November 23, 2009

WJAR's Art Lake Dies

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

*A pioneering figure in RHODE ISLAND broadcasting has died.

Art Lake came to Providence's WJAR radio (920, now WHJJ) in April 1944 as an announcer, putting him in position to be part of the on-air team that launched WJAR-TV (Channel 11, now 10) in 1949.

In the station's early days, Lake (like most announcers of the era) did a little bit of everything, reading newscasts, hosting entertainment shows, working the announce booth. But he quickly specialized in one area: weather forecasting.

For decades, Lake was the weather in southern New England, delivering forecasts on WJAR-TV's evening news and, starting in 1985, the station's morning show. Lake went into semi-retirement a decade ago, though he returned to WJAR for his 60th anniversary with the station in 2004 and continued to read birthday announcements on WJAR's "Sunrise Show" until health problems forced him to retire for good in 2006.

Lake died early Sunday morning, at age 85.

*In MASSACHUSETTS, we know a little more about what's in store for listeners at WGBH (89.7 Boston) and WCRB (99.5 Lowell) when the former takes over operation of the latter just a week from tomorrow.

The new "All Classical 99.5" will retain several familiar voices from the WCRB staff, including Laura Carlo in morning drive and Ray Brown in afternoons. WGBH's Cathy Fuller will handle midday duties on weekdays, and at least for now, it appears the station will be automated from 6 PM until 5 AM. WGBH's Brian McCreath will provide a local voice on Saturday and Sunday mornings, followed at 11 AM on Saturdays by the syndicated "At the Top" show, also heard at 5 PM Sundays. Saturday nights will continue to be the home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a WCRB staple.

It also appears that WCRB's classical programming will replace the WGBH feed on WNCK (89.5 Nantucket); there's no word yet whether there will be a similar flip for WGBH's Beacon Hill translator, W242AA (96.3).

There's also not much yet to report about a new schedule for 89.7 - and indeed, it appears WGBH has not yet finalized the news/talk lineup that will replace daytime classical and the weekend folk and blues shows that go away next weekend. A live clearance for NPR's Diane Rehm show (currently heard in Boston only for one hout late at night on WBUR) seems likely for the late-morning hours, but the rest of the day appears to be in flux so far; expect a more definite schedule next week.

*NEW YORK City's new FM translator, W296BT (107.1 Brooklyn), isn't on the air yet - but it's getting new owners. The translator was granted to River Vale Media Foundation, a New Jersey-based nonprofit, but papers were filed at the FCC last week to transfer it to a new for-profit company, "Apple 107.1, Inc."

That company has some familiar names behind it: Michael and Tammy Celenza, who've bought and sold several Long Island translators, are paying $10,000 for 40% of "Apple 107.1" - and Young and Eun Kwon, former owners of Long Island's WGSM (now WNYH) 740, get 60% of the new company "in consideration of River Vale's assignment of the construction permit to Apple 107.1."

The Kwons are not listed as directors of River Vale, which was incorporated in New Jersey in 2003, so it's not clear what sort of "consideration" they might have provided for the transfer.

As for the question of what the new 19-watt Brooklyn signal will be programming, there was a change there, too: instead of specifying Sound of Life's WLJP (89.3 Monroe) as a parent station, W296BT is now telling the FCC it plans to relay New York's WPLJ (95.5), which probably means a relay of the oldies from WPLJ's HD2 until a buyer emerges for the translator signal.

*There's an interesting translator development in upstate New York, too - Geneva and Seneca Falls, to be exact, where the Finger Lakes Radio Group is trading away 1000-watt daytimer WSFW (1110 Seneca Falls) to Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls in exchange for translator W214BR (90.7 Geneva).

When the deal closes, Calvary will get much broader coverage of the northern Finger Lakes (and a long-term sweetheart lease deal on the WSFW transmitter site) - and Alan Bishop and George Kimble will take ownership of the translator that already operates from the tower of their WGVA (1240 Geneva). With a move to the commercial part of the FM dial, W214BR will presumably begin relaying WGVA, just as Finger Lakes already does with FM translators for its other AM signals in the region. WSFW's current visitor-information programming will likely go away when the AM signal becomes a Calvary religious outlet.

*The last full week before Thanksgiving brought more all-Christmas sounds to the Empire State airwaves. In New York City, WLTW (106.7) made the flip during the 8 o'clock hour Friday morning, most likely becoming the city's only all-Christmas station in the absence of flips at CBS Radio's WCBS-FM or WWFS (Fresh 102.7).

Earlier in the week, several more upstate stations made the flip: Rochester's WRMM (101.3) and Binghamton's WMXW (103.3 Vestal) are ho-ho-ho'ing, and CNYRadio.com reports the "Bug Country" pairing of WBGK (99.7 Newport Village/Utica) and WBUG-FM (101.1 Fort Plain) is doing all-Christmas with a country twist.

Down the road from WBUG, it's all-Christmas (except in morning drive) at WVTL (1570 Amsterdam), which is now being heard on FM as well, via translator W286AH (104.7).

In the Albany market, public radio station WMHT (89.1 Schenectady) is applying to move its transmitter from the old WMHT-TV (Channel 17) analog tower to the new community TV tower a mile away. The move would decrease WMHT's power from 11 kW to 4.9 kW, but with a corresponding increase in height from 928' to 1319' above average terrain, maintaining the station's existing coverage area. Since WMHT's analog TV signal went dark, its old tower has been home to just two FM stations, WMHT itself and Siena College's WVCR (88.3 Loudonville).

More TV news: there's a new news director at New York's WPIX-TV (Channel 11), where Karen Scott departed earlier this fall after a decade on the job. Her replacement is a familiar face in town - it's Bill Carey, who's worked at WABC-TV and as news director at WCBS-TV. More recently, Carey was working as station manager (and news director) at LocalTV's WQAD-TV in Moline, Illinois.

Out on Long Island's East End, WLIU (88.3 Southampton) will stay put for a few more months in its current studios on what's now the SUNY Stony Brook Southampton campus. Peconic Public Broadcasting, which is buying WLIU from the campus' former owner, Long Island University, has reached a deal to stay in the Southampton studios until the end of March - giving it a few more months to find a new permanent home for the station, which will be renamed WPPB.

The local papers out on the East End report that several other possible studio sites are now in the mix, as well as the original proposal to move 88.3 to the Wainscott Studios. Those possibilities include a former public library building in Southampton and another office location in the village.

Meanwhile, WLIU's most recent fundraiser brought in $90,000, a significant improvement over previous fund drives at the station.

*Radio People on the Move: New York's WCBS-FM (101.1) has added another part-time jock to its roster - and it's none other than WNBC veteran "Big Jay" Sorenson, last heard down the shore as half of the "Big Jay and Anita" morning show on WJRZ (100.1 Manahawkin NJ). After some health scares, Jay's back in full form, and ready to spin the oldies on "Frijay," "Saturjay" and "Sunjay," as well as on Thanksgiving day itself.

There's a new market manager for Clear Channel in Poughkeepsie: Brett Beshore, who's been running the Times-Shamrock stations in Scranton, is headed east on I-84 to take the helm at Clear Channel.

Here in Rochester, we've been remiss in not mentioning the arrival of Jesse Jordan as the new middayer at country giant WBEE-FM (92.5). She comes to Rochester from Utica, where she was part of the airstaff at "Kiss FM" WSKS/WSKU.

Where Are They Now?: "Ty," whose career started upstate at "K-Rock" in Syracuse and Utica and at WZNE in Rochester, has a new gig in Washington, DC. Ty had been APD/MD/middays at Clear Channel's WCHH (Channel 104.3) in Baltimore, but when that station flipped to top-40 as "Z104.3," Ty moved down I-95 to sister station WWDC-FM (DC101), where she'll be known as "Bailey" on the midday shift. (She'll also have a Sunday-night new music show, reports DCRTV.com...)

*And we're sorry to report the untimely death of Dene Hallam, who started his broadcast career at the old WRNW (107.1 Briarcliff Manor) back in the mid-70s, when that station was turning out a lot of future big-name talent (Howard somebody, among others), then went on to become a major force in country radio.

At the age of 28, Hallam took over from Ed Salamon in the PD chair at New York's WHN (1050) at the end of 1981; a little more than a year later, he moved to country competitor WKHK (106.7), where he remained until the flip to WLTW in 1984.

From there, Hallam added more big country calls to his resume, including WDAF in Kansas City, WWWW in Detroit and KKBQ in Houston; most recently he'd been in Atlanta, working as operations manager at Citadel's WKHX/WYAY and then programming the Moby in the Morning syndicated morning show.

Hallam died Friday in at Atlanta hospital after spending several days in a coma. He was just 56.

*A few new Web destinations we've been enjoying: Allan Sniffen's New York Radio Message Board has spawned an offshoot, the New York Broadcasting History Board, dedicated to discussion of the long and colorful history of radio and TV in market #1. Veteran newsman Ted David is moderating the new board, where there are already some great discussions underway.

Up in Syracuse, Vinny Lopez is blogging about his new role as president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers...and about his day job as director of engineering at WSYT/WNYS-TV.

Over on the other side of the country, the Bay Area Radio Museum, a fantastic resource for the history of San Francisco radio, had a near-death experience earlier this month, when creator David Jackson announced that a lack of funding meant the site would have to shut down; thankfully, it's now found some much-needed support and is back in business.

PROGRAMMING SERVICES DO IT RIGHT PRODUCTIONS -- Visit our Web site, doitrightproductions.net, to hear our three syndicated shows, Classic Clips, Country Roots and Gospel Doings, produced by longtime country and bluegrass lovers. We also provide demo and duplicating services. Contact Roland (Bruce) Cutler, PO Box 351, Lyons, NY 14489; or dirp650@verizon.net. You can have your ad here, for just a few dollars a week! Click here for information on the most economical way to reach tens of thousands of Northeast radio and TV people each week.

*A venerable PENNSYLVANIA TV personality is calling it quits. Dave Roberts, who's spent 31 years doing weather at Philadelphia's WPVI-TV (Channel 6), announced last week that he'll retire next month after one last stint as co-host of the station's Thanksgiving Day parade and a few more weeks doing weather.

Roberts' last day at the weather desk will be December 11, capping a 56-year career that began in his student days at Syracuse University's WAER (88.3), where he went on the air back in 1954.

As "Dave Thomas," Roberts became a fixture on the Buffalo broadcast scene, working at the old WBUF-TV (Channel 17) and then, after a few years in the Army working for AFRTS, at WKBW-TV (Channel 7). Beginning in 1961, he was an iconic part of the Channel 7 team, hosting "Rocketship 7" and "Dialing for Dollars" and doing the weather on "Eyewitness News" alongside the legendary Irv Weinstein.

Under owner Cap Cities, many popular WKBW personalities found their way to Philadelphia and then-sister station WPVI, and Roberts was no exception, making the move in 1978, initially as host of "AM Philadelphia," then taking over weather duties in 1983 after the skydiving accident that claimed the life of Jim O'Brien.

In recent years, Roberts was inducted into both the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers and Buffalo Broadcasters halls of fame - and his own fame in Buffalo and Philadelphia was echoed on a national level by his son David, who used the family's real name - Boreanaz - as he became a star of shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Bones."

*There are three more new noncommercial stations coming to northwestern and north-central Pennsylvania, and they're all religious: Calvary Chapel of Russell was awarded 89.1 in Tidioute, near Titusville; Faith Baptist Church gets 90.5 in Beaver Springs, west of Sunbury; and Four Rivers Community Broadcasting ("Word FM") gets 90.1 in Newburg, east of Punxsutawney. In the process of granting those applications, the FCC dismissed more than a dozen other applications from religious, public and community broadcasters in the area, as it continues to work through the thousands of applications it received during the last noncommercial window in 2007.

Up near the New York border, WREQ (96.9 Ridgebury) has flipped from Calvary Satellite Network religion to a simulcast of WNKZ (103.9 Laporte) under its new ownership.

Where are they now? Justin Bryant, former PD of Wilkes-Barre's WBHT (97.1 Mountain Top), is the new PD of WVBX (99.3) and WWUZ (96.9) in the Fredericksburg, Virginia market. Bryant started his radio career up here in upstate New York, working as PD at Binghamton's WWYL (as "KJ Bryant") and as APD/MD at Rochester's WPXY (as "Norm on the Barstool," a name he'd probably rather forget!)

A quick bit of Baseball on the Radio: The York Revolution of the Atlantic League have signed a three-year deal with WOYK (1350) to carry the team's games through the 2012 season. (The team's press release calls WOYK the region's most powerful radio station, though its 5,000-watt signal near the top of the dial doesn't carry nearly as far as the 5,000 watts of the team's previous flagship, WSBA 910.)

Some DTV news from Pittsburgh: WQEX (Channel 16) has moved from its interim RF channel, 26, to the RF channel 38 facility formerly occupied by sister station WQED (Channel 13), which has now fully moved its own digital facility to RF 13.

*While many of the region's public broadcasters report record responses to their latest membership drives, NEW JERSEY's very independent freeform station, WFMU (91.1 East Orange), needed a little more help from its listeners.

WFMU says its last drive last spring fell $100,000 short of its goal, and the additional threat of losing its transmitter-site lease on First Mountain prompted the station to do only its third-ever emergency drive outside its annual March campaign.

The 24-hour drive did the trick: listeners came through Tuesday and Wednesday with enough money to get the station to its goal.

*An update on those NEW HAMPSHIRE format changes: WNNH (99.1 Henniker) has flipped from a simulcast of top-40 sister station WJYY (105.5 Concord) to a repeating loop directing listeners to Nassau's remaining radio stations in the market.

*A longtime CONNECTICUT station owner has died as well. Daniel W. Kops, Sr. moved from the newspaper business in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to the radio business in New Haven after World War II, where he became a partner in WAVZ (1300), forming Kops-Monahan Communications.

That station group expanded in time to include WKCI (101.3 Hamden), as well as WTRY/WDKC-FM in Albany, New York, and while the Albany stations were sold in 1972, Kops-Monahan remained in business in New Haven until the mid-80s.

Kops, a Cornell University graduate, served on the NAB board and the board of the National United Way Association. He'd retired to Palm Beach, Florida, but returned to Connecticut, where he died Nov. 14 at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford, at age 92.

*Another New Haven station, Yale's WYBC (1340), is finally ready to replace the guyed tower that went down in a thunderstorm back in April 2007. WYBC has been running from a temporary longwire antenna ever since; now it's been granted a construction permit to erect a Valcom fiberglass whip antenna on the same Front Avenue site. Because the new antenna will be shorter than the old one, it will generate more high-angle radiation toward adjacent-channel WWRV (1330 New York), forcing WYBC to reduce night power to 880 watts; it will remain at 1000 watts by day. (Why not rebuild a guyed tower at the old 185-foot height? WYBC tells the FCC that environmental considerations at its tidal-marsh site make that impossible.)

*The week's media news from CANADA was dominated by the CRTC's local TV hearings at its Gatineau, Quebec headquarters. If you're a Canadian TV viewer, you're being bombarded by messages from all sides in this battle: the owners of local TV stations (themselves big national companies, for the most part) who say local stations can only survive if cable companies begin paying them retransmission fees and if further protective barriers are put in place against incursions from US broadcasters, and the cable and satellite companies who say the TV stations shouldn't be billing them (and their customers) for programming they send out for free over the airwaves.

It's an issue that's largely resolved on the US side of the border, where a dual-system solution (more highly-viewed stations can hold out for retransmission-consent deals, while lesser-viewed outlets can force cable must-carry) seems to largely be working, except for occasional skirmishes at retrans-consent contract time. But Canada's more centralized environment, in which nearly all network "affiliates" are actually owned-and-operated stations, and in which local content has been minimized in many cities, seems to make "local TV" a less-important concern to many Canadians outside the biggest markets. Add in a few more factors, such as the incredibly high cable/satellite penetration rates north of the border and the possibility that the DTV transition might shut down over-the-air broadcasting in many small towns, and there's a lot at stake here.

*On a more cheerful note, CHUM-FM (104.5 Toronto)'s Roger Ashby is being inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame. Ashby marks his 40th anniversary with CHUM this year (16 years on 1050 CHUM followed by 24 more on CHUM-FM), and he'll have his Hall of Fame induction on March 11, 2010.

NorthEast Radio Watch is made possible by the generous contributions of our regular readers. If you enjoy NERW, please click here to learn how you can help make continued publication possible. NERW is copyright 2009 by Scott Fybush.