NERW wonders how long Entercom will hang on to the Rochester outlets. Portland is already an Entercom market, with 2 FMs and an AM there, but you'd have to go to Florida or Missouri to find the closest Entercom stations to Rochester. NERW suspects the Rochester group may get spun yet again in the near future...stay tuned.
Meantime, Sinclair may not be gone long from Rochester TV. The group is reportedly eyeing Sullivan Broadcasting, which owns Rochester Fox affiliate WUHF (Channel 31) and Buffalo Fox station WUTV (Channel 29). Sinclair is already buying Syracuse's Fox outlet, WSYT (Channel 68), and it's a major radio group owner in Buffalo. By the way, WUTV is finally giving up its secondary UPN affiliation. The weblet moves to little WNGS (Channel 67) Springville, which is not yet seen by most Buffalo-area cable homes.
Elsewhere in Rochester radio, Eric Anderson is now handling programming duties for AAA WMAX-FM (106.7 Irondequoit)/WMHX(102.3 Canandaigua) in addition to modern rock WNVE (95.1 South Bristol). Former "Max" PD Tom Sheridan now has a new assignment as morning jock on sister Jacor AC WVOR (100.5).
On the TV side of things, WHEC (Channel 10) reporter Kendis Gibson is off to bigger things; he's headed for a reporter job at Fox O&O WTXF (Channel 29) in Philadelphia -- just three years after starting his very first paying TV job at WHEC.
Down the road in Buffalo, Justin Case is the new PD at country WYRK (106.5), arriving from WDSY in Pittsburgh. Competing country station WNUC (107.7 Wethersfield Township) has dismissed PD/morning host Tom Donahue...no replacement has been named yet.
Another victim of the North Country ice storm has recovered. Watertown's WJNY (90.9) has returned to simulcasting WCNY (91.3) from Syracuse. WJNY had been off the air even after power was restored at its transmitter site; the Syracuse engineers wanted to make sure the power supply was stable before turning WJNY back on.
In the Glens Falls market, the WBZA call letters have moved up the dial. Their longtime home at 1230 is now WMML, while the former WSTL at 1410 in South Glens Falls is now WBZA. No word yet on format changes; more next week, we hope.
And the radio dial between Syracuse and Utica is about to get a bit more crowded; the many applicants for 100.3 Sylvan Beach have asked the FCC to approve a settlement. No word yet on who the lucky winner of that construction permit will be.
Arthur Gopen, AKA Hartford morning jock Gary Craig, is off the hook for a stunt that sent police rushing to a home in Meriden last year. Craig told a caller that he was a repairman at her home -- and pretended to be rummaging through her bedroom drawers. The caller was not amused; she called the police. Charges against Craig were dismissed last week.
Jerry Kristafer, the WDRC-FM DJ who was fired last fall, was back on the air this week, doing fill-in up the road at Springfield's WHYN-FM (93.1).
The WICE calls that vanished from Ocean State radio last year have resurfaced on a pirate. "WICE-FM" is operating on 89.3, supposedly from Johnston, with a mix of classical and jazz music.
Some changes on the talk radio dial in and around Boston: WBZ overnight veteran Bob Raleigh is finally getting his wish to cut back to four nights a week. Frequent BZ fill-in host Kevin Sowyrda will take over the Sunday night-Monday morning shift, with Raleigh holding forth Monday through Thursday nights. Steve LeVeille is handling Norm Nathan's old Friday/Saturday overnight spot, while Jordan Rich has been doing Saturday night-Sunday morning on 1030. Up in Lowell, half of the WCAP (980) morning team of Hancock and Dunn is out. Rich Hancock leaves 'CAP after two years; Kevin Dunn will handle mornings solo.
Two veteran Boston DJs are out of work. Joe Martelle has been officially dismissed from afternoon duty at WROR (105.7 Framingham), with J.J. Wright still filling in while a permanent replacement is named. And JoJo Kincaid is reportedly gone from WEGQ (93.7 Lawrence) as well.
The Lowell Sun reports the death on Monday of Bernard Silva, who used the air name "Mark Williams" on stations that included WLLH Lowell, WKOX Framingham, and WTAG/WSRS Worcester.
Sanford's WCDQ (92.1) is looking for a new tower company; the station's web site says the company hired to repair the ice storm damage to its tower has backed out, leaving the station at just 1000 watts ERP until a replacement tower can be erected.
A few weeks ago, we ran highlights of the fall '97 Arbitrons for Boston -- now we'll do the same for the region's smaller markets.
In the Fairfield County markets, WICC led in Bridgeport, followed by WEZN and WEBE. Stamford's ratings were topped by the Big Apple's WCBS and WFAN, with WEBE the top local signal. Danbury's WDAQ and WLAD were in the top spots, followed by WEZN and WRKI. WDAQ/WLAD's new sister signal, oldies daytimer WREF, remained down in the noise at the bottom of the pack.
Downstate, WHUD and WSPK both gained strength to lead the Newburgh-Middletown market, with WPDH, WRRV, and WCZX all trailing. In Poughkeepsie, WPDH was in number one despite a sagging book, with WSPK and WCZX on the rise, followed by WRWD and WBUZ. The change from simulcasting AAA WDST to modern rock WRRV helped WRRB (96..9 Arlington) to pick up nicely; NERW suspects the sizable gain in WRRV's own numbers in that market may also have come from WRRB listenership. Put the two together and it's good for fifth place.
That's it for this week...see you next Thursday with much more from across the radio dials.