August 8, 2011
Cuomo Signs NY State Pirate Radio Ban
Stay tuned to our Twitter
and Facebook feeds for breaking-news updates as they happen!
 *NEW YORK is now the largest state with
its own state law banning pirate radio.
It's been a month and a half since state lawmakers passed
a bill that echoes similar laws in New Jersey and Florida making
unlicensed radio operation a state-level crime, and while members
of the New York State Broadcasters Association were hoping to
see Governor Andrew Cuomo sign the bill into law at their June
convention near Lake George, they're pleased to see it signed,
period.
Unlike other state laws that make unlicensed broadcasting
a felony, New York's version makes a first-time conviction for
pirate radio only a class A misdemeanor, though it also provides
for confiscation and destruction of the equipment used by pirate
operators. Those penalties still promise to be a somewhat stronger
deterrent than the typical FCC sanction of a $10,000 forfeiture
order, a sum that's rarely paid by pirate operators who often
aren't even US citizens.
As in Florida and New Jersey, the idea behind the law is to
give local law enforcement a greater incentive to help beleaguered
broadcasters fight an onslaught of pirates that has so far proved
to be beyond the capacity of a budget-strapped FCC Enforcement
Division to control.
Even with the new law in place, the challenge of quelling
New York City's pirate operators is a huge one: many of the illegal
stations come and go on a regular basis from transmitter sites
that are well hidden in the city's forest of high-rise buildings,
making it hard sometimes even to pin down a pirate's transmitter
location, never mind catching the broadcaster in the act before
the signal is moved to another site. And unlike Florida, where
the state's Department of Law Enforcement has become an aggressive
partner with legitimate broadcasters in hunting down and arresting
pirates, law enforcement in New York City and vicinity is largely
the purview of local police departments, many of which already
have their own hands full with other serious crimes.
We'll be watching closely, of course, as the new law takes
effect in November.
*The rest of our Empire State news also focuses on
New York City, at 395 Hudson Street, no less - but while Merlin's
WEMP (101.9 New York) kept chugging away with its "FM New"
not-quite-a-format-yet, the news last week was being made down
the hall at one of the remaining Emmis stations, WRKS (98.7 Kiss
FM), where there's a new program director. Jill Strada is out
after two years, and in to replace her is Jay Dixon, who'd been
production/public service director at Kiss in the 1990s. Dixon
went on to program top-rated WBHK in Birmingham and then WALR-FM
in Atlanta for Cox, and now he returns to New York while Strada
heads south to program WPOW-FM in Miami.
(And as for WEMP, it's pretty clear there is indeed an all-news
format coming, sooner or later: Tom Benson's Media Confidential
site just posted some sneak
pictures of the newsroom and studio as staffers get busy
doing dry runs for the new programming...)
 *It was
a very, very quiet week upstate; the biggest news came from sleepy
Canandaigua, where the Finger Lakes Radio Group pulled the plug
on the oldies at WCGR (1550) and the FM translator at 104.5 that's
where most of its audience now listens. Last Monday, WCGR flipped
to a simulcast of the company's latest acquisition, country WFLK
(101.7 Geneva), which is now imaging as "K-101.7 and 104.5."
The move also ends the simulcast on WCGR of the morning show
from Geneva's WGVA (1240).
Down in Allegany County, Family Life Network's as-yet-unbuilt
WNAE-FM (91.7) changes calls to WCGH; the WNAE-FM calls came
along for the ride when Family Life bought another nearby signal
that's being moved into Erie.
On TV, David Baer is the new news director at Albany's Fox
affiliate, WXXA (Channel 23). Baer was most recently news director
at WGGB and sister station "Fox 6" down the road in
Springfield, Massachusetts; in Albany, he replaces Gary LaPlante,
who's now assistant news director at Boston's WFXT.
In Buffalo, it's (sadly) no surprise at all to hear that Granite's
WKBW-TV (Channel 7) is the latest station in town to send its
master control functions to an out-of-town hub. Competitors LIN
(WIVB/WNLO) and Gannett (WGRZ) have long maintained their own
master-control hubs, but Granite is outsourcing: it will turn
to Atlanta-based Encompass to run WKBW's master control starting
in September, and that will mean 10 jobs being cut in Buffalo.
*In the days before Radio-Locator and 100000Watts.com and
FCCInfo and all the rest of our modern on-line station listings,
there was only one serious place to get a comprehensive directory
of what was what on the FM dial. Beginning with its first edition
in 1971, Bruce Elving's FM Atlas was a constant companion
to DXers and to many broadcasters as well. Even as on-line information
sources proliferated in the 21st century, Elving continued to
update his listings in the annual directory and the monthly FMedia!
newsletter, keeping track of details that sometimes escaped other
directories. (Many is the station that received a postcard query
from Dr. Elving's Minnesota home, inquiring whether it was operating
in $tereo or running any subcarriers.)
So it was a blow to the DX hobby, and to the FM radio industry,
to learn of Dr. Elving's death in late July, of a heart attack
suffered while he was in southern California for cancer treatment.
 Bruce
Elving had a NERW-land connection as well: a Syracuse University
graduate, he was one of several applicants vying for the 100.9
frequency when it was added to the Syracuse-area dial in the
early 1970s, and he returned on occasion to Syracuse for reunion
visits.
He was also a longtime friend of this column and your editor,
frequently quoting NERW items in FMedia! and supplying
information we used in NERW as well - and we had the pleasure
of visiting him at his "Publishing Estate" outside
of Duluth during our 2005
Big Trip.
Elving is survived by his wife, Carol, and three daughters
- and by 21 editions of the FM Atlas, the most recent
one published just last year (and still available, in limited
quantities, at our Fybush.com
store...); a memorial service is being held in Minnesota
today.
Bruce Elving was 76.
*At CONNECTICUT-based Buckley Radio,
the succession plan is now in place for the late Rick Buckley
following the shock of his death at age 74 a week ago. Buckley's
longtime right-hand man, Joe Bilotta, quickly moved up from chief
operating officer to replace Buckley as president and CEO of
the company. Private services for Buckley are being held this
week, and there will be a public memorial service in early September.
|
TOWER SITE
CALENDAR 2012...IT'S COMING!
 A decade ago, it was just a goofy idea: "Hey,
you should put some of those tower pictures into a calendar!"
But when Tower Site Calendar 2002
appeared, it was a hit - and ten years later, the fun
still hasn't stopped.
And now it's that moment at least some
of you have been waiting for: the grand unveiling of our latest
edition, Tower Site Calendar 2012, seen for the
very first time right here!
As befits a tenth-anniversary edition,
this one's special: in addition to all the great tower photos
and historic dates you've come to expect from our calendars,
the new 2012 edition is our first-ever themed calendar, paying
special homage to the many stations that began broadcasting during
radio's first big boom year of 1922.
The 2012 edition brings something else
that's new to the Tower Site Calendar: the option of a spiral-bound
edition that will hang flatter on your wall.
We're putting the finishing touches on
availability and pricing, and starting next week we'll have the
new calendar ready for pre-ordering at the Fybush.com store.
(We're also on the verge of an exciting
new announcement about some big changes to the fybush.com site
itself...so stay tuned!)
And in the meantime, we still want to clear
out our remaining stock of the 2011 calendars so we can make
room for the new 2012 calendar, already in production. Only a
small handful of 2011 calendars remain in stock, and you can
get what's left of the very limited remaining supply
for just $8 postpaid. (That's
a $10 discount from the original list price of $18!)
Tower Site Calendar 2011 features more than a dozen great images of radio
and TV broadcast facilities all over the country (and even beyond
- this year's edition takes us to Mexico!)
Thrill to a night shot of KFI's new tower!
Check out the WAEB Allentown array just after it lost a tower
- or enjoy the history at venerable sites like those of KID in
Idaho Falls, WCAP in Lowell, KTKT in Tucson and Rochester's Pinnacle
Hill.
But wait - there's more! We also have a
small supply of the new FM Atlas, 21st edition
back in stock, as well as a limited supply of Tower Site
Calendar 2010 - plus signed calendars, back isues and
much more in the fybush.com store!
Order
now at the fybush.com Store! |
*There's now high-definition local TV news
in NEW HAMPSHIRE, and it comes, unsurprisingly enough,
from Hearst's WMUR (Channel 9) in Manchester. The dominant ABC
affiliate spent much of July rebuilding its set for HD, and local
HD news debuted last week.
On the LPFM front, Concord's WCNH is now less than a month
away from completing its move from 94.7 (now WNHN-LP) to a new
full-power license on 91.5 in Bow. Once the classical format
moves to the slightly more powerful 91.5 signal, the 94.7 signal
will transfer to a group called "NH News, Views and Blues,"
chaired by former state representative Gordon Allen. The new
WNHN will start out with nonstop blues and will eventually add
local talk as well.
*WMUR's sister station in MASSACHUSETTS,
WCVB-TV (Channel 5), was once the staid player on the Boston
news scene, so it was something of an eye-opener last week when
WCVB hired Michele McPhee as a reporter. McPhee made a name for
herself as an outspoken Boston Herald columnist and parlayed
that into a talk radio career, first at WTKK (96.9) and now at
WRKO (680), where she's heard from 1-3 PM weekdays.
Out at the state's western edge, WKGT-LP (98.9 North Adams)
is soon to be displaced by a new full-power signal there, but
it's found a new home: licensee Gospel Train Ministry is applying
to move the station to 107.1.
*And we note with sadness the passing of one of the busiest
engineers in the region. Ken Jones had a hand in the construction
and maintenance of plenty of broadcast facilities in western
Massachusetts and Connecticut. While he'd most recently been
working as a contract engineer, Jones had been in management
with Clear Channel, at one point serving as a regional engineering
manager for the company. He'd also worked for WGGB-TV and for
Vox Communications.
Jones was 71 when he died last Wednesday, apparently of complications
from what was supposed to have been routine surgery. In addition
to his wife, Delores, Jones is survived by his son, Jamieson,
who's also a broadcast engineer. Funeral services will be held
tomorrow in Springfield.
 *There's
a new format on the air at what had been PENNSYLVANIA's
last smooth-jazz signal: after pulling the plug a week ago on
"Smooth Jazz 92.7," WSJW (92.7 Starview) relaunched
last Monday with classic rock as "92.7 KZF," with new
calls WKZF. The Hall-owned station enters a fairly crowded rock
market in the Harrisburg/York area.
One of those other rock-based outlets has parted ways with
its founding programmer. Chris Tyler was instrumental in transforming
the former WHP-FM (97.3 Harrisburg) into "The River,"
WRVV, almost two decades ago - but he suddenly disappeared from
the Clear Channel station's morning-drive slot last week amidst
cutbacks that also claimed several on-air traffic reporters in
the region.
*Duquesne University's sale of WDUQ (90.5 Pittsburgh) took
another step forward last week when the FCC denied the objections
filed by several listeners and groups upset about the public
broadcaster's transfer to the new Essential Public Media group,
and especially about the end of most of the jazz programming
that long defined WDUQ. "Although the commission recognizes
that WDUQ's program has attracted a devoted listenership,"
the decision said, "it is well-settled policy that the commission
does not scrutinize or regulate programming, nor does it take
potential changes in programming formats into consideration in
reviewing assignment applications."
That is, indeed, longstanding FCC policy - and with the sale
of the WDUQ license now having received Commission approval,
the deal is expected to close within the next few weeks, bringing
with it new calls for the station.
 *In Philadelphia,
WHAT (1340) has been silent for a week and counting now; its
standards format, hampered by a weak signal, never caught on
- and now the station is rumored to be heading for a Spanish-language
format whenever it returns to the air.
*Dorothy Brunson is being remembered most prominently for
her radio ownership in Baltimore, where she was one of several
owners who made WEBB (1360, now WVIE 1370) a force in the black
community. But Brunson, who died July 31 at 72, owned TV in Philadelphia
as well, and it's believed that when she put WGTW (Channel 48)
back on the air in 1986, she became the first black woman to
own a TV station.
Brunson's radio career began in New York City in the early
1960s, when she worked in the business offices at WWRL, eventually
becoming the station's assistant general manager before leaving
in 1969 to become general manager of WLIB and WBLS, a post she
held for almost a decade until departing for Baltimore.
In Philadelphia, Brunson acquired the facilities of the defunct
WKBS-TV after Field Communications shut the station down in the
early 1980s; she sold the station to TBN in 2004 for $7 million
cash and the assumption of $41 million in debt.
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*It turns out that Cogeco and Quebec's provincial transport
ministry aren't the only parties interested in returning two
of CANADA's handful of AM clear channels to the air.
As NERW readers know, Cogeco and the transport ministry were
poised to put the former CINF (690) and CINW (940) back on the
air to serve as French- and English-language all-traffic signals
to assist drivers navigating through Montreal construction traffic.
But while the ministry announced the impending launch of the
stations as a fait accompli in a press release earlier
this summer, the regulatory reality was a bit more complex: while
Cogeco had acquired the former CINF/CINW transmitter facility
in Kahnawake as part of its purchase of Corus' Quebec operations,
the licenses for the two 50,000-watt AM signals had been surrendered
to the CRTC back in 2009. And while Cogeco had hoped to restore
the licenses quickly and quietly through a "non-appearance
proceeding" at the CRTC, other broadcasters intervened -
and that means those two AM channels now go up as part of a call
for competing applications, which are due August 29.
*In Toronto, Fitzroy Gordon has calls now for his new signal
at 98.7: he's using his own initials on the station, which will
be CKFG. (There's precedent for that: the station that's now
CHKT on 1430 started out as CKFH, named for founder Foster Hewitt.)
|
From
the NERW Archives
Yup, we've been doing this a long time now, and so we're
digging back into the vaults for a look at what NERW was covering
one, five, ten and - where available - fifteen years ago this
week, or thereabouts.
Note that the column appeared on an erratic schedule in
its earliest years as "New England Radio Watch," and
didn't go to a regular weekly schedule until 1997.
One Year Ago: August 9, 2010 -
- Eastern MASSACHUSETTS is already a pretty busy place for
public radio. Regular NERW readers are well-acquainted with the
format war that's now underway as big guns WBUR-FM (90.9 Boston)
and WGBH (89.7 Boston) vie for listeners for their competing
news-talk programming. But over on the music side, Boston's number-three
public radio station is embarking on a big-time capital campaign
designed to stake out a more prominent position in the region's
noncommercial radio hierarchy.
- WUMB-FM (91.9 Boston) will kick off a five-year, $7 million
capital campaign at a gala fundraiser on the UMass Boston campus
Wednesday night, featuring a catered dinner and performances
by Judy Collins and Tom Rush. What's the money for? WUMB says
the campaign "will fund new studio and offices for WUMB,
provide a place for musicians to play on air in front of a live
audience, improve the station's studio equipment, improve and
expand the station's broadcast signals, create additional Internet
streams, take advantage of new technologies, digitize the station's
archive collection, acquire and digitize additional music archives,
make the archives available to the community for enjoyment and
research, create music education spaces for children, teens and
adults, fund paid internships for UMass Boston students and,
support the WUMB Endowment." The station (and its satellite
signals on the North Shore, in Worcester and on the Cape) has
already been through some big transformations in recent years,
moving from its roots in acoustic folk music to a broader-based
AAA format. And it's about to add a new signal: WUMG (91.7 Stow)
just got its call letters assigned, and will soon be on the air
as a share-time operation with WAVM (91.7 Maynard) at Maynard
High School, bring at least a part-time WUMB signal to an area
northwest of Boston.
- In western NEW YORK, Buffalo's "Totally Gospel"
group has ended its lease of Citadel's WHLD (1270 Niagara Falls)
after four years of programming that signal with black gospel
music. WHLD is carrying an automated standards format for now
- and the Totally Gospel folks, who'd been programming WHLD from
the historic Churchill Tabernacle building at 1420 Main Street
that was the original home of WKBW-TV, have taken their programming
to streaming-only for now. Their ultimate goal, at least according
to a new page on their website, is to secure an FM frequency
in western New York for the format.
- Ithaca's ESPN affiliate is getting new owners, but Todd and
Tina Mallinson are familiar faces at WPIE (1160 Trumansburg),
where Todd has been the PD for a while now. The Mallinsons are
doing business as "Taughannock Media, LLC" as they
buy the station from Pembrook Pines, Inc. for $150,000. There's
already a JSA in place between Taughannock and Pembrook Pines.
- In northwestern PENNSYLVANIA, WNAE-FM (102.7 Clarendon) hasn't
officially changed hands yet, but buyer Family Life Radio has
already filed its application to relocate the class A station
to Wattsburg, along the New York-Pennsylvania border on the fringe
of the Erie market. The station's new facilities would be 3.5
kW/433' from a new tower right on the state line, just far enough
from Erie to be fully spaced from WQHZ (102.3 Erie).
- If it was a quiet week in the northeastern US (and it was),
it was a fairly busy one in CANADA, where the CBC told the CRTC
it won't be ready for the DTV transition planned for next summer.
The CBC submitted a modified transition plan last week, asking
regulators for an additional year (until August 31, 2012) to
get its digital signals on the air in a dozen places around the
country, including English-language transmitters in Windsor,
Saint John/Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John's.
- In Quebec, Cogeco is asking the CRTC for a waiver of its
common-ownership policy as part of its planned purchase of most
of Corus' radio stations in the province. Cogeco says that only
by owning three French-language FM stations can it sustain the
cost of operating CHMP (98.5), the last privately-owned Francophone
talk station left standing in Montreal. Cogeco also says it will
sell off two Quebec City signals, CJEC (Rhythme FM 91.9) and
CFEL (102.1 Montmagny). CFEL is part of a three-station network
that's been relaying Montreal's CKOI (96.9); Cogeco says it would
transform the Sherbrooke CKOI relay, CKOY (104.5), into a rebroadcaster
of French-language sports-talk CKAC (730 Montreal) with no local
advertising.
Five Years Ago: August 7, 2006 -
- An unusual weather system with winds that may have hit 120
miles per hour took down a radio tower in central MASSACHUSETTS
last Wednesday. WESO (970 Southbridge) lost its 240-foot guyed
tower in the town of Dudley when the "derecho" (a system
of downburst clusters that are part of a heavy windstorm) ripped
across southern New England. The National Weather Service says
it was the first derecho in the region since 1995.
- WESO went silent when the tower went down, but returned over
the weekend at low power from a makeshift wire antenna. Chief
engineer Rick Kenadek and engineering consultant Kurt Jackson
were working to get a temporary tower up, and planning to replace
the downed tower, which dated from 1955. Kenedek tells NERW that
the winds loosened one of the tower's guy wires, bringing the
rest of the structure down.
- On the South Shore, the weekend was devoted to a celebration
of the upcoming centennial of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden's Christmas
Eve 1906 broadcast from Brant Rock in Marshfield. Saturday's
highlights included a live WATD (95.9 Marshfield) broadcast from
the Daniel Webster Estate and Heritage Center, featuring New
England broadcasters past and present, including WHDH's Fred
B. Cole (now 91), station owners Barry Lunderville, Dennis Jackson
and Marshall Sanft, and a telephone hookup with a parallel Fessenden
celebration taking place in Scotland. A gala party Saturday night
was highlighted by the presentation of the first "Reginald
A. Fessenden Broadcasting Award" to WBZ's Gary LaPierre,
and several tables full of his WBZ colleagues turned out to salute
LaPierre for the honor.
- The week's other big story from the Bay State was, of course,
last Monday's announcement that Greater Media, Nassau and Charles
River Broadcasting had finalized the transactions that will give
Nassau the WCRB call letters and classical format and the 99.5
Lowell facility that's now Greater Media's WKLB. The WKLB calls
and country format will move to WCRB's present 102.5 Waltham
facility, and Greater Media will get Nassau's WTHK (97.5 Burlington
NJ), soon to become a full-market Philadelphia move-in. The sale
price of WCRB to Greater Media hasn't yet been disclosed, but
there's reliable word that the Nassau/Greater swap includes a
$20 million cash payment from Greater to Nassau. In addition
to the cash, Nassau will enter the Boston market for the first
time with the WCRB acquisition. On its new 99.5 signal, WCRB's
classical format will reach more deeply into southern New Hampshire
(at the expense of coverage in downtown Boston, on the South
Shore and in the western suburbs), linking up with Nassau's four-station
"W-Bach" network on the Maine coast.
- The big story in NEW YORK last week was Air America's announcement
that it will change flagship stations at the end of August, when
its current lease with Inner City Broadcasting's WLIB (1190)
expires. Beginning September 1, most Air America programming
will instead air on Access.1's WWRL (1600), displacing a daytime
lineup there that currently includes leased-time health shows
(10 AM-3 PM) and several syndicated talkers. WWRL's current morning
show, featuring Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams, will remain
in place, as will its weekend Caribbean music programming and,
likely, its carriage of the late-night Alan Colmes show. So what
will be heard on WLIB come September? Inner City's not saying
yet, but the rumors are very strong that the station will end
up with a non-Air America lineup of other progressive talkers,
likely with the involvement of former Clear Channel Radio boss
Randy Michaels.
- Upstate, the Rochester broadcast community is mourning longtime
WOKR (Channel 13) meteorologist Bill Peterson, who died Saturday
(Aug. 5) at 58 after a long, public struggle with cancer, lung
disease and heart disease. Peterson came to Rochester in 1982
from his native Wisconsin and never left channel 13, becoming
the station's chief meteorologist, a post he held until his health
problems forced him to retire in 2001. Even after he retired,
Peterson's health was still the subject of regular updates on
channel 13 (now WHAM-TV), and the station devoted much of its
weekend newscasts to sharing memories of Peterson from staff
and viewers. Not many broadcasters merit that level of coverage,
but it's a tribute to the connection that Peterson forged with
the community that it didn't seem a bit out of place. (The station's
Monday 6 PM newscast will also be dedicated to Peterson.)
- In western PENNSYLVANIA, the format didn't change at Connoisseur
Media's WUSE (93.9 Fairview), but just about everything else
at the Erie-market country station did. As of last Monday, "US
93.9" has given way to "The Wolf," with new calls
WTWF. The station's airstaff is expected to remain in place,
though it's running jockless right now.
10 Years Ago: August 13, 2001 -
- The big news in NEW YORK came as no surprise, really; everyone
in the business knew that ABC wanted WEVD (1050 New York) as
the Big Apple flagship for ESPN Radio. Now we know the price
and the terms under which control of WEVD will pass from the
Forward Association to the Disney gang. ESPN programming will
begin full-time on 1050 September 1, under an LMA that gives
Disney the option to begin negotiations for a $78 million purchase
of the 50,000 watt station any time in the next two years. Forward
officials say their goal is to return to a focus on their print
offerings (the weekly Forward), using the money from WEVD to
support the struggling newspaper. The Forward Association reportedly
wants to become a non-profit, according to the "Save WEVD"
folks who have been fighting for months to keep the present quirky
talk lineup in place on 1050. So what about those call letters?
It's a safe bet that labor leader Eugene Victor Debs wasn't an
Islanders fan, so we'd expect a possible change (though Disney
never did flip its Radio Disney outlet on 1560 from the old "WQEW").
M Street beat us to the punch in noting that the logical "WSPN"
is in use on FM up in Saratoga Springs, at Skidmore College's
91.1.
- Elsewhere in NEW YORK, there are some unhappy listeners and
viewers in the public broadcasting arena, thanks to a pair of
decisions to merge operations in the New York City area. On the
TV side, the board of directors at WLIW (Channel 21) on Long
Island voted last week to approve a merger with Newark, N.J.-licensed
WNET (Channel 13). By joining forces with the bigger WNET operation,
WLIW officials say, they can avoid the massive financial burden
of the upcoming DTV conversion. Long Island viewers say they're
worried about losing the distinctive programming (in particular,
British comedies) that WLIW has long offered. WLIW board member
Anne Ellis resigned before the vote on the merger, and lawmakers
are being asked to examine the deal.
- On the radio side, program producers and listeners of WNYE
(91.5 New York) are launching their own last-ditch effort to
keep the city's Board of Education from handing operations over
to the WNYC public radio folks. We've seen the e-mail petition
they're circulating, and while we know the "Save WNYE"
crew means well, a word of advice: your letters to the school
chancellor would be better received if you call him "Harold"
Levy and not "Howard"...
- A few more bits of news from the city: John Fullam has resigned
as general manager of Clear Channel's WHTZ (100.3 Newark) and
senior VP for regional operations for Clear Channel. No replacement
has been named. Fordham University's WFUV has been denied, again,
in its attempts to put an on-channel booster for its 90.7 signal
in Manhattan. And on the TV side, there's finally more DTV action:
WPIX-DT 33 had its license to cover granted this week, while
WNET-DT 61 is right behind.
15 Years Ago: New England Radio Watch, August 1/9, 1996
- That loud sucking sound you're hearing near Boston's Copley
Square is coming from the American Radio Systems headquarters,
as ARS keeps buying and buying and buying. Within the last few
weeks, ARS has spent about $67 million buying KXOA-AM-FM/KQPT-FM
Sacramento, KRBT-FM/KNAX-FM Fresno, and KOQO-AM/FM Fresno. Now
ARS has turned its attention back to home, spending a reported
$24.9 million to buy WAAF (107.3)/WWTM (1440) from Zapis. WAAF
targets the Boston market with a hard-rock format, serving a
small niche, but one that it has all to itself. WWTM is all sports,
with a signal that doesn't reach anywhere east of Worcester County
very well. They join ARS' existing stable of stations: WRKO (680),
its flagship talker; WEEI (850), which is all sports; WEGQ (93.7),
the Lawrence-licensed 70s outlet; and WBMX (98.5), the hot AC
"Mix 98.5."
- WRCZ (101.7) in Pittsfield MA has returned to its original
calls of WBRK-FM, and is using ABC's syndicated AC "Star"
format as "Star 101.7." "FMedia!" reports
"Z101" was the lowest-rated FM in Berkshire County.
- After about 2 years as morning host of Boston's WMJX "Magic
106.7," Gary Dickson is headed off to Houston's oldies KLDE
(94.5). The move brings Dickson back to his old employer, Entercom,
for whom he had worked in Pittsburgh before coming to Boston
as Tom Bergeron's replacement on Magic. Mike Addams moves across
the hall from WMJX's sister station WBCS "Country 96.9"
to handle morning duties on Magic, and Addams' former co-host,
Tom Doyle, will keep things going on WBCS while Greater Media
figures out how it's going to drop country from either WBCS or
newly-purchased WKLB (105.7), probably within a month.
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