that all three of Clear
Channel's big competitors -- Pilot, Buckley, and Radio Corp. -- have
asked the FCC to review Clear Channel's purchase of WHCD (106.9
Auburn) from Salt City Communications.  While Clear Channel notes that
it would remain under the ownership and revenue caps for Syracuse
after the purchase, its competitors are concerned about the effects on
the overall Syracuse-Ithaca-Utica regional market.

UPN viewers in the Albany area will soon have a new cable-only channel
to watch, as Clear Channel's WXXA (Channel 23) spawns "WEDG" on cable
channel 4, replacing the cable feed of Boston's WSBK.  The new station
is expected to sign on January 1, and will continue carrying the
Bruins games now seen on WSBK.  It's the end of an era for WSBK, which
has been on cable in Albany since at least the early 1970s (and was,
for a time, fed by microwave as far west as Rochester).  NERW echoes
Albany Times Union columnist Mark McGuire in suspecting some future
cross-promotion between "WEDG-TV" and Clear Channel's "Edge" radio
stations, WQBK-FM (103.9 Rensselaer) and WQBJ (103.5 Cobleskill).  The
loser here would seem to be WVBG-LP (Channel 25), the Albany LPTV that
may end up losing its UPN affiliation.

We hear WFAF (106.3 Mount Kisco) began simulcasting WFAS-FM (103.9
White Plains) last weekend, albeit with no mention on-air of the
simulcast.  

*Across the border this week, we're still awaiting the debuts of the
new 690 and 940 in Montreal.  Websites at <http://www.info690.com> and
<http://www.940news.com> briefly showed station logos and addresses
earlier in the week, but are now displaying generic "Under
Construction" messages.  We do know that December 13 is now the target
date for 940, and likely for 690 as well; we'll keep you posted.

The CBC has asked the CRTC for permission to lower the power of its
CBCL (93.5 London) from 100 kilowatts to 69.3 kilowatts, presumably to
reduce potential interference to the new 93.5 Toronto allocation.  The
CBC says Radio One listeners who may lose the London signal now have
service from CBLA-1 (89.1 Paris) to replace it.

And the CRTC granted CHUM's CKWW (580), CIMX (88.7), and CIDR (93.9)
in Windsor permission to run only 20% Canadian-content music, rather
than the new 35% standard.  The Commission has long treated Windsor a
bit differently from the rest of Canada because of the huge numbers of
Detroit signals just across the river, and this is no exception.

*That's it for this quiet week; we'll see you again next Friday!

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

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