November 16, 2009

NYC Gets A New Translator

• MAINE
• NEW HAMPSHIRE
• MASSACHUSETTS
• VERMONT
• RHODE ISLAND
• CONNECTICUT
• NEW YORK
• NEW JERSEY
• PENNSYLVANIA
• CANADA
• CLASSIFIEDS
• FROM THE ARCHIVES

*Quick - when was the last time a brand-new FM signal appeared on the airwaves of NEW YORK City? We're not talking suburban rimshot signals here, nor does the WNYZ-LP "Franken-FM" channel 6/87.7 operation quite count. And by that measure, it would seem that the 1985 debut of 8-watt WHCR (90.3) up in Harlem marked the last time a new (licensed) FM signal signed on from within the five boroughs.

A quarter-century later, that's about to change: last week, the FCC quietly approved one of the tens of thousands of applications it received back in 2003 for new FM translators. That window produced plenty of requests for new signals in the Big Apple, most of them ungrantable - but it also included an application from River Vale Media Foundation for a 19-watt signal on 107.1, licensed to Brooklyn but aiming most of its highly-directional signal northwest over the Brooklyn Bridge into the heart of Manhattan.

When the application was filed, it drew opposition from Clear Channel, which operates WLTW (106.7) just two channels down the dial. Under the translator rules, though, such second-adjacent operation is acceptable, if the translator is up high enough so that no listeners on the ground would receive predicted interference. (It gets even more technical from there; suffice it to say, it's an issue of ratios, and the River Vale application, which calls for antennas mounted off the side of a 300' tall apartment building near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, meets those FCC regulations.)

The grant of the construction permit on 107.1 (complete with call letters W296BT) is just the start of what promises to be an interesting saga, of course, as we find out what River Vale (controlled by one Jae H. Chung) has in store for its new signal. The application filed back in 2003 called for 107.1 to relay Sound of Life's WLJP (89.3 Monroe), but that was just a placeholder. There's not much we can tell from River Vale's other holdings; Chung has some 30 other applications for other translators in and near New York City still lingering ungranted from the 2003 window, and one other licensed translator, W247AW (97.3 Poughkeepsie), which is apparently repeating WGNY-FM (103.1 Newburgh).

It's a pretty good bet that W296BT will become the most valuable translator in America once it's built, assuming River Vale wants to sell - especially now that the FCC allows AM stations to relay their signals on FM. Will Chung find a buyer? We'll be watching this one closely...

*The week's other big news from the big city was the Thursday induction of six new members into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Longtime New York morning man Harry Harrison and CBS newsman Charles Osgood made up the city contingent, and from upstate the inductees included Albany's Don Weeks (WGY), Syracuse's Rick Gary (now of WZUN/WUMX after long runs at WYYY and WSYR-TV), Rochester's Brother Wease (WFXF) and Buffalo's Marie Rice (formerly of WIVB-TV). Congratulations to all!

Next week's big news from the big city seems likely to be the long-rumored deal between GE and Comcast to transfer control of NBC to the cable giant. There's not much at this point that we can add to the speculation running rampant across the trades and the business press - while Comcast is clearly interested mainly in NBC's cable networks, it's still far from clear what becomes of NBC's broadcast holdings. In NERW-land, those consist of NBC O&Os WNBC (Channel 4) in New York, WCAU (Channel 10) in Comcast's home base of Philadelphia and WVIT (Channel 30) in Connecticut, which NBC tried to sell last year, but which failed to attract a buyer - as well as Telemundo outlets WNJU (Channel 47) in New York and WNEU (Channel 60) in the Boston market. While deregulation did away with the longstanding FCC rules that barred cross-ownership between cable systems and broadcast stations in a market, it's far from clear that the Justice Department's antitrust hawks would look kindly on such overlaps, especially in areas such as Philadelphia and Boston where Comcast is the dominant cable operator. As for the details of what a Comcast/NBC merger might look like operationally, it appears to us to be so speculative at this point that we'll leave it to the message-board crowd to discuss. (If nothing else, GE shedding NBC might finally put to rest that long-running rumor that claims GE hoped to re-enter radio after unloading NBC's radio assets two decades ago...)

Out on Long Island, another obstacle to the impending sale of Long Island University's WLIU (88.3 Southampton) has been cleared away with the signing of a consent decree that settles allegations that WLIU and sister station WCWP (88.1 Brookville) ran afoul of the FCC's underwriting rules for noncommercial stations. Under the agreement, LIU will make a "voluntary" contribution of $24,000 to the feds, and the investigation into the violations will be dropped, allowing the sale to Peconic Public Broadcasting to move ahead.

Albany now has an all-Christmas outlet, and it's no surprise: Clear Channel flipped WTRY-FM (98.3 Rotterdam) last week, as it's done for quite a few years now.

In other news from the Capital District, talker WGDJ (1300 Rensselaer) has applied for a license to cover its power increase, jumping from 5 kW day and night to 10 kW days, 8 kW nights. And its talk competitor, Pamal's WROW (590 Albany), has signed on with Kansas-based Virtual News Center to produce "local" news reports. Are they ready to handle "Schaghticoke," "Schoharie" and "Watervliet"?

We're still almost two weeks out from Thanksgiving, but Syracuse now has two all-Christmas stations, with Clear Channel's WYYY (94.5 Syracuse) following the early lead of crosstown WZUN (102.1 Phoenix). Buffalo's WTSS (102.5) and WJYE (96.1) joined the parade this morning as well, as did WVOR (102.3 Canandaigua) here in the Rochester market.

Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes, licensee of WZXV (99.7 Palmyra), is shuffling some of its Finger Lakes translators: W281AT (104.1) is moving from Watkins Glen to Ithaca, and W274AG (102.7 Penn Yan) is on its way south to Dundee, where it will move to 102.1.

Speaking of the Finger Lakes, there's a real-life "Pirate Radio" connection to the Finger Lakes Radio Group. Co-owner Alan Bishop is a fully-licensed broadcaster in Geneva, Canandaigua, Auburn, Dundee, Ithaca and Dunkirk these days...but back in 1985, he spent several months rocking the North Sea as one of the jocks on Dutch-owned pirate "Laser 558," working under the airname "Craig Novak." (Bishop talked about his pirate days with your editor on WXXI's "Mixed Media" last week - you can hear the podcast here, with apologies for some audio glitches at our end!)

And since there's another local "Pirate Radio" connection - one of the movie's stars, Philip Seymour Hoffman, hails from Rochester - how could we not offer at least a brief review of the movie? If you're looking for a documentary about Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio 390 and all the other pirates who fought the British authorities and rocked the British Isles in the mid-sixties, this isn't it; the movie glosses over much of the political intrigue and glamorizes the often-brutal conditions out at sea. (Sunny weather off the coast of Britain at Christmastime? Unlikely.) The film also takes considerable chronological liberties with both equipment and music, not to mention RF safety.

But don't let that keep you out of the theater for this one: if you're in the mood for what amounts to "WKRP on the high seas," with a side helping of "DJs Gone Wild," not to mention lots of classic rock, "Pirate Radio" doesn't disappoint. And in its spot-on depictions of the passion with which British listeners greeted the arrival of rock radio (or the movie's fictional "Radio Rock"), "Pirate Radio" serves as a valuable reminder of the relationship that radio had - and can still have - with its listeners, when it's done right.

In Niagara County, Lockport Community Television is moving forward with its construction permit for WLNF (90.5 Rapids). It's working with the Rapids Fire Company to get zoning approval for a 100-foot self-supporting tower behind the fire hall on Plank Road, which would be shared by the fire department and the radio station. WLNF would run 250 watts from the top of the tower, carrying simulcasts of LCTV programming and eventually adding radio-only programs.

We didn't offer a "Hockey on the Radio" feature when the season started this fall because so much remained stable on the dials across the region this year - of the NHL teams in NERW-land, only the Boston Bruins moved flagships, and then only from WBZ (1030) to WBZ-FM (98.5) - but a visit to Buffalo's HSBC Arena last week to watch the Sabres' farm club, the Portland (Maine) Pirates, take on the Rochester Amerks reminded us of one interesting development: the Pirates' new play-by-play announcer this year is Mark Jeanneret, son of veteran Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret. (Not much change on the AHL radio landscape this year, either - we'd already noted the Lowell Devils' move to WWZN 1510, and the Pirates have a mini-network based at Portland's WLOB-FM 95.5/WLOB 1310. There's also one team move in NERW-land - the former Philadelphia Phantoms are now the Adirondack Phantoms, based in Glens Falls and heard on WNYQ 101.7.)

Where Are They Now? Reggie Jordan, who served as GM of Citadel's Syracuse cluster in 2001-02, is the new VP/market manager for New Northwest Broadcasters' cluster in Yakima, Washington.

Melissa Long, who honed her news chops in upstate New York (most notably at Rochester's WROC-TV) before making a big jump to CNN in Atlanta, is out of work - her anchor job at CNN.com went away late last week when CNN shut down the separate news production it was doing for its website.

And Paul Lyle, former general manager of the Route 81 stations in Corning and Elmira, is facing some big legal problems in Kansas, where he was fired from American Radio Investments earlier this year. Lyle is facing felony theft charges for embezzling more than $87,000 while serving as chief financial officer of the radio group. The Joplin Globe reports that Lyle says he stole the money to buy scratch-off lottery tickets - and that he won $96,000 in a second-chance drawing that was taking place at the Kansas state fair while Lyle was in court for a preliminary hearing. Lyle pleaded guilty on Thursday and agreed to use his winnings to pay restitution to American Radio Investments; he'll be sentenced November 30.

*Burlington's WCAX-TV (Channel 3) eulogized former chief engineer Ted Teffner as a "towering figure" in VERMONT broadcasting after his sudden death last week, and it's hard to argue with that description. Until his retirement not long ago, Teffner was the guiding force behind the massive reconstruction project that transformed WCAX's 1950s-vintage transmitter site atop Mount Mansfield into a 21st-century DTV site shared by most of Burlington's TV broadcasters (and several FMs, too), and it's hard to think of anyone more universally admired in the state's engineering community.

Teffner had recently retired to Florida, where he died Thursday at age 69. Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.

*There's not much new to report from the format shuffle that's underway in central NEW HAMPSHIRE, where WWHQ (101.5 Meredith) continues to run a repeating loop directing listeners up the dial to WLKZ (104.9 Wolfeboro) to find the "Hawk" classic rock format. Meanwhile, WNNH (99.1 Henniker) continues to simulcast soon-to-be-ex-sister station WJYY (105.5 Concord), and WWHK (102.3 Concord) was silent at last report. As always, stay tuned...

Congratulations to Mike Pomp of WTSN (1270 Dover) - he was named Broadcaster of the Year at the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters' annual dinner Thursday. Radio Station of the Year honors went to WCNL (1010 Newport), and Manchester's WMUR-TV (Channel 9) was TV Station of the Year. (You can see the full list of winners here.)

*Christmas came quickly to eastern MASSACHUSETTS Friday afternoon - well, Christmas music, anyway. In the closely-watched battle to be first with the holiday tunes, WODS (103.3 Boston) kicked things off a few minutes after noon, followed 20 minutes later by WROR (105.7 Framingham) - and fans of the oldies (er, "classic hits") will have to look elsewhere for their music on the Boston airwaves until after Christmas day. (For those keeping track, this year's start came a week later than last year's November 6 flips at both stations.)

The December 1 relaunch of WCRB (99.5 Lowell) as a noncommercial classical signal owned by WGBH remains on track, now that the FCC has approved the $14 million sale. There's still no word yet from WGBH about its new schedule on 89.7, expected to be all news and talk during the day, with jazz remaining in place later in the evening.

On TV, WHDH-TV turned off its channel 7 digital transmitter for good around 10:00 Friday morning, ending a rocky DTV transition that found the NBC affiliate moving from analog 7/digital 42 to digital 7, then firing up the digital 42 transmitter again just days after the June analog shutoff as complaints piled up from viewers having trouble with the VHF digital signal. After five months of digital operation (under STA) on both channels 7 and 42, WHDH secured FCC permission to move its permanent digital facility to 42. For a few days last week, the channel 7 digital signal carried a slate reminding viewers to rescan to receive the UHF signal before the VHF signal went dark. The next steps, we hear, will be the purchase of a new UHF transmitter to replace the decade-old model WHDH had been using on 42 - and the shipping of the channel 7 digital transmitter down to Sunbeam sister station WSVN in Miami, which has been having more success with VHF digital over Florida's flat terrain.

And we're sorry to report the death of Stanley Miastkowski, WA1UMV, who was on the air at WHMP in Northampton in the seventies before getting into technical journalism. Over the last few decades, he worked for 73 magazine, Byte magazine and PC World, as well as hosting several TV shows about computers. Miastkowski died Nov. 3 in Peterborough, N.H.; he was 58.

*In CONNECTICUT, Kristin Okesson is the new VP/GM of Cox Radio's four stations in Stamford and Norwalk (WFOX, WCTZ and WSTC/WNLK). She's a familiar face in the region, having worked in Danbury and across the state line in Westchester as a market manager for Cumulus.

*And in RHODE ISLAND, add WWLI (105.1 Providence) to the all-Christmas parade, effective Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight.

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*Our PENNSYLVANIA news starts on the TV side up in Scranton, where Local TV's WNEP (Channel 16) is rearranging the programming on its "WNEP2" DTV subchannel. 16.2 is now carrying classic TV shows from Retro TV, albeit in a box surrounded by the weather forecasts and local event listings that were already being seen on WNEP2.

Starting in January, WNEP2 will also be the new home of the 10 PM edition of WNEP's "Newswatch 16." The 10 o'clock newscast had been airing on Fox affiliate WOLF-TV (Channel 56) under a long-running contract, but WOLF-TV is shifting that contract to the other local newsroom in town, Nexstar's WBRE-TV (Channel 28), which will begin producing a 10 PM newscast for Fox 56 with its existing 11 PM crew. When the new show starts January 1, it will run a full hour, rather than the half-hour show that WNEP had been producing for WOLF-TV.

There's good news from Allentown, where Clear Channel engineers put up a replacement tower last week at WAEB (790), getting the station back to normal after one of its five towers was toppled, apparently by vandals, over Labor Day weekend. Police still don't have any leads on the vandalism.

In Philadelphia, Ken Johnson is the new director of urban programming for Clear Channel's WUSL (98.9) and WDAS-FM (105.3), moving north from Citadel in Dallas to take that newly-created position.

And speaking of moving north, Joey Brooks is leaving Clear Channel's WIOQ (102.1) after many years as APD/music director/afternoon jock - starting December 1, he'll be doing afternoons at CHUM-FM (104.5) in Toronto.

There are two new stations coming to the low end of the dial in north central Pennsylvania: Invisible Allies Ministries (owner of several "Rev FM" Christian rock signals in State College and vicinity) already has call letters - WRQV - for its new 2400-watt/771' DA signal on 88.1 in Ridgway, with a transmitter site south of St. Mary's; meanwhile, Gospel Tabernacle was granted 300 watts/636' for its new station on 88.5 in Coudersport.

And in Chambersburg, add WIKZ (95.1) to the all-Christmas list...

*As NEW JERSEY recovers from the battering its coast took from that big storm late last week, there's good news for classical listeners in Monmouth County: now that its off-air receiver has been tweaked, W244AS (96.7 Oakhurst) is once again relaying New York's WQXR, rather than the WXNY Spanish-language programming that took over WQXR's former 96.3 facility when the classical music moved up the dial to 105.9 a month ago.

*Country music has once again vanished from the airwaves in CANADA's biggest market. On Friday afternoon at 3, Corus abruptly pulled the plug on "Country 95.3" (CING-FM), the Hamilton-licensed signal that was also supplying the much larger Toronto market next door with its Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw fix.

After seven years of country, 95.3 is now playing classic hits, calling itself simply "The New 95.3" - and while it helps to fill the gap left behind when CHUM (1050) flipped from oldies to a CP24 TV simulcast earlier this year, the move leaves country fans seeking out some rimshot signals for their format. From the east side of the Greater Toronto Area, there's CJKX (95.9 Ajax), "96KX," with a signal that reaches much of the city and its eastern and northern suburbs (and even across the lake here in Rochester when the winds are blowing the right way); for listeners in 95.3's hometown of Hamilton, there's at least a rimshot signal from CIKZ (106.7) over in Kitchener-Waterloo.

So far, there's no word from Corus about an airstaff for "The New 95.3."

Down at the far end of the 401, meanwhile, this morning marks the official launch of a new country station serving not only Windsor but much of the Detroit metro area right across the river. CJWF (95.9) signs on "for real" at 8:00 with officials from owner Blackburn Radio cutting a ribbon at the studios. The airstaff includes morning hosts Mitch O'Connor and Melanie Deveau, middayer Houida Kassem (late of London's CFPL-TV/A Channel) and Reg Winters in afternoon drive.

In Waterloo, CKMS (100.3) went silent over the weekend after losing its main source of funding. "100.3 SoundFM" is the student station at the University of Waterloo, and in a referendum there students voted against a $2.50-per-term fee to support the station. The CKMS board of directors says it will have more to report about the situation this week; in the meantime, it's changed the locks on the station doors. (Monday afternoon update: CKMS returned to the air Sunday with BBC World Service programming; board members say the station can remain on the air until at least early December while they seek other options to keep it alive.)

And there's just one other piece of news from north of the border this week: Toronto's CHTO (1690) has been granted a daytime power increase from 1000 to 3000 watts; the move is expected to improve reception of the station's Greek programming in Mississauga and Brampton.

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