NERW 4/1: Neaverth Fired in Buffalo

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                              April 1, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: Neaverth Out, Lacy In At WHTT
*PENNSYLVANIA: Cumulus Restarts H'burg CHR War
*CANADA: Big Changes At CBC R1?

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

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*One of the best-known voices in Buffalo radio is without a spot on
the dial this week - and alas, the end of Danny Neaverth's morning
show on WHTT (104.1) is no April Fool joke.

The Citadel-owned oldies station began dropping hints late in March
that it was looking to cut costs, dismissing Neaverth's son (Dan
Jr. had been doing sports on WHTT) and daughter-in-law (P.J. Fox, who
had been doing part-time air work for the station. When Tony Violanti
of the Buffalo News broke the news that Neaverth's own contract would
not be renewed, WHTT pulled Neaverth off the air after Wednesday's
show, calling at least a temporary halt to a career that began at WKBW
in the fifties.

A recent inductee into the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers' Hall of Fame,
Neaverth began his career in his hometown at WBNY (1400, now WWWS) in
1957, launching a top-40 format that proved so popular it was soon
emulated by WKBW, which hired Neaverth for afternoons not long
after. Neaverth remained with WKBW through its call change to WWKB,
finally departing in the late eighties to move his morning show over
to WHTT.

There's no word yet on what Neaverth's next move might be - but WHTT
didn't wait long to fill his shoes, announcing Friday that veteran
WBEN morning man Bill Lacy will take over morning drive in a few
weeks. Lacy, who was let go in a cost-cutting binge at WBEN last year,
had been heard filling in for Neaverth during several scheduled
vacations recently.

Also gone from WHTT is midday jock Tom Donahue; he stays with the
station to continue hosting the Saturday night request show.

*Other news from around NEW YORK: Binghamton's WMRV (105.7 Endicott)
is the target of a lawsuit from the husband of a woman who died during
a station promotion in June 2000. Susan Santodonato, 37, was one of
about a hundred Britney Spears fans who turned up at WMRV's old
Endicott studio building after the station announced the pop star
would be visiting.

Spears wasn't there, of course - but the Clear Channel CHR station had
hired an actress to impersonate her and several "guards" to keep fans
at a distance. Santodonato fell and hit her head on a garage door
during the chaos, and the $1.2 billion suit filed by her husband says
the injury, which led to her death a few hours later, was caused by
one of the guards pushing her.

The lawsuit names Clear Channel and Visions Federal Credit Union,
which owned the Country Club Road building where WMRV's studios were
then located. (The station moved to a new studio in Vestal a few
months ago.) 

One more bit of Binghamton news: across town at Citadel, WYOS (1360)
swaps shifts for two jocks, moving Reese T. to mornings and Wess to
afternoons. There's word that WCDW (100.5 Susquehanna PA) will jump on
the format hole left by WYOS' move from FM to AM, ditching its AAA-ish
rock format for oldies this week; we'll keep you posted! 

And another fixture of the old 1360, WKOP, has landed a new spot on
the AM dial: Don Giovanni's "Italian Carousel" is now airing Saturdays
from 9-noon on sister station WNBF (1290).

Up in the Ithaca area, Syracuse Community Radio has been granted a
license to cover for translator W201CD (88.1 Lansing). We're not sure
what the purpose of this one is; SCR is having enough trouble reaching
Syracuse as it is. (The station's Web site now acknowledges that the
station is primarily a Webcast, with the WXXE 90.5 Fenner signal
reaching only a handful of potential listeners.)

New York's newest radio station now has a program director: WTJM
(105.1) named Michael Saunders as the programmer for the new "Power
105.1," bringing him to the Big Apple from Clear Channel urban duo
WJLB/WMXD in Detroit. Also coming on board at Power is Colby Cobb,
moving up from mornings at Philadelphia's WUSL to do middays at WTJM.

Over on the AM dial, WABC (770) moved Michael Savage's show to a live
airing last week. Savage is now heard weeknights from 8-10 PM, cutting
Steve Malzberg and Richard Bey back to two hours, from 6-8 PM, and
ending Malzberg's solo hour at 9.

The Yankees start their season this afternoon, but a good chunk of
their fan base won't be able to watch on TV. The Yanks' new YES
Network still hasn't completed carriage deals with several area cable
systems. Cablevision customers in Long Island and the Bronx (the
Bronx!) aren't seeing YES, thanks to the company's stance that it
won't pass the $2/month charge from the Yankees-owned network to a
customer base that doesn't necessarily want the new network. YES is
also not yet on the air on Adelphia systems in Buffalo and Western New
York; it did just complete carriage deals with AT&T systems in
Connecticut and elsewhere.

(A few updates on the Yanks network: while no official list has yet
appeared, we're told WPOP Hartford, WICC Bridgeport, WNNZ Westfield MA
and WWCO Waterbury all remain on the network from last year, and we
hear WARL in Attleboro MA will carry some games as well. On the TV
side, Hartford's WFSB will carry some YES games.)

Out on Long Island, WLIR (92.7 Garden City) is making noises about a
big Monday announcement. April Fool? We'll let you know as soon as we
hear anything...

(FOLLOW-UP: It was indeed an April Fool; WLIR announced that it had 
been sold to musician Moby, who turned the station into "WMBY" for a few
hours, playing a more diverse mix than NYC radio has heard in quite a
while.)

Way out on Long Island, the three-way battle for a new station on 88.7
in Montauk has been settled, with Broadcasting for the Challenged and
Montgomery NYC Broadcasting both withdrawing their applications. The
winner? Bridgeport, Connecticut's WPKN (89.5), which gets a CP for 8
watts horizontal, 2700 watts vertical at 69 meters above average
terrain. Will the new station be a straight relay of WPKN's freeform
programming? We'll let you know. (While we're out there, we note that
the WMHR Syracuse translator in Riverhead, W214BF on 90.7, has been
granted a CP to boost power from 10 watts to 150.)

*To PENNSYLVANIA we go next, and the next installment of the
Harrisburg CHR wars. Last week, we told you that Cumulus had pulled
the plug on the format at WNNK (104.1 Harrisburg), shifting "Wink" to
a hot AC in the face of tough competition from Clear Channel's "Kiss"
WHKF (99.3).

But it turns out that was only half the story: this week, Cumulus
flipped oldies outlet WWKL (92.1 Palmyra) to CHR as "Hot 92,"
launching a new challenge to Kiss, albeit on a signal that's weak over
much of the market. WNNK PD John O'Dea is overseeing the new entry as
well, and he's running it jockless for now. 

The irony here? Those WWKL calls and that oldies format were last
heard in the market on...99.3, just before it flipped to "Kiss" last
year!

(Oldies fans in Harrisburg now have to tune in WHYL 960 from Carlisle,
WHBO 92.7 from Starview or WSOX 96.1 from Red Lion for their musical
fix...)

Out in Pittsburgh, Greg Weston is the latest Clear Channel job
casualty; he lost his post last week as program director of struggling
all-sports outlet WBGG (970).

Franklin's WFRA (1450) is dropping power from 1000 to 990 watts, to
account for a new tower that's slightly more efficient than initially
predicted. (It seems the application had called for a 195-foot tower
instead of the 199-footer that went up!) No change in WFRA's coverage
is anticipated. 

In Philadelphia, Michael Smerconish returns to the airwaves, and on an
Infinity-owned station, no less, after his departure last year from
WPHT (1210). He'll begin contributing commentaries to all-news KYW
(1060) next week.

WMGK (102.9 Philadelphia) has a new afternoon guy, as Andre Gardner
replaces Lauren Valle. Gardner was the "button guy" at New York's WXRK
(92.3), serving as production director and riding the delay machine on
the Howard Stern show.

And the Phillies have added another station to their network: WBUD
(1260) in Trenton, NEW JERSEY helps to fill in some of the coverage
lost when the Phils moved from WPHT to WPEN (950) this season.

*We've told you which CONNECTICUT stations are carrying the Yankees;
we may as well mention the Mets as well. They'll be heard again this
year on WLIS (1420 Old Saybrook) and WMRD (1150 Middletown), with some
TV games on WTXX (Channel 20).

Speaking of WTXX, NERW research director Garrett Wollman has been busy
perusing the many Form 337 applications filed by TV stations around
the region seeking an extension of time to build their DTV
facilities. In WTXX's case, the delay is brought about by an attempt
to move from the Channel 20 site in Waterbury to Rattlesnake Mountain
in Farmington, much closer to Hartford. WTXX tells the FCC that its
proposed landlord in Farmington, Communications Site Management, has
been unable to get zoning permission to build a new tower next to the
existing WTIC-TV (Channel 61) stick for WTXX-DT (and Connecticut
Public TV's WEDH-DT). The plan now is to try to reinforce the existing
WTIC-TV tower to handle the new users; negotiations to put some
antennas on the neighboring WVIT (Channel 30) towers proved fruitless.

WDJZ (1530 Bridgeport) has ditched its short-lived reggae format and
is now programming in Spanish, we're told.

And Cumulus closed on its acquisition of 18 stations from Aurora,
including WEBE/WICC in Bridgeport.

*A TV development in RHODE ISLAND: with Cox cable systems in the Ocean
State dropping WBZ-TV (Channel 4) from Boston recently, the station
has found a new way to get its newscasts to viewers who commute to
Massachusetts from the Providence area.

Starting this week, WBZ's morning news will also be seen from 5-7 AM
on WLWC (Channel 28), Providence's UPN affiliate. The New
Bedford-licensed station is operated from the WBZ studios in Boston,
and WBZ managers say offering the Boston-focused morning news will be
useful to those who make the two-state commute. WLWC will also carry
WBZ's Sunday night "Sports Final" at 11:30 beginning next weekend.

Another TV development: CBS affiliate WPRI (Channel 12) changes hands
from STC Television to LIN. It's not as exciting as it looks, since
both are controlled by Hicks, Muse anyway, but it does put WPRI under
the same management as Connecticut ABC affiliate WTNH (Channel 8) and
Springfield NBC affiliate WWLP (Channel 22). (It will also require LIN
to sell Providence Fox affiliate WNAC unless the rules change before
the deal closes...)

*In MASSACHUSETTS, it looks as though WRKO (680 Boston) has become a
breeding ground for satellite-radio talk programmers. Kevin Straley
left the PD chair there a couple of years ago to run XM's talk
operation; now his successor, Jay Clark, has left the building to
become Sirius' first VP of nonmusic programming. Entercom corporate
programmer Ken Beck is running the show at WRKO until a replacement is
named.

Up on the North Shore, WBOQ (104.9 Gloucester) has parted ways with
Dana Hersey, the deep-voiced announcer best known for years of "The
Movie Loft" on WSBK-TV. Hersey had been hosting the morning show on
the standards outlet for the last few years. Co-host Kendall Buhl
continues to host the "Daybreak" show at WBOQ.

And out on Cape Cod, yet another FM frequency could soon light up on
the already-crowded airwaves. John Garabedian is asking the FCC to
allocate 98.7B1 to Nantucket; those with long memories will recall
that Garabedian was behind the first FM on Nantucket, WGTF (93.5),
which evolved into today's WRZE (96.3).

*In NEW HAMPSHIRE, we hear Clear Channel may be adding its "Morning
Buzz" show to a third signal, with WVRR (101.7 Newport) in the Upper
Valley joining WGIR-FM (101.1 Manchester) and WHEB (100.3
Portsmouth). We also hear that WVRR has ended its simulcast on WMXR
(93.9 Woodstock VT), with 93.9 heading towards modern rock while 101.7
stays with classic rock. And there's talk that WCVR (102.1 Randolph
VT) could be dropping country for classic rock; stay tuned!

*Up in CANADA, the buzz is building over the announcement expected
soon from the CBC about big changes in Radio One programming. There's
word that the network could eliminate "This Morning," the descendant
of its once-signature "Morningside" show; it's also looking as though
Radio One will cancel "The House" as part of a huge overhaul of its
Saturday programming. We'll have more on this as soon as the CBC makes
a formal announcement about the changes, likely sometime within the
next few weeks.

Toronto's urban station, CFXJ (Flow 93.5), wants to be heard
better. It's applied to boost power from 298 watts to 1430 watts to
put out a stronger signal against cross-border WBLK (93.7 Depew NY).

Up north, CFJB (95.7) in Barrie also wants to make a move; it's hoping
to drop power from 96.3 kW to 70 kW, moving its antenna up more than
300 feet as it relocates to the same site as sister station CKMB
(107.5) in the tower farm at Edgar, Ontario.

In London, Sound of Faith applies to put a new Christian contemporary
signal on the air at 105.9, running 10 watts.

John Sherratt filed a formal application this week to acquire CJOJ
(95.5) and CHCQ (100.1) in Belleville from Tony Zwig; over in
St. Catharines, "Pellpropco" applies to buy CHSC (1220).

And out in the Maritimes, the Maritime Broadcasting System has
completed its acquisition of CJRW (102.1 Summerside PEI); MBS had been
operating the station, owned by Gulf Broadcasting, for a while now
anyway.

*Now, this scheduling note: NERW is packing our bags and getting ready
to head west for this year's NAB convention in Las Vegas. We'll be in
Sin City from April 5-11, and as usual, we'll offer daily (more or
less) updates on the Web at www.fybush.com.

We'll post a brief NERW update on April 4, and there will be no
regular NERW on April 8. We'll return to our normal schedule April 15.

If you're heading out to Las Vegas as well, we'd love to meet you
there. Drop us a line (nerw@fybush.com) and let us know!

We'll be back later in the week with minor league baseball networks,
April Fools gags gone wrong (or even right) and much more...stay
tuned!

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

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