No Subject

*A few more changes are on the way to the radio dial in central NEW
HAMPSHIRE: After almost four years in the morning seat at WJYY (105.5
Concord), Kevin Hilley is packing for a move to the much bigger Albany
market.  Hilley's last show at WJYY is next Friday (2/25); the
following Monday, he'll start on the morning shift at WCPT (100.9 the
Point).  Meanwhile, Vox has switched the calls of WRCI (107.7
Hillsboro) to WKXL-FM, completing the move that began when the former
WKXL-FM (102.3 Concord) became WOTX, "Outlaw Country," last month.

And there's a new morning guy coming to classic rock WBHG (101.5 Meredith)
up by Lake Winnipesaukee.  Trey McKain was working at WKKG in
Columbus, Indiana.

*Digital TV is coming to VERMONT, eventually.  Vermont Public TV
applied for a construction permit this week for WVTA-DT (Channel 24)
in Windsor.  WVTA-DT will join WVTA (Channel 41) atop Mount Ascutney
once it's built.  (We hope they'll have more viewers than Maine's
public DTV attempt; a newspaper article this week claims there are
exactly two DTV sets in private homes in Maine, one of which is out of
range of the WCBB-DT Augusta signal).

*Our best wishes go out to MASSACHUSETTS talk-show veteran Jerry
Williams; after just a few days on the air at the new WMEX (1060
Natick), he's on indefinite leave as he undergoes treatment for an
undisclosed illness.  WMEX is filling Williams' noon-2 slot with the
syndicated Gene Burns offering, followed by Burns' Boston-only show
from 2-4 PM.

Citadel closed on Worcester's WXLO (104.5 Fitchburg) and WORC-FM (98.9
Webster) this week, and promptly replaced GM Steve Gallagher with Joe
Flynn, formerly sales manager at Citadel's WWLI in Providence.
WORC-FM PD Pete Falconi adds acting PD for WXLO to his
responsibilities.

Up in Haverhill, Jerry Mason is out as music director and promotions
manager at WXRV (92.5); no replacement has been named yet.

*A new construction permit has been granted in CONNECTICUT; in
Norfolk, to be exact, where Revival Christian Ministries gets 89.3
with 100 watts, vertical only, at 51 meters AAT.

In Greenwich, WGCH (1490) wants to move its tower from the current
site off West Putnam Avenue to a new stick near the North Street
School, and amazingly, the school board is playing along -- sort of.
They're trying to craft wording that will prevent WGCH from using its
new tower for anything but AM broadcasts.  

Over in Hartford, WRCH/WZMX GM Jodi Long is getting a promotion: she
moves up to VP/GM of Infinity's Promotions Group.

Squ-e-e-e-e-ze!: That translator we were criticizing a few months
back, W203BB (88.5 Norfolk), is now on the air, relaying KAWZ Twin
Falls, Idaho from an antenna above a dry-cleaning shop in the
Strawberry Hill Shopping Center on US 1.  The word from our
Connecticut spies is that W203BB's signal holds for about a mile in
each direction before being squashed by co-channel WVOF (88.5
Fairfield) and WEDW (88.5 Stamford).

*Not much happening -- besides a lot of snow -- in NEW YORK this week:
Syracuse's WSTM (Channel 3) marked birthday number 50 Tuesday night
(2/15) with an hour-long special and the launch (at long last) of the
official staton Web site <www.wstm.com>, leaving Buffalo's WGRZ
(Channel 2) as the last major network affiliate in the Empire State
without a Web presence.

While we're in Syracuse, WBXL (90.5 Baldwinsville) had to postpone its
anniversary celebration this week.  The station was planning a 25-hour
radiothon, but the closing of Baldwinsville High School Friday morning
put an end to those plans.  The new date for the radiothon is March 3.

Translator clutter: Pensacola's WPCS wants an 89.5 in Macedon, just
east of Rochester -- and way too close to WMHN (89.3 Webster), WEOS
(89.7 Geneva), and WITR (89.7 Henrietta) for comfort, we're guessing.

After forty years at 2077 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo's WBEN (930) and
WMJQ (102.5) are moving out this weekend.  They'll be the first of
Sinclair's Buffalo stations to move into the new group HQ off Maple
Road in suburban Amherst.  The stations, then WBEN AM/FM, moved into
the North Buffalo facility with what was then WBEN-TV (now WIVB,
Channel 4) in 1960, taking over the space that had been built by NBC
for erstwhile O&O WBUF-TV (Channel 17).  WIVB remains at Elmwood
Avenue.

Late word from downstate is that some changes are in the works at
talker WNEW (102.7 New York): Steve Mason is out of his morning gig,
pursuing syndication at night instead; Don and Mike, via syndication,
are reportedly being added; and Jeremy Coleman is reportedly on his
way up from sister Infinity outlet WJFK (106.7 Manassas VA) in
Washington DC to be WNEW's next PD.  More, no doubt, next week...

*A quiet week in CANADA, as well: the only big news from up North is a
new Web site <http://www.xfmottawa.com> for CFMO (101.1 Smiths Falls),
which became "XFM @ 101" just before the New Year.  Little CJNH (1240
Bancroft) will soon get a new simulcast; it's being sold by Quinte
Broadcasting to Haliburton Broadcasting, and once the sale closes,
CJNH will simulcast CFBG (100.9 Bracebridge) instead of Quinte's CJTN
(1270 Trenton).  The local morning show on CJNH will continue (which
reminds NERW that we need to get to Bancroft once the snow melts...)

*That's it for this week...see you next Friday!

---------------------NorthEast Radio Watch------------------------
                     (c)2000 Scott Fybush

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