NERW 10/15 - Anthrax Scare Disrupts WGY's Weekend

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

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                             October 15, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: Anthrax Scare Disrupts WGY's Weekend
*MASSACHUSETTS: WCCM Sale Scrubbed
*PENNSYLVANIA: New FM in Erie

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

*NEW YORK is where we start this week's report, with word that the
latest round of anthrax scares disrupted things at Clear
Channel/Albany Saturday morning. Two envelopes containing a whitish,
sticky substance showed up in the station's mail, sending WGY (810
Schenectady) talk host Joe Gallagher to the hospital for a check-up
after opening them. Gallagher wasn't hurt, and police think the whole
thing was a hoax. (Sign of the times, though: we're seeing job
listings that specify e-mail applications only because of delays
processing paper mail!)

While we're in the Albany market, we note that the FCC has granted the
transfer of WCPT (100.9 Albany) and WKBE (100.3 Warrensburg) from
Tele-Media to "6 Johnson Road Licensing Company," which is the
licensee name for Pamal Broadcasting.

*New York City's WKTU (103.5 Lake Success) is moving again. One of the
four FMs displaced in the World Trade Center collapse, the Clear
Channel station was the most fortunate, since it had a
fully-functioning auxiliary facility at Four Times Square that was
back on the air within moments. 

But that site is significantly lower than the rest of the market's
FMs, and so Clear Channel is looking elsewhere for long-term use. An
application filed last week will move WKTU to the ERI master antenna
on the Empire State Building, joining more than a dozen other FMs
(including fellow WTC refugees WPAT-FM and WNYC-FM) on the city's
tallest remaining structure. 

The engineering study (dated September 12 - they weren't wasting any
time!) notes that WKTU will suffer slight additional interference from
WBZO (103.1 Bay Shore) and WNNJ-FM (103.7 Newton NJ) as a result of
the move, an inevitable result of the area's overstuffed FM spectrum.

WNYC-FM, meanwhile, says it will cost $4 million to get back up to
full power from Empire. It's looking to fellow public radio stations
to help, and indeed Minnesota Public Radio has already received
special permission from the FCC to do on-air fundraising to benefit
WNYC, with other stations expected to follow suit. 

The TV DX types down that way tell NERW that the city's VHF signals
are slowly getting back up to viewable power, with decent pictures
being reported on channels 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 from respectable
distances. 

One more New York City note: Tracy Cloherty, PD at Emmis' WQHT (97.1),
is now VP/Programming for the entire three-station cluster there,
adding WRKS and WQCD to her duties.

We'll return upstate in Buffalo, where the UPN affiliation is moving
in 14 months or so. After several years on little WNGS (Channel 67) in
Springville, which can be seen only on cable in most of the market,
UPN signed a new contract with LIN's WNLO (Channel 23), beginning in
January 2003. 

WNLO is the former WNEQ, the secondary public TV outlet that was sold
and went commercial back in January as an independent. In addition to
a full five-megawatt signal that blankets the market (and a big chunk
of Canada, too), WNLO has a 10PM newscast produced by sister station
WIVB-TV (Channel 4). 

Buffalo's WEDG (103.3) has a new program director, as Lenny Diana
makes the drive up I-79 from his old job as music director of
Pittsburgh's WXDX (105.9) to take Rich Wall's old position. (And by
the way, we noticed a big "For Sale" sign in front of the Citadel
building at 464 Franklin Street in Buffalo when we drove by the other
day...anyone in the Queen City know if that cluster is moving?)

Here in Rochester, a former anchor is suing WROC-TV (Channel 8) for
age discrimination. Marty Aarons (real name: Martin Aarons Finkel)
says his contract with the CBS affiliate wasn't renewed next year
because he was nearing 50 and the station wanted a younger co-anchor.

Up in the North Country, it's a big power boost for three of Tim
Martz' stations, as CPs were granted last week for increases at WYSI
(96.7 Canton, jumping to 23.5 kW at 103 meters, nulled to the
west-northwest), WRCD (101.5 Canton, jumping to 50 kW at 133 meters,
nulled to the north-northeast) and WNCQ (102.9 Morristown, increasing
to 17 kW at 108 meters, nulled to the north-northwest).

Also up that way, Ed Levine filed to build a new tower next to the
current site of his newly-acquired WSCP-FM (101.7 Pulaski), raising
power from 2.5 kW at 111 meters to 3.7 kW at 128 meters.

One final New York note: TBN's W22AZ in Olean has changed channels and
calls; mark it down as W30BW if you're heading for the Southern Tier.

*We'll take care of PENNSYLVANIA next, beginning in Erie, where the
new Fairview-licensed 93.9 signal is reported on the air as of today
(noon on Monday, 10/15, to be exact), running active rock as WRPL,
"the Planet."

While Nextmedia turns on that new signal, it's transferred its 102.3
license (currently WLKK) to Regent, which began stunting this
afternoon with a rotating roster of 24 different formats. The real
format will premiere on 10/23 (get it?), with new calls reportedly on
the way as well. WLKK PD Tim Stephens is out as well with the demise
of "the Point" there.

Down the road a bit in the western 'burbs of Pittsburgh, Keymarket
changed the legal ID on its "Froggy 103.5" this week, as WOGH migrates
from Steubenville, Ohio down US 22 to Burgettstown, PA. Listeners
won't notice any change for now, since the transmitter stays put in
Steubenville, but look for this one to make a physical move east
eventually (crossing paths with Froggy cousin WOGI, which will soon
move from Charleroi, southeast of Pittsburgh, to the WDSY tower right
in the heart of the city's North Side).

On the TV side, the FCC denied an application to change the status of
WQEX (Channel 16) to commercial, a move long sought by public
broadcaster WQED. The good news for QED, which hopes to sell the
facility (it's been doing nothing but simulcasting WQED-TV for a few
years now), is that the FCC did agree to issue a Notice of Proposed
Rule Making on the move, opening the way to an eventual change of
status and sale. (A deal to sell WQEX to religious broadcaster
Cornerstone TV fell through two years ago, when questions arose about
the noncommercial status of Cornerstone's programming.)

Across the state line in Maryland, the sale of Johns Hopkins
University public radio WJHU (88.1) to "Baltimore Public Radio" means
new calls for the station. WYPR is the new call for the station, which
is being bought out by its management.

In the Allentown market, there's a new nickname at WODE (99.9 Easton).
After a brief stint as "the River," the former "Oldies 99" is now 
calling itself "the Hawk."

Back in Philadelphia, an old Boston voice is coming back east. Jeff
Katz, last heard in NERW-land at Boston's WRKO (680), has been hired
by Infinity talker WPHT (1210), which is beefing up its local talk
lineup in the wake of the demise of WWDB-FM (96.5) last year (and the
increased demand for issues talk after September 11). Katz had been
out in Las Vegas at KXNT (840 North Las Vegas), where we heard and
enjoyed his show at NAB last April.

On the Web, fans of the defunct phillyradio.com might want to sample a
new offering: www.phillytvradio.com offers many of the same features
as Chris Coleman's old site, including station listings, histories and
message boards.

*One NEW JERSEY story this week: Greater Media has named John Ford the
station manager at WCTC/WMGQ in New Brunswick. Ford used to be cluster
manager for Citadel/Atlantic City. GM also promoted Mike Kazala from
GSM to station manager at newly acquired WRAT (95.9 Point Pleasant).

*Just one CONNECTICUT note, too: Monroe's WMNR (88.1) has had its CP
for translator W209BD (89.7 Avon) deleted at its request.

*The big news from MASSACHUSETTS came from 7 Bulfinch Place, where
WHDH-TV (Channel 7) cancelled its minority-affairs shows Tuesday
(including the long-running "Urban Update"), then followed up the
action on Wednesday by firing the station's longest-serving reporter,
Garry Armstrong - who happens to be black.

The head of the local NAACP was among those lined up to protest the
moves on Thursday, and Armstrong himself says he may sue the
station. The 59 year old reporter has been at Channel 7 for 31 years,
going all the way back to its previous incarnation as WNAC-TV. He says
he believes his age and a recent illness led the station to fire him.

WHDH managers say they won't discuss personnel matters.

Up in Lawrence, Costa-Eagle will have to find a new buyer for WCCM
(800), now that the Archdiocese of Boston has pulled out of its
planned $1.5 million purchase.

UMass Boston's WUMB (91.9) and former WBUR (90.9) talk host
Christopher Lydon almost hooked up this month, according to the Boston
Globe's Scot Lehigh says the ex-"Connection" host talked with WUMB
officials about going on the air there, but he suggests pressure from
UMass chancellor William Bulger killed a potential deal. (NERW
wonders: why would an all-music station like WUMB break up its day
with talk, anyway?)

Radio People on the Move: WBCN weekend jock Seth Resler is headed to
Seattle, to be music director at KNDD (107.7). Also out on the West
Coast, former Boston talk host Gene Burns, now at San Francisco's KGO
(810), is recuperating after a bacterial infection he picked up while
vacationing in Tahiti.

*In NEW HAMPSHIRE, Laconia's WLNH (98.3) is losing its morning host of
25 years. Warren Bailey says he and partner Beth Osgood (they've been
working together on and off since 1979) will leave the station when
their contracts expire at year's end. The two say they'll work
together again, somewhere - but expect to be off the air for a while.

A call letter change in Conway: WBNC (1050) files to become WXMT;
we're waiting to hear if the format will change from the current
oldies simulcast with WBNC-FM (104.5).

*From VERMONT, we note that one of the many informal objections to
Calvary Chapel LPFM applications around the country (that wouldn't
have anything to do with the much-flouted "one to an owner" rule,
would it?) affects the application for 107.9 in West Townshend.

Up on Mt. Mansfield, Vermont Public Radio's WVPR (107.9) will be
operating at reduced power or going off the air beginning tomorrow
while it replaces its transmitter. 

*Some good news from MAINE: Rick Jordan is back on the job as program
director at WPOR (101.9 Portland), resuming the gig he left after four
days now that his personal issues have been resolved. Welcome back!

Up in the Bangor market, Daniel Priestly has been granted his two
applications for new stations in Veazie. The two new AMs will share a
tower alongside route 170 north of Eddington, operating on 1340 with 1
kW day and 630 watts night, and on 1400 with 1 kW day and 810 watts
night. (The reduced night power, in the case of 1400, is to protect
two long-gone AMs in Riviere-du-Loup and Lac-Megantic, Quebec...)

*And speaking of CANADA, just one bit of news: Anthony Schleifer has
been granted a new 50 watt station in Brantford, Ontario. The new
Christian station will operate on 99.5, which should be interesting:
that's the dial position of WDCX in Buffalo, 80 miles or so to the
east, which already serves Christian-radio listeners in southern
Ontario.

*That's it for this holiday-shortened week. Don't forget to check out
the new ads on our Classifieds page at fybush.com -- and don't wait to
send in your orders for our Tower Site 2002 Calendar. This full-color,
glossy calendar will feature 12 of our favorite Tower Site of the Week
images, but we'll only print as many as we have orders for by month's
end. It's $15 postpaid in the US (add sales tax to NY addresses),
US$20 postpaid to Canada, and you can reserve yours by sending checks
or money orders (payable to Scott Fybush) to 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue,
Rochester NY 14618. You won't regret it!

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

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