NERW 4/8: WJAS Needs New Site

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                                April 8, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*PENNSYLVANIA: WJAS to build new transmitter site
*NEW JERSEY: WKOE gets "hot"
*LAS VEGAS: We're at the NAB!

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

(SPECIAL NOTE TO MAILING LIST READERS: We're out of town all week,
covering the NAB convention in Las Vegas - but never fear; you can
keep up to date with our daily looks at what's happening out
here. It's only on the NERW Web site, so be sure to check out
www.fybush.com for the very freshest updates from Sin City!)

*It's rare to see a big-city directional AM station move its entire
transmitter site - unless the government steps in and gives it no
choice. That's what's happening in New York City, where WOR is losing
its site in the Meadowlands, and it's what WJAS (1320) in Pittsburgh,
PENNSYLVANIA is going through now as well.

WJAS' current two-tower site sits along the river near the eastern
portal of the Squirrel Hill tunnel, on land that the station leased
from the Standard LaFarge Company. In 1994, Standard sold the land to
the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, without giving WJAS
the right of first refusal to buy it, something WJAS says it was
entitled to by contract.

The URA tried to end WJAS' lease on the land, only to find itself in
the midst of a three-way lawsuit, which the agency now hopes to settle
by selling WJAS another piece of land that it owns, a few miles north
at Highland Drive and Leech Farm Road in Penn Hills.

WJAS' application calls for a three-tower array, with two towers used
by day with 6000 watts and two towers at night with 3300
watts. Normally, stations that change sites have to reduce nighttime
interference on the frequency by 10 percent; WJAS is asking the FCC to
waive that power-reduction requirement because the move is
involuntary.

NERW wonders whether this site could eventually become a new home to
WJAS' sister station just up the dial, talker WPTT (1360 McKeesport),
whose two-site operation currently leaves most of Pittsburgh unable to
hear the signal after dark.

Other news from the Keystone state: WIOV (1240 Reading) and WIOV-FM
(105.1 Ephrata) pass from Reading Radio Inc. to Reading Radio,
debtor-in-possession, as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of
parent company Brill Media.

And Pax has another DTV move up its sleeve in NERW-land: in addition
to the channel changes we told you about in Boston and Providence, Pax
has applied to move the analog signal of Scranton's WQPX from its
current channel 64 to the station's DTV assignment on channel 32. If
approved, the channel 32 signal would run 400 kW visual from 491
meters above average terrain on Bald Hill, northwest of Scranton.

*One format change in NEW JERSEY: WKOE (106.3 Ocean City) ends its
stunting by becoming "The New Hot 106-3, Today's Top 40," under the PD
hand of Brad Carson, who continues his duties with WKOE's old modern
AC format, now moved down the dial to "Mix" WBSS (97.3 Millville).

*Moving along to NEW YORK, WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) wants to move
west on Long Island. The station, which relays the modern AC of WLIR
(92.7 Garden City), now shares a site near East Quogue with WWXY
(107.1 Hampton Bays); it's filed an application to move about five
miles west to the site just north of Eastport and south of the Long
Island Expressway that's used by WRCN (103.9 Riverhead). WDRE's new
facilities would be 3000 watts at 100 meters, with a directional
antenna nulled towards WRKS (98.7 New York) and WPLR (99.1 New Haven).

Speaking of WLIR, its "big announcement" Monday was, unsurprisingly,
an April Fool stunt: a claim that musician Moby had bought the station
and was turning it into "WMBY." Moby did, in fact, program the station
for a few hours, playing a much more diverse list of tunes than
normally heard on the commercial dial in New York!

Other stunts worthy of mention around the region: in Syracuse, WNTQ
(93.1) morning team Ted and Amy claimed the state was about to outlaw
eating and drinking in cars. It would have been only mildly amusing -
until talk host Jim Reith across town at WSYR (570) was taken in on
the stunt by a caller! Up in New Hampshire, WJYY (105.5 Concord)
claimed its morning team was being "suspended" - and they were, from a
crane 40 feet up during the entire (very rainy) morning show. And in
Toledo, Ohio, WVKS (92.5) took a subtle jab at satellite radio by
claiming it would soon start charging for access to its morning
show. The funny part? The Toledo Blade's Russ Lemmon swallowed the gag
whole, publishing an entire column that took it seriously. A red-faced
Blade finally ran a correction the next day...

It may have sounded like an April Fool joke, but Binghamton's WCDW
(100.5 Susquehanna PA) is really changing format. The station says it
will let listeners decide over the weekend, voting among a series of
stunt formats that will run in one-hour blocks; whatever happens, it
appears the station will cancel the Greaseman's syndicated morning
show and perhaps let some of its airstaff go. (We still suspect oldies
are on the way to this rimshot signal.)

New York's WNYC (820/93.9) announced its new schedule, and we can't
help but think it's a waste of a good signal over the nation's biggest
city: the plan calls for simulcasting the AM news-talk programming,
including Morning Edition, Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate, on the FM
signal from 6 AM until 2 PM daily. The FM side would then offer
listeners one hour of music with John Schaefer, "Fresh Air," and then
return to the simulcast for All Things Considered before returning to
music at 7 PM.

Kelly Stevens is changing stations in Albany; the veteran
jock/newscaster/talk host will give up her 11 AM -1 PM talk show on
WROW (590) to go across the hall and do news on sister station WYJB
(95.5) in the mornings with Chuck Taylor. No word yet on how the
schedule will shift on WROW, but we hear the station will pick up Bill
O'Reilly's show when it launches.

Up north, WYBG (1050 Massena) owner Curran Wade is running for office:
he'll challenge St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators chairman Bill
Lacy for his seat this fall.

A well-known upstate New York jock and station manager is turning
station owner: Donald Derosa will pay David Zinkhann $300,000 for WZZZ
(1300 Fulton), north of Syracuse. Derosa is probably best known for
his stint at Albany's WPTR in the sixties; his resume also includes
stops at WTLB and WRUN in Utica, the latter as GM, and at WSNY in
Schenectady.

An update on translator W201CD (88.1 Lansing): it is indeed on the
air, serving Ithaca as a relay of Geneva's WEOS (89.7), which stepped
in to help Syracuse Community Radio get the signal on the air before
the CP expired.

And while Long Island and the Bronx still can't see the Yankees on
TV, Buffalo now can: Adelphia agreed to carry the YES Network signal
on a part-time basis until June, when it will displace the MSG Network
for full-time carriage.

*Moving over to MASSACHUSETTS, WXLO (104.5 Fitchburg) in the Worcester
market is looking for a new PD after the departure of Chase Murphy,
who stays in the Citadel family as he seeks a new gig.

Tribune is cancelling its morning show at WLVI (Channel 56); "Boston's
WB in the Morning" entered a tough race against four other morning
shows, and never quite achieved the critical mass of the company's
morning entries in places like New York and Los Angeles.

Up on the North Shore, WNSH (1570 Beverly) adds oldies from the Waitt
Radio satellite service to its diet of talk shows. 

And Greater Media has been granted a license to cover for W227AM (93.3
Andover), the Wood Hill translator that's supposed to relay WBOS (92.9
Brookline), but the signal has yet to be heard on the air by our ears
up that way.

*In RHODE ISLAND, Scott Cordischi is back on the air at WSKO (790
Providence), hoping to put his recent arrest for solicitation behind
him. On his first day back Monday, Cordischi began with an apology to
his listeners - and the Providence Journal's Bill Reynolds reports the
listeners responded in kind, welcoming him back to the airwaves after
a three-week absence.

*Up in NEW HAMPSHIRE, there's a new morning team on "The Shark," as
Bob and Tom add WSHK (105.3 Kittery ME) and WSHA (102.1 Hampton) to
their Indiana-based network.

Across the state in the Upper Valley, we're told WVRR (101.7 Newport)
has now joined WMXR (93.9 Woodstock VT) in a modern rock simulcast as
"New Rock 93-9 and 101-7." 

*Speaking of VERMONT, the statewide PBS outlet up there wants a new
DTV channel for its Rutland transmitter. WVER (Channel 28) is now
allocated DTV 56, but has asked the FCC to move that allocation to
Channel 9 so it can run with lower power at less cost, with better
coverage to boot.

And WWSR (1420 St. Albans) has applied to change calls to WTWK,
presumably for "Talk."

*One bit of MAINE news: country challenger WTHT (107.5 Lewiston) is
now using the "Wolf" nickname on the air in Portland.

*And just one bit of news on a quiet week in CANADA: CHUM has signed
the CFL expansion Ottawa Renegades to its sports outlet in the
nation's capital; CFGO (Team 1200) will carry the team in its
inaugural season.

That's as good a cue as any to offer our minor-league baseball list
for the season, and we'll start our AAA International League and AA
Eastern League coverage in Ottawa, where the AAA Lynx will appear on
CFGO as well, with 20 TV games on Rogers Cable. (The Blue Jays move
from CFGO to Oldies 1310, CIWW, but for weeknight games only. CIWW and
the team are both owned by Rogers. More on the Jays network, while
we're thinking of it: CJRN 710 Niagara Falls, CKGL 570 Kitchener, CFOS
560 Owen Sound, CKRU 980 Peterborough and CJCS 1240 Stratford all join
flagship CJCL 590 Toronto, which pushes games to CFYI 640 if the
Raptors are playing - and we don't know where the Jays go if the Leafs
are playing on CFYI at the same time!)

Elsewhere in the IL, the Buffalo Bisons continue on WWKB 1520, the
Rochester Red Wings on WHTK 1280 weekdays and WHAM 1180 weekends, the
Pawtucket Red Sox on WSKO 790 and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons
on WICK 1400, WYCK 1340 and WITK 1550. In Syracuse, the SkyChiefs move
up the dial from WHEN to sports challenger WNSS 1260.

As for the Eastern League, the Portland SeaDogs move to WMTW
(870/106.7) this season, with games also heard on WPHX (1220 Sanford),
WLAM (1470 Lewiston), WKTQ (1450 South Paris), WOXO (92.7 Norway),
WTBM (100.7 Mexico) and WRKD (1450 Rockland). We suspect WKTQ, WOXO
and WTBM are carrying the games only when they don't conflict with the
Red Sox.

Connecticut listeners will hear the Norwich Navigators on WICH 1310
(and on WMRD 1150 and WLIS 1420 when the Mets are off), the New Haven
Ravens on WAVZ 1300 (and on WATR 1320 for some games) and the New
Britain Rock Cats on the Buckley stations, WDRC 1360, WSNG 610, WMMW
1470 and WWCO 1240. WWCO is also on the Yankees network, so the Rock
Cats may get bumped by the pinstripes during the season. (Speaking of
which, WLAD 800 in Danbury will also be carrying the Yankees this
season.)

The Binghamton Mets continue on WNBF 1290 (and add WENE 1430 to the
Yankees roster there.)

The Trenton Thunder will appear on WTTM 1680, with TV games on
Comcast's CN8, which will also carry some Reading Phillies
games. Reading radio will be on WIOV 1240. The Harrisburg Senators
will be on WKBO 1230, while the Altoona Curve show up on WFBG 1290.

And we'll finish up Pennsylvania by mentioning that WPAZ (1370
Pottstown) is the latest suburban addition to the Phillies network.

*That'll do it for another week; be sure to join us at fybush.com all
this week for daily updates from the NAB Convention floor in Las Vegas
(and don't miss our new, shamelessly self-promotional, sister site:
www.fybushmedia.com!)

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

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