NERW 6/25 - Battaglia Sells WALE, Vox Sells WKXL

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                              June 25, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*RHODE ISLAND: So Long, Frank Battaglia...
*NEW HAMPSHIRE: Vox Sells WKXL to Local Owners
*CANADA: CHUM Restructures Struggling "Team"

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

*LATE UPDATE! We didn't even know it was for sale, but WALE (990
Greenville) in the Providence, RHODE ISLAND market is changing hands,
for a reported $1.2 million.

It's not often that we say "good riddance" to a broadcast owner, but
we'll step on the editorial soapbox and note that we're probably not
the only ones glad to see the last of Francis Battaglia's North
American Broadcasting in New England.

For years now, we've been seeing fraudulent coverage maps that claim
the 50,000 watt daytime signal reaches Boston and Worcester, when in
fact it shoots just a narrow beam over Providence and out to the ocean
- and we've been hearing stories from non-radio folks who have been
offered a chance to "host" their own radio shows on WALE. More often
than not, those shows turn out to be leased-time broadcasts fed in on
bad phone lines to no listeners - and do you think those folks will
ever consider radio as a serious advertising medium after being burned
that way?

In any event, that sort of radio will soon be history in Providence
(though North American continues to do its thing at KFNX 1100 Cave
Creek AZ, in the Phoenix market) - and we expect much better things
from 990 under its new owner, Jerry Evans' Moon Song Communications.

If that name sounds familiar, it should: Evans put WVOM (103.9
Howland) on the air as a quality local talker for the Bangor, Maine
market, adding WBYA (101.7 Searsport) before selling the stations to
Communications Capital Managers (which eventually sold them to Clear
Channel) in early 2000. 

Free advice from NERW: ditch those WALE call letters, which are poison
now in the Providence market, and bring back the WLKW calls that
graced 990 for decades! More on the sale next week...

*Last week, we told you about a Vox deal that turned out not to be for
real. This week, we lead our news with a Vox sale that's not only
legitimate, but has the potential to bring some good local programming
to central NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The station in question is WKXL (1450) in Concord, the capital city's
first radio station, which has been in Vox hands for the last few
years as part of a cluster that now includes most of the market's FM
signals as well.

Soon, though, WKXL will change hands to a new company called "Embro,"
headed by Warren Bailey, the longtime morning host who left WLNH-FM
(98.3) in Laconia a couple of years ago after a quarter-century
there. Bailey's partners in Embro include fellow jock Dave Stevens and
Lakes Region VW/Audi owners Peter Herz and Paula Heiser. Their plans
for the little AM station include a morning show with Stevens, Bailey
and his former WLNH partner, Beth Osgood, as well as business news
during the day and the Don and Mike show in afternoons.

What happens to the WKXL-FM simulcast on 107.7 (licensed to
Hillsborough)? We don't know yet; we expect some sort of new format
from the Vox folks, who also hang on to WNHI (93.3 Belmont), WOTX
(102.3 Concord, the original WKXL-FM) and WJYY (105.5 Concord) in the
market.

Speaking of WJYY, the station added a new morning co-host this
week. Vanesah Fields comes to New Hampshire from overnights at WFBC-FM
(93.7) down in Greenville, S.C.

There's a new program director down in Nashua at WHOB (106.3), where
Tele-Media has landed J Davis after a long run at the late WCPT (100.9
Albany), which the company sold last year. Davis' arrival at WHOB
(which can't even be HEARD in most of Concord, no matter how a certain
trade Web site keeps describing the station) displaces Dirk Nadon, who
heads up to Tele-Media's WNNH (99.1 Henniker) for PD duties.

*Arthur Liu's Multicultural Broadcasting is entering MASSACHUSETTS,
paying $1.78 million for brokered ethnic WLYN (1360 Lynn), which has
got to be some sort of record for a 700-watt former daytimer. The sale
takes Peter Arpin's ADD Media group out of the Boston market, an exit
that began last year with the sale of WRCA (1330 Waltham) to Beasley.

After some bouts with dead air over the weekend, CNet Radio is back on
the airwaves of WBPS (890 Dedham), but not for very long. The
leased-time programming disappears at month's end, and we hear Mega
will begin leasing 890 to an outfit called "Air Time Media," which
will program a talk lineup that includes a localized version of the
syndicated Doug Stephan wakeup show as well as Neil Boortz, Rusty
Humphries and Michael Savage. (NERW says: Is there any niche at all
for syndicated talk - syndicated right-wing talk, at that - in a
market that's never warmed up to most national talkers?)

Speaking of local talkers, WBZ (1030) will indeed replay two hours of
Larry Glick's appearance on the Steve LeVeille show. Tune in early on
the morning of July 4 as the show repeats from midnight to 2 AM. (And
yes, that was the mostly-retired Jerry Williams making a guest
appearance on BZ's Jordan Rich show last weekend...)

MIT's WMBR (88.1 Cambridge) is keeping its "WMBR Nightly News" block
in place. After floating plans to cancel the show, which includes
local news and the "Free Speech Radio News," WMBR management was
persuaded to keep the show on the air.

Nantucket's WRZE (96.3) is moving towers; the CHR station is being
thrown off the FAA tower it's been using for years near Nantucket
Airport, so it's turning to its nearby auxiliary site, which will
become the new primary site for "The Rose" (with 32 kW instead of the
old 50 kW signal).

In Springfield, the Clear Channel cluster that includes WHYN (560),
WHYN-FM (93.1), WNNZ (640 Westfield) and WPKX (97.9 Enfield CT) has a
new leader. Debra Wagner arrives from the Clear Channel group in
Tucson to be the new VP/market manager for the Springfield cluster.

On a much smaller scale, Phillip Drumheller's "P&M, LLC" pays Ed
Skutnik $150,000 for eclectic oldies outlet WGAM (1520 Greenfield).

*Elsewhere in New England: A familiar voice is back on afternoons in
MAINE, as Race Bannon takes over PM drive and PD duties at WFZX (101.7
Searsport) and WNSX (97.7 Winter Harbor) near Bangor. Former PD
Matthew Gardner moves to middays at "the Fox." (And on TV, former WVOM
talk host Charlie Horne will soon be seen with a new morning talk show
on UPN affiliate WCKD-LP, channel 30 in Bangor!)

*In VERMONT, T.J. Michaels moves over from WLKC (103.3 Waterbury) to
the PD/afternoon drive chair at CHR WORK-FM (107.1 Barre).

We hear WLKC owner Steven Silberberg is consolidating WLKC's
operations from Essex Junction to his WXAL (93.7 Addison) facility in
Middlebury, leading to the exit of WLKC GM Brian Crogan and several
other staffers. WLKC is now being run by WXAL GM Bob Rome.

(And speaking of Silberberg, we hear his "Point" WNCS 104.7 celebrated
its 25th anniversary in style a couple of weeks ago, with a whole
night of on-air memories - we'd love to hear some tape if anyone has
any!)

*A former CONNECTICUT morning man is suing Clear Channel for breach of
contract. Neil Hedley says he was offered only four weeks of severance
pay when he was fired from country WWYZ (92.5 Waterbury) in early May,
instead of the four months his contract requires - and he says Clear
Channel accused him of various misdeeds in order to get out of the
contract requirements.

*Heading into NEW YORK, the mess at WNEW (102.7) is finally beginning
to clear up. The Infinity hot talker hired former WABC and WOR PD John
Mainelli as a consultant late last week, just before announcing that
the "Don & Mike Show" is indeed history in middays. For the moment,
WNEW is running additional hours from evening hosts Ron and Fez in
middays, followed by a one-hour "best of" Opie & Anthony leading into
their live afternoon show. What happens long-term? Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, the New York Mets sign a long-term deal to keep their games
on WFAN (660) for the foreseeable future, so no need to readjust your
dials if you're a Mets fan in New York.

(We had the chance to experience our first-ever game at Shea over the
weekend while visiting New York; our thanks to the nice folks in
Corona for not stealing the NERW-mobile from their streets...)

We also headed over to the Bronx to see what all the fuss is about the
WFUV (90.7 New York) tower; the long-unfinished stick didn't look all
that offensive to us, but then we've been accused of being biased.

In any case, two public hearings this Thursday will give the
tower-haters and the WFUV-lovers a chance to express themselves - and
then perhaps Fordham University and the New York Botanical Garden
across the street can finally resolve this issue and we can stop
writing about it...

Heading upstate, All Access reports Rick Zolzer is out at the local
sports show on WEOK (1390 Poughkeepsie) and WALL (1340 Middletown),
with Hudson Valley Renegades broadcaster Rick Schultz replacing him.

A big promotion in Binghamton: longtime Northeasterner Al Brock is
headed out of Clear Channel's cluster there to become PD of co-owned
oldies station KLOU (103.3) in St. Louis. Replacing Brock is WKGB
(92.5 Conklin) PD Jim Free, who's now in search of a new PD/afternoon
host for WMXW (103.3 Vestal) to replace Brock. (WMXW also re-adds the
Delilah show at night.)

Syracuse's new TV tower is going vertical. The new stick on Sentinel
Heights will replace the old WSTM (Channel 3) tower - and when it's
all done, it will carry DTV signals for WSTM, WCNY (PBS), WNYS (WB)
and WSYT (Fox) as well as analog signals for WSTM and WCNY. At over
800 feet, it promises to be quite an addition to the skyline south of
the Salt City.

Here in Rochester, LPTV religious outlet W59BV moved to channel 42
after several weeks of unwatchably overmodulated video on channel
59. (Fearless NERW prediction: the indifferent-to-broadcasting local
paper will keep showing the TCT station on channel 59 for at least the
next month, if not longer...)

*Down in NEW JERSEY, Scott and Casey are gone again from talker
WKXW-FM (101.5 Trenton)/WKXW (1450 Atlantic City). "New Jersey 101.5"
had pulled the duo off the air earlier in the spring; now they're
headed to afternoons at Infinity's WKRK (97.1 Detroit), where they'll
rejoin their NJ 101.5 predecessors, Deminski and Doyle. Replacing them
in Jersey is former WFAN sportscaster Craig Carton, who'd filled in on
the shift during their suspension.

Spending the Fourth of July in Atlantic City? Be sure to roll some
tape on WOND (1400), which will revisit its top-40 history in a
three-hour special that day. (We'd love to hear it ourselves...)

*In PENNSYLVANIA, Bruce Bond has returned to the airwaves of
Harrisburg - or at least nearby Carlisle, where the former WNNK
(104.1) afternoon talk-jock resurfaced this week doing mornings on 80s
"Z102.3" WRKZ. The Citadel station also hired Bond's WNNK sidekick
"Stretch" to join him in mornings...and no sooner had the duo launched
Monday than a lawsuit arrived from WNNK owner Cumulus accusing Bond of
breaching his noncompete agreement and stealing WNNK's trade
secrets. More on this to come, we're certain.

Over in Allentown, WLEV (100.7) relaunched as "My 100.7," playing what
the station describes as "Contemporary Soft Rock" and running mostly
jockless for the moment, except for Delilah at night.

Sorry to report the passing of veteran Philadelphia newsman William
Bransome, who was an anchor at all-news KYW (1060) from the start of
the format in 1965 until his retirement in 1989. Bransome died June
14; he was 89.

Out in Pittsburgh, WZUM (1590 Carnegie) is spending some time off the
air over the next few weeks. When it returns after some tower work,
expect a more polished urban oldies format on the little suburban
station, we hear.

And up in Erie, CBS affiliate WSEE (Channel 35) changes hands, passing
to a company called "Initial Broadcasting of Pennsylvania." Who's
really paying $10 million for the station? Kevin Lilly, who also owns
WENY-TV (Channel 36) over in Elmira and WMGM-TV (Channel 40) down the
Jersey Shore...

*The big news from CANADA this week involved the CHUM group's
struggling "Team Sports Radio," which launched more than a year ago
with high expectations, only to fail to make even the slightest dent
in the ratings.

CHUM dropped the axe last week, dismissing Team VP/GM Paul Williams,
PD Gerald McGroarty, programming VP Ross Davies, sales VP Tim Steele,
production director Doug Thompson and promotions director Joe
Thistel. The plan now is to eliminate much of the national Team
programming in favor of local sports talk at each individual Team
sports outlet.

(NERW's take: down the road, we wouldn't be surprised to see the
format disappear completely in smaller markets like Kingston,
Peterborough and Kitchener-Waterloo...)

Up in Kitchener-Waterloo, CHYM (96.7) is going voice-tracked on
middays, wiping out the job held by Rebecca Black, who's out on
maternity leave.

St. Catharines' CHSC (1220) is being sold; Coultis Broadcasting, now
in bankruptcy, will transfer the station to Pellpropco, owned by
Fabrizio Pellegrino and Terrance Gertner, for C$725,000.

And how about some new call letters? Bruce Elving's FMedia! reports
CBAX-FM as the new calls for 91.5 in Halifax, along with CBAX-FM1
(88.9 Charlottetown PEI) and CBAX-FM2 (101.9 St. John's NF). CBAL
(98.3 Moncton) adds CBAL-4 (88.1 Fredericton-Saint John) and CBAL-5
(94.3 Edmundston); CBVX (100.9 Quebec City) adds CBVX-2 (91.5 La
Malbaie QC); CBJX (100.9 Chicoutimi) adds CBJX-1 (90.9 Dolbeau QC) and
CBM-FM (93.5 Montreal) adds CBM-2 (96.1 Quebec City).

All are outlets of Radio-Canada's "chaine culturelle" except CBM-2,
which brings CBC Radio 2 to the Quebec provincial capital with 310
watts from 478 meters above average terrain.

*And that's it for another week; we'll be back to regular Monday
publication next week. See you then!

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

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