NJN Braces for Loss of State Support

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April 27, 2009 -

• By itself, the story of Scranton, PENNSYLVANIA's WARM (590) is a fairly common one: a once-dominant AM station falls on hard times, fades from public attention, gets neglected in a cluster full of bigger FM sister stations, and ends up as not much more than a satellite dish connected to a transmitter. But the last couple of weeks in WARM-land have been unusual ones, and worthy of special note for anyone who's still even mildly hopeful that there's still some life remaining in the bigger corners of the AM dial.
• As we told you last week, the overall lack of maintenance at WARM's five-tower transmitter site finally took its toll earlier this month, taking the station off the air. That wasn't WARM's first silent period, but for whatever reason, this one got the attention of the local media, which made WARM's absence - and rumors of its outright demise - a lead story on TV newscasts and in the local papers. Whatever Citadel's original plans for WARM might have been, all that attention seemed to light a fire under the company, and by Thursday there was once again a signal on the air at 590 over Scranton, still carrying the True Oldies Channel satellite format that WARM has been running for the last few years.
• End of story? Maybe, maybe not - because even if Citadel is prepared to let WARM continue to linger in a near-death fugue state, there's still ample evidence that at least in this one case, the listeners who once loved this AM station aren't ready to let go of their memories yet. Consider, for instance, the front page of Sunday's Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. What's that lead story taking up most of the page? It's WARM's longtime morning man, Harry West, sharing his memories of life as one of the "Sensational Seven" DJs, with avid listeners everywhere from north Jersey to Binghamton.
• Times change, to be sure, and we'd never dream of suggesting that a station like WARM - even if restored to its full-throated 5,000-watt glory - could ever attract more than a small fraction of the 70 shares it once pulled in Scranton. But in a market that's full of older listeners, most of them native to the area, it's hard to believe there's not some way that all those "warm" feelings still out there about this legendary radio station couldn't be harnessed, with a bit of an investment, into a new WARM that could keep alive at least some of the magic of the old "Mighty 590." If Citadel's not up to the challenge, will it at long last find a buyer who is?
• One obituary of note this week: Merv Ainsworth was one of the founding fathers of television in central New York, moving from WKAL radio in Rome to WKTV in Utica back in 1950, just a year after the station had signed on. In 42 years with WKTV, Ainsworth built a remote-control system for the station's transmitter site - and by 1980 rose to the post of chief engineer, which he held until his retirement in 1992. Ainsworth also helped build WUFM (107.3) in Utica in 1962. He died last Sunday (April 19) at 83.
• In NEW JERSEY, there's more news from the new "Wibbage-FM," WILW (94.3 Avalon) - in addition to a pending call change to WIBG-FM, the oldies station has signed Philadelphia radio legend Jim Nettleton to do mornings, and it's picking up Sam Lit's "HyLitRadio" service for overnights, complete with vintage Philly airchecks.
• In NEW HAMPSHIRE, the strange saga of Aaron Aldridge came to a resolution Tuesday night - and it happened just an hour or so down the road from the NAB convention in Las Vegas. Police in California spotted Aldridge's car on I-15 near the Nevada border, ending a nationwide manhunt for the former WNTK (99.7 New London)/WUVR (1490 Lebanon) morning man, who's now behind bars and facing a series of charges as a fugitive from justice and for the possession and production of child pornography, some of it reportedly featuring his teenage daughter.
• In MASSACHUSETTS, a familiar TV face is coming to the radio airwaves. Mike Macklin, a veteran of the reporting staffs at WHDH-TV (Channel 7) and WBZ-TV (Channel 4), has signed on with WBZ (1030) as a reporter/anchor, adding some heft to a news staff that's been hit hard by cutbacks and retirements in recent months.
• Up the AM dial a bit, Clear Channel has finally finished the last bits of work needed to get WKOX (1200 Newton) to a full 50,000 watts day and night from the transmitter site in Oak Hill it now shares with WRCA (1330 Watertown) and WUNR (1600 Brookline). As the first directional array to be licensed under the new rules allowing for computer modeling in place of the laborious proofing process, WKOX's upgrade was the subject of an engineering paper presented out at the NAB Show; someday, perhaps, they'll write a book about all the hurdles that the three stations had to overcome to get this new site on the air. (And long before that happens, we'll feature it on Tower Site of the Week soon...)

April 25, 2005 -

• The RHODE ISLAND television reporter who spent four months under house arrest after refusing to give up the source of a controversial videotape was hailed as a journalistic hero last week in Las Vegas. WJAR (Channel 10)'s Jim Taricani was a last-minute addition to the roster of speakers at the Radio-Television News Directors Association and National Association of Broadcasters' conventions, and he used the opportunity to call for the adoption of a federal "shield law" to protect journalists' sources. Had such a law been in place, it would have kept Taricani from being convicted of contempt of court after he defied a Rhode Island judge's order to reveal the source of the tape that exposed a corruption ring in Providence's city government. Taricani was fined $85,000 and sentenced to six months in prison, which was reduced to four months of home confinement because of Taricani's health issues (he underwent a heart transplant a few years back.)
• RTNDA invited Taricani and WJAR news director Betty-Jo Cugini to Las Vegas as soon as he was released, and Taricani said he was delighted to accept. "It's great to be here - it's great to be anywhere outside home," he told the news managers as he spoke at their opening breakfast Monday. Taricani and Cugini said NBC management could not have been more supportive during the trial and the confinement that followed, including paying Taricani's fine and legal expenses. Taricani is expected to be back at work at WJAR this week.
• Oldies have returned to Manchester, NEW HAMPSHIRE with a format flip at WKBR (1250 Manchester); it had been carrying talk and ESPN sports, but now it's "Oldies 1250," taking up the format abandoned a few months ago when WQLL (96.5 Bedford) went to classic rock as "the Mall," WMLL. Woody Woodland's morning show remains in place on WKBR.
• In MASSACHUSETTS, Greater Media has a new PD for WBOS (92.9 Brookline), as Dave Douglas takes over Michele Williams' old job. Douglas was the PD at WAAF (107.3 Worcester) a few years back, and he's worked in Seattle and San Diego as well. (And NERW notes that all three stations lean towards the hard edge of the rock spectrum, which makes Douglas an interesting choice for a station that once proclaimed itself to be the home of "rock without the hard edge."
• In western NEW YORK, the rumor mill is buzzing again this week about potential changes to the struggling oldies format at Entercom's WWKB (1520 Buffalo), with word of the resignation of PD/afternoon jock Hank Nevins, who's apparently heading off to the world of PR.
• Just south of Rochester, there's good news for Bob Savage's WYSL (1040 Avon); he got word from the FCC last week that he's been approved to take WYSL from 2500 watts to 20,000 watts by day. WYSL will drop to 13,200 watts during critical hours and remain at 500 watts after dark from its current four-tower array; the new signal's expected to be on the air within a few months.
• Down in New York City, "Miss Info" is back on the air at WQHT (97.1), four months after the morning show blow-up there (over the "Tsunami Song") that led her to boycott former co-worker Miss Jones and the rest of the morning show crew. "Info," aka Minya Oh, now has her own show on Saturday mornings from 8-noon on Hot 97.
• Mark down June 11-12 in your calendar for an historic broadcast in NEW JERSEY. That's when the Armstrong Tower in Alpine will play host to a commemorative celebration of the life of its builder (and the inventor of FM radio), Major Edwin Howard Armstrong. Philadelphia engineer Steve Hemphill has built a Phasitron FM transmitter that operates in the "old" FM band (42-50 MHz), and he's secured a temporary experimental authorization from the FCC to run 250 watts from the Armstrong tower under the very appropriate calls WA2XMN. The station's been on the air from time to time at 44.1 MHz, but in June it will operate all weekend at 42.8 MHz with reconstructions of vintage Armstrong broadcasts. Stay tuned as we bring you more details on this very neat event as they're announced...
• A landmark tower in western PENNSYLVANIA is no more. Engineers at WPIC (790 Sharon) nicknamed the station's 550-foot Truscon tower "Old Shakey" as it entered its old age, and in recent years the station was unable even to get climbers to set foot on it to take care of painting and other maintenance. The end of the line for the 1947-vintage tower came last Wednesday (April 20) after one of its base insulators failed, forcing the Cumulus station to topple the tower. The 100,000 pounds of steel came down with one big "thud," bringing down various STL antennas and the old WYFM (102.9) top-mounted antenna with it. (WYFM moved a few years ago, and is now transmitting from the tower of sister station WHOT-FM in Youngstown, Ohio.) As for WPIC, it's running 400 watts from a temporary longwire antenna designed by retired engineer Jerry Starr, and it's looking for a site for a new tower to return to its usual 1000 watt daytime (50 watts at night) operation. (More pictures of the WPIC site, past and present, on this week's Tower Site of the Week here at fybush.com.)

April 28, 2000 -

• The last major independently-owned FM station in the Buffalo market is being sold to cable giant Adelphia Communications. WNUC (107.7 Wethersfield) will add programming from Adelphia's Empire Sports Network to its country format when the deal closes this summer. WNUC is one of the oldest FM licenses in Western New York, tracing its lineage back to 1948, when, as WFNF, it was part of the early Rural Radio Network that relayed WQXR-FM New York across the state. In later years, as WRRL and then as WBIV, it was part of the Christian Broadcasting Network's "Ivy Network" that supplanted Rural Radio in the 1960s. In 1982, WBIV was sold and became WUWU, a quirky rock station that gained a following across Buffalo and into Rochester, where its signal penetrated well (and still does). WUWU later went jazz, then easy listening as WEZQ. Current seller John Casciani purchased the station in 1988 as smooth-jazz WBMW, flipping it to country as WNUC "New Country" a short time later. Even as talks leading to the sale were taking place, WNUC modified its format last month, becoming harder-edged country as "The Bullet" (leading one local wag, on hearing of the sale, to quip, "So the Bullet missed its target?")
• This is the latest sign of Adelphia's committment to the Buffalo market; the company is also negotiating with the city of Buffalo to build a major office building on the city's waterfront to accomodate the space needs the company can no longer meet in its tiny hometown of Coudersport, Pennsylvania.
• Elsewhere in NEW YORK, the morning show linuep is changing yet again at WABC (770 New York). As had been widely expected, the Rocky Allen Showgram, brought over from sister station WPLJ, was pulled from WABC in favor of veteran station hosts Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby, who move to mornings from the 6-8 PM slot. Another veteran WABC host, former mayor Ed Koch, is returning to radio with a one-hour afternoon gig on WEVD (1050).
• Upstate, Mike Doyle moves down the Thruway from Pilot's Syracuse group (WNSS, WNTQ, WAQX, WLTI), where he was market manager, to become GM of Entercom's Rochester group (WEZO, WBEE-FM, WQRV, WBBF). Still to be filled at Entercom: openings for a CE and a night slammer for "99BBF".
• Our condolences to family and fans of Russ "The Moose" Syracuse, who died April 18 at age 70. While Syracuse was better known for his West Coast work at KYA and other San Francisco stations, his career began in Upstate New York, with his nickname coming from a particularly noisy entrance into the WKBW studios circa 1962.
• Moving along to CONNECTICUT, there's a new job for veteran WNEW-FM jock Carol Miller, who joins WHCN (105.9 Hartford) as afternoon jock and "Rock Radio Consultant."
• "Univision 18"? Sure looks that way, according to an item in this week's Broadcasting & Cable. It seems that WHCT, along with WNDS (Channel 50) in Derry NH, WFMZ-TV (Channel 69) in Allentown PA, and WACI (Channel 62) in Atlantic City NJ, was identified as one of several stations to be acquired by Entravision, whose stations are all Univision affiliates. While Entravision is now embroiled in a lawsuit by the station broker who arranged the deals, it appears that the sale of WHCT may still take place...stay tuned.
• Two AM frequencies in CANADA are silent now, with the end of the simulcasting on Montreal's CIQC (600) and CKVL (850) as of last Sunday (4/23) at midnight. The stations have been replaced by CINW (940) and CINF (690), with no sign -- yet -- of applications to take over their old frequencies. This should mean an easier time for outlying listeners to Boston's WEEI (850) this winter; the station's signal is often plagued by interference from CKVL to the north.

New England Radio Watch, May 2, 1995

• WKRH 105.9 in Bath ME is off the air. It's supposed to reappear later this month as religious WBCI-FM under new ownership. This is the second time this decade that this station has gone through a silent period. Circa 1990 they were off for a while as they transitioned from CHR WIGY to classic-rock WKRH. The station has a good class B signal over the Portland market, they've just never gotten it to work for them.
• New calls for "Mix 96.7," the alternative rock station in Rochester NH (part of a quadropoly with standards WMYF-AM, newly-standards WZNN-AM (ex-CNN Headline News), and AOR WERZ-FM). The former WWEM is now WSRI.
• Speaking of calls with SR in them (and how's THAT for a meaningless segue?), the WYSR calls abandoned by 104.1 in Waterbury (Hartford) CT have resurfaced to the northwest on 98.3 Rotterdam (Albany-Schenectady-Troy) NY. The former WTRY-FM has been calling itself "Star" for a few months, since it broke from its simulcast with oldies WTRY-AM 980. WYSR 98.3 and WWCP 96.7 Clifton Park (using the "UN" alternative format) are both owned by Jarad Broadcasting, but local ad time is sold by Liberty Broadcasting, which also owns WTRY(AM), country WGNA AM-FM, and AOR WPYX-FM.
• Another Albany mega-opoly is about to shed one station. Albany Broadcasting is selling 50kw WPTR-1540 to an as-yet-unnamed religious broadcaster. Albany Broadcasting's other stations are AP all-news WROW 590, ac WJYB-95.5, and chr WFLY-92.3.
• The folks up in Greenville, Maine are getting nervous about the town's biggest landowner, the shortwave station formerly known as WCSN. The Christian Scientists sold the station this year to a group called Prophecy Countdown, an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventists. The station is now known as WVHA. The AP reports that while WCSN never tried to take a religious exemption from paying property
  taxes, WVHA plans to seek such an exemption -- a big deal considering the radio station makes up more than 10% of the town's tax base! Also, neighbors are worried about increased security at WVHA. Apparently the new owners asked a lot of questions about how long the station can get by without outside supplies and power...and that has neighbors wondering what they're planning.
• WBZ is mourning the passing of its general manager of 10 years, A.B. "Bill" Hartman. Hartman was at BZ radio from 1978-1988, and at KDKA for a few years before that. He died in Florida last week after a long battle with cancer.
• WREF, an 850 khz daytimer in Ridgefield CT, has reportedly ended all local programming, and is now being run by the network based at WIFI-1460 Florence (Trenton-Philadelphia) NJ. All programming (big bands, some leased time) comes from WIFI via satellite. WIFI's owner, Mike Venditti, reportedly wants to add night power and a directional antenna system at WREF. I don't know how all this affects WQQQ-103.3 Sharon CT, which had been simulcasting WREF.
• And outside New England, a note that the "Jukebox Radio" network has reconfigured. Jukebox started as an attempt to program translator W276AQ Fort Lee NJ, just across the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan. The original idea was to buy a dark high school station on 88.7 in Franklin Lakes NJ and use that station (redesignated "WJUX") as the primary. Then, last fall, Jukebox bought and built the CP for WXTM-99.7 Monticello NY, a commercial station. WXTM became the primary, WJUX 88.7 went dark, and 103.1 W276AQ was able to air commercials at long last. 99.7 has now picked up the WJUX calls, the *88.7 station now has calls
  WNJW, and will be sold and pick up a new format.