No Subject

LATE NEWS: Thanks to fellow Rochester listener Jerry Bond for catching
the disappearance Monday (12/24) of W238AB (95.5), the Pinnacle Hill
translator that brought the signal of WNVE (95.1 Honeoye Falls) to
listeners on Rochester's east side. WNVE's move last year from Bristol
Mountain (where it was licensed to South Bristol Township) to Baker
Hill put the 95.1 primary too close to the 95.5 translator, so it was
just a matter of time before the translator disappeared. In any event,
the much stronger signal the "Nerve" puts in from Baker Hill made the
need for the 95.5 translator (originally installed to overcome
interference to 95.1 from intermodulation created by two other FM
stations on Pinnacle Hill) moot. We will miss those "95-1, 95-5" Nerve
IDs, though... 

It's been a long time since he lived here, but we're sorry nonetheless
to learn of the death Friday (12/21) of Foster Brooks. The comedian
was known to the world for his appearances with Dean Martin and
others; here in Rochester, though, he's remembered for thirty years as
a local radio talent on WHAM and WHEC before moving west in the late
sixties. Brooks was 89.

One item from Long Island this week: WGSM (740 Huntington) has indeed
made the flip from a simulcast of WHLI (1100 Hempstead) to Korean
music; we're also hearing that the station has returned to 24-hour
operation under its new owners.

*Moving up to CONNECTICUT, we can add WEBE (107.9 Westport) to the
list of Aurora stations whose proposed acquisition by Cumulus is
raising a red flag at the FCC. That leaves only WICC (600 Bridgeport)
without a flag; we expect the entire $230 million purchase to be
approved eventually, anyway.

WSGG (89.3 Norfolk) has applied for a license to cover; we'll need to
make a trip to that area north of Torrington one of these days to see
if this gospel station has really signed on.

WNTY (990 Southington) has flipped again; instead of the Fox News
Channel feed they were running when we stopped by a couple of weeks
ago, they're now running a mix of Christmas music. Expect something
new - again - next week!

Up in Hartford, W47AD has changed calls to WUTH-CA; it looks as though
the Univision feed will continue here despite the arrival of a
full-power Univision signal via WUVN (Channel 18).

*Speaking of Univision, they have indeed changed the calls on their
Telefutura outlet-to-be in MASSACHUSETTS. What was WFUB (Channel 66)
in Marlborough has become WUTF(TV); we're awfully glad we caught a
WFUB legal earlier this month when we did.

Out west, the transfer of WGAM (1520 Greenfield) from Great
Northern/Vox back to Edward Skutnik was approved this week by the FCC.

*A former Boston morning host is returning to the air in NEW
HAMPSHIRE. Paul Jaxon, who was half of the "Jaxon and the Pharmacist"
morning show on the WFNX network until August, begins Wednesday
(12/26) at "the Shark," the Seacoast classic rock simulcast of WSAK
(105.3 Kittery ME) and WSHA (102.1 Hampton).

*An LPTV call change makes up all the news from MAINE this week:
Carter Broadcasting's WLOB-LP (Channel 45) in Portland becomes
WLLB-LP.

*In PENNSYLVANIA, Inner City Broadcasting has pulled the plug on WURP
(1550 Braddock), saying the Pittsburgh-market station wasn't making
any money. WURP had been simulcasting the black-oriented talk of Inner
City's WHAT (1340 Philadelphia).

Just south of Pittsburgh, Keymarket has flipped calls on 940 in
Charleroi. No longer warehousing the WPNT calls, this station
(formerly WESA) is now warehousing the WFGI calls that were in State
College until last month. It's still simulcasting "Froggy" WOGI (98.3
Charleroi).

(LATE UPDATE: A reader out that way tells us the WPNT calls have just
been installed on Keymarket's 1340 in Connellsville, which had been
WCVI for decades.)

Kenny Woods, formerly the assistant program director at oldies WWSW (94.5
Pittsburgh), has made quite the career change: he's moved over to
Salem Media's religious WORD-FM (101.5) and WPIT (730) as operations
director!

Up in the Poconos, we hear there's a format change on the way at WILT
(960 Mount Pocono). The station, whose towers are easily seen from
I-380 near the I-80 junction, has been running ESPN sports - but we
hear it will be simulcasting new Nassau Broadcasting sister WVPO (840
Stroudsburg) as early as the first of the year.

*And there's just one piece of news from CANADA before we wrap up for
the holidays: The CRTC is taking applications for new radio outlets in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. No word on
who filed the initial applications that triggered the calls for more
applicants...

*That's it for NERW for 2001! We'll have the 2001 Year in Review ready
to roll on fybush.com next week, and we'll be back with our next
regular NERW issue on Monday, January 7, 2002. 

A happy, safe, RF-filled holiday season to all of you.

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

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