CC Cutbacks in Rochester Claim Five Jobs

It's that time of year again...

...when we ask for your subscription support as we head towards a new year of NERW.

NorthEast Radio Watch is part of an ever-shrinking breed of radio industry websites open to anyone without a password or a mandatory payment.

Here at NERW, we still believe that it's not an especially efficient use of our time to be issuing passwords and renewal reminders. We'd rather be out there taking pictures of towers and twirling the dials to bring you actual news about radio and television across the northeast U.S. and eastern Canada, just as we've been doing, week in and week out, for over a dozen years now.

There's a catch, though, and here it is - even if there's no mandatory subscription fee, that doesn't mean that NERW comes to you each week free of charge. We ask you each year to do your part by making a voluntary contribution to help keep NERW coming. So far, the system has worked. Many of you support NERW each year, and for that, we're grateful.

But there are still many more of you who don't, and at some point, we're going to have some tough decisions to make about how to keep the bills paid and the NERW-mobile gassed up. We still consider, from time to time, whether it's time to put our fresh weekly content behind a password and a fee, just to make sure there's enough money in the bank to keep doing the column at all.

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October 31, 2005 -

• While it may strike terror into the souls of classical music aficionados across Eastern New England, the news that Charles River Broadcasting has put its station group up for sale is anything but a Halloween prank. On Thursday, the company's board of directors agreed to hire Media Services Group to explore the sale of some or all of its five stations - classical outlets WCRB (102.5 Waltham), WFCC (107.5 Chatham) and WCRI (95.9 Block Island RI), as well as rocker WKPE (104.7 Orleans) and all-news WCNX (1180 Hope Valley RI). The board also brought in veteran manager Herb McCord (former head of the Granum group) to manage the stations while CEO Bill Campbell is on medical leave; McCord was already a member of the Charles River board.
• WCRB's only one big headline in eastern MASSACHUSETTS this week, though. Up in Burlington, things got awfully quiet Thursday at WWZN (1510 Boston), where Sporting News Radio abruptly pulled the plug on the local programming it was originating at "1510 the Zone." At the end, that meant two shows for the struggling station: "The Diehards" and Eddie Andelman's afternoon show. The paid programming that was running on the weekends and some evenings (including high school football) will continue, as will three WWZN staffers, including Diehards Anthony Pepe and Jon Anik. A few moments of class marked the station's end: former GM Mike Winn, who's now with "ESPN Boston" WAMG/WLLH, was allowed to come back to WWZN for the last day there. And Andelman, whose history on Boston radio goes back 36 years, will get to do a farewell show Thursday (Nov. 3) from 2-4 PM.
• Then there's Howard Stern, who took away whatever suspense still surrounded the question of his replacement on Tuesday, when he introduced David Lee Roth as his successor, starting January 3, 2006, on most of his East Coast Infinity-owned affiliates. In Boston, that means Roth will replace Stern on WBCN (104.1), but WBCN's rock format will continue for the rest of the day. That's not going to be the case on several other Stern stations - in particular, NEW YORK, where the end of the Stern show will also mean the end of "K-Rock" at WXRK (92.3). Stern has been a part of K-Rock since just a few months after it signed on in 1985. After he signs off in December 16, the rock will go as well - at least during the day - to replaced by the "Free FM" brand of talk that Infinity's launching in other big markets. So far, the only host confirmed for WXRK (besides Roth) is comedian/magician Penn Jillette.
• In eastern PENNSYLVANIA, the end of the Stern show Tuesday was followed with the launch of "94.1 Free FM" on WYSP (94.1 Philadelphia). The new format had clearly been in the works for a while, since it launched with a relatively comprehensive schedule. The most notable addition is market veteran Paul Barsky, who resurfaces as the 10 AM-3 PM host (with former sidekick Vinnie the Crumb alongside him again.) Kidd Chris, already on WYSP, remains in afternoon drive. After 7 at night, the station will still be a rocker, with Couzin Ed moving to 7-10 PM and Matt and Huggy from 10-2. WYSP also brings a familiar Infinity face back to the market: Tom Bigby, who moved from WIP to KRLD in Dallas last year, returns as OM of "94.1 Free FM." Gil Edwards moves up from APD to PD.

October 29, 2001 -

• The doors have been spinning in radio managers' offices all over MASSACHUSETTS this week, at two of the biggest clusters in Boston. We'll start at Clear Channel, where some old familiar faces are back on the job in the Waltham studios of WJMN (94.5 Boston). Just a few months after leaving the PD chair at "Jam'n" to take over the same seat at crosstown WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford), a bout of management consolidation has "Cadillac Jack" McCartney taking that job back. McCartney will now handle programming for both "Jam'n," with its urban-CHR sound, and "Kiss 108," Clear Channel's more mainstream entry in the CHR battle - a far cry from the old days, when the two stations (and WJMN predecessor WZOU) were bitter rivals. WJMN PD Dennis O'Heron stays with Clear Channel, becoming marketing director of both stations, while WXKS-FM music director Kid David adds the same duties at WJMN, displacing Michelle Williams, who departs the station.
• But wait - there are changes on-air as well at "Jam'n," beginning with morning drive, where Baltazar is out of the morning show, replaced by afternoon drive jock Ramiro Torrez. Morning co-host Pebbles stays. And AllAccess reports that both stations will go voicetracked during overnights beginning January 1, 2002, thus also displacing WXKS' Chris Shine.
• Religious satellator news: The "Living Proof" folks have managed to get their application for a new 91.7 in Lunenburg reinstated, which can't be good news for Boston's WUMB (though there's probably not much they can do to prevent the incursion into their chain of signals on 91.9 in Boston and Worcester and Maynard's WAVM on 91.7); meanwhile, down on Nantucket, a settlement finds "Broadcasting for the Challenged" yielding to "Nantucket Public Radio" for the 89.5 frequency there. That new station will run 78 watts vertical, 500 watts horizontal at 36 meters AAT from a stick on Swain Hill, a mile or so west of Nantucket village. (We're sure Nantucket fans of Boston's WGBH will be none too thrilled about this one...) 2006 Update - We were wrong about WUMB, which did find a way to keep Living Proof from doing too much damage to its signals. But we were mostly right about the WGBH fans on Nantucket; in the end, Nantucket Public Radio's WNCK on 89.5 ended up as a simulcast of WGBH for that very reason.
• While we're down that way, we note the passing of one of Boston sports radio's most prolific callers. "Butch from the Cape," aka Thomas Speers, died October 17 of cancer. The former bar owner became a regular on WEEI when it went all-sports a decade ago, mocking the Red Sox and other Hub teams. Speers had lived in Connecticut before moving to the Cape, and was charged with harassment (though later acquitted) for making anti-Semitic calls to a radio host in Waterbury; he also served prison time for running gambling rings in the Nutmeg State. Speers, who had been honored by WEEI when he disclosed his illness last year (in an event called "Butchiepalooza"), was 58.
• Two call changes from VERMONT and NEW HAMPSHIRE: WCFR-FM (93.5 Springfield VT) changes calls to WXKK, to match country simulcast "Kixx" partner WXXK (100.5 Lebanon NH), while the WCFR-FM calls pop up across the Connecticut River at the former WLPL (96.3 Walpole NH), which in turn simulcasts oldies WWOD (104.3 Hartford VT).
• Just to add to the simulcast fun: WMXR (93.9 Woodstock), which had been simulcasting country with the Springfield station, has dropped out of that format in favor of a simulcast with classic rock WVRR (101.7 Newport NH).

New England Radio Watch, October 29-31, 1996

• After 52 years of radio and 70 years of a full life, Norm Nathan passed away on Tuesday night, October 29, at his home in Middleton, Massachusetts. Norm was not only one of the finest broadcasters New England has ever known, but he was also a colleague and, I'm proud to say, a friend. I trust NERW readers will understand if I depart from the usual rundown of news items and indulge in some remembrances of Norm.
• Over the years, Norm came to find himself as the last of the breed, as colleagues such as Jess Cain, Dave Maynard, and Larry Glick left radio or went into semi-retirement. I know Norm was crushed when his old radio home, WHDH, disappeared from the airwaves in August 1994, especially when he found out the last noise heard on the station was a toilet flushing. In the end, Norm's show sat alone even on WBZ. At the end of a week filled with hard news and the political, hard-edged talk of David Brudnoy and Bob Raleigh, Norm's show was where we all went for a soft chuckle, a smile, and the feeling that there was somebody out there who just wanted to cheer you up.
• There's something more than a little bit eerie about the timing of Norm's death. For the last few months, WBZ has been in the process of moving out of its old studios, and into a new facility on the other side of the building. The new studios are cleaner, brighter, and better-equipped...but I will never picture Norm anywhere other than in the dark, somewhat musty old talk studio. It was just a few days ago that they finished tearing out the guts of that studio, and it was unsettling to walk into that familiar room and find only an empty physical space. Suddenly, it's not merely physically empty; there's a huge spiritual hole there too. It's 2 A.M. as I write this; Norm's time of the night. This was the hour when he hit his stride, making life a little brighter for listeners all along the path of BZ's booming signal. Norm's producer, Tony Nesbitt, found the right phrase on BZ tonight, when he talked about "a hole 38 states wide." So did another colleague, who asked simply, "What will I listen to now?" Out there in the vast corporate world that's radio in the 1990s, there are still a few remnants left of a simpler time, in the days before shock jocks and satellites, when a jazz record and a joke could be the foundation for a half-century of great radio. We've just lost one of the best. Goodbye, old sport.
• There's one fewer silent AM station in Massachusetts this week, with the return to the airwaves of Worcester's WNEB (1230). The station has been silent since 1991, but it signed back on last Thursday (Oct. 24) under the ownership of Bob Bittner, who also owns WJIB (740) Cambridge and recently sold WKBR (1250) in Manchester NH. WNEB uses 947 watts, non-directional, from the old tower site on Worcester's west side, near Chandler Street. Programming for now is largely a simulcast of WJIB's beautiful-music, although plans include Spanish-language broadcasts at night.
• With WNEB's return, only two AMs in Massachusetts remain silent, and in danger of losing their licenses in February: WBIV (1060) in Natick and WCEG (1530) in Middleborough.
• In business news, SFX Broadcasting's Hartford group has hit near-maximum size with last week's purchase of WWYZ (92.5 Waterbury). "Country 92.5" was owned by the Gilmore family, who will keep their WATR (1320) in Waterbury, along with $25.25 million of SFX's cash. SFX's Hartford properties include WKSS (95.7, CHR), WHCN (105.9, classic rock), WMRQ (104.1 Waterbury, modern rock), and WPOP (1410, mews-talk). The company also owns WPKX (97.9 Enfield CT) in the Springfield MA market and WPLR (99.1) New Haven, which has an LMA with Yale University's WYBC (94.3).
• Boston University's public radio station is about to expand its reach on Cape Cod. WBUR (90.9) already simulcasts most of its programming on three small Cape noncomms, WSDH (91.5) at Sandwich High School, WKKL (90.7) at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, and WCCT (90.3) at Cape Cod Voc-Tech in Harwich. Now WBUR is buying car dealer Ernie Boch's WUOK (1240) in West Yarmouth. WUOK has been simulcasting sister FM WXTK (94.9) for a year or so...but it can trace its roots all the way back as the Cape's oldest station, WOCB.