NERW 8/19 - WLAN Makes Sports Flip, WBBF Becomes WROC

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                             August 19, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: WBBF Becomes Talker WROC
*PENNSYLVANIA: WLAN Becomes Sports "Ticket"
*NEW HAMPSHIRE: NHPR Launches WEVJ

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

LATE UPDATE: Entercom finally made the flip to news-talk at
Rochester's AM 950 at 6:00 Wednesday morning (August 21). Most of the
new format had already leaked out here and elsewhere: Mike Gallagher,
Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Dr. Joy Browne - but there were two
surprises: the former WBBF has new calls of WROC(AM). The calls signal
a partnership with Nexstar CBS affiliate WROC-TV (Channel 8); they
also mark the return of a callsign last heard on the AM dial here in
1978, when the original WROC (1280 Rochester) was sold away from
channel 8 and changed calls (it's now Clear Channel sports-talker
WHTK). WROC(AM) also has another former WHAM (1180) staffer on board,
as former WHAM morning show producer/entertainment reporter Jim White
joins ex-WHAM talker Allan Harris on the 950 team.

Entercom still has some bugs to work out, including a missing top-hour
ID just about every hour we've tuned in (including, alas, the very
moment when the "Swifty 950" stunt ended and the new format started),
but things sound like they're off to a good start at WROC. (It's a
nice move for WROC-TV as well; the channel 8/950 partnership means all
three major TV newsrooms in town now have radio partners - Clear
Channel owns both WHAM and ABC affiliate WOKR(TV), while Hubbard's NBC
affiliate, WHEC-TV, simulcasts its news on WYSL 1040 down in Avon. In
addition to sharing its calls with 950, the channel 8 partnership
includes simulcasts of the 6 and 11 PM newscasts on the AM station, as
well as weather for 950 listeners provided by channel 8's
meteorologists.)

More on the new 950 next week...

*The steady decline of standards formats - and the growth of
all-sports radio - is about to claim another convert in central
PENNSYLVANIA. NERW has learned that Clear Channel is readying a format
flip that will shift WLAN (1390 Lancaster) from standards to sports as
"The Ticket."

If the format and the nickname already sound familiar to listeners in
the region, it's no surprise: Clear Channel flipped WWKL (1460
Harrisburg) from oldies to standards two years ago as "The Ticket,"
WTKT, with a programming lineup (heavy on Fox Sports offerings) very
similar to what will be heard on WLAN after the flip takes place in
the next few weeks.

The new "Ticket" won't have a couple of key sports franchises: the
Phillies air in Lancaster on Hall's all-sports WLPA (1490), while
NASCAR is over on the FM dial at WIOV-FM (105.1 Ephrata).

Will the heritage WLAN calls disappear from AM and be relegated solely
to FM use at 96.9? And how much local programming will remain on 1390?
Stay tuned... (and in the meantime, we're wondering what the "new"
1390 site was doing over the weekend at the www.wkbo.com Web address
of Harrisburg sister station WKBO 1230 instead of the correct
www.1390theticket.com site that will be WLAN's new Web address.)

*While we're in central Pennsylvania, we're keeping an eye on the fate
of the Brill Media stations. The group heads to a bankruptcy auction
Tuesday, but we're told WSOX (96.1 Red Lion) won't be part of that
sale, leaving only WIOV (1240 Reading) and WIOV-FM (105.1 Ephrata) as
NERW-land stations in the auction. Results next week...

Over in Shamokin, Clear Channel is selling dark WISL (1480) to David
Gorman's "Basic Licensing" for all of $65,000 - and with just a few
months left to remain dark before facing license revocation.

And up in Erie, Beth Ann McBride has left the PD chair at "Star" WRTS
(103.7 Erie), leaving the NextMedia CHR seeking a replacement.

*In NEW JERSEY, the new "Mix 97.3" (WIXM Millville) has a morning show
after several months on the air. Eddie Davis is the new morning voice
there, coming down from WHCN in Hartford (and a stint at Jersey's WPST
before that.)

Asbury Park noncomm WYGG (88.1) got caught by the FCC, and now the
Haitian gospel station wants to straighten things out. WYGG was issued
a Notice of Violation back in May that accused the station of having
moved its transmitter from 517 Cookman Avenue to 601 Bangs Avenue
without permission. Now the station is applying to make the move
legal, with 50 watts of power at 35 meters above average terrain. (As
for the DX reports that have accused WYGG of operating an unlicensed
on-channel booster all the way over in Brooklyn, we'll leave that to
the Enforcement Bureau to sort out...)

*Next stop, NEW YORK, where noncomm WFUV (90.7), still embattled in a
fight over its unfinished tower in the Bronx, has won one fight to
improve its signal in the Big Apple. The FCC rejected protests from
second-adjacent WFMU (91.1 East Orange NJ) and granted WFUV permission
to put on-channel booster WFUV-FM2 on the air from the old WRVR
(106.7, now WLTW) tower atop the Riverside Church in upper
Manhattan. The 600 watt booster will be very directional, aimed south
into Manhattan while avoiding the Bronx and upstate areas that already
receive a decent WFUV signal.

Still more good news for 'FUV fans: after several months of repeats,
Pete Fornatale has settled his dispute with the station and returned
to his Saturday "Mixed Bag" show. Fornatale's beef with WFUV stemmed
from some comments he made over the winter that station management
felt were too political; in the meantime, he had been doing some work
with WBJB (90.5 Lincroft NJ) down in Monmouth County.

Lynn Samuels is off the radio again: the left-leaning talker has been
replaced on her WABC (770) weekend shift by the syndicated Suze Orman
financial-advice show.

And those afternoon guys at that FM talk station would want all the
publicity they'd get from their latest moronic stunt this week - so
we're glad to deny them that satisfaction.

On the TV side, there's word that Dianne Doctor will move from the
news director's chair at WNBC (Channel 4) over to WCBS-TV (Channel 2),
part of a shuffling of news talent prompted by the move of O&O
stations boss Dennis Swanson from NBC to CBS. Doctor's move to WCBS
apparently means the end of Joel Cheatwood's stint as news director at
the perenially ratings-challenged channel 2.

Out on Long Island, David Weiss has exited the morning show at WALK-FM
(97.5 Patchogue).

Up in Albany, morning guy Ric Mitchell is out again at WTRY-FM (98.3
Rotterdam). Mitchell, whose career in the Capital District stretches
back to the seventies, had been with the Clear Channel oldies station
for six years this time - and this wasn't even his first stint with
WTRY. No word yet on a permanent replacement for WTRY wakeups...

Over at Regent's Albany cluster, they're looking for a new PD for
modern rocker WQBK (103.9 Rensselaer)/WQBJ (103.5 Cobleskill), which
is losing PD Dave Hill to a bigger gig programming Hearst rocker "98
Rock," WIYY (97.9 Baltimore).

Up north, some good news for Watertown public radio fans: their relay
of WRVO (89.9 Oswego) is about to get a lot stronger. WRVO was granted
its CP this week to move WRVJ (91.7 Watertown) from the top of an
office building in downtown Watertown to the WPBS-TV (Channel 16)
tower out near Copenhagen. With 1600 watts from 41 meters above
average terrain, WRVJ should have a much-improved reach from the new
facilities, especially in outlying areas such as Carthage and
Lowville.

And back here in Rochester, it's still "Swifty 950" stunting on WBBF
(950 Rochester) - but a few clues about the station's future have
begun to surface - at least if you're looking for Allan Harris' radio
history pages, which have moved to a new home at
www.aharris950.com. (And is there any truth to the rumor that one of
950's new talents personally painted over all the graffiti on the 950
transmitter building?)

*From MASSACHUSETTS comes word that the Red Sox have a new TV deal for
next season (if there is a next season, that is), moving their
broadcast games from Fox's WFXT (Channel 25) to the Viacom duopoly of
WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WSBK (Channel 38). The two stations will carry
between 25 and 35 games next season, with Sox-owned NESN increasing
its load from this year's 86 games to between 115 and 125.

The FCC granted the transfer of WLYN (1360 Lynn) from ADD Media to
Arthur Liu's Multicultural Broadcasting; Liu is paying $1.78 million
for the 700-watt ethnic station.

And we're sorry to have to report the arrest of former WBCN afternoon
guy Mark Parenteau, who's now running the comedy channel for XM down
in Washington. Parenteau was arrested last Wednesday (August 14) on
charges of first-degree sexual assault involving a 14 year old boy.

*NEW HAMPSHIRE's public radio network has a new voice, as of 5 PM last
Wednesday. That's when WEVJ (99.5 Jackson) signed on as the latest
addition to the statewide web, bringing a stronger NHPR signal to the
Mount Washington Valley, where NHPR has been heard only weakly via
WEVC (107.1 Gorham) on the other side of the mountain. WEVJ's running
4700 watts from 141 feet above average terrain, at a site just north
of North Conway. (WEVJ's debut ends a long struggle to get this
frequency on the air; an earlier CP expired a few years back, and it
ended up in NHPR's hands as the settlement to a contested application
process.)

Some sad news from NHPR as well: reporter Chris Bracken, whose work
was heard often on the public radio network, as well as on Vermont
Public Radio and NPR, died August 3 after a battle with liver
cancer. Bracken was just 48 years old.

One more bit of Concord news: we can now tell you how much the new
owners of WKXL (1450) are paying to buy the station from Vox - the
sale price on the deal, which was approved this week, is $370,000.

*Just one bit of MAINE news this week: WQEZ (104.7 Kennebunkport) is
picking up the syndicated Bob and Sheri morning show, effective next
Monday (August 26); PD Ken McGrail checked in to let us know he'll be
sleeping a little later when he moves off the morning shift and into
middays.

*Just one bit of CONNECTICUT news as well: WNTY (990 Southington) is
reshuffling its schedule, adding Neil Boortz from 3-5 PM, Rusty
Humphries from 5-7, Michael Reagan from 7 till midnight and Jones
Radio Network's "America Live" overnight, and getting rid of the last
remaining USA Radio Network programming on the schedule.

*The big news from CANADA continued to involve Corus' new "Country
95.3" (CING 95.3 Hamilton ON), which made its sign-on official this
morning at 7 with the debut of its first live jocks. Stu Jeffries
comes over from sister station Y108 (CJXY 107.9 Burlington) to head up
the morning crew, with Toronto radio vet Kenny Caughlin (the last
country jock on the old CISS 92.5) holding down afternoons.

A correction from last week: that's Brian DePoe who's moving from the
PD chair at 95.3 back to Toronto's "EZ Rock" (CJEZ 97.3), effective
today.

And up in Ottawa, Milkman Unlimited reports the arrival of a new local
show at sports "Team 1200" (CFGO). The "Sports Call" show that used to
be heard on sister CFRA is being revived at 1200, filling the 9 AM to
noon slot that had been occupied by Team national programming from
CHUM in Toronto.

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

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