NERW 10/8: Gach Suffering Mental Illness

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

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

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: WGY's Gach Suffering Mental Illness
*NEW JERSEY: Press Flips WBHX
*CANADA: Staffers Fired at CKDO/CKGE

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

*It's been two months since J.R. Gach was last heard on the air in NEW
YORK's Capital District, and almost every day has brought e-mail from
listeners wondering why the WGY (810 Schenectady) afternoon talk host
suddenly disappeared without any notice to his fans.

Thanks to the Albany Times Union and Mark McGuire (probably the best
daily newspaper reporter covering broadcasting in the northeast right
now), we have some answers to offer. Gach was diagnosed with bipolar
II mental disorder, which his wife Suzie blames for the outbursts that
marked his show's final months on the air at WGY. In a lengthy
narrative given to the paper, Suzie Gach says J.R. suffered a
breakdown in mid-August while returning home from a weeklong vacation.

While Suzie Gach filled in on J.R.'s shift (she was eventually
replaced on-air by Ed Martin, who continues to occupy the time slot),
J.R. was undergoing inpatient, then outpatient treatment at a rehab
center in Saratoga Springs.

Gach is now back home, and it's unclear whether or not he'll ever
return to WGY's airwaves. Suzie Gach tells McGuire that her husband's
personality has changed since beginning treatment (he's now going by
"Jay" instead of "J.R."), while WGY management declined to comment
specifically. We'll keep you posted here at NERW as we hear more, and
we'll be keeping the Gaches in our thoughts.

*A quiet week otherwise in the Empire State: down on Long Island,
there's word that former WABC talk host Lynn Samuels will be back on
the air Saturday middays (10-2) on WLIE (540 Islip), beginning October
16. Heading upstate, Cablevision's money problems are forcing the
company to cancel its nightly "NewsCenter 6" local newscast for the
Poughkeepsie area; the company is also laying off staff at its
regional News 12 operations in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester
and Connecticut.

In Utica, Peter Naughton has been promoted from assistant PD to PD at
WLZW (98.7); he's still doing afternoons at the Forever AC station as
well. In Binghamton, Don Giovanni's "Italian Carousel" show heads back
to AM 1360 after six months at sister station WNBF (1290); the show
now airs from 9 until noon on talker WYOS (1360), where it used to be
heard under the old WKOP calls.

And in Syracuse, MTV2 affiliate WOBX-LP (Channel 35) has been granted
Class A status. (Wonder what its "local" programming is?) On the DTV
front, we took a ride up Sentinel Heights on Friday to see the
nearly-complete WSTM tower; the station has its new analog and DTV
antennas on hand, and we hear October 30 is the deadline for both
signals to be on the air from the new tower, with WCNY-TV (Channel 24)
and DT following soon after. We also noticed a new logo on billboards
for WTVH (Channel 5) adorning several billboards in the Salt City; we
hear the "Eyewitness News" name and the logo shown here will be going
away soon.

*The FCC was busy in PENNSYLVANIA over the summer. The Commission
handed out several Notices of Apparent Liability during August: $7000
to WGET (1320 Gettysburg) for failure to properly fence its towers,
and $20,000 to WFBS (1280 Berwick) for failure to mark and light its
towers and unspecified equipment problems. (The FCC also cited KFNX in
Cave Creek, Arizona, a sister station to WALE 990 in Greenville, RHODE
ISLAND, for failure to power down at night. NERW wonders why WALE
itself has escaped the FCC's notice, and we note that the bankruptcy
filing by WALE/KFNX owner Francis Battaglia doesn't make the NAL go
away...)

On a happier note, WFBS is adding a weekend show from Philadelphia's
"Geator," Jerry Blavat, to its schedule. Blavat was in negotiations to
do a weekend show on the big signal of Philly's WPHT (1210) as well,
but the two sides couldn't come to terms over a playlist (or lack
thereof), we're told.

In Brookville, Renda Broadcasting finally has a license for WYTR
(103.3); the CP for the station was cancelled at one point last
winter, but the situation has been sorted out and the oldies station
remains on the air north of Punxsutawney. (It's actually been on the
air since at least the fall of 2000, originally as WBEU.)

And Calvary Chapel's CP for W202BX (88.3 Meakesville) has been
deleted.

*There's a new format in NEW JERSEY, as Press Broadcasting takes over
at WBHX (99.7 Tuckerton). The southern Ocean County station is doing a
very soft AC format as "The Breeze," after several days of stunting
with songs that all mentioned wind and weather.

Just to the south, in Atlantic City, Lenfest Broadcasting has won
permission from the FCC to shut down the analog side of WWAC (Channel
53), leaving the station as a DTV-only operation on channel 44.

While WWAC-TV's analog signal is a weak one (just 12 kW with a
directional antenna) that barely reaches the Boardwalk, the DTV signal
emanates from the New Jersey Network WNJS-TV (Channel 23) tower in
Waterford Works, N.J., within sight of the Philadelphia market, which
WWAC now hopes to serve via cable must-carry. NERW expects that WWAC's
analog signal will stay on the air until Lenfest can find someone to
buy that spectrum, at which point the station will go digital-only.

*Moving on up to MASSACHUSETTS, J.J. Wright didn't take long to find
work after being let go from WROR (105.7 Framingham); after doing some
fill-in at WODS (103.3 Boston), Wright was named the station's
full-time afternoon jock last week, displacing Brian Murphy from that
shift.

WLYN (1360 Lynn) has an unusual temporary format: while its sale waits
to close, the station is simulcasting the folk music of WUMB-FM (91.9
Boston), in part because the stations share a chief engineer, Grady
Moates. WLYN had been operating only sporadically until the simulcast
began.

On the technical end of things, WGBH-FM (89.7 Boston) has resubmitted
its application for 21 kW at 323 meters above average terrain, from
the WBZ-TV tower in Needham. Yes, that's third-adjacent to Boston
College's WZBC (90.3 Newton) just a couple of miles away, but WGBH
says the move will actually reduce interference to that station and to
WLNE-TV (Channel 6) down in New Bedford.

WRCA (1330 Waltham) submitted its application to move its day and
night facilities from South Street in Waltham to the WUNR site in Oak
Hill, Newton; the station would run 25 kW day from five towers and 17
kW night from four towers, if neighbors ever approve the
reconstruction of the site to accomodate WUNR, WRCA and WKOX (1200
Framingham). It's not clear that the move would actually get WRCA much
more coverage than it currently enjoys from the Waltham site, in any
event.

And up in Lowell, your editor's old stomping grounds, WCAP (980) has
dropped its ABC network affiliation after literally decades, signing
up instead with USA Radio News.

*One item from NEW HAMPSHIRE rounds out our New England news, as we
hear Liz Wilde (late of WAAF in Worcester) is taking over afternoon
duty at WHEB (100.3 Portsmouth).

*Plenty of news from CANADA this week, starting with some big changes
on the way at CKGE (Magic @ 94.9) and CKDO (1350), the Oshawa stations
being sold by Corus to the owners of country CJKX (95.9) in nearby
Ajax and smooth jazz CIWV (94.7) over in Hamilton. Nearly a dozen
CKGE/CKDO staffers have been told their services won't be needed when
the new owners take over, reports MilkMan Unlimited, leading to
speculation that the 94.9 signal will end up simulcasting "The Wave"
on adjacent 94.7 for better Toronto market coverage.

Speaking of Corus, it's bringing Steve Parsons from its Winnipeg
operations to be PD of CING (Country 95.3) in Hamilton.

The CRTC will consider still more FM applications at a hearing this
fall in St. John's, Newfoundland, including several in southern
Ontario: United Christian Broadcasters wants a 45 kw signal on 102.3
in Belleville, with a contemporary Christian format. Barrie Christian
station CJLF (100.3) wants a transmitter in Peterborough, with 500
watts on 89.3, while in nearby Lindsay, CKLY (91.9) wants to move from
the old CKLY 910 site just south of town to a tower 13 km southeast
(close to Peterborough itself), upping power from 14 kW to 29.3 kW in
the process.

In Quebec, the Universite de Sherbrooke wants a student station on
88.3 with 490 watts.

And out in Newfoundland, several applicants want new stations in
St. John's: Andrew Newman and Andrew Bell are applying for a 100 kW AC
station on 101.1, while the Newfoundland Broadcasting Company wants a
soft AC station on 95.7, with a heavy emphasis on Newfoundland
music. The company is also flipping its NTV television service (based
at CJON-TV, channel 6 in St. John's) from CTV to Global, keeping CTV
only for morning and late-night newscasts. The move means
Newfoundlanders will need cable or satellite to see CTV, at least
until that network builds its own stations on The Rock.

One more Maritimes app: Tom Gamblin wants 49.6 watts on 103.5 in Ssint
John, N.B. for an all-comedy station!

Finally, two obituaries: in Montreal, they're mourning Ted Blackman,
the morning host at CKGM (Team 990), who died Wednesday (Oct. 2) of
liver and kidney failure. Blackman had a three-decade history in
Montreal print and radio circles, including stints as program director
of the old CFCF, morning host at CJAD, and jobs at the Montreal
Gazette and the defunct Star and Daily News. Blackman was 60.

On Prince Edward Island, they're mourning Mike Brooks, the former CFCY
(630 Charlottetown) PD, who recently left the business. Brooks was
killed in a car accident last Monday (Sept. 30); he was 41.

A few bits of late-breaking Canadian news to finish off the week: the
CBC has released some details about its new morning offerings, which
debut next Monday (Oct. 14). Shelagh Rogers' new 10 AM to noon program
on Radio One will be called "Sounds Like Canada," replacing the
current "This Morning" (which itself replaced the late, lamented
"Morningside" a few years back.) In November, it will be joined by a
new 8:30-10 AM program, "The Current," to be hosted by Anna Maria
Tremonti. And on the TV side, Ron MacLean has come to terms on a new
contract that will keep him next to Don Cherry on "Hockey Night in
Canada" this season.

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

No redistribution permitted for commercial use, or for
noncommercial use without prior written permission.

NorthEast Radio Watch is a "shareware" publication.  Regular readers
are kindly requested to contribute towards the continued publication
of this weekly resource.  Visit <http://www.fybush.com/support.html>
for more information.

For the freshest NERW news, visit our Web edition, published Monday
mornings at <http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html>, complete with photos,
audio clips, and links.  Each week's "E-Mail edition" is distributed
to the boston-radio-interest and NERW mailing lists within 48 hours of
publication.     

To be added to the NERW mailing list, send e-mail to
<nerw-request@bostonradio.org> with the word "subscribe"
as the body of the message.  You will receive a confirmation
code to return by e-mail to begin your free subscription.
Please direct any questions about the list process to
<nerw-owner@bostonradio.org>; subscription requests and
questions sent directly to NERW cannot be acted on.

NERW is archived at the Boston Radio Archives,
<http://www.bostonradio.org/radio/bostonradio.html> and
is generally made available there about a week after
publication.  

Opinions expressed in NERW are solely those of the author
and not necessarily those of MIT or LCS.

NERW welcomes your news and contributions at
<nerw@fybush.com>.

--------------------------------------------------------------------