June 13, 2011

Erie's Rocket Seeks Higher Orbit

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

*Erie, PENNSYLVANIA was just in the radio headlines for the record-setting bid broadcaster Rick Rambaldo and his partners placed for a new class A signal on 92.7 - but even before they can get that facility on the air, another Erie-market FM is poised to put a much bigger signal over the city.

Long before Rambaldo was placing bids in the latest FCC auction, he was an upstart broadcaster who bought the old WHYP-FM (100.9) in North East, 20 miles east of Erie, and upgraded the station's signal to reach Erie listeners as "Rocket 101," WRKT.

Starting with the old class A WHYP-FM facility, Rambaldo powered the signal up to B1 status (4.2 kW/797') from a tower in Ripley, just inside the New York state line, carefully placed to just clear a host of spacing issues including two powerful first-adjacent signals in Cleveland (WMMS 100.7) and Youngstown (WHOT-FM 101.1).

Rambaldo eventually sold WRKT, and now if its current owner, Connoisseur Media, has its way, the station may soon be moving much closer to Erie - and way up the FM dial as well. Connoisseur has applied to move WRKT from 100.9 to 104.9, relocating it from the Ripley tower to the Connoisseur-owned tower site in Hammett Township just east of Erie that's home to sister station WRTS (103.7), whose antenna WRKT would share.

If the move is granted, the new "Rocket 104.9" would become a 4.5 kW/526' class B1 facility, with somewhat less overall coverage than the present 100.9 facility, but with a much stronger signal over Erie itself, which would be blanketed with a 70 dBu city-grade signal from WRKT for the first time.

Connoisseur's proposal, which requires Canadian approval, would lead to some other changes on the dial as well: it also includes a brand-new class A allocation on 100.9 in Westfield, New York, which would effectively bring that frequency back to the North East area where it started. (That channel would itself eventually go to an FCC auction.) And it would displace translator W285AI from 104.9 - which would, not coincidentally, be a blow to Connoisseur's Erie rival, Citadel, which recently bought the translator to relay its sports station, WRIE (1260)...which just happens to compete with Connoisseur's sports entry, WFNN (1330).

WRKT's application was accepted by the FCC for filing on May 23; the vagaries of Canadian coordination mean that approval could come quickly - or could take a very long time. We'll be watching for updates...

*In other Keystone State news, there's a station sale south of Harrisburg, where Holy Family Radio, Inc. (not, apparently, the Holy Family Communications that does Catholic radio out of Buffalo) is paying $500,000 to WP Pennsylvania Inc. for religious WWII (720 Shiremanstown).

An obituary from Pittsburgh: veteran WQED radio and TV announcer/producer Jim Sweenie has died. Sweenie started in radio at WMCK (1360 McKeesport, now WMNY) during high school, then became an actor and an English professor before venturing back into broadcasting at WQED.

PBRTV.com reports that Sweenie spent more than four decades at the public broadcaster, serving as a booth announcer, writer, director and producer at WQED-TV, as well as hosting several music shows on the FM outlet. Sweenie died last Saturday (June 4) at 76; he'll be remembered next week with a special edition of his "Saturday Night Requests" show on WQED-FM.

Over at Pittsburgh's other public broadcast group, the new Essential Public Media has named Tammy Terwelp as director of content and programming for the soon-to-be-renamed WDUQ (90.5). Terwelp, who comes to Pittsburgh from Chicago's WBEZ, will oversee the format flip that will take 90.5 from a mix of news and jazz to an all-news/talk format, effective July 1.

*The political fallout from NEW JERSEY governor Chris Christie's plan to end the state's operation of its NJN public TV and radio networks continues to grow.

Christie officially announced the plan last Monday, keeping the NJN TV licenses in state hands but handing off operation of the network to "Public Media NJ," an alliance of New York-based WNET (Channel 13) and Steve Adubato Jr.'s Caucus Educational Corporation, which already produces New Jersey-based public affairs programming for WNET and several other broadcasters and cable networks. Under Christie's plan, WNET and Caucus would pay nothing for the signals, and they'd get to keep the stations' CPB grants (estimated at about $2 million) and the annual income from NJN tower rentals (another $2 million or so). In exchange, Christie says, the state will save the $11 million a year it spends on the service - WNET and Caucus will commit to an ambitious lineup of New Jersey-oriented programming, with 20 hours of New Jersey programming a week, including a nightly newscast that will replace the existing "NJN News" as well as debates and election coverage. In place of NJN's staff of about 120 (60 or so of whom will get new state jobs, with the rest being laid off or retiring), WNET says it will hire a news staff of 15-20 people to provide New Jersey news alongside the station's own existing staff.

Those plans aren't sitting well with other New Jersey politicians, including Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg, who met with FCC chairman Julius Genachowski to express concerns about the deal. "It is difficult to see how the loss of such programming is in the public interest of new Jerseyans - especially considering the state’s lack of commercial broadcast television news access."

It's unlikely, however, that the FCC will have much cause to intervene. The agency maintains a strict "hands-off" policy when it comes to program content - and in the case of NJN's TV stations, it won't even have a license transfer to consider, since the state plans to keep the licenses. Where the deal could still run aground is at the state level, where lawmakers must sign off on the change within a 15-day review period that began with Christie's announcement a week ago. During hearings on the proposal on Friday, union officials called the Adubato-WNET partnership an "inside deal," saying the governor had ignored other bids for the station from in-state organizations including Montclair State College.

As for NJN Radio, there seemed to be little sentiment about keeping the network, which has never had full-state coverage. Christie does plan to sell those facilities outright, splitting them between Philadelphia's WHYY and New York City's WNYC.

WHYY will pay $926,000 (plus $612,000 in "non-cash payments") for five stations serving the Jersey Shore and the state's southern extremities: WNJM (89.9 Manahawkin), WNJN (89.7 Atlantic City), WNJZ (90.3 Cape May Court House), WNJB (89.3 Bridgeton) and WNJS (88.1 Berlin), and it appears the plan will be simply to use those stations to extend the reach of WHYY's existing news and talk service, already heard on 90.9 across much of central and south Jersey.

As for WNYC, it plans at least some sort of New Jersey-focused programming on the four stations for which it will pay $1 million, plus $1.8 million in "non-cash payments": WNJP (88.5 Sussex), WNJY (89.3 Netcong), WNJT (88.1 Trenton) and WNJO (90.3 Toms River), serving chunks of northwest and central New Jersey and a northern piece of the shore.

*A NEW YORK morning radio veteran is once again out of work. It was just a year ago that John Mulrooney joined Cumulus rocker WPDH (101.5 Poughkeepsie) as part of the "Coop & Mulrooney Show," but now the station says "the time is right to move on from having a four-person show," leaving Mark Cooper and sidekicks Kricket and Deuce in place - and Mulrooney as the odd man out. Mulrooney was probably better known to Albany listeners for his long stint as part of the "Wolf and Mulrooney" morning show on WPYX.

*Clear Channel shuffled the lineup on the channels it controls on the XM/Sirius satellite radio platforms last week, bringing two of its New York City signals back to national exposure. WHTZ (Z100) is now being heard on channel 12 and WLTW (Lite 106.7) on channel 13, replacing similar top-40 and AC services that had been programmed out of Clear Channel's national iheartradio formats. The national versions of Z100 and Kiss replace local New York ads with national ads and filler music. Clear Channel says it made the change after seeing how popular those stations (as well as Nashville's WSIX, LA's KIIS and Chicago's WGCI) were with out-of-market listeners streaming them via iheartradio.

He's best known for his big hit "Someday, Someway," but now Marshall Crenshaw is trying his hand at radio. Crenshaw will join the staff of WFUV (90.7 New York) beginning next Saturday for a one-hour weekly show called "The Bottomless Pit," which will air at 10 PM, following Vin Scelsa's venerable "Idiot's Delight."

Radio People on the Move: Tre is headed back to Florida (WPBZ in West Palm Beach, to be precise) after a stint as afternoon jock and production director at Rochester's WZNE (94.1). No replacement has been named. Over in Utica, CNYRadio.com reports that "SportsWatch" is back on the schedule at WIBX (950), now with news director Jeff Monaski and Ray Rich co-hosting. Former hosts Gene Conte and Fred Miller recently departed WIBX to join Galaxy's WTLB/WIXT/WRNY, and the station had been running Sporting News Radio in the 6-8 PM slot in their absence.

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*There's another new signal coming to CANADA's largest market, on a frequency the CBC didn't want occupied. For almost a decade, Fitzroy Gordon has been battling the government broadcaster for the right to put a new station on the air targeting Toronto's Caribbean communities. With the Toronto FM dial packed full, the only frequency Gordon could find was 98.7, where he believed he could squeeze in a low-power signal right alongside the CBC's CBLA, which broadcasts Radio One programming on second-adjacent 99.1.

As far back as 2006, the CRTC granted Gordon a license for a Caribbean service in Toronto, but on the condition that he find a frequency other than 98.7, a task that proved impossible. So Gordon decided to try to prove that the second-adjacent channel would work. Last year, he received Industry Canada permission to test the 98.7 signal, and the results of that test persuaded Industry Canada and the CRTC that 98.7 can indeed be used in Toronto.

On Thursday, the CRTC granted Gordon's Intercity Broadcasting Network a license for 98.7, which will run 446 watts average ERP (1000 watts maximum)/907' from the top of First Canadian Place, the same site used by CBLA. The CRTC imposed conditions of license designed to make sure the station remains targeted at the Caribbean community, a touchy issue given the way other signals originally licensed to serve niche audiences have strayed from those promises. (Just last week, in fact, Aboriginal Voices Network dropped the "Aboriginal" from its on-air identity, with CKAV 106.5 becoming simply "Voices 106.5" and almost no aboriginal programming to be heard on the frequency, just automated music.)

The CRTC declined to impose a condition requested by the CBC that would have barred Gordon from selling the station, and it rejected a request from competing broadcaster Doug Kirk to delay issuing the license until a civil court resolves a lawsuit in which he seeks an ownership stake in Intercity.

As for Gordon, he says he's already starting to scout out studio and office space and staffers, and he hopes to have at least an automated music feed up and running at 98.7 in time for the Caribana festival at the end of July.

*To the south, the CRTC has approved Haliburton Broadcasting Group's C$5.5 million purchase of CFLZ (105.1 Niagara Falls) and CKEY (101.1 Fort Erie) from Niagara Radio Group. The sale doesn't include sister station CJRN (710 Niagara Falls), which programs tourist information for the region.

*Regular programming has started at Pineridge Broadcasting's new CJWV (96.7 Peterborough), which is running an AC format as "Magic 96.7."

Milkman UnLimited reports the new station's airstaff includes Dan Duran and Linda Kash in mornings, Sue Tyler (late of CKQM "Country 105") in middays and Mike Cutting (from sister station CHUC-FM) in afternoon drive. Cutting will also serve as assistant PD.

*NEW HAMPSHIRE's independent TV station now has a new identity to go with its new owner. Not at all shy about identifying himself with his newly-acquired station, Bill Binnie has changed the calls of Derry-licensed WZMY (Channel 50) to WBIN-TV.

Binnie's Carlisle One Media paid Diane Sutter's ShootingStar Broadcasting $9.25 million for the station, which maintains its MyNetwork TV affiliation even as it drops its "MyTV" on-air identity. "Watch us for great comedy, great drama and watch us change before your eyes!" is the promise on the station's new website. So far, the only new program that's been announced is a Republican presidential debate to air on October 11 in conjunction with Bloomberg News, the Washington Post and Dartmouth College.

*There's a new signal testing just south of Concord. Highland Community Broadcasting, which operates classical WCNH-LP (94.7), put up the antenna for its new 190-watt signal on 91.5 last week.

The new full-powered facility is licensed to Bow, and will soon change calls from WCNU to WCNH - and once "Classical 91.5" makes its official debut, the 94.7 LPFM license will be transferred to a new nonprofit operator.

*TV news from CONNECTICUT: after a short stint as an affiliate of Retro TV in 2009, independent WSAH (Channel 43) in Bridgeport has once again joined up with the Arkansas-based classic TV network. RTV replaced infomercials in the noon-midnight programming block on WSAH last week.

While we're on the shore, we note that the FCC has (at least initially) turned down Sacred Heart University's application to move WSHU (1260) from Westport to Stratford. The Commission says at least a small portion of the new interference that would exist between WSHU and co-channel WFJS (1260 Trenton NJ) would take place over a land path instead of across salt water, and therefore it can't grant the waiver it usually grants when coastal stations interfere over long water paths. WSHU (which has been operating on a temporary longwire antenna since losing its Westport transmitter site a few years back) will get the chance to amend its application to alleviate the potential interference, and we'd expect to see a modified application soon.

The FCC has granted the first part of the multi-step upgrade that will shift several signals in Connecticut and western MASSACHUSETTS: Clear Channel and Hall Communications now have construction permits in hand for their coordinated upgrades on 100.9, which will shift Clear Channel's WRNX Amherst to a new site on Mount Tom, closer to Springfield, and will upgrade Hall's WKNL New London to 6 kW (directional) from its present 3 kW class A status.

The FCC has yet to approve the other piece of the shuffle, which will shift Clear Channel's WPKX (97.9 Enfield/Springfield) into the Hartford market with a new city of license of Windsor Locks and a new transmitter site in downtown Hartford. Once all the pieces are in place, 97.9 is expected to take on a new format with its move to Hartford, while its present "Kix" country format and WPKX calls migrate up the dial to what's now WRNX.

In the Merrimack Valley, Lowell's WCAP (980) marked its 60th anniversary on Friday with a day of special programming, including phone-ins from many former staffers. (And on a personal note, this week marks the 20th anniversary of WCAP's hiring of yours truly in his first paid radio gig, audio of which might show up over on the NERW Facebook page if we can dig out the dusty old cassettes and endure the embarrassment!)

Meanwhile on the FM dial, Costa-Eagle's WNNW (800 Lawrence) is moving its FM translator. W221CH (92.1) has been struggling with interference to and from the Boston Phoenix's 92.1 signals in New Hampshire and Maine, and now it holds a construction permit to return to 102.9, where it will run 97 watts from the WNNW tower in Andover.

And here's another reminder: if you'll be in the Merrimack Valley yourself next weekend, don't miss the get-together that Gary Francis is throwing for boston-radio-interest mailing list participants and other broadcast types. The cookout will take place Saturday, June 18 from 2-5 PM (with a rain date for Sunday) - and you can get more information from Gary here.

*The FCC has driven another stake into a dead RHODE ISLAND noncommercial station. WRJI (91.5 East Greenwich) squeezed its way on to the air in 2005 when Educational Radio for the Public of a New Millennium reached a time-sharing agreement with Coventry High School's WCVY (91.5 Coventry), which had been operating only a limited schedule on school-day afternoons, putting its frequency at risk for mandatory time-sharing.

But WRJI made the fatal mistake of remaining silent for more than a year, and last November the FCC deleted its license. And while WRJI's owners have tried to stay on the air from a new location in Providence, evidently without benefit of license, WCVY had a chance to undo the time-sharing agreement that limited it to operation between 2 and 10 PM on weekdays. It asked the FCC to delete the time-sharing portion of its license, arguing that the time-share agreement was unenforceable absent a valid WRJI license - and the FCC has agreed, allowing WCVY to operate 24/7 if it so desires. (We hear the station is installing automation that will allow it to do just that.)

Radio People on the Move: Hilary Rosenthal is the new music director at WBRU (95.5 Providence), replacing the departing Sabrina Boyd.

Where are they now? Former WHJJ (920) talk host Arlene Violet has added yet another chapter to a long and varied career that's included time as a nun and as Rhode Island's attorney general. She's written a musical, "The Family," about the Rhode Island mafia, and it's being performed through July 1 at the Lederer Theater at Trinity Rep in Providence.

And we note the passing of Don Hallett, who'd worked at WWLI (105.1 Providence) and WKRZ (98.5 Wilkes-Barre PA) a few decades back. Hallett had been working more recently in Columbus, Ohio and Las Vegas; he died May 16.

*And with the short-season New York-Penn League about to start play later this week, we wrap up our Baseball on the Radio series with a look at how radio coverage shapes up for the scrappy single-A teams across the region:

The Connecticut Tigers of Norwich have a new member of their radio team, as Justin Sheinis joins up to do media relations and call road games, replacing Jon Versteeg in that role. Eric Knighton remains the main play-by-play voice at home, and WICH (1310) returns for a second season as the team's flagship.

The Vermont Lake Monsters have segued from former flagship WEAV (960 Plattsburgh NY) to its FM sister WCPV (101.3 Essex NY), now that the former "Champ" has become "ESPN 101.3." Rob Ryan will be back in the booth, and he'll join Rich Haskell to do live broadcasts of the 4-6 PM "Rob and Rich Show" from Centennial Field before weeknight home games.

In Massachusetts, The Lowell Spinners continue on WCAP (980) with Ken Cail at the mike.

In New York State, fewer and fewer teams seem to have radio deals as the season gets underway. The Batavia Muckdogs weren't even sure they'd be playing in Genesee County this year, but they're back, and back on WBTA (1490) with Wayne Fuller calling the games from the newly-named "Wayne Fuller Press Box" at Dwyer Stadium. The Hudson Valley Renegades lost announcer Nick Gagalis to the independent Worcester Tornadoes, but the team will be back on the air this year at the same spot, the "Hudson Valley Talk Radio" trimulcast of WBNR (1260 Beacon), WLNA (1420 Peekskill) and WGHQ (920 Kingston). The Brooklyn Cyclones stay put on WKRB (90.3), with Warner Fussell calling the games - and there's no broadcast radio this year (at least none we can find) for the defending champions, the Tri-City Valley Cats in Troy, nor for the Staten Island Yankees or the Jamestown Jammers.

In Pennsylvania, it's another year of the status quo: the State College Spikes on WWZW (95.3 Bellefonte) and the Williamsport Crosscutters on WLYC (1050). The 'Cutters are also heard on WLYC's FM translator in Williamsport at 104.1 and on affiliates WTZN (1310 Troy) and WTTC (1550 Towanda).

And we note that we let the start of play in the independent leagues get past us a couple of weeks ago, so here's this year's broadcast roster, starting with the Can-Am League: in Massachusetts, the Pittsfield Colonials team up with the local high school to put their games on WTBR (89.7), with students working alongside broadcaster Chad Cooper; the Brockton Rox remain on WXBR (1460) with Josh Rogol, and the suddenly-unfortunately-named Worcester Tornadoes go webcast-only with new broadcaster Nick Gagalis.

In New York, the brand-new Rockland Boulders air on WRCR (1300), with Carmine Vetrano and Seth Cantor calling the games. Across the border, Les Capitales de Quebec remain on CHRC (800). There's no radio this year for the Newark Bears or the New Jersey Jackals (apart from a low-power FM feed of the team's webcast on 88.1 for in-stadium listeners).

In the Atlantic League, only a few teams have radio: the Long Island Ducks are in the first year of their partnership with WJVC (96.1), the Lancaster Barnstormers continue with WLPA (1490), the York Revolution are on WOYK (1350), and New Jersey's Somerset Patriots remain with WCTC (1450).

Play ball!

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