New England Radio Watcher: WBMA/WBIV, WRGW, etc.
Scott D Fybush
An interesting week here in Beantown, at least on AM 890. This
is the 3-month old WBMA Dedham (25kw day, 10kw night), owned
by SRN Boston, the same people who owned the now-defunct WBIV
1060 Natick-Boston. WBMA operates from WBIV's former transmitter
site in Ashland MA, uses WBIV's former transmitters (now retuned
to 890), has been leasing all its time out to "Radio Emanuele,"
the Spanish-language religious broadcaster that used to lease
out WBIV. And, SRN prefers to identify 890 as "WBIV" still
(the legal IDs announce "WBMA Dedham, WBIV Natick.")
Strange enough, right? Not yet. Now comes word that 890
will change format by Feb. 15, to the satellite "Prime Sports
Network," under new ownership. SRN management is claiming
that "890's calls will change from WBIV to WBMA" when that
happens. Uh-huh, right. The current manager of "WBIV," when
asked by the Boston Herald about where the new owners are
from, replied, "Hell." All of 890's staff is being laid off,
apparently so a different group of board-ops can be brought in.
So why sports on 890? Well, it's just 40 khz above 850, the
50kw site of all-sports WEEI since August. Never mind that
850 is local from the end of Imus until nighttime, and the
new 890 "might do an hour of local talk in the morning."
Weird enough? Not by half. There's ALSO a rumor floating
around town that the Prime Sports format will also be fleeting...
to be replaced by Korean-language programming by May. Never mind
that Koreans aren't even in the top 10 in terms of minority
population in this area...
And what of 1060, the frequency WBIV/WBMA vacated when the
station moved to 890 last fall? Well, it's allegedly for
sale...but just the license. The 1060 transmitters are, as
noted above, already retuned to 890. And whoever buys 1060
will not be allowed to diplex it off the Ashland site.
The area where a new 1060 transmitter would have to go
is some of the most expensive real estate in the state...so
the odds of finding a new site are pretty small. About the
only solution would be to diplex off WKOX-1200 in nearby
Framingham. I've heard a rumor that one group might buy
1060 and use it as a daytimer (the old facilities were 25000/
2500), running off the one WKOX stick that's not used in
daylight. I'd say the chances of 1060 resurfacing are
pretty slim. The whole thing is very odd...
Meanwhile in the Granite State:
A trip up the New Hampshire seacoast Friday produced one bit
of news: The "Rock Garden" moniker made famous in the '70s
by WCGY-93.7 Lawrence-Boston has resurfaced, trademarked no
less, at the brand-new WRGW-98.7 Somersworth NH. The station
is co-owned with WTSN-1270 Dover, which is renovating its
studios on Middle Road to add space for the FM. I didn't
find the transmitter, but the STL at the WTSN studios was
pointing west...so it must be out that way.
Unfortunately, WRGW did not resurrect the freeform rock
format that marked the original Rock Garden. The new
Rock Garden is soft AC...yawn. It is live and local, but
then so was format competitor WZEA-102.1 Hampton NH, which
had been satellite last I checked. And the Seacoast is
well-served by soft AC signals from WLYT Haverhill MA,
WSSH Lowell MA, WMJX Boston, and WZID Manchester NH, just
to name a few.
Only one other item of note: Precision Media has completed
its duopoly...and moved Rochester NH-licensed WWEM 96.7
(modern rock "The Mix") and WZNN 930 (CNN news-talk) into
the Exeter studios of AOR WERZ 107.1 and adult standards
WMYF 1540. And WXBB 105.3, which was country when it
was duopolied with the Rochester stations, has found a
new duopoly partner. It's now ARROW, and operating from
the same studios as 50kw country blowtorch WOKQ-97.5.
And back in Boston, Baltazar has taken JR's old morning
gig at CHurban WJMN-94.5 "Jam'n". Baltazar (his real
name) used to do nights at a NYC station...I think WRKS?
On the talk front, WBZ's David Brudnoy has resumed the
5 hour a night schedule (7-midnight) he was working before
an AIDS-related bout of illness landed him in a coma last
fall. Bruds is still doing the show from home. Steve
LeVeille had been filling in for Bruds and is now seeking
new work. Anyone need a top-notch talk host?
-=Scott Fybush - fyb...@world.std.com=-
JCCR
signal doesn't make it too far into the Boston metro. Look for EEI
programming to get stronger and stronger over the next year. The same team
that put RKO on top in this book is hard at work on EEI. Sports is a
terrific format!
Jium Cutler WEEI/WRKO