NERW 7/16: CTV Adds Montreal to O&O Roster

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

[Special note to mailing-list readers: We're still getting caught
up on the backlog of work from the Big Trip. Thanks for your
patience as we get the issues of NERW you missed out to you. 

Thanks also for your financial support; please see the note at the
end of this issue for a reminder of why it's so critical to the
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------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                               July 16, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

*CANADA: CTV Buys Montreal Affiliate
*NEW YORK: Eolin Buys Elmira LMA Partner
*RHODE ISLAND: New Tower on Block Island

-----------------------------by Scott Fybush-----------------------------
-------------------------<http://www.fybush.com>-------------------------

*We're back on our usual Monday schedule (with only two gaps coming up
for the remainder of the summer - but more on that shortly), only to
find that it was a pretty quiet week out there in Northeast
broadcast-land. Here's how it looked from NERW Central:

*We'll begin this week in CANADA, where CTV is consolidating its hold
on the broadcast outlets that carry its network signal across the
country. Out in Vancouver, the CTV-owned "VTV" (CIVT Channel 32) is
about to begin carrying CTV network programming after several years as
an independent, and back East, the network has struck a deal to
acquire its Montreal affiliate for a whopping C$121,500,000.

CFCF-TV (Channel 12) was part of the WIC group that merged with
Global earlier this year, causing all that shuffling out west as
well. In Montreal, though, Global already owned CKMI (Channel 46),
which meant CFCF needed to be put in trust until a buyer could be
found. 

CTV and parent Bell were the obvious choice, since CTV has been on an
acquisition spree that's snapped up almost all of the stations that
were once privately-owned affiliates. (You'd have to look all the way
to St. John's, Newfoundland, we believe, to find the biggest private
CTV affiliate remaining!) 

What will become of CFCF's distinctive on-air look and its "Pulse"
newscasts when the Great Homogenizers of CTV take over? We suspect the
generic blue set and CTV logo will end up gracing CFCF once the deal
closes...we'll keep you posted.

Elsewhere in Quebec, the CRTC has issued a call for applications for
new radio licenses in Quebec City. It's standard procedure when the
agency receives a single application for a license; expect multiple
proposals for open FM channels, and just possibly for one of the AM
facilities left open in the rush to FM in recent years. Hmm...is the
Radio-Canada facility on 980 that was once CBV still standing?

One more Quebec note while we're there: little community station
CHOC-FM (104.9) in St.-Remi has applied to boost power from 0.8 watts
to 200 watts. The station says it needs to overcome interference from
stations in Granby and Lachute; it also claims that the huge jump in
power "will not expand its service area."

In Ontario, CFBG (100.9 Bracebridge) is trying again to change
channels and increase its power. An earlier proposal for 50 kilowatts
on 99.5 was rejected after nearby stations complained that CFBG was
trying to expand into their markets. Now CFBG wants to jump from its
current 2900 watts to 12 kilowatts on 99.5, this time saying only that
it wants to "improve its signal" in its local area. (By the way, that
"Moose" nickname CFBG uses is also in use on its new sister station on
97.7 in Bancroft, ex-CJNH 1240.)

Up in Sudbury, CHNO-FM (103.9) is finally admitting, more or less,
that it will never build out its licensed 100 kilowatt FM signal. The
station has been using reduced power ever since its 1998 move from AM
550, and now it's appying to be licensed at 11 kilowatts from a new
tower northeast of its old site. CHNO tells the CRTC that it was
having problems with interference to aviation frequencies as well as
tower-loading issues; NERW hears there was also little desire to pay
the cost of building out a full 100kW FM operation when most of the
population of Sudbury is close in to the transmitter site.

Speaking of power downgrades, CHCQ is the call for the new 100.1 in
Belleville, and it wants to move its transmitter northeast of its
originally proposed site so as to better serve nearby Trenton. In the
process, the station would drop from 40 kW down to 21 kW. It's all
hypothetical thus far; CHCQ has yet to sign on.

And don't write it in your FM Atlas with ink, but if you're in the
London, Ontario area between August 11 and 25, you might want to
listen to 107.7 MHz. That's where the Canada Summer Games will be
running an information station, with 780 watts from the CFPL-TV tower
on London's south side. No word on calls; we'd expect one of the "VF-"
series that the CRTC issues for low-power and temporary stations.

*We'll cross back to the States in NEW YORK, noting that Buffalo's
WWKB (1520) is still running that business format (with no legal ID
noticed on one recent top-hour break) instead of the promised 70s pop,
and there's no sign of Opie and Anthony on WCMF here in Rochester,
either (the latest issue of M Street to the contrary -- but then, said
issue also shows the 740 Toronto call change from CBL to CHWO as
"news"!)

In fact, about the biggest news we can offer this week is Eolin's
conversion of its LMA in Elmira to an outright purchase. You might
recall that Eolin, which operates four stations in Corning, has been
running WENY (1230) and WENY-FM (92.7) for White Broadcasting under an
LMA for a few months now; this week, Eolin announced it would pay $2.2
million for the pair, which simulcast news-talk WCLI (1450 Corning)
and satellite AC WCBA-FM (98.7 Corning), respectively. The purchase
finally separates the radio stations from sister TV outlet WENY-TV
(Channel 36) after more than three decades of common ownership.

Over in Binghamton, Paul Szmal (formerly of Utica's WRCK) and Maggie
Page (formerly of crosstown WYOS) kicked off their new morning show on
Clear Channel's "Mix" WMXW (103.3 Vestal) this morning. Meanwhile, AC
competitor WLTB (101.7 Johnson City) has filed to move translator
W273AB (102.5) down from Ingraham Hill, where WLTB itself now
operates, to the old 101.7 site a few miles west in Endicott.

Remember the days of "superstations," when the cable dial just about
anywhere in the Northeast could be counted on to yield two or three
New York signals, Boston's WSBK, and so on? A change in copyright law
ended most of that heyday in the nineties, and the launch of "weblets"
UPN and WB did in most of the rest - but the pressure to carry those
new networks is actually restoring the WSBK signal to parts of central
New York. Time Warner added WSBK to its lineup in the Utica area this
week, with rumors afloat that the Boston UPN signal will show up in
Syracuse soon as well. Syracuse had UPN service on WNYS (Channel 43)
until that station switched to WB this year, and as for Utica? We'd
hate to draw a direct connection or anything, but we can't help but
note that low-power WPNY-LP (Channel 11) has (like its counterparts in
Watertown and Rochester) been making a noisy effort for cable
carriage, including a story we noted in USA Today while traveling
earlier this month. Needless to say, the LPTVs aren't happy about
competing against UPN on a distant signal on cable - although they
might want to consider the alternative; in Albany, Time Warner and
Clear Channel are partners in a cable-only UPN outlet that grabbed the
affiliation from low-power WVBG-LP (Channel 25).  (Disclaimer: Your
editor is a former Time Warner employee and still an occasional
contractor, though always far distant from the cable operation
side. Further disclaimer: Your editor is still waiting for Time Warner
to come and fix his weak signal on upper channels of his cable
service...Hello, DirecTV?)

Where were we? Oh yeah...Albany, where the Times-Union's Mark McGuire
reports officials at Siena College aren't happy with the urban format
that's been running on student station WVCR (88.3
Loudonville). McGuire says Siena is considering dropping the hip-hop
in favor of a more traditional block-formatted program schedule; he
also slipped in a welcome correction to WVCR's phony claims of a power
increase to "50,000 watts" earlier this year. (Would that the region's
other dailies did such a good job covering the broadcast medium!)

Down in New York City, it looks like the Board of Education is getting
ready to hand over operation of WNYE-FM (91.5) to the public radio
folks at WNYC (820/93.9). The move continues to draw fire from the
ethnic programmers who lease time on the station, but is nonetheless
far less controversial than the plan to hand WNYE-TV (Channel 25) over
to the Big Apple's public TV behemoth, WNET (Channel 13), which is
also close to a deal to operate Long Island's WLIW (Channel 21).

*Into CONNECTICUT next, where Elizabeth McGuire is looking for work
after losing her morning news gig at country WWYZ (92.5
Waterbury). 'YZ is using NBC's WVIT-TV (Channel 30) for news instead;
McGuire popped up for a guest spot at week's end on WDRC-FM (102.9).

And a very happy 90th birthday to WTIC (1080 Hartford) institution Bob
Steele, who's still going strong with a monthly Saturday-morning show,
62 years after joining the staff at WTIC. A check of the NERW archives
reminds us that Steele did promise to retire a few years ago - but not
until his 100th birthday a decade from now!

*RHODE ISLAND is getting a new radio tower, and we're getting a good
excuse to vacation on Block Island next summer. The flimsy old tower
that held WADK-FM (99.3) and WCRI (95.9) is being replaced by a
250-footer bearing a new six-bay antenna to be shared by both
stations. With the change, WCRI will begin transmitting in stereo for
the first time in its history. (Quite a change from the old days as
WVBI, when we had trouble tuning them in while walking from the ferry
dock to the tower!)

*A very, very quiet week in MASSACHUSETTS: the big news, if you can
call it that, is Sean Grande's return to town as the new voice of the
Celtics on WWZN (1510). The Celts' move means the launch of a new
network for the play-by-play this fall; WORC (1310) in Worcester signs
on as one of the first affiliates.

Up in Orange, WCAT (700) appears on the FCC's latest list of silent
stations, with a November 1 deadline to sign back on or lose its
license. Our network of listeners is checking on this one; full
details next week.

*A whole bunch of Radio People on the Move in VERMONT and NEW
HAMPSHIRE this week: in Rutland, Larry Cohen is out as news director
of WSYB (1380) and WZRT (97.1), with no replacement named yet. On the
Vox end of things, Don Matson leaves his post as operations manager of
the Upper Valley cluster (WHDQ, WZSH/WSSH, WWOD/WLPL, WTSV/WNHV), and
we're told that's his decision, not Vox's. Doug Daniels takes over as
PD of WHDQ (from Vox's WORK-FM in Barre), while Art Steinberg takes
the "Lite-FM" stations (WZSH/WSSH). They, along with WWOD/WLPL PD
Heath Cole, will report directly to Vox group VP Ken Barlow. Meanwhile
at WORK, Jim Severance becomes operations manager (for WWFY-FM and
WSNO, too), while Joel Gomes joins Traci Taylor in morning drive
starting at month's end.

Across the river in the Granite State, we hear the Americana format
has come to an end on WNTK (1020 Newport), reverting to a simulcast of
the talk on WNTK-FM (99.7 New London) - and we never managed to get up
there to hear it! WNTK is losing a major syndicated voice this week,
too; Rush Limbaugh (should we call him the 285 Million Dollar Man
now?) moves to WTSL (1400 Lebanon) on Thursday (July 19). Like
Limbaugh syndicator Premiere, WTSL is owned by Clear Channel, which is
increasingly taking programs like Rush and Laura in-house wherever
possible.

*Clearing up the call letter change we reported last week in MAINE:
Lewiston's AM 1240, ex-WTME, becomes all-news (from CNN Headline News)
with its change to WCNM. The WTME calls move to new sister station
WLLB (790 Rumford).

*One note from PENNSYLVANIA closes out this week's report: WPWA (1590
Chester), out in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, changes hands from
the bankrupt Catholic Radio Network folks to Mount Ocean Media,
controlled by Rev. Sun Young Yoo. The $675,000 sale makes WPWA a
sister station to WMBC-TV (Channel 63) up in Newton, New Jersey; we'd
expect to hear some foreign-language religion and other leased-time
programming on this signal soon.

*That's it for this week's news; we'll be back next Monday with more,
and we hope to get the first installment of The Big Travelogue up and
running on Tower Site of the Week in a couple of days as well. Our
thanks to those of you who've been so generous of late in your support
of NERW -- and to the rest of you, this reminder:

We received quite a bit of e-mail during our absence wondering where
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*We'll be back next week with much more news, and we'll be back again
July 30 with more. As noted at the beginning of this week's edition,
there will be no August 6 issue (we'll be in sunny Southern
California!), but we'll be back after that, straight through to the
NAB Radio Show in New Orleans September 5-7, complete with daily
updates on fybush.com. 

-----------------------NorthEast Radio Watch------------------------
                       (c)2001 Scott Fybush
                          www.fybush.com

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