NorthEast Radio Watch 9/8: Hearst-Argyle Gets WMUR

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

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--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                           September 11, 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW HAMPSHIRE: Hearst-Argyle Gets WMUR for $185m
*CANADA: Two Big Sales in Montreal
*MASSACHUSETTS: "Laser" Sweeps Pioneer Valley

-----------------------------by Scott Fybush-----------------------------
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*We're back from our Labor Day excursion to Ohio (about which, more
next week!), only to find that radio's favorite holiday has once again
produced a full plate of surprises (and some not-very-surprising
developments) from all corners of the region.

We begin in NEW HAMPSHIRE, where Hearst-Argyle fulfilled the rumor
mill's expectations by announcing a $185 million purchase of
Manchester's WMUR-TV (Channel 9) from Imes Communications.

Why so much for a small-town ABC affiliate?  (Imes paid just $5
million for the station back in 1981.)  It should be well worth it for
Hearst-Argyle, if only for the opportunity to control both ABC outlets
in the Boston market.  Expect to see some news coverage from
Hearst-Argyle's WCVB (Channel 5) Boston on WMUR, as well as enhanced
New Hampshire coverage from WMUR on 'CVB.  The real prize, though,
won't come around for another four years: the incredible amount of
political advertising and national attention that flows into the
Granite State's only commercial VHF station come primary time.
There's a reason WMUR's spacious new studios in downtown Manchester
are called "The House Steve Forbes Built," after all.

As part of the deal, Hearst-Argyle also gets WMUR's LPTV outlets in
Littleton and Berlin, which carry Fox network programming and WMUR
newscasts.  (Expect some unusual FCC paperwork on this one, too, since
it will actually be Emmis Broadcasting acquiring WMUR, then
transferring it to Hearst-Argyle as payment for the three Phoenix
radio stations Emmis is getting from Hearst...)

One more Granite State note: We hear New Hampshire Public Radio is
testing a live audio stream at <http://www.nhpr.org>, which is about
to undergo a redesign.

*What's happening in MAINE?  We heard from several of our Augusta-area
readers about the situation with Cumulus' cluster there, and for the
moment it appears no fewer than five stations are carrying the sports
programming nicknamed "The Score."  In addition to WSKW (1160
Skowhegan) and WIGY (97.5 Madison), Cumulus has indeed added WCTB
(93.5 Fairfield) and WCME (96.7 Boothbay Harbor) to the simulcast --
and it's still being carried on WHQO (107.9 Skowhegan) as well!  

End of story?  Not so fast...we also saw applications make their way
to the FCC at week's end to transfer WCTB/WCME, WSKW, WABK (104.3
Gardiner), WKCG (101.3 Augusta), WTOS (105.1 Skowhegan), and WFAU
(1280 Gardiner) to Clear Channel.  More next week, we're certain...

Down in Portland, we hear WYNZ (100.9 Westbrook) is losing longtime
morning man Dean Rogers to crosstown WHOM (94.9 Mount Washington).  As
of Sunday night, Rogers still appears on WYNZ's Web site, while WHOM's
still shows Bill Thomas doing mornings.  (Those in need of a good
geographical laugh are invited to check out the Web site
<http://www.citadelcommunications.com> of WHOM's corporate parent,
Citadel, which locates Portland somewhere way up on the Quebec
border...)

*A relatively quiet week in Boston...but the big news in MASSACHUSETTS
was happening 90 miles to the west, where Saga wasted no time in its
acquisition of WHMP (1400/99.3 Northampton) from the AMFM/Clear
Channel spinoffs.  

Saga is changing the calls of WHMP-FM ("99.3 Rocks") to WLZX, and
we're told the next step will be an active rock format similar to
longtime Saga property WLZR (102.9) in Milwaukee.  Scott Laudani
arrives to replace Adam Wright as PD.  (He's perhaps better known to
New Hampshirites for his stints at WHEB and WXBB/WXBP in recent
years.)

Worcester's WICN (90.5) suffered what the station calls a
"catastrophic" transmitter failure September 1.  The good news: While
the station gets a full-power signal back on the air, listeners in
Worcester and far beyond can check out the station's new Webcast at
<http://www.wicn.org>.

Alumni of Boston University's student-run carrier-current station
might want to check out a new page just for them.  Alumnus Aaron
"Bishop" Read put up the site at
<http://www.friedbagels.com/wtbu.html>.

*A few quick notes from VERMONT: The Wilmington-licensed 100.7 station
is about to get yet another simulcast partner.  We hear that what's
now WMTT, relaying WRSI (95.3 Greenfield MA), is about to return to
its original WVAY calls and become a simulcast of classic rocker WEXP
(101.5 "the Fox") from Brandon, which should help the station in the
areas south of Rutland where it suffers from co-channel interference
with WSSH (101.5 Marlboro).  Translator W284AB (104.7 Jamaica) also
joins the WEXP simulcast.

We're told Karl Stober, last seen at WHOB over in Nashua, N.H., is
joining Brattleboro's WKVT (1490/92.7) as general manager.

Does Vermont need a new FM allocation?  The FCC says yes; add 97.5A in
Bristol to the table (though applications for that channel and the
half-dozen others added in the region recently will have to wait for
the present freeze to be lifted).

*One big piece of news from RHODE ISLAND, and it's no surprise: after
two minutes of silence, WWRX (103.7 Westerly) discarded its old
classic rock format for the WFNX (101.7 Lynn MA) modern rock network
at midnight Thursday (Sept. 7).  It's already on the Web site at
<http://www.wfnx.com>, though we have a headache after looking at that
incredibly busy page for a few seconds...

Over in Pawtucket, WICE (550) adds Mancow Muller's syndicated morning
show (last heard in the market on now-defunct WXEX 99.7) to replace
Mike Butts.  (And this correction: WICE isn't the most northerly AM
station in Rhode Island; that dubious honor goes to Woonsocket's WNRI
1380, as several alert readers couldn't wait to tell me...)

*CONNECTICUT's WNTY (990 Southington) was off the air for several days
this week, thanks to a dispute between station owner ADD Media and the
Spanish-language broadcasters who have been leasing the station.  ADD
says they haven't been making their payments, and NERW hears several
station staffers ended up camping out at the WNTY studios to keep from
being kicked out.  We're told the situation was resolved at week's
end, and WNTY is back on the air with a limited schedule.

Back in our March 24 issue, we told you that Westport's WMMM (1260)
was changing calls to WSHU, to match its public radio sister FM
station on 91.1.  It only took nine months, but now the call change is
finally official, according to the FCC.  (The change, alas, comes just
a few weeks too late to make this year's National Radio Club AM Log,
whose fearless fact-checkers first noticed that the March call-change
announcement was never accompanied by any official notice to the FCC.)

*We'll start our NEW YORK news way on the west side of the state,
where Vox has changed the calls of WCQA (96.5 Fredonia) to WBKX.  Our
drive home from Ohio found the station still running satellite
country, but now with "The Buck" as its nickname.  

Also changing calls: Vox's Olean AM station, from WMNS (1360) to
WOEN.  We only heard the calls mentioned once an hour, and fairly
quickly at that, which was no great change from the station's practice
under the old set of calls.

One of Buffalo's three country stations will flip to sports by October
1.  WNUC (107.7 Wethersfield Township) was sold to Adelphia
Communications, parent of the Empire Sports Network, last month, and
it's no great surprise to find that the new sports outlet will feature
Fox Sports Radio and the Adelphia-owned Buffalo Sabres.  Former WGR
(550) sports talker Art Wander will be the first local host to join
the station, which is being billed as a "nicer" alternative to WGR.

Former WGR news director Ray Marks is returning to Buffalo after
several months down in Jamestown at WJTN (1240).  We're told he's
taking Kevin Keenan's place as news director at WGR's Entercom sister
station, WBEN (930).  

A nice trop opening Thursday night allowed your editor to do some
research without leaving the driveway here at NERW Central -- and we
can now report that after signing off its old "Power 102" urban format
at 6 PM Labor Day (9/4), WRDS (102.1 Phoenix) is stunting with country
as "Big Cow," playing the same live version of Garth Brooks' "Friends
in Low Places" over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.
Assuming the country format sticks, WRDS will challenge top-rated
Syracuse country station WBBS (104.7 Fulton).

Also booming into the Rochester suburbs: WLLW (99.3 Seneca Falls),
which exited its LMA with George Kimble's Radio Group this week.
Kimble closed on his $875,000 deal to buy WLLW and sister WSFW (1110)
from Family Life Ministries, which just bought them from George Souhan
last March (and which received WLLW's old 93.7 Clyde facilities, now
WCOV, in return.)

One more Central New York note: Tom Mitchell, longtime OM of WNTQ
(93.1 Syracuse) and WAQX (95.7 Manlius), gets to add OM duties for the
other two Citadel stations in the Salt City (WLTI 105.9 and WNSS
1260).  Mitchell is still programming WNTQ, but gives up his
consultant duties for Citadel's WMME (92.3 Augusta ME).

Two sales to report in the Southern Tier:  Binghamton's WBNG (Channel
12) changes hands from Gateway to SJL in a three-state deal that sees
SJL take over the entire Gateway group (including WTAJ Altoona PA,
WLYH Lebanon PA, and WOWK Huntington WV).  An hour's drive east, Amos
Finch's Delaware County Broadcasting Corp. is being bought by BanJo
Communications, the small group that's already taken a commanding
position in the Oneonta area with its four-station cluster
(WKXZ/WBKT/WCHN Norwich and WZOZ Oneonta).  BanJo gets to add WDLA
AM-FM (1270/92.1) Walton, WDHI (100.3 Delhi), and WIYN (94.7 Deposit)
to its holdings in the hilly rural areas off I-88 and route 17.

Up in Albany, we still don't know what format Ernie Anastos will put
on his latest acquisition, WMVI (1160 Mechanicville) -- but we do know
what it will be called.  "The Sun" will complement Anastos' "Moon"
(WUAM 900/WVKZ 1240) and "Star" (WQAR 101.3).  It's possible Anastos
has some bigger matters on his mind; the veteran New York City TV
anchor announced this week that he'll jump to WCBS-TV (Channel 2) when
his contract at WWOR (Channel 9) is up at year's end.

In the Hudson Valley, it's another new format for WEOK (1390
Poughkeepsie) and WALL (1340 Middletown), as Rush, Dr. Laura, and
"NewsTalk 13" give way to ESPN sports.  Also flipping: translator
W292CM (106.3 Poughkeepsie) picks up the AAA sounds of WDST (100.1
Woodstock); it had been running country WTHN and AC WCTW.

Speaking of 106.3, we hear WFAF (106.3 Mount Kisco) will get a new
format when Nassau Broadcasting takes over.  Despite the withdrawal of
a recent planned IPO, Nassau was able to raise enough private funding
to complete the purchase of the Aurora group that includes WFAF, its
simulcast parent WFAS-FM (103.9 White Plains), WFAS (1230), and six
other stations.  The deal should close by month's end, with the WFAF
format change to happen in early 2001.

Anyone reading NERW down around Port Jervis?  We hear WDLC (1490) has
gone silent...

Charley Connolly gets to make the big move down the Long Island
Expressway to Manhattan.  The PD and morning man at WKJY (98.3
Hempstead) has been tapped to become PD of Emmis' smooth jazz WQCD
(101.9 New York).

*One PENNSYLVANIA note this week: The call change of WKQV (1550
Pittston) to WITK becomes official, to match new simulcast sisters
WICK (1400 Scranton) and WYCK (1340 Plains).  

*There must be something in the air in CANADA this year.  Last issue,
we told you about the mass licensing of new FMs in New Brunswick.
This week, we get to tell you that the world of English-language radio
in Montreal is being flipped on its head, as one pair of stations gets
a duopoly partner, while another gets a new owner.

It started the last week in August, when Metromedia CMR announced that
it will sell its four-station group to Shaw spin-off Corus
Communications for C$185 million.  Metromedia had been struggling from
the difficult launches of "Info 690" CINF and "940 News" CINW, neither
of which made any impact on the ratings despite expensive launches in
the spring.  Now it will be up to Corus, which has never owned an
all-news station, to figure out what to do with the 50kw stations.
Corus also gets English soft-rocker CFQR (92.5) and French companion
CKOI (96.9 Verdun).

Just a week later, Montreal's radio world was rocked again, as
Standard Broadcasting announced Friday (9/8) that it's buying rocker
CHOM (97.7) and oldies CKGM (990) from CHUM Ltd.  Standard already has
dominant AM news-talker CJAD (800) and "Mix 96" CJFM (95.9), and it's
not hard to see the kind of pressure the four-station group will be
able to bring to bear on CFQR and, especially, struggling CINW.  

There's no word yet on how much CHUM gets for the stations, which it
has owned since 1985.  In addition to cash, the deal has CHUM
acquiring Standard's CFWM (99.9) in Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, radio listeners in southern Ontario are finding two new
formats on the dial.  CIWV (94.7 the Wave) took to the air in Hamilton
with Canada's first smooth jazz format on September 1 at noon, just
hours after the CHUM folks launched their latest station an hour away
in London.  CHST (102.3) is playing adult contemporary music as "Star
102.3."  (Which, NERW notes, must be fun when the trop is up around
Hamilton, where listeners can no doubt switch from Star 102.3 to Star
102.5, WTSS in Buffalo, to Star 103.7, WRTS in Erie...)

Windsor's CIDR (93.9) said goodbye to "The River" and AAA last week,
going to soft rock as "Lite Rock 93.9," in competition with Detroit's
WNIC (100.3 Dearborn) just a few miles away.

And back out in the Maritimes, the CRTC gave the go-ahead to yet
another new station.  "Joy FM Network" was granted 23 watts on 96.5 in
Fredericton, N.B. for a new religious station.  (And speaking of New
Brunswick, a correction: in addition to the AMs we mentioned last
week, CFAN 790 Miramichi-Newcastle and CKHJ 1260 Fredericton remain on
the medium-wave dial!)

*The Boston Radio Archives/NERW Northeast TV Stock Index:

At market close 9/1: 106.34
At market close 9/8: 102.57

*That's it for this double issue; see you next weekend as we recount
our Pennsylvania and Ohio adventures!

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

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