New England Radio Watcher: Etc.
Scott D Fybush
It's been a few weeks, I've been out of town (Chicago and Fort Wayne -
more on THAT later), and a little has happened in the meantime. In
no particular order:
*WKRH 105.9 in Bath ME is off the air. It's supposed to reappear
later this month as religious WBCI-FM under new ownership. This is
the second time this decade that this station has gone through
a silent period. Circa 1990 they were off for a while as they
transitioned from CHR WIGY to classic-rock WKRH. The station has
a good class B signal over the Portland market, they've just
never gotten it to work for them.
*New calls for "Mix 96.7," the alternative rock station in
Rochester NH (part of a quadropoly with standards WMYF-AM, newly-
standards WZNN-AM (ex-CNN Headline News), and AOR WERZ-FM). The
former WWEM is now WSRI.
*Speaking of calls with SR in them (and how's THAT for a meaningless
segue?), the WYSR calls abandoned by 104.1 in Waterbury (Hartford) CT
have resurfaced to the northwest on 98.3 Rotterdam (Albany-Schenectady-
Troy) NY. The former WTRY-FM has been calling itself "Star" for a
few months, since it broke from its simulcast with oldies WTRY-AM 980.
WYSR 98.3 and WWCP 96.7 Clifton Park (using the "UN" alternative
format) are both owned by Jarad Broadcasting, but operated and sold
by Liberty Broadcasting, which also owns WTRY(AM), country WGNA AM-FM,
and AOR WPYX-FM.
*Another Albany mega-opoly is about to shed one station. Albany
Broadcasting is selling 50kw WPTR-1540 to an as-yet-unnamed
religious broadcaster. Albany Broadcasting's other stations
are AP all-news WROW 590, ac WJYB-95.5, and chr WFLY-92.3.
*The folks up in Greenville, Maine are getting nervous about the town's
biggest landowner, the shortwave station formerly known as WCSN.
The Christian Scientists sold the station this year to a group
called Prophecy Countdown, an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventists.
The station is now known as WVHA. The AP reports that while WCSN
never tried to take a religious exemption from paying property
taxes, WVHA plans to seek such an exemption -- a big deal considering
the radio station makes up more than 10% of the town's tax base!
Also, neighbors are worried about increased security at WVHA. Apparently
the new owners asked a lot of questions about how long the station can
get by without outside supplies and power...and that has neighbors
wondering what they're planning.
*WBZ is mourning the passing of its general manager of 10 years,
A.B. "Bill" Hartman. Hartman was at BZ radio from 1978-1988, and
at KDKA for a few years before that. He died in Florida last week
after a long battle with cancer.
*WREF, an 850 khz daytimer in Ridgefield CT, has reportedly ended all
local programming, and is now being run by the network based at
WIFI-1460 Florence (Trenton-Philadelphia) NJ. All programming
(big bands, some leased time) comes from WIFI via satellite. WIFI's
owner, Mike Venditti, reportedly wants to add night power and a
directional antenna system at WREF. I don't know how all this
affects WQQQ-103.3 Sharon CT, which had been simulcasting WREF.
*And outside New England, a note that the "Jukebox Radio" network
has reconfigured. Jukebox started as an attempt to program translator
W276AQ Fort Lee NJ, just across the George Washington Bridge from
Manhattan. The original idea was to buy a dark high school station
on 88.7 in Franklin Lakes NJ, some 60 miles away, and use that
station (redesignated "WJUX") as the primary. Then, last fall,
Jukebox bought and built the CP for WXTM-99.7 Monticello NY, a
commercial station. WXTM became the primary, WJUX 88.7 went dark,
and 103.1 W276AQ was able to air commercials at long last. I *think*
the rules were being bent somewhat by originating programming
in NJ, outside the contours of both 99.7 and 88.7. And I can't
imagine that W276AQ, in sight of the 99.5 WBAI transmitter on
the Empire State, can hear WXTM 99.7 over the air. Anyway, 99.7
has now picked up the WJUX calls, The *88.7 station now has calls
WNJW, and will be sold and pick up a new format. Even if they're
bending the rules a bit, Jukebox does a nice job. The 103.1
signal is pretty good in the immediate Bergen County area, they
do lots of serious local news (live...on weekends even!), and the
music is great.
*And that, I think, is that.
-=Scott Fybush - fyb...@world.std.com=-
-Check out the Boston Radio Archives:
ftp://radio.lcs.mit.edu/radio/bostonradio.html
Perry Michael Simon
> fyb...@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush) writes:
> (snip)
> WYSR 98.3 and WWCP 96.7 Clifton Park (using the "UN" alternative
> format) are both owned by Jarad Broadcasting, but operated and sold
> by Liberty Broadcasting, which also owns WTRY(AM), country WGNA AM-FM,
> and AOR WPYX-FM.
Um, for the record, Jarad still operates WWCP and WYSR- all
programming and marketing is 100% Jarad's. Liberty's WPYX/WTRY sales
staff sells WWCP/WYSR local time only. And I oughta know... ;) (BTW,
WGNA AM/FM is sold separately)
>
> *And outside New England, a note that the "Jukebox Radio" network
> has reconfigured. Jukebox started as an attempt to program translator
> W276AQ Fort Lee NJ, just across the George Washington Bridge from
> Manhattan. The original idea was to buy a dark high school station
> on 88.7 in Franklin Lakes NJ, some 60 miles away, and use that
> station (redesignated "WJUX") as the primary.
Actually, Franklin Lakes is about 20 miles away, but that's still far.
What was even more interesting was the studio location, Dumont; I may
be wrong, but I think it was outrside the coverage of both the primary
and the translator! Noncomms have very different rules, but they
still need a main studio within the city grade, I believe.
> Then, last fall, Jukebox bought and built the CP for WXTM-99.7 Monticello NY, a
> commercial station. WXTM became the primary, WJUX 88.7 went dark,
> and 103.1 W276AQ was able to air commercials at long last. I *think*
> the rules were being bent somewhat by originating programming
> in NJ, outside the contours of both 99.7 and 88.7.
(snip)
Rebroadcasting distant programming isn't the problem- it's legal- but
if the translator and primary are both owned by the same guy, that's
forbidden (for commercial stations- noncomms can go wildwith distant
translators. Ask Harold Camping or Donald Wildmon). I don't know how
Mr.Turro set up the Monticello station's ownership, but I presume he
found a way to make it work; certainly, nobody can quarrel with his
success with W276AQ, probably the most successful translator in the
nation...
Doug Broda
> Broadcasting is selling 50kw WPTR-1540 to an as-yet-unnamed
> religious broadcaster. Albany Broadcasting's other stations
> are AP all-news WROW 590, ac WJYB-95.5, and chr WFLY-92.3.
I am *very* sorry to hear that the sale of 'PTR is to a religious broadcaster (who is presumably feeding canned
programming). WPTR has a *long* history of local programming. What in the *%%$%$#@# infuriates me is when a mega-opoly
sheds its 50kw signal and retains its 5kw station, shifting stuff to the 5k station. (WROW/WPTR has been running local stuff in
addition to its AP newsfeed/OJ trial on WROW and atrociously bad satellite talk on 'PTR, including local sports, local sports talk,
and local news cut-ins.) 'PTR has not hidden that a sale was in the air, but has very carefully avoided discussing on-air who the
buyer was.
The state of AM continues to worsen....
Iannace
What I'm wondering is how he got the FCC to authorize the thing. It seems
to me a translator operating somewhere around 20 watts on 103.1 would
cause "harmful interference" to WNEW on 102.7 and WYNY at 103.5. Maybe
when you examine the desired vs undesired ratios the interference does not
occur since the translator antenna is on a rather tall tower above an
apartment building and within 5 miles of the second adjacent class B's,
thus allowing the "ball of interference" to be suspended in mid air. That
would make their operation similar to the former WMSC frequency of 101.5
in Montclair, NJ (they recently moved to 90.3 but still operate at 1 watt
ERP) where the antenna is on a tall UHF-TV tower and the "interference"
does not reach the ground.
Anyway I'm glad I don't have to deal with those class D secondary type
licenses which always run the risk of being pushed off due to interference
complaints. Speaking of licenses, I'm still searching for a NY-Hudson
valley station to LMA with my startup, WQMR 97.9 in Jewett (Windham). You
gotta see the computer coverage models I have run - pretty impressive-
right down into Albany/Troy!
Carmine Iannace