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September 13, 2004
Nassau Buys in Vermont's "Kingdom"
*Nassau has been a busy purchaser of radio
stations all across New England in the last year or so, and now
the New Jersey-based broadcaster is going as far north as it's
possible to get in VERMONT, paying Northstar Media $2.3
million to acquire WMOO (92.1 Derby Center) and WIKE (1490 Newport),
a pair of stations way up there at the Canadian border where
I-93 heads into Quebec. WMOO, which also has a translator in
St. Johnsbury at 99.3, has been doing hot AC (and won some national
headlines a few weekends ago when it was taken over by Phish
to become their official broadcaster, "the Bunny,"
during the band's final concert nearby); WIKE does country -
and all from a building painted in black-and-white cow spots.
Really.
One new translator in the Green Mountain State: Tri-Valley
Broadcasting gets 104.7 in Brattleboro to relay WYRY (104.9 Hinsdale
NH); we suspect this application was designed as much to prevent
anyone else from sliding up on the next adjacent channel to WYRY
as anything else.
*In NEW HAMPSHIRE, Bob Vinikoor's
been granted a construction permit for a new station on 1490
in Lebanon, not to be confused with the longstanding construction
permit he holds for WQTH on 720 in nearby Hanover (with a pending
application to move south to Claremont.)
 *The
Air America juggernaut is reportedly on its way to MASSACHUSETTS.
After a rough start earlier this year, the left-leaning talk
network has found a powerful ally in Clear Channel, which has
put Air America programming on the air in the last few weeks
in markets from San Diego to Madison to Ann Arbor. Now the Boston
Herald reports that Clear Channel is about to clear Air America
on its two Boston-market AMs, WKOX (1200 Framingham) and WXKS
(1430 Everett), replacing leased-time Spanish religion and mostly-satellite
standards, respectively. While neither signal has full-market
coverage (despite WKOX's long-standing CP for a move to Newton
that's being blocked by NIMBY locals), the combination of the
two hits most of the core of the market during daylight hours,
at least. If other Clear Channel/Air America markets are any
indication, it's a pretty good bet that programming will also
include syndicated offerings from Ed Schultz as well as Air America's
Randi Rhodes and Al Franken.
WFNX (101.7 Lynn) is getting a former programmer back. Max
Tolkoff programmed 'FNX from 1989-1994, and after spending the
last few years as Radio & Records' Alternative editor,
he's on his way back to the station as OM/PD, effective October
8.
Some big shuffles on the anchor desk at WBZ-TV (Channel 4)
in Boston: Josh Binswanger is on his way back to WBZ from the
History Channel, where he's been lead anchor. Binswanger (who
we remember fondly as the host of "Kid Company"
on WBZ radio in the early nineties) will join Lisa Hughes
at 6 and 11. That bumps Joe Shortsleeve off the anchor desk and
into a "chief correspondent" role, where he'll be seen
prominently (albeit from the field) at 4, 6 and 11. At 4, Jack
Williams and Sara Underwood will anchor the hour leading into
Dr. Phil at 5.
*One new translator in CONNECTICUT:
WSHU (91.1 Fairfield) adds W293AU (106.5 Derby) to its list.
*In MAINE, WDEA (1370 Ellsworth) remains
off the air, and nobody at Cumulus is saying quite when a new
transmitter might arrive to get the standards station back on
the air.
On the TV side of things, as WLBZ (Channel 2) in Bangor celebrates
its fiftieth anniversary (and yes, we'd very much love a copy
of their special if anyone taped it), crosstown WABI-TV (Channel
5) is launching a noon newscast that it's promoting as Bangor's
"only local" noon news - a clear dig at the WLBZ show
that originates at sister station WCSH (Channel 6) in Portland.
And we hear that little WAGM-TV (Channel 8) up in Presque Isle
is adding a Sunday evening newscast to its schedule, too.
 *There's a big morning opening in NEW YORK,
as WCBS-FM (101.1 New York) drops Dan Taylor off morning drive
and puts out the call for tapes and resumes. Taylor took over
from Harry Harrison about a year and a half ago, in the midst
of some pretty big managerial and programming shakeups at the
not-quite-oldies-anymore station; he's still on CBS-FM's website
for now, but we suspect the veteran of great stations like WHN
(where he was the very last voice on the air) will move on to
something else sooner or later.
In Brooklyn, the FCC has cancelled a $10,000 fine against
"Hip Hop City Corp." over a pirate signal at 1710 on
the dial, the oft-heard "Radio Moshiach" that spreads
the word of the Orthodox Jewish Chabad Lubavitch organization.
The FCC says that while Hip Hop City owned the Atlantic Avenue
building from which the signal was coming, it can't prove that
the company actually was operating the station. (Meanwhile, the
Rev. Yvon Louis was nowhere near as lucky; the FCC upheld a $10,000
fine against him for operating a Brooklyn pirate on 93.7.)
New translators this week: WAMC (90.3 Albany) gets W246BJ
(97.1 Hudson); Clear Channel gets W294AU (106.7 Syracuse) to
relay (or protect?) WPHR (106.9 Auburn); Calvary Chapel of the
Finger Lakes gets W279BM (103.7 Batavia) to relay WZXV (99.7
Palmyra); and Bilbat gets W294AV (106.7 Wellsville) to relay
WKPQ (105.3 Hornell).
One more bit of translator news: W207BB (89.3 Buffalo) changes
hands from Pensacola Christian Church (WPCS Pensacola) to become
a satellite-fed relay of DELAWARE's WXHL-FM (89.1 Christiana).
And congratulations to WHAM (1180 Rochester)'s Bob Lonsberry,
who told listeners this week that he and his new wife are expecting
an addition to the family. (Can you believe our own addition
to the NERW family, baby Ariel, will be one year old on Wednesday?)
*There's a new morning show in central PENNSYLVANIA:
Greg Valentine, formerly of WIOQ (102.1 Philadelphia), moves
to wakeup duty on WLAN-FM (96.9 Lancaster), alongside Liz Bell,
formerly of WZAT in Savannah GA.
New translators: Clear Channel gets W235BA (94.9 Williamsport),
presumably to relay WBYL (95.5 Salladasburg); the Scranton Times'
WEZX (106.9 Scranton) gets W297AR (107.3 Wilkes-Barre); WFRM-FM
(96.7 Coudersport) gets W225AT (92.9 Wellsboro); and EMF's "K-Love"
gets a chain of translators that will relay WDKL (95.9 Grafton
WV) - W231BM (94.1 Clairton), W288BO (105.5 Pittsburgh) and W248AR
(97.5 Monroeville).
 *A
new image for one of CANADA's premiere community radio
stations: CKWR (98.5 Waterloo ON) is now "Your FM 98.5."
Down the road in London, "FM96" (CFPL-FM 95.9) signs
former "Y108" (CJXY 107.9 Burlington) jock Darrin "Big
D" Laidman to take over its morning shift. And there's a
new PD at CFJR (104.9) and "Bob 103.7" (CJPT) in Brockville:
Jay Lawrence moves down the 401 from APD/MD duties at "Bob
93.9" (CKKL) in Ottawa.
Three new stations in Ontario this week: the CRTC granted
Blackburn Radio (CKNX/CKNX-FM) a third station in Wingham. The
new 21.2 kW signal on 94.5 will play "adult rock."
In Toronto, Glendon College will get to migrate "CKRG"
from carrier-current AM operation to one watt of FM at 89.9.
And V.R. Garbutt gets a community nonprofit station (with a big
14 kW signal on 98.7) northwest of Ottawa, in Renfrew. The new
98.7 will play classic country and easy listening; it'll be the
second new signal in Renfrew in just a year, after recent sign-on
CHMY (My 96.1).
*And now, the moment you've all been
waiting for... (well, we've been waiting for it, anyway):
Tower Site Calendar 2005 is back from the printer and
sitting in several big boxes in the garage waiting to be distributed
to all of you!
 Attendees at last
weekend's National Radio Club convention got a sneak preview
of it, and it will be on the racks within days at Universal Radio
in Ohio, not to mention on the tables at the Society of Broadcast
Engineers' regional conference (the 32nd Annual SBE22 Broadcast
& Technology Expo) at the Turning Stone Casino September
23.
This year's calendar begins with WSTW/WDEL in Wilmington,
Delaware on the cover, ends with Sutro Tower in San Francisco
on the inside back cover - and along the way makes stops at WNBF
in Binghamton, CFNB in Fredericton, Poor Mountain in Roanoke,
KXNT in Las Vegas, WBBR in New York, Gibraltar Peak above Santa
Barbara, WDEV in Waterbury, Vermont, WRIB in Providence, WOOD
in Grand Rapids, KFJZ in Fort Worth, KYPA in Los Angeles and
the top of Chicago's Hancock Tower.
We're holding the price from last year, notwithstanding increases
in printing costs and PayPal fees - just $16 postpaid ($17.32
including sales tax to New York addresses). And as always, it's
free with your $60 or higher subscription to NorthEast Radio
Watch/fybush.com. You can use PayPal, below, or send your check
or money order, payable to Scott Fybush, to 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue,
Rochester NY 14618.
And here's an even better deal - We still have
plenty of 2004 calendars left, so how about this? For just $20
postpaid ($21.65 in New York), we'll send you both the 2005 and
2004 editions. It's almost like getting an extra calendar free!
(Or, if you just need the 2004 edition, that's still on clearance
at $8 - and if you buy two 2004 calendars, your third is free!)
So why wait until the last minute? Why make us wait until
the last minute? Why not let me park my car back in the garage
where it belongs? Buy your calendars now, won't you?
Don't want to order by credit card? You know the drill by
now - make those checks payable to "Scott Fybush,"
be sure to include sales tax (8.25%) for New York state calendar
orders only, and send them along to 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue, Rochester
NY 14618. (Sorry - we can't take orders by phone.)
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2004 by Scott Fybush. |