NERW 4/17 - Saga Buys WXOD/WKBK

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                              April 17, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW HAMPSHIRE: Saga Adds WXOD/WKBK
*MAINE: WMTW Shuffles Lineup
*NEW JERSEY: A Hawk for the Shore

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

*We're back from our trip to Las Vegas and NAB (you can still read our
daily updates from the convention floor at fybush.com), and ready to
get caught up on what was happening back east while we were inside the
convention center:

*We'll kick things off in NEW HAMPSHIRE, where Saga consolidated its
grwoing hold on the southwestern corner of the Granite State by
announcing a $2,625,000 purchase of WKBK (1220 Keene) and WXOD (98.7
Winchester) from Scott Roberts.

The purchase comes in the same week as FCC approval for Saga's
previous purchase in the region, as the company adds Telemedia's WKNE (1290
Keene) and WKNE-FM (103.7 Keene), not to mention WKVT AM-FM across the
river in Brattleboro, Vermont, to a group that already includes a
cluster to the south in Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley (WHAI/WHMQ
Greenfield, WLZX/WHMP Northampton and WAQY/WHNP Springfield) and one
to the east in Manchester (WZID/WFEA). 

Expect WKBK, which runs talk, and WXOD, which does oldies, to leave
their second-floor digs in downtown Keene and move in to an expanded
WKNE complex. Saga's saying there won't be staffing or format changes,
but anyone who's worked in radio for more than a day or two knows how
commonly that promise is made...

(It's a nice payday for Roberts, by the way; he paid just $800,000 for
the combo a few years ago!)

Our only other Granite State item is a correction: the calls on Bob
and Tom's latest affiliates on the Seacoast are WSHK (105.3 Kittery
ME) and WSAK (102.1 Hampton NH)!

*Most of the news from MAINE came from WMTW's new digs on Congress
Street in downtown Portland, as the ABC affiliate reshuffled its news
lineup in the wake of last fall's departure of anchor Jeannine Lauber.

Elisa Boxer adds the 5 and 6 PM newscasts to her 5:30 duties,
alongside veteran anchor John Dougherty. Reporter Bob Dyk moves over
to WMTW's radio side, becoming morning anchor for AM 870, AM 1470
(WLAM Lewiston), and FM 106.7, and two former WGME (Channel 13)
anchors come back to Maine to join channel 8: Jeff Peterson and Marnie
MacLean.

*Plenty of radio and TV people on the move in MASSACHUSETTS, as well,
and we'll start on the TV side, where Jack Hynes announced he'll step
down from the weekend anchor seat at WLVI (Channel 56) after 18 years
at the station and 47 years on Boston television.

Hynes, 73, made the classy gesture to create a job for WLVI anchor
Frank Mallicoat, who's losing his own anchor seat with the
cancellation of WLVI's morning newscast. Hynes, whose resume includes
26 years at both of Boston's channel 5s (WHDH-TV and WCVB) and a
couple of years at WBZ-TV, will stay with channel 56 as a commentator
and special-events anchor.

Meanwhile, the current WHDH-TV (Channel 7) is losing its last on-air
link to its old days as WNAC-TV and WNEV with the departure of
meteorologist Harvey Leonard. He's headed out to Needham for weather
duties at WCVB (Channel 5) sometime later in the year.

Over at Fox's WFXT (Channel 25), Tori Ryden is out as 10 PM anchor; no
replacement has been named.

On the radio side, Beau Raines has been named to replace Buzz Knight
as program director for Infinity classic rocker WZLX (100.7). Raines
had been PD at Greater Media's WROR (105.7), which now seeks a
replacement. There's personnel news at Entercom as well; Jeff Scott
comes to WQSX (93.7 Lawrence) as PD, making a move within the company
from WEZB/WKZN in New Orleans, where he was director of operations.

Bill O'Reilly's new talk show will join the WTKK (96.9 Boston)
schedule, weekdays from 1-3 PM; that cuts Margery Eagan and Jim Braude
down from three hours to a single hour at noon.

Out in Worcester, Shannon Yasko is out as music director at WXLO
(104.5 Fitchburg) as the position is eliminated.

New calls in New Bedford: mark down "WFHL" for the new religious
station on 88.1 down there.

And we're sorry to note the passing of Ugo San Antonio, better known
as "Hugo Anthony." His radio career began at WHAV in Haverhill in
1949, and he was the founding PD at Lowell's WCAP two years later. He
joined WCCM in Lawrence in 1960 and supervised the startup of the FM
outlet there, initially WGHJ and later WCCM-FM (and now WQSX 93.7).

San Antonio left radio in 1964; he was 78 when he died April 2.

*The residents in one of CONNECTICUT's toniest towns are proving
they'll try to fight even the most inoffensive of tower
proposals. WGCH (1490 Greenwich) is fighting to stay on the air in the
wake of an eviction notice at its current tower site; the little
community station has proposed putting up a 74-foot (!) fiberglass
mast on town-owned land next to the North Street School, but it's
facing knee-jerk opposition from neighbors who say they're concerned
about electromagnetic radiation from the station.

The good news in this fight is that it doesn't appear there's much the
school can do to stop the project, other than holding noisy public
hearings, so there's reason to hope WGCH will continue to be able to
provide public service to its ungrateful community for years to come.

Walt Pinto is out as program director of Buckley's WDRC (1360
Hartford) and its talk network around Central Connecticut; could this
portend another format change at those stations?

The new 1590 in Oakville has calls: WWWN will be the identifier for
the station when it signs on.

WIHS (104.9 Middletown) was granted its power increase by the FCC this
week; the station will jump from 3100 watts, nondirectional, at 96
meters to 5800 watts, directional, at 100 meters. 

And continuing our lists of baseball stations, the independent
Bridgeport Bluefish will have radio this year for all 72 of their home
games. Fairfield University students will assist in the coverage for
45 games on WVOF (88.5 Fairfield); the Connecticut School of
Broadcasting will use its students to do the remaining 27 games as
Webcasts. Ten Sunday home games will be heard in Spanish on WCUM (1450
Bridgeport), too.

*A quick stop in VERMONT before we leave New England, to note that Tom
Bruce of WSKI (1240 Montpelier) couldn't quite match the record set
earlier this year for longest DJ shift. Bruce went on the air last
Monday and stayed on for 84 hours, finally giving up on Thursday
evening. That left him some 16 hours short of the 100 hours logged by
Glen Jones on WFMU (91.1 East Orange NJ) not long ago.

*Our NEW YORK news starts with the return of an old callsign to the
Big Apple. "WWPR" spent several years on 95.5, during a "Power 95"
interlude in the station that was otherwise WPLJ; now those calls have
surfaced (as WWPR(FM), the AM calls being already in use down in
Florida) on the former WTJM at 105.1, which flipped to "Power 105.1"
last month. It's nice to see that the folks at Clear Channel in New
York have a sense of history, humor, or both.

New York's ESPN Radio 1050 has a program director, as Disney brings
Kevin Graham in from co-owned WEAE (1250 Pittsburgh) to run the show
at WEVD (1050) in New York.

The FCC made a pirate bust in Brooklyn, nailing Paul Dorleans for
running a station on 87.9 after several letters and visits telling him
to stop. (NERW says: that leaves, what, 999 more pirates in the Big
Apple?)

Out on Long Island, the reception reports are good for the tower move
of WXXP (105.3 Calverton-Roanoke). "Party 105" moved a few miles west
from its old site near Riverhead late last week, and we're told
coverage of central Suffolk County is strong, with a better signal
west into Nassau as well.

Moving up to Albany, the schedule has shifted at WROW (590 Albany) as
the station adds Laura Schlessinger's syndicated talk show to its
mid-morning schedule. Fred Dicker's state-politics talk show follows
Laura, with Bill O'Reilly joining WROW for early
afternoons. Schlessinger had last been heard in the market on Clear
Channel's WGY (810 Schenectady).

Ed Levine is dropping hints about what he'll do with WHTR when he
moves it to 93.7 Scotia, and it looks like hot talk will indeed be the
format, with former WPYX (106.5) morning guy John Mulrooney coming
back as morning host. Expect the new station on the air sometime next
week, we're told...

Heading north, WIPS (1250 Ticonderoga) is being sold. Calvin Carr is
selling the station to "Bisiblue LLC," a holding company for Crown
Point Telephone, which is already operating the station under an LMA.

WIPS began operating this week from new studios on Porter Mill Road in
Crown Point, with former "One Life to Live" actress Renee Props doing
mornings and a new format that mixes oldies and 80s hits. 

The FCC approved a new LPFM in northern New York this week; the
"Champlain Music Appreciation Society" gets 89.1 in Moriah with 100
watts.

In Binghamton, K.J. "Still Norm To Us" Bryant hires Amber, late of
Clear Channel/Poughkeepsie, as his morning co-host on "Wild 104" WWYL
(104.1 Chenango Bridge). Norm - we mean K.J. -'s former co-worker
Busta gets promoted to music director here in Rochester at WPXY
(97.9), which is putting up a new antenna up on Pinnacle Hill.

Don Derosa is wasting no time getting settled in at his new
acquisition, WZZZ (1300 Fulton), beginning with a call change. The
former WOSC will henceforth be known as WAMF, we're told.

The proposed frequency swap in the Southern Tier is off the table: the
plan to boost the power on WMOU (101.9 Jamestown), move WZKZ (101.9
Alfred) to 97.1 and move the unbuilt 97.1 authorization in Canaseraga
to 101.9 has been withdrawn.

Also withdrawn, for the moment, is Family Life's acquisition of
translator W284AB (104.7 Buffalo); the FCC says this one was
"inadvertently accepted for filing," but we expect to see it again
soon.

And we now have a complete radio network list for the Yankees (you
know, the team that lost to the Sox on opening day?)

In addition to flagship WCBS in New York (still revelling in the fight
between Cablevision and the YES network that's keeping the games off
TV for many New Yorkers), the list includes WGR (550 Buffalo), WSYR
(570 Syracuse), WHEN (620 Syracuse - presumably the games slide back
and forth between the two Salt City stations), WTNY (790 Watertown),
WRUN (1150 Utica, listed under the "WIBX" calls of its sister on 950),
WPIE (1160 Trumansburg), WHAM (1180 Rochester, which shares the games
with sister WHTK 1280), WJTN (1240 Jamestown), WTMM (1300 Rensselaer),
WENT (1340 Gloversville), WALL (1340 Middletown), WIRY (1340
Plattsburgh), WABH (1380 Bath, listed under its old "WVIN" calls),
WEOK (1390 Poughkeepsie), WELM (1410 Elmira), WACK (1420 Newark,
erroneously listed as "Newark NJ"), WENE (1430 Endicott), and WKNY
(1490 Kingston).

Outside the state, the team can be heard on WTSN (1270 Dover NH), WARL
(1320 Attleboro MA), WICC (600 Bridgeport CT), WLAD (800 Danbury CT),
WWCO (1240 Waterbury CT), WPOP (1410 Hartford CT), WBRK (1340
Pittsfield MA), WKDR (1390 Burlington VT), WEJL (630 Scranton PA,
listed as "WELJ"), WBAX (1240 Wilkes-Barre PA, listed as "Barre PA"),
and WEEX (1230 Easton PA, listed as "WEEK 1320").

*The news from NEW JERSEY begins with a format change at new WCHR-FM
(105.7 Manahawkin), which drops its temporary simulcast with CHR WBBO
(98.5 Ocean Acres) in favor of the "Hawk" classic rock format being
used by Nassau in Trenton and Easton as well. Jim Spector will be PD
for the Jersey Shore Hawk.

Up the shore a bit, Dan Alexander is out as afternoon jock on WJLK
(94.3 Asbury Park), with PD Jeff Rafter now on the air for that shift.

Down the shore, WBNJ (93.1 Wildwood Crest) reapplies for a power boost
from 3300 watts to 4150 watts, and therein lies an interesting story:
the station was authorized, originally, for that 3300 watts at 89
meters above average terrain. But it turns out that the station ended
up being built at just 66 meters above average terrain; hence the
request to boost power. A previous authorization for the power boost
was never carried out - so WBNJ is applying for it again.

While we're in the neighborhood, we have new calls to report for 97.3
Millville, ex-WBSS; it becomes WIXM(FM), which is a mixed-up way to
spell "Mix," we suppose...

Frank Calderaro, former general sales manager at WKXW (101.5 Trenton),
moves to station manager at Greater Media's WCTC (1450) and WMGQ
(98.3) in New Brunswick.

It appears that WKMB (1070 Stirling) owner Herbert Michels has died;
an FCC filing this week shows the station being transferred to Kevin
Michels, executor. Any of our readers down that way catch more on this
one? We'd like to know...

And we've been following, with great pleasure, Carl Van Orden's
efforts to open a museum dedicated to Northern New Jersey radio
history. You can now check out at least part of that history on the
Web, thanks to a new site put up by Dave Kruh to chronicle the history
of the late WRAN (1510 Dover Plains). You can find it at
<http://home.attbi.com/~davekruh/WRAN/ >, and stay tuned here for more
news on the proposed museum, too!

*Moving across to PENNSYVLANIA, Philadelphia's WPHI (103.9 Jenkintown)
edged a bit closer to CHR from its rhythmic roots this week, dropping
"Philly 103-9" in favor of "the Beat" as its nickname. WPHI and sister
station WPLY are finally moving in together, by the way; we hear
they've found space in Conshohocken to replace the separate studios each 
was maintaining.

Across the line in Delaware, an old callsign is being resurrected:
WNRK (1260 Newark) changed calls last week to WAMS, and is now playing
50s and 60s oldies. The WAMS calls, still remembered with fondness
from their top-40 heyday on AM 1380 in Wilmington, had been on 1600 in
Dover, which warehouses the WNRK calls now.

Up in the Allentown market, Jeff France (formerly of WIXX in Green
Bay, Wisconsin) comes to WLEV (100.7) for mornings.

Red Lion's WSOX (96.1) is applying again to raise its antenna. The
York-market oldies station wants to go from 50 kilowatts at 152 meters
AAT to a directional 13.5 kW at 290 meters, from a new tower next to
its existing site at former sister station WTHM (1440 Red Lion). WSOX
had a CP for the move, but it expired unbuilt, it seems.

And it looks as though we'll have a reason to return to New Castle
sometime soon: Clear Channel filed for a license to cover this week
for the new facilities at WBZY (1280), which appears to have rebuilt
its two-tower array. The station changes, very slightly, from
5000/1000 watts, DA-N, to 4900/1000 watts, DA-N.

*In CANADA, there's word that losing applicants Torstar and CHUM Group
may appeal the CRTC decision that awarded new TV licenses in Toronto
and Hamilton to Craig (which operates stations out west and plans to
run "Toronto One" with about 65% Canadian content) and Rogers (which
will, once it finds a channel on which to operate, run "CFMT Too" as
an ethnic sister station to its existing CFMT.)

Torstar had proposed a station with some 85% Canadian content, and
many in the Toronto area are trying to understand how the western
Craig group could be considered more "local" than the Toronto-based
Torstar, which operates the Toronto Star and several other newspapers
in the region.

Torstar and CHUM have 45 days to contest the decision.

Speaking of CHUM, it shuffled the batting order at its "Team" sports
network last week, moving Brian Henderson from mornings to the 9-noon
shift alongside Gene Valaitis. Paul Romanuk and Mike Richards stay on
in mornings, while afternoons now feature Jim Van Horne and rotating
guests, with the departure of Stephen Brunt from a regular slot on the
show.

More on the Blue Jays network: CFFX (960) replaces CHUM's CKLC (1380)
on the net this year in Kingston. 

Back to Toronto for a moment, we note that Larry Green is the new
afternoon host on "Jazz FM" CJRT (91.1).

One more baseball list: we have the final French-language network for
the last year of the Expos in Montreal, and in addition to flagship
CKAC (730), it looks like this: 

CHLN (550 Trois-Rivieres), CKRS (590 Chicoutimi), CHNC (610 New
Carlisle), CHLT (630 Sherbrooke), CHRC (800 Quebec), CHRL (910
Roberval), CHGM (1150 Gaspe), CJRC (1150 Gatineau), CFVM (1220 Amqui),
CKSM (1220 Shawinigan), CHVD (1230 Dolbeau), CFLM (1240 La Tuque),
CJMD (1240 Chibougamau), CHRM (1290 Matane) and CFED (1340 Chapais).

*And that's it for this week's update. We'll be on a bit of a strange
schedule for the next few weeks: NERW will appear early next week with
an April 24 publication date - and then we're heading off to Europe
for a couple of weeks! There will be no NERW April 29 or May 6, but
we'll be back in the saddle with the May 13 issue. (And just wait till
you see the Tower Sites of the Week when we get back...)

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

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