New England RadioWatch: November 19, 1996

MusicAmerica Returns

by Scott Fybush

• More than a year after his "MusicAmerica" show was pulled from the airwaves at Boston's WGBH (89.7), Ron Della Chiesa is reviving the program, which presented the best of America's popular standards for nearly two decades. In a cooperative arrangement with Kelley Communications, "Music America" will return to the air in January on smooth jazz outlet WPLM (1390/99.1) in Plymouth, MA. Kelley will lease time on Saturday nights for the broadcast, and WGBH has agreed to allow Della Chiesa to appear on another station (he still does weekday air work on 'GBH).

  The disappearance of "MusicAmerica" prompted a storm of protest against WGBH, with several hundred members asking the station to refund their money, and many of them putting in the money into the "Save MusicAmerica Trust." Reaction from the MusicAmerica partisans has been mixed thus far; they're not pleased that the show will be heard only once a week, and there's concern about WPLM's weak signal north and west of Boston.

• Buckley Broadcasting is adding a third Connecticut station to its portfolio, paying $425,000 for WSNG (610) in Torrington. Buckley already owns standards WDRC (1360) and oldies WDRC-FM (102.9) in Hartford, and nobody's likely to be surprised if the currently dark 610 signal is used to simulcast one of those into northwestern Connecticut.

• A silent station in southeastern Massachusetts has been sold. WCEG (1530) in Middleborough has been off the air for several years, and now Metro South Broadcasting (which also owns WMSX [1410] in Brockton) is selling WCEG to Steven J. Callahan.

• The FCC has had a lot of New England action on its plate recently. Here are some of the highlights:

  Say goodbye to WSJR (1230) in Madawaska, Maine. The station has been dark for years, and now its license has been deleted. Sister station WLVC (1340) in nearby Fort Kent still has its license, but it too is designated for license revocation.

  On the radio-with-pictures front, Boston's Fox affiliate, WFXT-TV 25, has applied to move from its current tower in Needham (shared with WSBK-TV 38 and WLVI-TV 56) to Boston's tallest skyscraper, the John Hancock Center. It's an unusual move, because there's been no broadcasting from the Hancock since a fire destroyed the WHUE-FM (100.7) transmitter there in the early 1980s. NERW was under the impression that the Hancock management didn't want to deal with broadcasters anymore after that incident. Meantime, word has it that when WRAP-LP moves from channel 33 in Gloucester MA to channel 54 from that Needham tower, it will be switching to a simulcast of WGOT-TV 60 from Merrimack NH. WGOT is an affiliate of Lowell Paxson's "inTV" network, which claims the station reaches Boston. It doesn't now, but it will via the simulcast.

  The FCC has rejected Saga's application for a translator on 94.1 in Keene NH to relay its WZID (95.7) Manchester. Goddard College's WGDR (91.1) in Plainfield VT has been granted a power increase to 1700 watts.

  More translator activity: According to Bruce Elving's "FMedia!," the FCC has deleted a slew of translators in southern Vermont, southwest New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts. Gone are W240AL and W228AZ Bernardston MA, which relayed WGLV 104.3 Hartford VT (although they were licensed to translate other stations); W240AK Enfield NH, W249AW Lebanon NH, and W240AM West Keene NH, none of which were on the air as far as NERW knows; W261CB and W265AM Norwich VT and W240AE and W288AN West Brattleboro VT, which were supposed to have relayed WGLY Waterbury VT and WBFL Bellows Falls VT; and W259AB Marlboro VT, which was supposed to have relayed WVAY 100.7 Wilmington VT.

• Speaking of WVAY, thanks to NERW southern Vermont correspondent Doug Bassett for passing along a newspaper article discussing a feud between WVAY and Manchester VT rocker WEQX. The article was a bit fuzzy on the details, but it seems WVAY may have had an unlicensed translator at the Mount Equinox transmitter site of WEQX. This may explain the IDs NERW has heard from time to time on WVAY, referring to "100.7 and 100.1 FM," although there's never been a licensed WVAY translator on 100.1.

• Radio people on the move: Congratulations to WBZ morning editor Paul Connearney, who's been promoted to assistant news director at the Boston all-news outlet. And congratulations to Kelly and Cline, who have left their morning post in Hartford for a new gig at WMXV (105.1) in New York, which now goes by "The Buzz."

• NERW extends our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mel Goldstein, known to Connecticut listeners as meteorologist "Dr. Mel." He'll be off the air for about a month as he undergoes treatment for a rare form of bone marrow cancer. "Dr. Mel" is seen on WTNH (Ch. 8) in New Haven, heard on radio stations including WWYZ (92.5 Waterbury-Hartford), and is the director of the weather center at Western Connecticut State University. He told his viewers he expects to make a full recovery, and NERW wishes him the very best.

• Manchester NH's WKBR (1250) has a new afternoon talk show. Kevin Miller moves north from Nashua's WMVU (900) to begin "Miller in Manchester," which will be heard from 2-6pm weekdays on George Ketrelakis' eclectic AM. Other programming on WKBR includes rock music in morning drive, beautiful music middays and evenings, and Greek on the weekends.

• A few format changes in Western Massachusetts: Berkshire Broadcasting's WMNB (100.1) in North Adams has dropped SW Smooth FM in favor of a soft AC format. No word on what New England's other Smooth FM outlets, WPLM AM-FM in Plymouth MA and WKCD in Pawcatuck CT, plan to do when the format shuts down Dec. 31. WMNB's sister station, WNAW (1230) has flipped from AC to AP All News Radio.

• From deep in the rumor well: Word has it that Boston's business outlet, WBNW (590), could be in new hands very soon. Salem Broadcasting, which already owns WEZE (1260) in Boston, has an option to buy the station, and NERW hears that option could be exercised before the first of the year. There's also a rumor afoot that Salem may be interested in WBOS (92.9 Brookline-Boston), the FM that Infinity is being forced to spin off in order to merge with CBS. Stay tuned...

• And once again, your NERW is out of time -- and space -- for the long-promised travel reports and Maine station histories. Watch this space...they'll be coming later this week!