NERW 3/3: AMC Adds Albany AM

[fybush@gwind.pair.com]

------------------------------E-MAIL EDITION-----------------------------
--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                              March 3, 2003

IN THIS ISSUE:

*NEW YORK: WAMC Buys Former WABY
*MASSACHUSETTS: Abbate Out at WBCN
*PENNSYLVANIA: A Sad Day in the Neighborhood

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

*With a network of seven primary FM signals and translators that
stretches north to Plattsburgh, south to Middletown, west to Oneonta
and east to Southington, Connecticut, WAMC (90.3) in Albany, NEW YORK
has become one of the larger public radio broadcasters in the country
in recent years. 

Now the network is adding its first AM signal, as it pays Ed Levine's
Galaxy Communications $500,000 for WHTR (1400 Albany), a 1 kilowatt
facility that's spent the last few years simulcasting other stations
in Levine's cluster (most recently, modern rock WKRD 93.7 Scotia), but
which has a proud history under the WABY calls which still adorn its
tower on Braintree Street in Albany.

WAMC head honcho Alan Chartock tells the Albany Times Union that the
AM 1400 signal will fill some holes in the main WAMC signal within
city limits; the big FM signal comes from across the state line on
Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts and has some multipath problems
in parts of Albany. 

Expect 1400 to change calls to WAMC(AM) and begin simulcasting the
WAMC-FM signal within the next couple of months, we hear...

Moving down the Hudson Valley, Albany's Pamal group is wasting no time
in its takeover of WYNY (107.1 Briarcliff Manor) from Nassau; it will
LMA the station and begin a simulcast of CHR WSPK (104.7 Poughkeepsie)
within the next few weeks. And another part of the 107.1 quadcast
could soon be sold; our colleague Tom Taylor reported a rumor in
Inside Radio last week that Jarad, owner of Long Island's WLIR (92.7
Garden City), WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) and WXXP (105.3
Calverton-Roanoke), is looking to buy WWXY (107.1 Hampton Bays) to add
to its cluster out there. That would leave Nassau with WWYY (107.1
Belvidere NJ) and WWZY (107.1 Long Branch NJ), closer to its core of
stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

A New York City rock institution has found a new home: Eddie Trunk is
moving his metal show from WNEW (102.7), where it was the last music
show on the schedule before the current long-term CHR stunting began
there last month, to Clear Channel classic rocker WAXQ (104.3). He'll
be heard on Q104 on Friday nights from 11 PM until 2 AM.

In Binghamton, plenty of Radio People on the Move at Citadel CHR WWYL
(104.1 Chenango Bridge), as Kate Kelly replaces Amber on the morning
show at "Wild 104," with Amber moving to the sales
department. Middayer Christine Fox and night guy Jerry Kidd are also
out; Kelly will handle the 10-1 portion of Fox's shift for now.

Ithaca's new WNYI (Channel 52) is changing ownership, as Bill Smith
takes control of the station from former partner Kevin O'Keefe. Smith
and his wife Caroline Powley own independent WNGS (Channel 67) in
Springville, south of Buffalo.

Kevin White is the new general manager at the Backyard Broadcasting
cluster (the old Sabre group) in Elmira/Corning.

And in Buffalo, WNSA (107.7 Wethersfield) makes a solid hire from
sports competitor WGR (550), as Bills beat reporter Chris Browne moves
over to the FM sports talker.

*RHODE ISLAND is still struggling to recover from the devastating
Station nightclub fire, and we're sorry to report yet another
broadcast connection: among the 96 killed was Nicholas O'Neill, 17,
the son of WHJJ (920) talk host Dave Kane.

*In MASSACHUSETTS, Boston talker WRKO (680) is rearranging its late
night schedule this week, adding Alan Colmes' syndicated talk show to
the 10 PM - 1 AM slot. That takes Howie Carr's producer, "VB" (it
stands for "Virgin Boy"), off the schedule for the moment. But weep
not for VB; the word from WRKO is that he'll be back on the schedule
from 1-4 AM soon, replacing George Noory and "Coast to Coast AM."

Over at the Infinity cluster, Kenny O'Keefe takes on a new
responsibility - he's now VP/market manager for the group, which
includes news-talk WBZ (1030), modern AC WBMX (98.5), classic rock
WZLX (100.7), oldies WODS (103.3) and modern rock WBCN (104.1).

Speaking of WBCN, it's losing one of its last links to its long rock
radio heritage, as Bill Abbate hangs up the headphones to close out
exactly 20 years as a jock on the station. Abbate, who was doing the
2-6 AM shift at WBCN, will continue his work on WBCN's Patriots
broadcasts.

And out in Shutesbury, the FCC has granted a CP to the "Sirius
Community" for a new LPFM on 100.3. We can only assume that this is a
commune full of satellite radio listeners...and don't you dare spoil
our fun by telling us otherwise!

*The FCC granted a new LPFM in VERMONT as well; the Vermont Department
of Transportation can add 94.3 in Springfield to the long list of CPs
it already holds in the Green Mountain state.

*If MAINE's northernmost UHF station ever gets built, it will be on a
new channel. The FCC this week changed the allocation for channel 62
in Presque Isle to channel 47; the move puts the channel within the
2-51 "core spectrum" that will remain part of the TV dial after the
DTV conversion is complete.

*In NEW JERSEY, the oldies are back on Atlantic City's WTKU (98.3
Ocean City). After a year or so as "Kool 98.3," spinning a sort of
AC-oldies blend with music from the 70s through the 90s, WTKU flipped
back to oldies over the weekend, which should make for an interesting
challenge to WWZK (94.3) Avalon, the only oldies station in the market
until now.

Up in Madison, the FCC has dismissed Fairleigh Dickinson University's
application for an LPFM at 88.1; it seemed awfully close to Newark's
WBGO (88.3), didn't it?

*In PENNSYLVANIA, Rick Strauss is out as program director of classic
rocker WMGK (102.9 Philadelphia); former 'MGK PD Buzz Knight is
programming the station for now from his post as PD of Greater Media
sister station WROR (105.7 Framingham) up in the Boston market.

Just south of Pittsburgh, Washington and Jefferson College's WNJR is
powering up. Formerly a class D station with just 13 watts on 92.1,
WNJR has made the move to class A status and 91.7 on the dial. Its new
950-watt signal now carries almost to Pittsburgh from its base in
Washington, PA.

And there's a void this week in the hearts of all of us of a certain
age, with news of the death on Thursday (Feb. 27) of Mister
Rogers. Fred McFeely Rogers was part of Pittsburgh's WQED-TV (Channel
13) beginning in 1953, even before the station went on the air; in
1966, WQED became the home base for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," and
the show has been a PBS staple ever since, even though production of
new shows ended several years ago.

Upon word of Rogers' death (he was 74 and was suffering from stomach
cancer), WQED preempted its full evening of programming to devote four
hours to remembering the station's most famous personality. 

*From CANADA comes word that the CRTC has approved a new FM station in
Belleville, Ontario. United Christian Broadcasters will get 45
kilowatts of power at 102.3 on the dial for its contemporary Christian
outlet.

Up in Ville-Marie, Quebec, the CRTC is trying to sort out a
long-running problem with CKVM (710), which has been running without a
valid operating license ever since a 1998 study showed that the
station may be causing interference to WOR (710 New York). (NERW notes
that CKVM has shared the 710 channel with WOR since the fifties,
so we're not quite sure why this didn't become a problem until
1998...)

In any case, CKVM applied to move to the FM dial (with 18.4 kW at
93.1) a few months back, and now the CRTC has approved the application
- but with an additional condition. CKVM said in its application that
it would carry four hours of weekend programming from Radio Canada (it
was one of the last privately-owned affiliates of the network), but
Radio Canada tells the CRTC it never agreed to provide that
programming. Once the confusion is sorted out, expect AM 710 to go
silent up there, probably within a few months' time.

-----------------------NorthEast Radio Watch------------------------
                       (c)2003 Scott Fybush
                          www.fybush.com

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