NERW 2/11: WMTW Makes its Move

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                            February 11, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*MAINE: WMTW Signs On New Stick
*CANADA: CHOM, CJAD Shake It Up
*MASSACHUSETTS: WGBH Plans Huge New HQ

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

*It's been a quiet week, and we're a day late with this issue due to a
quick jaunt to MAINE, where we saw (in twilight, at least) the new
WMTW (Channel 8) tower in Baldwin. Channel 8 turned on this new site
last Tuesday (February 5), just after we went to press; thus far, at
least judging by WMTW's Web site (and our Lewiston motel-room
viewing), reception reports are pretty good - at least, if you're not
trying to watch from Berlin, N.H. 

In any event, NERW hears that WMTW's old Mount Washington transmitter
site will remain staffed for now, so those Marty Angstrom mountaintop
weather reports aren't going anywhere right away. We'll keep you
posted as we learn more about the future of the radio facilities atop
the region's highest peak.

*Up in CANADA, listeners in Montreal will have to rearrange their
morning radio habits next week. As part of the restructuring of its
Montreal properties, Standard Radio flipped CHOM (97.7) from modern
rock to classic rock over the weekend. Next Monday, Terry Dimonte, who
was CHOM's morning host from 1984 until 1993, will return to the FM
side from sister station CJAD (800), bringing with him co-host Ted
Bird and his production staff. Ric Peterson, who's been hosting CJAD's
afternoon drive, will take the morning shift on the AM side, with
former CHOM morning host Andrew Carter moving to Peterson's old
afternoon gig on CJAD. (Carter's co-host, Pete Marier, is off to
Winnipeg and CFWM...)

But wait, there's more: CHOM is also moving out of its longtime
Westmount home at 1310 Greene Street this coming weekend, joining CJAD
and CJFM (95.9) at 1411 Fort Street. (Former CHOM sister station CKGM
will stay put at Greene Street, we believe.)

*From MASSACHUSETTS comes word that public broadcasting behemoth WGBH
will soon be in a new home. We've reported several times in the last
few years that Harvard, which owns some of the buildings in WGBH's
Western Avenue complex, has been urging the station to move so its
property can be used for a Harvard Business School expansion; now it
appears that plans are being firmed up to move the station a few
blocks west to the Brighton Landing complex that's already home to
Entercom's Boston stations.

The plan calls for WGBH's offices to occupy much of an existing
building on the property, which is also home to the headquarters of
New Balance. The studios would go into a new building nearby on
Market Street, next to the parking garage across Guest Street.

How big would this facility be? The office side would take up six of
the seven floors in the 180,000-square foot building, while the studio
building would fill another 130,000 square feet. 

When this move is completed, tentatively by 2005, it would create an
impressive media axis along Market Street; in addition to WGBH and
Entercom, Infinity's radio operations are consolidating in the former
WSBK studios on Birmingham Parkway, just across the street, while
Infinity's WBZ TV/radio, WSBK and WBMX are less than a mile away on
Soldiers Field Road, next door to Pax's WBPX. 

Speaking of Infinity, it's without a program director at classic rock
WZLX (100.7) with the departure of market veteran Buzz Knight, who's
off to Philadelphia to program WMGK (102.9), about which we'll have
more in a moment.

It's not looking pretty at Worcester's WORC (1310); news director Ann
Kenda and executive producer Chad Varnas are the latest out the door
at the upstart talker. We're hearing that problems at the station have
included unpaid payroll taxes and cancelled health insurance, and
we're told there's just one full-timer left doing programming
there. We'll keep you posted as this one heads to state regulators for
their attention...

Out west - so far west as to be in the Albany television market - the
FCC is poring over eleven bids for channel 51 in Pittsfield. This
facility, which was once granted a never-built construction permit
under the calls WVUW, is one of four around the country up for bid
in the latest auction, and bidders include Hubbard (which would create
a duopoly with WNYT in Albany), TBN, Flinn Broadcasting and Equity
Broadcasting. The new station would join a crowded market that already
includes seven full-power players and a host of LPTV and cable-only
telecasters. The auction began last week; no word yet from the FCC on
when a winner will be announced.

We're sorry to report the passing of Bob Clayton, whose music shows on
WHDH television (the old channel 5) and radio were among the city's
most popular in the fifties. Clayton turned to the law when he retired
from broadcasting in 1973, practicing on Cape Cod until recently. He
was 87 years old when he died last Monday (2/4) at the Lahey Clinic in
Burlington.

*One RHODE ISLAND note: as we drove to Maine, our dial stopped at
Providence-area Radio Disney affiliate WDDZ (550 Pawtucket) just at
legal time, and while the station is doing a proper legal now (instead
of the "WDDZ Providence" it was running last fall), the ID
inexplicably called the station "AM 1550"! We're glad we got this one
on tape...and no, it had nothing to do with the actual 1550 Disney
outlet over in the Hartford market, WDZK Bloomfield.

*There's a format change, of sorts, in southeastern CONNECTICUT, as
WAXK (102.3 Stonington) drops the hard edge from its rock format to
become classic hits "XL102.3." We're hearing there are still some
current tunes in rotation at the New London-market station, which is
reportedly changing calls to WUXL. 

At WGCH (1490 Greenwich), Peter Mutino is the new general manager,
replacing Peter Baumann (who stays with the station's owners to
oversee WVIP in Mount Kisco). Mutino was the general manager at WFAS
in White Plains.

Dick Alexander, who was the area's first black radio announcer when
his career began decades ago at WICC in Bridgeport, died February 2 at
Danbury Hospital. Alexander, whose deep voice became a fixture at
WINE/WGHF in Brookfield, had been out of radio in recent years,
working for the town of Brookfield. He was 74 years old.

*One VERMONT note: Mike Patrick comes to country WWFY (100.9 Berlin)
at month's end. Patrick, who had been the morning guy at WKKG in
Columbus, Indiana, will be known as "Big Mike McFly" when he arrives
at the Vox-owned "Froggy" outlet in the Barre/Montpelier market.

*A pair of proposed station sales in NEW YORK are coming under fire
this week. Up in the Hudson Valley, the FCC is being asked to set
aside the already-approved transfer of WHUC/WZCR Hudson and WCKL/WCTW
Catskill from Concord Media to Clear Channel. The request comes from
Ohio businessman David Ringer, who's already asked the FCC to look
into Clear Channel's ties to Concord. Clear Channel says its practice
of LMA'ing Concord stations is legal, and denies Ringer's allegation
that Concord is nothing but a front for the giant broadcaster.

Out on Long Island's East End, Jarad Broadcasting and Main Street
Broadcasting are both asking the FCC to deny the transfer of the WCSO
(92.9 Southampton) construction permit from Peconic Bay Broadcasting
to AAA Entertainment, which already owns four FMs (WEHM, WBEA, WBAZ
and WMOS) out there. 

Speaking of Jarad, it lost WXXP (105.3 Calverton-Roanoke) PD/OM Skyy
Walker this week; he's headed west to the Big Apple to be music and
programming coordinator at WKTU (103.5). Assistant PD "Phathead" takes
interim duties at "Party 105.3"

There's no Radio Disney yet in Albany; we hear Disney needed a few
extra days to get a satellite dish installed at the WGNA (1460)
transmitter site, so the country simulcast from WGNA-FM (107.7)
continues until Friday.

We drove through Albany on Saturday morning, just in time to hear the
end of the standards show that was the AM's only non-simulcast
program. Host Bill Edwardsen made a reference to the "Mickey Mouse
station" that was coming soon, then said he'd sign off and go down the
hall to tell the "hillbilly girl DJ" to turn the simulcast back on -
and thus ended that phase of AM 1460's existence! (We noted, too, that
the FM programming is emphasizing that "FM" quite a bit this week...)

North Country correspondent Mike Roach tells us WWNY (Channel 7) in
Watertown has received its DTV equipment, with programming on WWNY-DT
(Channel 35) due to start in a few weeks. Mike also reports that the
state Attorney General subpoenaed several boxes of records related to
the dispute over religious WWJS (90.1 Watertown) from station manager
Steven Bryant. Bryant didn't show up with the documents; instead, he
sent his wife Shirley and his lawyer to deliver them. The station
remains off the air, with its equipment locked up inside Bryant's
building.

NASCAR fans in Binghamton will be tuning to WBBI (107.5 Endwell) this
year, as the Clear Channel country outlet grabs the race package from
previous rights-holder WCDW. B107.5 is also running a sixth day of its
"Breakfast Flakes" show now; Jerry and Dave can be heard on Saturday
in addition to their Monday-through-Friday schedule.

Here in Rochester, WPXY (97.9) has lost its assistant PD/MD, "Norm on
the Barstool," who resigns after eight years at the Infinity CHR. We
hear Norm will resurface soon with a PD gig (the vacant one at
Binghamton's WMRV, perhaps?); in the meantime, 98PXY PD Mike Danger is
handling MD duties.

And we note the passing of former WFAS (1230 White Plains) morning
announcer Johnny Michaels, who died Saturday (Feb. 9). Michaels'
career included New York's WMCA, WNBC, WCBS-FM (just prior to its
switch to oldies), WOR-FM and WWDJ as well as several Hartford
stations. Michaels was doing a morning talk show on WFAS until just a
few months ago, when the station switched to standards. 

*We know a bit more about the plans for a southern NEW JERSEY FM
station to move closer to the Philadelphia and Wilmington
markets. WSNJ-FM (107.7) took the first step towards a move-in this
week when it applied to change its city of license from Bridgeton to
Elmer, New Jersey. 

Never heard of Elmer? You're hardly alone; the little community on
Route 55 has a population of just over 1500. WSNJ-FM isn't proposing a
transmitter move from its longtime site at Carl's Corners near
Bridgeton just yet, but we suspect there's one in the works once the
city-of-license change is complete.

Over towards the ocean, Atlantic City's WZBZ (99.3 Pleasantville) and
WGBZ (105.5 Cape May Courthouse) jumped from modern AC to urban last
week, keeping the "Buzz" nickname. Though there hasn't been an offical
filing yet, we hear Margate Communications is selling WZBZ/WGBZ, along
with urban AC WTTH/WBNJ and standards WMID AM/FM, to Equity
Communications, which already owns WCMC, WZXL and WAYV in the
market. No word yet on a sale price; we hear Equity will LMA the
Margate stations until the deal closes.

We're sorry to report the death, at age 66, of James Normoyle, better
known as Jay Edwards. He programmed several stations in Pennsylvania
and northern New Jersey in the seventies, then ran WSUS (102.3 Sussex)
in the eighties and nineties before buying the station in
1993. Edwards, who died Saturday (2/9), sold WSUS in 1997; it's now
part of Clear Channel's Sussex cluster.

*Just one bit of PENNSYLVANIA news, but it's a good one: WMGK (102.9
Philadelphia) has straightened out its positioning after years of
edging away from its old AC "Magic" days. It's now just "Classic Rock
102-9," and as noted earlier, it has Boston veteran Buzz Knight on
hand as PD.

*And that'll do it for another week; we'll be back with more news next
Monday!

-----------------------NorthEast Radio Watch------------------------
                       (c)2002 Scott Fybush
                          www.fybush.com

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