NERW 9/17: WTC - One Week Later

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

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                            September 17, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: WTC Disaster - One Week Later
*MAINE: WMEK's Neil Sullivan Dies
*MASSACHUSETTS: WORC Relaunches Talk Lineup

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

*Almost a week after the attacks on the World Trade Center, New York's
TV dial continues to return to something resembling normalcy.

WABC-TV (Channel 7) returned to the air with a low-power signal from
the Armstrong tower in Alpine, N.J. on Saturday afternoon, with WNET
(Channel 13) restoring its signal Sunday evening from the Empire State
Building, again at low power. That leaves WWOR (Channel 9) as the last
VHF signal to return. It plans to join sister Fox outlet WNYW (Channel
5) from Empire sometime this week. Pax's WPXN (Channel 31) is being
seen over several LPTVs, including W23BA (Channel 34) in East Orange,
N.J. and WPXU-LP (Channel 38) in Amityville, L.I.; there's no word on
when WPXN itself will get a signal back on the air.

On the FM side, WNYC-FM (93.9) was the last of the World Trade Center
FMs to restore a signal on its own frequency; it returned from Empire
at 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

The next project for all the affected stations is to turn these
low-power emergency installations into full-power transmission
facilities that can be used for the long haul. Despite all the talk of
rebuilding the Trade Center towers, any reconstruction would be years
in coming, and that means the Empire State Building and the Alpine
tower are likely to remain the area's primary TV sites for a while.

With that in mind, here's another run-through of the stations
affected:

WCBS-TV (2) - Continuing operations from its full-power backup site at
Empire.

WNBC-TV (4) - On the air from Alpine at low power.

WNYW-TV (5) - On the air from Empire at low power.

WABC-TV (7) - On the air from Alpine at low power.

WWOR-TV (9) - Soon to resume operations from Empire.

WPIX-TV (11) - Temporary low-power operation from Daily News building,
220 E. 42nd Street; moving to Empire.

WNET (13) - On the air from Empire at low power.

WPXN-TV (31) - Not yet on the air.

WNJU (47) - On the air from an undetermined backup site

WKCR (89.9) - On the air from a Columbia University dorm building at
low power.

WPAT-FM (93.1) - On the air from Empire.

WNYC-FM (93.9) - On the air from Empire.

WKTU (103.5) - On the air from auxiliary site at Four Times Square at
full power.

And of course, we can't forget that six transmitter engineers remain
among the nearly 5,000 missing and feared dead at the World Trade
Center. They are:

Isaias Rivera, a 20-year veteran of WCBS-TV
Bob Pattison of WCBS-TV, formerly of Boston's WHDH-TV
William V. Steckman, WA2ACW, of WNBC
Donald DiFranco of WABC-TV
Steven A. Jacobson, N2SJ, 53, of WPIX-TV
Rod Coppola, KA2KET, of WNET

We're told Jacobson contacted WPIX master control after the first
plane hit the south tower, to report he was putting on his oxygen
mask. A few minutes later, he called to say the smoke and flames were
overwhelming on the 110th floor, and WPIX was unable to reach him
again after that.

Several NERW readers have asked if there's anyone collecting
contributions specifically to help the families of these engineers,
and here's one answer: the Society of Broadcast Engineers has
established a fund. Contributions can be made to the "Ennes
Educational Foundation Trust Fund" at:

The Society of Broadcast Engineers, Inc.
9247 North Meridian Street, Suite 305
Indianapolis, IN 46260
Attention: Broadcast Engineer Relief Fund

You can find more information on the fund at www.sbe.org. The SBE, by
the way, has now rescheduled its national meeting to coincide with the
Central New York SBE Convention November 27-28 at Turning Stone Casino
in Oneida, N.Y. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

If you're not reading NERW on a daily basis at fybush.com, you're
missing a lot; we've been offering updates all week on the WTC
situation for our Web readers. We hope they've been of some service;
certainly they're drawing plenty of traffic (more than 100,000 hits
between Tuesday midday and Sunday evening!)

*There's actually news from NEW YORK beyond the Trade Center: Up in
Westchester County, former WEVD (1050) morning man Bill Mazer is
returning to the airwaves at Bill O'Shaughnessy's WVOX (1460)/WRTN
(93.5) in New Rochelle. Mazer will do an afternoon show over both
stations, we're told.

In Syracuse, WYYY (94.5) morning jock "Big Mike" announced his
resignation at the end of Monday's show; AllAccess says he's moving
across the street to Ed Levine's "Sunny 102" (WZUN 102.1 Phoenix).

Buffalo oldies station WHTT (104.1) has a new PD; he's Joe Siragusa,
last employed at Richmond's WRCL (106.5) before a format flip there in
June.

And a few congratulations that never made it into last Monday's issue:
two New York stations walked away with Marconi awards at the NAB Radio
Show in New Orleans. WGY (810 Schenectady) won the medium-market
Station of the Year trophy, while Long Island's WALK-FM (97.5
Patchogue) won adult contemporary Station of the Year.

*We'll go next to MAINE, where we're saddened to report the death
Thursday (9/13) of Neil Sullivan, program director at WMEK (99.9
Auburn). Sullivan was 43 and had been battling lung cancer. Before
arriving at "Kiss," Sullivan had spent more than 20 years in New
England and northeast radio, including stops at WOCB on Cape Cod, WFTQ
in Worcester, WMRC in Milford and WNTQ in Syracuse.

Funeral services for Sullivan will be held Friday (September 21) at
Our Lady of the Cape First Parish in Dennis, Mass.

Up in Calais, Kyle Kristofer was fired from Citadel's WCRQ (102.9
Dennysville) after playing a tasteless Dave Chappelle comedy bit the
day after the World Trade Center attack. 

On a happier note, stations all over the region have been staging fund
drives and collecting supplies to aid the relief efforts in New York
and Washington. We don't have room to list them all, but we were
especially impressed by the "Pay for Play" drive that Bangor's WKIT
(100.3 Brewer) put on Friday and Saturday. Anyone offering at least
$10 for the relief efforts got to request a song on WKIT - in or out
of the station's usual classic rock format. Station owners Stephen and
Tabitha King offered to match all donations up to $40,000.

By midday Friday, listeners had already passed the $40,000 mark,
prompting the Kings to raise their matching offer to $80,000. It took
all night Friday and a good chunk of Saturday morning to play
everything listeners had requested, and when it was all over WKIT had
raised $70,230. Add another $70,230 from the Kings (you might have
heard of them; he's written a book or two!) and the check from Bangor
came to $140,460! 

*Up in VERMONT, they're moving staffers around at WNCS (104.7
Montpelier). Music director Jody Petersen becomes PD, PD Greg Hooker
loses that title and his afternoon-drive gig to become production
director and evening jock Mark Abuhazzab adds MD stripes and takes
over Hooker's afternoon airshift.

*MASSACHUSETTS has a new talk station - sort of. WORC (1310 Worcester)
stopped its all-Beatles stunt last Monday to relaunch with a new
lineup of talkers. WORC's local morning show now features Jay Bailey,
John Taylor, Roger X and Chad Varnas, followed by a syndicated lineup
that includes Mike Gallagher, G. Gordon Liddy, Don & Mike, Ron & Fez,
Sean Hannity and Phil Hendrie. Ann Kenda, late of WTAG, is WORC's new
news director, with Pete Sumner (formerly of WICC) handling news later
in the day, including a 6-7 PM news hour.

They're calling it "The All New AM1310 - Talk Radio With a Pulse," and
we understand there's also some Fox Sports material on weekends.

One more Marconi to mention: Matt Siegel was in New Orleans to accept
his award as major market personality of the year...congratulations!

*One NEW JERSEY note this week: WSAX (102.3 Cape May) changes calls to
WMID-FM to match its simulcast with WMID (1340 Atlantic City).

*From PENNSYLVANIA comes word of some new jocks at Philly's "Mix
95.7," WMWX: Mitzie Lewis handles middays while former WKRQ (101.9
Cincinnati) morning jock Danny Meyers takes afternoon drive.

Mark down a set of call letters for Salt and Light Ministries' 90.7 CP
in Williamsport: that will be WCRG(FM) whenever it takes air.

*And just one note from CANADA (beside mentioning the incredible
revival of Gordon Sinclair's 1973 "The Americans"
commentary-turned-hit single from CFRB in the wake of the Trade Center
disaster): Way up there in Fort Frances, Ontario, CFOB (640) was
granted a move to 93.1 FM with 21 kW. CFOB asked the CRTC for
permission to simulcast for 24 months, noting that many residents of
the area are seasonal vacationers and might not know where to find the
new signal right away; the CRTC said that was excessive, but did allow
CFOB to run a tape loop on 640 for six additional months after the
usual six-month simulcast period is over.

*That's it for this week's regular NERW; keep checking back later in
the week on fybush.com for any updates from New York. A happy and
healthy 5762 to our Jewish readers...see you next Monday!

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

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