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December 23, 2002
Vinikoor Plans WNTK Move, Too
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*NEW HAMPSHIRE leading the news for
a second week in a row? You bet (or, as they might say up there,
"Ayuh!") - and with the same station owner involved
this week, too!
Last week, we told you how Bob Vinikoor had won his New Hampshire
Supreme Court battle to build four 266-foot towers in Lebanon
for his new WQTH (720 Hanover).
This week, we can tell you that Vinikoor has some big plans
for his other New Hampshire AM station as well. WNTK
(1020 Newport) is currently a 10 kW daytimer, playing Americana
music along with some talk programming - but Vinikoor applied
last week to move the station down the dial to 1010 kHz, retaining
the 10 kilowatt power by day and during critical hours (when
WNTK currently reduces its power on 1020) and adding 37 watts
of night service. Vinikoor's application notes that the move
will reduce interference between WNTK and Boston's WBZ (1030).
Those with long memories may recall that WNTK is the descendant
of WCNL in Newport - which began its life as a daytimer on 1010.
Back then, 1010 was limited to 250 watts by day; Vinikoor can
thank the disappearance of the old WHWB (1000) in Rutland, Vermont
for at least part of the change on the dial that allows for higher
power on 1010 these days.
And we have no idea what to make of the headline that
appeared last week in the Claremont Eagle-Times.
 The article, by a
Meggan Clark, says Vinikoor is planning to build six towers in
North Charlestown, N.H. for what she (and the screaming headline)
describe as a "500,000-watt" radio station!
Assuming the ghost of W8XO isn't returning to haunt the Upper
Valley airwaves (and if you get that reference, you've
found the right Web site!), we think the plan in question is
really an alternate proposal for the yet-unbuilt WQTH; the article
claims Vinikoor "has already received Federal Communications
Commission (sic) to build a 500,000-watt AM frequency tower,"
but we certainly can't find any CP like that in the database.
(And you thought the Globe wasn't very accurate when
it came to radio...)
*Just one quick note from MAINE: Dan
Priestly's new WWNZ (1400 Veazie) wants to change transmitter
sites. Priestly originally planned to diplex WWNZ with already-operating
WNZS (1340 Veazie); now he's applying to put WWNZ's tower just
across Highway 178 instead, with 810 watts by night (protecting
a bunch of long-dead Quebec 1400s) and a kilowatt by day.
 *One
of RHODE ISLAND's best known program directors is heading
into the holiday season without his job. Tom Holt took WWLI (105.1
Providence) to the top of the ratings with a very successful
soft AC format (you can still read all about his many accomplishments
at Lite 105's Web
site - complete with a "Way to go, Tom!" note at
the bottom), but that wasn't enough to spare him from a Citadel
budget cut last week.
Tony Bristol, PD of sister CHR WPRO-FM (92.3 Providence),
is handling programming duties for WWLI for now; no word yet
on how Lite is filling Holt's old midday air shift...
*A MASSACHUSETTS radio station owner
took a stand for the freedom of the press and won. Ed Perry is
best known as the founder and longtime operator of WATD (95.9
Marshfield), but it turns out he's also a news reporter for the
station when events warrant.
Back in September, he headed over to the nearby Hanover Mall
one evening to check out a report he heard on the police scanner
about an incident in the mall parking lot. When he got there,
he did what any good reporter would, taking out his tape recorder
and notebook and asking questions.
The Patriot Ledger reports a mall security guard
asked Perry to hand over the tape from his recorder, Perry refused,
and Hanover police arrested him and charged him with creating
a disturbance. (His tape recorder was later returned to his car,
with the interviews erased.)
It took a few months, but all the charges (resisting arrest,
disorderly conduct, trespassing and interfering with a police
officer) have finally been dismissed, and now Perry is considering
a civil suit against the mall.
(NERW comments: Anyone who ever wondered why WATD is such
a consistent winner of RTNDA and AP awards shouldn't have any
question, now...)
On the TV side, WLVI (Channel 56) has a new news director,
as Tribune moves Pamela Johnston up from assistant ND to replace
Greg Caputo as the head of the WB affiliate's news operation.
LATE UPDATE: The purchase of WSRO (1470 Marlborough)
by Multicultural Broadcasting has brought a call change with
it; 1470 is now "WAZN," with the WSRO calls moving
down the dial to Alex Langer's 650 in Ashland, ex-WJLT. And who'll
be the first Boston broadcaster to notice that the "WCOZ"
calls that once graced 94.5 are once again available, having
been dropped from AM 1300 in St. Albans, West Virginia?
And a correction to the December 3 NERW: WBUR (90.9 Boston)
is not going non-directional; it's altering its directional pattern.
*Stephanie Hindley is leaving her post as
PD of Burlington, VERMONT's "Buzz" (WBTZ 99.9
Plattsburgh NY) to head across the border to Canada.
 *We'll
start our NEW YORK report at the western end of the
state, where the veteran voice of Lockport is hanging up his
headphones and heading south.
J.R. Reid III began his broadcast career in Buffalo at the
old WXRA (1080) when he was still a teenager; he moved to Lockport
in 1964 to work at what was then WUSJ (1340) before shifting
his attention to law enforcement.
But after a career as a Niagara County sheriff's deputy, the
call of the airwaves again beckoned (he had been doing a weekend
oldies show even while wearing the badge), and a few years ago,
Reid returned to 1340 - now WLVL - to do morning drive and sales.
Reid was also serving as vice president of the Buffalo
Broadcast Pioneers. Now he's headed into retirement (his
last show was Dec. 13), and heading down to Cape Coral, Florida...but
you can expect to still see him around Lockport, where one of
his kids is buying his house!
(Another bit of WLVL news: it's losing the overnight Joey
Reynolds show early next year, as the show moves to the big signal
of WWKB 1520 in Buffalo. The move puts Reynolds back on the very
station that made him famous - it was WKBW then, of course -
and there are rumors afoot that other old 'KB personalities could
be headed back to 1520 as well if the station flips to an oldies
format in 2003. Stay tuned!)
Here in Rochester, construction wrapped up over the weekend
on the new American Tower tower on Pinnacle Hill, and there's
already a UHF antenna in place at the top of the stick. NERW
suspects WUHF-DT (Channel 28) will soon be applying for Special
Temporary Authority and signing on from the new tower...
Meanwhile, Family Life Radio has dropped its plans to build
a translator on 105.1 in Greece; the network already has a Greece-licensed
signal (W220DE 91.9) on the west side of Rochester, and the 105.1
would have interfered with the east side translator (W286AE Fairport)
of Greece community station WGMC (90.1) to boot.
In Syracuse, Clear Channel flipped WXBB (105.1 DeRuyter) from
a country simulcast with WBBS (104.7 Fulton) to Christmas music
last week; we'll keep you posted on what happens next with "Sleigh
105-1."
 In Albany, Clear
Channel made it official by announcing that Scott Allen Miller
is the permanent afternoon host at WGY (810 Schenectady), leaving
J.R. Gach without a job. Gach left WGY's airwaves last August
under mysterious circumstances, revealing later that he was suffering
from severe mental illness.
Gach tells the Albany Times Union's Mark McGuire that
he was fired by e-mail last weekend, "with cause,"
meaning he won't get any severance pay. Gach says he wants to
get back on the air, preferably in the Albany area, but he acknowledges
that there are few options open to him right now.
Moving down to New York City, Judy Ellis has a new job lined
up for March 2003, when she leaves her longtime VP/GM position
at the Emmis cluster (WQHT 97.1, WRKS 98.7 and WQCD 101.9). The
Big Apple radio veteran will join Citadel as its chief operating
officer; her old job at Emmis, meanwhile, will be filled by veteran
programmer Barry Mayo.
Scott Elberg has a new job: the former VP/GM of Clear Channel's
WHTZ/WKTU is joining Hispanic Broadcasting as its VP of sales
for WADO (1280) and WCAA (105.9 Newark NJ).
WPIX (Channel 11) has been granted an auxiliary facility at
the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, N.J. (coincidentally, this week's
Tower Site of the Week); the
WB affiliate will be able to use Alpine with 24 kW at 244 meters,
on an antenna to be shared with WABC-TV (Channel 7) and WNET
(Channel 13).
Attention DXers: three major AM signals in the Big Apple will
go silent for a few hours next weekend, giving New York listeners
a chance to hear Toronto, Detroit and beyond. WBBR (1130) and
WEVD (1050) will both go silent from 1-4 AM on Saturday (12/28)
and Sunday (12/29), which means plenty of DXers will be staying
up late Friday and Saturday nights. WWDJ (970 Hackensack) will
also be silent for at least a portion of that time.
Out on Long Island, WGSM (740 Huntington) has been granted
a power reduction from 25 kW to 20 kW; the power change comes
with a big pattern change that will redirect WGSM's signal to
head mostly west, toward the big Asian population in Queens.
"Best Media" was granted a license to cover for
new translator W208AU (89.5 Massapequa) this week; the new signal
should be relaying the Indian programming from WCNJ (89.3 Hazlet
NJ) for owner Banad Viswanath. Best filed for dozens of translators
back in 1999, many of them with impossibly-sloppy engineering
(though not quite as bad as the applications the FCC dismissed
this week for LPTVs on channel 37, which is reserved for radio
astronomy and not available for broadcast); the Massapequa translator
was originally proposed to relay WSHU in Stamford, Connecticut.
And WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) is now operating from its new
site on the WRCN (103.9) tower, near the eastern end of the Long
Island Expressway.
 *The
FCC is opening the comment period for a move that will change
the face of radio in southern NEW JERSEY.
WSNJ (107.7 Bridgeton) has made no secret, ever since being
sold last year, of its desire to move closer to Philadelphia.
The station first proposed changing its allocation from a full
50 kilowatt B in Bridgeton to a 6000 watt class A on 107.9 in
Elmer. That proposal was dismissed by the FCC last week, in favor
of a second proposal submitted a few weeks later by WSNJ's new
owners.
As we reported last spring (NERW, 6/17/2002), WSNJ now wants
to relocate to 107.9 and drop down to an A - in Pennsauken, just
across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
Public comments on the proposal will be accepted by the FCC
until February 10, with reply comments due February 25; we'll
keep you posted on the outcome.
Meanwhile, the new 90.5 religious station in Medford Lakes
has call letters: mark down WVBV(FM) for the station, which will
be licensed to the Hope Christian Church of Marlton.
*Into PENNSYLVANIA we go, just in
time for Larry Kane's final broadcasts on KYW-TV (Channel 3)
tonight at 6 and 11. (We'd love to hear from any Philly-area
readers who'll be rolling tape...)
Just across the street from Channel 3, Roger LaMay handed
in his resignation last week as general manager of Fox's WTXF
(Channel 29). LaMay came to Channel 29 in 1985 (when it was still
WTAF) to be the first news director at the independent station;
he became GM in 1996.
Out in the Roxborough antenna farm, WOGL (98.1) has been granted
a tower move; it's being forced off the WCAU-TV (Channel 10)
tower to accommodate DTV. The Infinity oldies station will move
to a newer tower (also home to WPPX-DT and WYBE) with 9.6 kW
at 338 meters, a slight power drop and height increase from its
current facility.
Up in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, there's yet another
call change at Citadel: this time the 95.7 facility in Olyphant
flips from WEOZ (the calls that matched its old "Z-Talk"
format) to WBHD, reflecting its new use as a simulcast of CHR
WBHT (97.1 Mountain Top). The WBHD calls have been used before
in the market, on the 94.3 Carbondale that's now WCWI; it too
was a WBHT relay in a previous life. Meanwhile, Entercom country
giant WGGY (101.3 Scranton) has been granted a Hazleton booster;
WGGY-2 will run 35 watts on 101.3.
And while it's not yet on the air, WZZQ (88.3 Chambersburg)
has already changed calls: it's now WZXQ.
 *And
we'll wrap up this holiday week in CANADA, where a long-dark
community station is returning to the airwaves.
CISD (107.7 Iroquois) signed on in 1999 from atop the Iroquois
water tower, along the St. Lawrence Seaway south of Ottawa and
east of Cornwall. We heard it in the summer of 2000, running
automated with classic rock.
Licensed to the Seaway District High School in South Dundas,
CISD lasted just two years in its first incarnation, signing
off in 2001 to reorganize its operation.
Now it's back, as a community-run station; we're told it's
testing right now and will be back on the air full-time at the
beginning of January.
Over in Toronto, Craig's new "Toronto One" (Channel
52, with a low-power relay on 45 in Hamilton) has been granted
an extension of time; it now has until next October 31 to sign
on.
The CBC was granted three new Radio Two relays: 97.1 Owen
Sound (17.5 kW), 90.7 Orillia (4.8 kW) and 104.7 Huntsville (70
kW) will all relay CBL-FM (94.1 Toronto).
In Ottawa, Rob Mise has been named operations manager for
NewCap's new dance station on 89.9, to be called "The Planet";
Mise's resume includes stints in Calgary and Vancouver.
Out in Nova Scotia, CJLS (1340 Yarmouth) was granted its proposed
move to FM; CJLS will go to 18 kW on 95.5, keeping its existing
FM relays in Barrington and New Tusket on Nova Scotia's western
shore. And over in Sydney, CKER (950) DJ Brian King was sentenced
to six years in prison; he held up three Cape Breton Island gas
stations with a gun.
*And on that cheerful (?) note, we wish you a very happy holiday!
We'll be back here December 30 with the first part of our 2002
Year in Review; stay tuned!
 *Have
you ordered your Tower Site Calendar 2003 yet? (Yes, the
very calendar that we had the honor of presenting to Paul Harvey
himself during his Rochester visit - and the delightful surprise
of hearing him praise on the air!)
Hear
what Paul Harvey had to say about his visit to Rochester...and
the 2003 Tower Site Calendar! (MP3,
3 min.)
It's no Oreck vacuum, or even Bose Wave radio, but if you
liked last year's calendar, you'll love this one: higher-quality
images (including Providence's WHJJ; Mount Mansfield, Vermont;
Buffalo's WBEN; KOMA in Oklahoma City; the legendary WSM, Nashville;
Harvey's flagship WGN, Chicago and many more), more dates in
radio history, a convenient hole for hanging - and we'll even
make sure all the dates fall on the right days!
This year's calendar is currently shipping! Look
for it in your mailbox; orders are being shipped in the order
received, and all orders received by December 22 have now been
shipped. Calendars are in stock, and orders placed now will ship
within 24 hours!
And this year, you can order with your Visa, MasterCard, Discover
or American Express by using the handy link below!
Better yet, here's an incentive to make your 2003 NERW subscription
pledge a little early: support NERW/fybush.com at the $60 level
or higher, and you'll get this lovely calendar for free!
How can you go wrong? (Click here
to visit our Support page, where you can make your NERW contribution
with a major credit card...)
You can also order by mail; just send a check for $16
per calendar (NYS residents add 8% sales tax), shipping included,
to Scott Fybush, 92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester
NY 14618.
International orders: Calendars are US$18 to Canada,
US$20 to the rest of the world, postage included. Send checks/international
money orders (in US dollars) to the address above, or e-mail
for credit-card ordering information.
*And we're also happy to announce that
our good friends at M Street have released the 11th edition of
the M Street Radio Directory. With the disappearance
of the old Vane Jones log and the declining accuracy of the Broadcasting
Yearbook, the M Street directory is widely regarded as the most
accurate, most comprehensive source of information on the US
and Canadian radio scene - and we're thrilled to be able to offer
it to you at a substantial discount!
The directory includes power, frequency, ownership, key personnel,
formats, ratings and much more information for every radio station
in the U.S. and Canada, and now runs almost 900 pages in an 8.5"
x 11" softcover book. List price is $79 (plus $7 shipping/handling),
but if you order through fybush.com/NorthEast Radio Watch, you
can get this invaluable resource on your shelf for $69 (plus
$7 s/h) - a $10 savings! And your purchase benefits the continued
publication of NERW and Tower Site of the Week, so everybody
wins!
You can order in either of two ways: to order by major credit
card, call 1-800-248-4242, ask for Irene, and tell her
you want the "NorthEast Radio Watch" discount. Or,
send check or money order for $76 ($69 + $7 s/h) to Scott Fybush,
92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester NY 14618. Either way, you'll put
the most trusted, accurate information about the radio industry
in print today on your bookshelf.
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
2002 by Scott Fybush. |