New England RadioWatch: July 31, 1996

WXTK On the Move...

by Scott Fybush

• We now know where Cape Cod talker WXTK (94.9) wants to go...95.1. The West Yarmouth-licensed 50kw FM has filed an application to move up the dial one channel, with a directional antenna. The move would get WXTK out from some sticky co-channel problems with WHOM, Mount Washington NH. WHOM is almost 200 miles away...but with 50kw from the top of New England's tallest mountain, 3742 feet above average terrain, it can cause serious interference to WXTK, especially in outlying areas of the Cape when the trops are up. Here in Boston's western suburbs, about twice as close to West Yarmouth as to Mt. Washington, WHOM is the usual occupant on 94.9.

  Moving to 95.1 would create a new set of problems, most notably the first-adjacent signal of WHRB 95.3 Cambridge, the Harvard University station that recently went through a major signal upgrade. It could also open up 94.7 for use somewhere around southern Rhode Island, if in fact there's a spot sufficiently far from 94.5 in Boston, 94.7 in Springfield MA, 95.1 in Brookfield CT, and the new WXTK. Or, now that the WVZC 94.9 construction permit in eastern Long Island has been cancelled, that channel could perhaps be reused somewhere in southern New England.

  If approved, by the way, this would be WXTK's second frequency change. Under its heritage calls of WOCB-FM, the station started out in the 1940s as a class A on 94.3.

• M Street reports Emmis Broadcasting will have to pay $15,000 in fines for EEO problems at the late WCDJ (96.9) in Boston. Emmis was originally fined $18,750, but managed to get the fine reduced somewhat. Emmis sold WCDJ to Greater Media in 1993; it's now WBCS.

• More news from the periphery: A new FM station has been granted in Rensselaerville NY, a tiny bump in the road southwest of Albany that also happens to be home to the tower farm housing nearly all of Albany's TV and high-power FM stations. (The new FM will, nonetheless, be the "first local service" to Rensselaerville. Uh, sure, whatever.)

  The new station will be on 89.9 with 340 watts from 762 feet AAT. The owner? Sound of Life, Inc...which also owns WFGB 89.7 Kingston, WLJP 89.3 Monroe, WPGL 90.7 Pattersonville (which serves very much the same area as the new FM will, and which has translators in Troy and Albany), and WRPJ 88.9 Port Jervis.

  Talk about lots of religion in one market...here's who's doing it now in the Albany area: 1330 WHAZ Troy, 1540 WDCD Albany, the new 89.9, 90.7 WPGL Pattersonville (with translators on 93.9 and 97.1), 96.7 WDCD-FM Clifton Park, 97.3 WMYY Schoharie (// WHAZ), 97.5 WNGN Hoosick Falls, 101.9 WJIV Cherry Valley, translators on 104.9 and 105.3 for Family Radio's WFME (along with a CP for 93.7 in Albany to translate religious WMNV 104.1 Rupert VT). Oh, and the 89.9 will also step on Schenectady's WRUC 89.7, the 100-watt voice of Union College. Progress marches on!

  Also happening in Eastern New York: Starview Media of York PA is paying $450,000 to pick up a third FM in the Glens Falls area, north of Albany. Country WZZM 93.5 Corinth will join Starview's country WSTL 1410 South Glens Falls, talk WBZA 1230 Glens Falls, ac WENU 101.7 Hudson Falls, and hot ac WHTR 107.1 Hudson Falls (ex-WMJR). About the only stations in the market Starview doesn't control are Normandy Broadcasting's talk/standards WWSC 1450/country WYLR 95.9 Glens Falls, William Walker's oldies WCKM 900 Saratoga Springs/WCKM-FM 98.5 Lake George, and Fair Way Communications' WJKE 101.3 Stillwater.

• Up in Vermont, brand-new modern rocker WXPS 96.7 Vergennes-Burlington has been sold for just over a million dollars. John Davis' Lakeside Broadcasting is selling the station to Northstar Broadcasting, which has interests in WCPV (101.3) Essex-Burlington, along with WTSV/WHDQ Claremont NH, WKXE/WNHV White River Junction VT, WSSH (CP) Marlboro VT, and WZSH in Bellows Falls VT.

• Two big NERW raspberries for media outlets that blew it again when it comes to radio coverage. First, to "Boston" magazine, whose August issue lists "The Best of Boston," and even includes a "Media" section... yet nowhere is there any mention at all of this little medium called radio. NERW is happy to try to rectify this...nominations are now being accepted for NERW's first annual "Best of New England Radio" award. Make up your own categories and send that e-mail today!

  And the usual jeer towards "Broadcasting and Cable" for blowing it again. The July 29 issue contains a moderately well-written (if somewhat technically clueless) article about the efforts of WTVJ Miami and WCPX Orlando to reduce co-channel interference on channel 6. And just how do both stations get their signals locked on-frequency perfectly? Why, by using "the National Bureau of Standards' WWJ signal transmitted by government satellite"! NERW wonders: Does that mean WWV is now the all-news station in Detroit on 950? And when did NIST go back to its old name, anyway? What an embarrassment...I think I'll go tune in 15000 kHz and check out the latest headlines from the Motor City!

• A minor correction to offer from yesterday's NERW: WBET in Brockton is in fact DA-N, not DA-2. NERW readers who catch the column via rec.radio.broadcasting will also have seen a misspelling of the name of the late WBZ newsman Darrell Gould. Thanks as always to NERW's amazingly keen-eyed readers for noticing...

• And, barring any last-minute developments, that's it until sometime late next week, when NERW will return from a trip up and down I-90 to Buffalo and back. I'll leave it to Carl Gorney to handle Western New York, but expect more info on what's happening in Eastern New York and Western Massachusetts.