NERW 5/20/2013: Buffalo Managers Moving On

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: May 21, 2012 –

In the earliest years of this column, back in 1994 and 1995, one story dominated our headlines: the consolidation of Boston broadcast ownership under a handful of large cluster operators. Our first issues (then known as “New England Radio Watch”) chronicled the disappearance of independent owners and the rise of the earliest duopolies and triopolies and, eventually, even bigger clusters.

But as the early Granums and Infinitys and Chancellors gave way to today’s CBS Radio and Greater Media and Entercom, two things remained true in Boston: Clear Channel was trying to compete with a much smaller cluster than its rivals, and one old-line operator, Steve Mindich’s WFNX (101.7 Lynn), remained staunchly independent, immune to the run-up in prices that led many other independents to sell out.

On Wednesday, that all changed with the surprise announcement that Mindich had struck a deal to sell WFNX’s license – but not its call letters or modern rock format – to Clear Channel Media Entertainment for a price widely rumored (but not yet confirmed) to be $11 million.

For Mindich, it means the end of a broadcast legacy that began in 1983, when the Boston Phoenix publisher paid $1.1 million for what was then WLYN-FM, a suburban signal that had recently segued from leased-time ethnic programming to “new wave” music as “Y-102.”

Over the next 29 years, 101.7 established a niche for itself as the radio voice of Boston’s alternative music scene, breaking bands, sponsoring contests and launching the careers of dozens of talented radio people who made their way through the studios that never moved from the old WLYN-FM digs, in a run-down building way off the beaten path in downtown Lynn.

(Just a sampling of the names with WFNX on their resumes includes Bill Abbate, later with WBCN and WZLX; Sharon Brody, now of WFNX; Nik Carter, later at New York’s WXRK; Joanne Doody, later at WXRV; Tom Irwin, aka “Tai the Morning Guy” and later at WRKO and WROR; Juanita “the Scene Queen”; and Neal Robert.)

In an interview with WBUR after the sale was announced, Mindich said he’d received plenty of unsolicited offers for the station over the years, including some at the height of the market that would have paid him much better than the Clear Channel offer.

“I realized given that sustaining the station over the last four years in particular has been extremely difficult, and the recession has just really killed us, I made the decision. It had to be done,” said Mindich, who was reportedly in tears when he made the announcement to the WFNX staff on Wednesday morning.

The station had approximately a dozen full-time staffers and several part-timers, and Mindich says “eight or nine of them” were let go immediately upon the announcement.

WFNX’s airstaff (D-Tension and Henry Santoro in morning drive, station veteran Julie Kramer in middays, Adam 12 in afternoons and Jim Ryan at night) were promptly replaced by automation, though Kramer and Adam 12 were back on the air for farewell shows Thursday and Friday.

The sale to Clear Channel doesn’t include an LMA, so the automated WFNX programming (and, Mindich promises, more farewell shows) will continue for the next several months until the signal is handed over to its new owner.

See the WFNX studio and transmitter sites in this 2006 Tower Site of the Week

So what does Clear Channel plan to do with its new property? That was the, er, $11 million question on the minds of everyone in Boston radio as soon as the news began to spread.

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It’s not hard to see why Clear Channel wanted an additional FM outlet in Boston: it’s the only top-ten market in which the giant broadcaster is significantly underpowered when compared to other big clusters in town. While Greater Media boasts five FMs, CBS Radio has four FMs plus powerhouse AM WBZ (1030) and Entercom comes to the plate with three FMs (two of them simulcasting) and two AMs, Clear Channel has been competing with two class B FMs and two less than full-market AMs. The FMs, rhythmic top-40 “Jam’n” WJMN (94.5) and mainstream top-40 “Kiss 108″ WXKS-FM (107.9), dominate the younger demographics in the Boston market, while the AMs are talker WXKS (1200) and Spanish AC “Mia” WKOX (1430).

It’s “Talk 1200″ that’s been at the center of lots of the immediate format speculation for 101.7: after making a significant investment in upgrading the formerly Framingham-based WKOX into a Newton-licensed 50,000-watt signal featuring Rush Limbaugh and local hosts Jeff Katz and Jay Severin, the AM station has struggled to achieve even single-digit shares in the ratings.

Is that a function of 1200′s limited directional signal, which misses much of the outer suburban reaches most likely to be amenable to the talk format? Or is it simply a matter of being on the AM band while many listeners won’t venture away from FM? In recent years, Clear Channel has become more aggressive about moving its talk formats to FM in search of larger, younger audiences, thus far with mixed results – while Pittsburgh’s WPGB has been a success, Minneapolis’ KTLK-FM retreated to AM in favor of FM sports, and the jury is still out on more recent AM/FM simulcasts in Syracuse and Albany.

In this particular case, the outlook for a 1200/101.7 simulcast appears questionable at best: if the AM signal on 1200 struggles to reach the talk audience out along the I-495 outer beltway, especially at night, the class A FM signal on 101.7 from downtown Boston’s One Financial Center gives up the ghost not far outside Route 128, limiting its reach to Boston and its inner suburbs, not the area that’s traditionally been a stronghold for WXKS’ flavor of talk.

As for a big signal increase on 101.7, it’s unlikely at best. While Clear Channel controls several of the bigger signals short-spaced to WFNX nearby on the dial, including WWBB 101.5 in Providence and WGIR-FM 101.1 in Manchester, a signal shift to upgrade 101.7 still remains almost impossibly challenging. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the intermediate-frequency (IF) spacing protection between 101.7 and WBUR-FM on 90.9 that would require any higher-powered signal on 101.5 or 101.7 to transmit from outside the core of the Boston market, surrendering the one big advantage WFNX gained in its 2006 move to its current site – good building penetration in the downtown core. (That factor alone may be enough of an advantage over the 1200 signal to justify putting talk there.)

What else could arrive on 101.7 if it’s not talk? Some flavor of male-leaning rock is a possibility, complementing the female-leaning WJMN and WXKS-FM and competing with CBS Radio’s classic rock WZLX, Entercom’s active rock WAAF and Greater Media’s alternative rock WBOS and classic hits WROR. Less likely are country (which would nibble away at Greater Media’s surging WKLB-FM but would be hampered by a weak suburban signal) and some flavor of adult contemporary, which could cannibalize Clear Channel’s own Kiss 108.

There’s a very real, very substantial hole on the Boston FM dial for two more formats as well, both of them fitting nicely with the existing 101.7 signal. A straight-on urban format like the ones that have brought Clear Channel big success in New York (WWPR) and Philadelphia (WUSL and WDAS-FM) might cannibalize too much of WJMN’s listenership. What about a Spanish-language format? Clear Channel has tried several AM approaches to the largely Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish-speaking communities in the market, including the current “Mia 1430.” But the company’s attempts at Spanish-language FM in bigger markets have fallen somewhat flat in recent years, with a full-scale retreat in Philadelphia (where “Rumba” WUBA went from a full-market FM to a partial-coverage AM to oblivion) and only mixed results at WNUA in Chicago.

One more possibility that’s received relatively little speculation: even without acquiring WFNX’s branding, music library and staff (some of which Mindich may yet repurpose into a streaming-only version of ‘FNX), could Clear Channel keep 101.7 playing some form of alternative rock? Assuming it’s not off-limits due to a non-compete (which we’ll know more about when the sale agreement is filed, perhaps as early as today), modern rock is a format Clear Channel knows well in big markets including Los Angeles (KYSR 98.7) and Philadelphia (WRFF 104.5), it’s a good fit for 101.7′s strong signal over Boston’s college neighborhoods, and it’s a niche that will otherwise be left unfilled when Mindich signs WFNX off the airwaves for the last time sometime this summer.

No matter what comes to 101.7, or what sort of stripped-down “FNX” might survive online, that will be a sad day for Boston radio. In its heyday, WFNX was more than just a radio station. It was a cultural touchstone for two generations of young Bostonians, an entry point into the city for uncounted thousands of college students arriving from elsewhere, and a vital part of one of the best live-music scenes anywhere in the country.

And it was, of course, one of the last independents left standing, leaving in its wake only Steve Silberberg”s WXRV (92.5) up in the Merrimack Valley as a big stand-alone commercial FM voice in a city where WBCN and WCOZ and WCGY once defined what independent rock radio could be.

Five Years Ago: May 19, 2008 –

If a PENNSYLVANIA shock jock plays a racially inflammatory song parody on his show March 21, does it make an impact? In the case of Kidd Chris, morning personality at CBS Radio”s WYSP (94.1 Philadelphia), the answer would appear to be “yes – but not until almost two months have passed.”Back in March, the show played a parody song called “Schwoogies,” which crudely stereotyped blacks. And while the song was reportedly played several times on March 21 and at least once more on March 24, CBS Radio management apparently didn”t learn about it until sometime very late last week.

Calling the song “highly offensive and completely inappropriate for broadcast on our airwaves,” WYSP fired Kidd Chris (real name: Chris Foley) and PD John Cook, and quickly cancelled a widely-publicized birthday party for Foley that had been set for Friday night.

Here”s what the official statement had to say: “When senior management of the station learned that it had been played, they took immediate steps to prevent it from ever appearing on the station again. At the same time, we launched an extensive internal investigation into the situation including a thorough review of the editorial controls and systems we have in place to prevent this type of content from airing. We instituted additional educational training for the station, and have taken appropriate disciplinary action, including termination of the individuals involved.”

And here”s what we”re wondering: given that the content of Kidd Chris” show was hardly a secret, and given the kind of scrutiny CBS has faced in recent years over controversial content from Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony, JV & Elvis and so on, can we really believe that whatever “editorial controls and systems” CBS had in place could have completely overlooked the “Schwoogies” song for almost two months. And, furthermore, that CBS would just happen to have “learned” that the song had been played a few days after an e-mail went out from the group “Racial Dignity in Media” that (according to the Philadelphia Inquirer) called for complaints against the station?

Maybe we”re just cynical. Maybe it”s that we haven”t slept all week since welcoming a new baby to the NERW family last Tuesday morning (read on for the details)…but the whole thing seems more than a little odd from where we sit.

Meanwhile, the message boards are aflame with talk of WYSP”s morning-drive future. While Kidd Chris still had most of a three-year contract remaining, the station was embroiled in a tough battle for rock listeners against Greater Media”s WMMR (home to Kidd Chris” nemeses, Preston and Steve) and Clear Channel”s WRFF. For now, reports the Inquirer“s Michael Klein, WYSP will go jockless with rock in the morning, but there have been rumors of a return by former WYSP host Paul Barsky, who”s still under contract to the station, or of a simulcast of the morning sports-talk show from sister station WIP (610 Philadelphia).

Ten Years Ago: May 19, 2003 –

NEW YORK”s oldies station is slowly returning some pre-1964 music to its playlist, after gradual changes over the past few years that removed pretty much everything from WCBS-FM (101.1 New York) that predated the Beatles. No, the “O” word hasn”t returned to the Infinity station”s imaging – and, yeah, there”s still some “80s Billy Joel in the playlist – but the station made a concession to its older listeners over the weekend when it returned doo-wop music to its Sunday night schedule.

You”ll recall the outcry last August when CBS-FM eliminated the “Doo-Wop Shop” on Sundays; as of last night, it”s back, in a modified form – under the title “The Heart of Rock”n” Roll,” and hosted by former WCBS-FM personality Norm N. Nite, who”s back in Cleveland and doing the show from the Alan Freed Studio at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Don K. Reed loses that Sunday night airshift, but remains on weekday overnights.

In Buffalo, we”d neglected to mention that WGRZ (Channel 2) dropped its 10 PM newscast on LMA partner WPXJ (Channel 51) a few weeks back, while we were out of town. We”ll miss the nice signal on the Buffalo news (WPXJ, licensed to Batavia, comes in quite well in Rochester!) – but we”ll be able to tune in to another sorta-Buffalo newscast in a few months, when Sinclair expects to launch its Maryland-based “News Central” on WB affiliate WNYO-TV (Channel 49); Sinclair”s bigger Fox affiliate, WUTV (Channel 29), will continue to carry syndicated shows at 10. The WPXJ newscast had been getting roundly beaten in the ratings by WIVB”s 10 PM news on sister station WNLO (Channel 23).

In NEW JERSEY, the last piece of the former Y107/Rumba “quadcast” returned to the air last week, as Press launched “107.1 the Breeze” on WWZY (107.1 Long Branch). The station shares its Jones soft AC format and “Captain Jack” Aponte morning show with sister WBHX (99.7 Tuckerton) down the coast; we hear it”s looking to return to the Long Branch transmitter site it used to use before Big City moved north to the current site at Atlantic Highlands, which improved New York City coverage at the expense of the Jersey Shore.

Meanwhile down the dial, Nassau replaced the WPST simulcast on WEMG-FM (104.9 Egg Harbor City) with country late last week; still no commercials, and word is that this, too, may turn out to be a stunt.

Fifteen Years Ago: May 21, 1998 –

The FCC has granted WXPS (96.7) a move from Vergennes, VERMONT to Willsboro, NEW YORK, on the opposite side of Lake Champlain. The 96 MHz part of the dial is getting active in New York”s North Country; WVNV (96.5) in Malone has been granted a change of class from A to C3, and the FCC has allocated 96.5A to Speculator, a tiny village high in the Adirondacks.

The folks at Syracuse Community Radio have a callsign for one of their construction permits. 88.7 in Truxton NY will be WXXC. Meantime, the FCC granted a CP for SCR”s 90.5 MHz station in Fenner NY.

The new 97.9 construction permit in Jewett (in the Catskills between Oneonta and Albany) was assigned the WAXK calls, while the 1660 kHz facility in the New York City market (licensed to Elizabeth NJ) has applied to change calls from WJDM to WBAH. The sister outlet on 1530 remains WJDM for now.

On to MASSACHUSETTS, where news director Bill Pohovey has parted ways with WHDH-TV (Channel 7); no replacement has been named yet. One of the creators of Channel 7″s format, Joel Cheatwood, was ousted this week from his most recent job as news director at WMAQ-TV (Channel 5) in Chicago. He”s being moved to a position in program development with NBC”s owned-and-operated stations. Cheatwood came under fire in Chicago for making many of the same changes he made at WHDH and at WSVN in Miami; it seems Chicago was even more resistant than Boston to the fast-paced tabloid style that Cheatwood brought with him.

A format change in the Worcester market: WXXW (98.9 Webster) has dumped the satellite oldies (and the Don & Mike talk show in afternoon drive) to go classic rock as “98-9 the Bus.”
In NEW HAMPSHIRE, there”s a new station on the air way up north. New England radio veteran Barry Lunderville, who sold his WZBZ (now WDOT 1070 Plattsburgh NY) to Alex McEwing”s Family Radio, has put WXXS (102.3) on the air in Lancaster with a hot AC format. “Kiss 102″”s studios are at 20 Middle Street in Lancaster; it”s transmitting with 700 watts from more than 600 feet above average terrain.

Dennis Jackson”s new 106.5 in Farmington has been assigned the WZEN calls.