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November 14,
2005
Newton Poised to Approve New Towers
 *If
you'd cornered us a year ago and asked us to place a bet that
WKOX (1200 Framingham) would ever be able to build its new directional
array at the WUNR (1600 Brookline) site in Newton's Oak Hill
neighborhood, we'd have declined. At the time, it didn't appear
that the local political climate would ever allow Clear Channel
to follow through with its plan to replace WUNR's existing pair
of towers (each 350 feet tall) with five 199-foot unpainted,
unlit towers to be used by WKOX (with 50 kW), WUNR (with 20 kW)
and WRCA (1330 Watertown, moved from Waltham) with 25 kW day,
17 kW night.
Things change, though, especially when you have a patient
plaintiff with deep pockets and a very good case to make against
the city of Newton - and so it came to pass that the city and
the stations finally reached a
settlement last week (thanks to Mark at Boston
Radio Watch for sniffing that out!) that could lead to construction
getting underway at the site as early as the end of this week.
The settlement, which is due to be approved by Newton's Board
of Aldermen on Wednesday, would establish a $100,000 remediation
fund to help neighbors near the site deal with increased RF levels
after the towers are built and the stations have been on the
air for three years. (In the first three years that stations
are operating with their new facilities, the stations themselves
will be required to assist neighbors within the blanketing zone
with RF-related issues, which is not much more than the FCC requires,
anyway.)
The settlement also limits what the stations can do at the
site in the future without city approval - no power increases,
and no adding wireless services to the towers, either.
In sum, though, it seems to represent a pretty convincing
win for the stations - especially for WKOX, which will get a
decent Boston signal out of the deal. We'll be following this
story closely as construction gets underway.
*Elsewhere in MASSACHUSETTS, Gary LaPierre returns
to WBZ (1030)'s morning drive today, a month and a half after
he suffered a heart attack.
On the FM side, Paul "Neanderpol" Marshall is out
as afternoon jock at WAAF (107.3 Westborough), but he didn't
stay on the beach long enough to get sand between his toes. He's
now over at WBCN (104.1 Boston), where he'll fill a yet-to-be-announced
shift.
Out on the outermost reaches of Cape Cod, Living Proof Inc.
(the same California religious broadcaster that's involved in
the fight for 91.7 west of Boston) has been granted a frequency
change for its unbuilt construction permit for WWTE (90.7 Wellfleet).
WWTE will instead operate at 90.1, with 2500 watts, vertical
only, into a directional antenna 80 feet above average terrain
(which, out there, is also 80 feet above ground and 80 feet above
sea level!)
That directional antenna will actually send most of WWTE's
power east and west, which means that on a peninsula that runs
north and south, the station is likely to be serving more fish
than people.
(And, NERW would note, it would be completely unsustainable
if the FCC imposed any kind of local studio or origination requirement,
but that's a rant for another time...)
 Heading
west, Vox has modified its application to move WBEC-FM (105.5
Pittsfield) to Easthampton, in the Springfield market. WBEC-FM
has now applied to operate its new signal from the top of Mount
Tom, the highest broadcast site in the area, with 720 watts into
a directional antenna at 1237 feet above average terrain, a facility
that would put a more-than-decent signal over Springfield.
Meanwhile, back home in the Berkshires, Vox has parted ways
with WNAW (1230 North Adams) newsman Ted Bassani, a week after
Bassani filed a complaint alleging that the mayor of North Adams
hit him in the chest with a bag.
We're hearing that the Boston Globe's Bill Griffith
will be taking a buyout and leaving the paper at month's end,
still further reducing the amount of intelligent commentary on
the media available to New England readers. (And what's with
the toilet paper now being used to print the Globe on,
anyway? Cost-cutting gone mad?)
And we're sorry to report the death of Don Gordon, whose long
career as a Boston radio news reporter included many years at
WMEX and later at WEEI. Gordon worked for Norfolk County DA Bill
Delahunt after leaving radio. He died Saturday (Nov. 12) at age
74.
*Up in MAINE, Bud Sawyer is out at
Nassau's WLAM, Lewiston (1470) after a very long career that's
included long stints at WPOR in Portland and at earlier incarnations
of WLAM. The station's flipping to ESPN sports from standards
at the end of the month, it seems.
Meanwhile, the morning show at WLOB (1310 Portland/96.3 Rumford)
is now being simulcast on Fox affiliate WPFO (Channel 23).
*In NEW HAMPSHIRE, Lou Bortone moves
from WZMY (Channel 50) in Derry to the promotions director post
at WZID (95.7 Manchester).
 *VERMONT
is getting a new TV newscast. WFFF (Channel 44) in Burlington
is advertising for a news director as it prepares to launch a
10 PM newscast; we'd guess that once that's up and running, WFFF
will eventually be producing some sort of news product for ABC
quasi-sister station WVNY (Channel 22) as well.
*In RHODE ISLAND, David Bernstein
is out of a job as WPRO (630 Providence) program director. Bernstein
came to WPRO in May 2003 after stints programming WOR and WBZ;
he's now back home in New Jersey (where he had been commuting
to Providence), and no replacement has been named yet in Providence.
*The changes keep coming at CONNECTICUT's
WEZN (99.9 Bridgeport) and its Cox sister stations. Last week,
the stations (including WPLR and WYBC-FM) got a new general manager,
as Lee Davis arrived from New York (where he'd been GM of WFAN)
to manage the stations for regional manager Kim Guthrie.
*More management shakeups in NEW YORK:
WOR (710 New York) has sent PD Maurice Tunick packing, and
the position won't be filled. Instead, GM Bob Bruno will handle
programming duties.
On WNYE (91.5 New York), the "guest DJs" from country
stations around the nation will continue (from 7 AM-noon and
1-7 PM) through Tuesday, courtesy of the Country Music Association.
(The promotion is all leading up to the CMA Awards in New York
Tuesday night.)
Michael Wallace is the new afternoon newsman on WCBS (880
New York), moving from the Wall Street Journal Radio network
to join Wayne Cabot on the drive home.
In Albany, WPTR (96.7 Clifton Park) names morning host Gary
McElyea as PD, as well as naming former WZMR (104.9) jock Peter
Kaye as afternoon host.
Just up the road, WHAZ-FM (97.5 Hoosick Falls) launched its
"Gospel Gold" format last Monday (Nov. 7).
 In Syracuse, WZUN
(102.1 Phoenix) becomes the first station upstate to go all-Christmas.
(It made the flip on Thursday, and we hear Clear Channel's Hudson
Valley "Lite" trio - WRNQ/WCTW/WFKP - made the flip
over the weekend, too.)
Way up north, Randy Michaels' RadioActive LLC is applying
to the FCC to move the new class A signal on 92.5 from Old Forge
to Black River, which would also give it coverage of much of
the Watertown market.
And in Buffalo, Brian B. Wilde becomes assistant PD at WKSE
(98.5 Niagara Falls), while keeping his music director role there
as well. (The Kiss website shows him as PD, interestingly enough...)
*In NEW JERSEY, Press Communications'
WKOE (106.3 Ocean City) is making an Atlantic City move. It's
been granted FCC permission to change city of license to Bass
River Township, and to change frequency to 106.5, which will
reduce interference from WJJZ (106.1 Philadelphia) and from sister
station WHTG (106.3 Eatontown).
 WKOE and its "Breeze"
sister stations are also getting some programming help from a
veteran New York City PD. Joe McCoy, who programmed WCBS-FM (101.1)
before it became "Jack," has become the "programming
advisor" for WKOE, WBHX (99.7 Tuckerton) and WWZY (107.1
Long Branch.)
And there's a new station on the air in south Jersey: WVBV
(90.5 Medford Lakes) signed on last week, carrying Calvary Satellite
Network programming. Its 21 kW signal is aimed mainly to the
northwest - towards Philadelphia - from its transmitter site
along the Atlantic City Expressway near Hammonton.
*It was a mostly quiet week in PENNSYLVANIA,
with just one FCC application of note: WXXP (1580 Waynesburg)
modified its major-change application, which originally specified
1190 kHz and 500 watts daytime, to specify 1210 kHz and 5 kW
daytime/710 watts critical hours, instead.
In Berwick, WFBS (1280) is replacing its morning music programming
with sports talk from Sporting News Radio, beginning November
28.
*Just one bit of news from CANADA,
courtesy of Milkman UnLimited: CJRT (91.1 Toronto) has hired
veteran freeform broadcaster Reiner Schwartz (of early CHUM-FM
and CHOM fame) to host a show from 10 PM Fridays until 4 AM Saturdays.
*And how about some hockey? We promised you a look at the
AHL last week, and here we go:
- The Portland Pirates have a fairly extensive network
this year, including flagship WJAE (1440 Westbrook)/WJJB-FM (95.5
Topsham), WTME (780 Rumford)/WKTQ (1450 South Paris) and WPHX
(1220 Sanford).
- The Manchester Monarchs are heard on WGIR (610 Manchester)
and sister stations WGIN (930 Rochester), WGIP (1540 Exeter)
and WTSL (1400 Hanover).
- The Lowell Lock Monsters continue on WCAP (980 Lowell).
- The Springfield Falcons have a new flagship this year,
WMAS (1450 Springfield).
- The Providence Bruins, as we noted earlier, move to
a new network that includes WARL (1320 Attleboro MA), WNRI (1380
Woonsocket), WQRI (88.3 Bristol), WBLQ (88.1 Westerly) and some
games on WAKX (102.7 Narragansett Pier).
- The Hartford Wolf Pack are on WPOP (1410 Hartford).
- The Bridgeport Sound Tigers appear not to have any
local radio this year, as best we can tell.
- The Albany River Rats play on WABY (1160 Mechanicville).
- The Binghamton Senators continue on WINR (680 Binghamton).
- The Syracuse Crunch are on WHEN (620 Syracuse).
- The Rochester Amerks, NERW's hometown team, are on
WHTK (1280 Rochester), except for a few conflict games on WBER
(90.5). There's also some TV coverage on Time Warner's WB16 and
cable channel 98.
- The Hamilton Bulldogs play on CHAM (820 Hamilton).
- The new Toronto Marlies will have some games on CFMJ
(640 Toronto).
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins play on WQFM (92.1
Nanticoke)/WQFN (100.1 Forest City).
- The Hershey Bears are now on WQIC (100.1 Lebanon),
as well as WLPA (1490 Lancaster).
- The Philadelphia Phantoms get their very first broadcast
coverage with a handful of games on WIP (610); the rest will
be webcast at 610wip.com.
 *Tower
Site Calendar 2006 is just back from the printer, and we've
got to say, we're especially proud of the way this one turned
out.
Once again, we bring you more than a dozen images from the
fybush.com collection that have never seen print before, including
that nifty nighttime view of New York's WMCA that graces the
cover. You also get to see WSB, KTAR, Mount Wilson, CBV and many,
many more, plus all those fun dates in radio and TV history,
civil and religious holidays, a handy full-page 2007 calendar,
and the always-popular hole for hanging.
And we do it all with no increase in price, for the fourth
year running!
The calendars are shipping now, so there's no need to wait
until the holidays to enjoy all that tall steel and all that
broadcast history. Order now and beat the rush!
You can get one free with your 2006 subscription
to NERW at the $60 level, or order the calendar (plus other goodies)
at our brand new fybush.com
Store! We think you'll like this one - and as always,
we thank you for your support.
NorthEast Radio Watch is made possible by the generous
contributions of our regular readers. If you enjoy NERW, please
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learn how you can help make continued publication possible. NERW
is copyright
2005 by Scott Fybush. |
