At that point, it will be up to President Clinton to decide whether it's worth a veto, which would likely hold given the number of Democrats who either voted in favor of the bill (but would likely swing against overriding a veto, given White House pressure) or didn't vote at all. (Among the Northeast Democrats voting to keep broadcasting safely in the hands of the giant conglomerates -- oops, are our politics showing? -- were Connecticut's Sam Gejdenson and New York's Carolyn Maloney.)
And while we're holding to our verdict of "Shame!" for Bill Kennard for failing to acknowledge the way translator abuse is eating away at potential LPFM frequencies, we'll at least give the FCC chairman a bit of credit for taking on the increasingly corporate NPR establishment for its craven anti-LPFM stance. (Hey, come to think of it, shame on NPR, too, for failing to take on the translator abuse issue even as it chips away at many of NPR's smaller member stations...)
Enough LPFM for now; on with the news of the full-power world:
Boston could lose its only grandfathered super-power FM: WGBH (89.7) has apparently applied to move from its current 100 kilowatt facility on Blue Hill to 25 kilowatts from the Needham tower that's home to WGBH-TV (and owned by WBZ-TV). Thanks to the disaster that is the FCC's on-line database at the moment, we're still not completely sure whether this is an application for a new primary transmitter, an auxiliary, or someone's idea of a bad joke; we're hoping to know more by next week.
Whither Jeff Katz? The erstwhile (and almost-forgotten) WRKO morning host is back out West, where he's now doing mornings at Las Vegas talker KXNT (840 North Las Vegas).
Speaking of out West -- but not that far -- Springfield's WGBY (Channel 57) has applied for a license to cover for its DTV outlet, WGBY-DT, on channel 58. This would be the first PBS DTV outlet in Massachusetts, as parent WGBH waits for completion of the aforementioned WBZ-TV tower before putting its DTV services on the air. (Seems to us we've heard mention of using Blue Hill for WGBH-DT's channel 19, at least on an interim basis, which could explain that WGBH-FM application...)
If you, like us, enjoy the vast trove of airchecks at Uncle Ricky's Reel Top 40 Radio Repository, you might want to pay a visit soon -- while Richard Irwin is trying to turn the site into a full-fledged non-profit museum of top 40 radio, he's hit some snags with Web hosting that could take the site off the Web entirely, and he's looking for help. We'd hate to lose this one.
The Nashua Pride aren't on radio, after all...seems the team couldn't work out an acceptable deal with WSMN (1590) this season.
Thanks to our loyal NERW readers in the Conway area for letting us know that WBNC (1050 Conway) has joined its FM in dumping country for oldies.
Up north, the FCC denied Dana Puopolo's proposal to allocate 97.3A to Mount Washington (whose three residents already have a superpower B allocation!) and dismissed Barry Lunderville's counterprposal for 97.3A in Newry, MAINE.
While we're in the Pine Tree State, we see that the calls of WAKN (97.7 Winter Harbor) have been changed to WNSX (last seen in the region on 96.1 Poughkeepsie a few years ago). Could the station be on the air soon?
Speaking of stunts, we were more than amused by the photo in the Rutland Herald Tuesday showing none other than Brian Dodge sitting in a plastic tub full of goldfish to promote his "Love 1480," WNBX Springfield. We were even more amused by the caption attached to the photo by our waggish correspondent in Vermont: "Those poor goldfish..."
There's a new PD at WEQX (102.7 Manchester). Kyle Guderian comes to the Albany-market station from WEJE (96.3 Churubusco IN) in the Fort Wayne, Indiana market.
The FCC denied another Dana Puopolo allocation proposal this week, this one for 100.3A in St. Johnsbury.
And the Twin Falls folks have applied for a KAWZ translator on 88.1 in Hinesburg.
The New York station fills a hole in Mega's East Coast grouping that now includes Boston (WAMG "Mega 1150" and WBPS "Amor 890"), Hartford (WNEZ "Jamz 910" and WLAT "Mega 1230"), and Philadelphia (WEMG "Mega 104.9/900" and WSSJ 1310), not to mention several DC stations and two in Florida.
Ironically, Mega won't be able to call WKDM "Mega," since that nickname is already being used by Spanish Broadcasting's WSKQ (97.9 New York). Mega also can't call WKDM "Amor," since that's in use at SBS's WPAT-FM (93.1 Paterson NJ).
Next rumor: Will the profitable leased-time programming now heard on WKDM displace the adult standards on Liu's struggling WNSW (1430 Newark)?
To recap: Fordham had to move the WFUV antenna off a rooftop to meet new RFR standards. When the new tower began rising in plain view of the botanical garden next door, garden officials went to court to halt construction...and that's where it's stood ever since, with a half-finished tower sitting above the garden.
(NERW wonders: Why can't they disguise the thing as a really, really, really, really big tree?)
One more Big Apple note: Jeremy Coleman moves from Infinity's DC talker, WJFK (106.7 Manassas VA), to become PD of the company's WNEW (102.7 New York).
Heading upstate: Jason Keller is out as morning man at WRVE (99.5 Schenectady), with Randy McCarten filling in for now. Many of the weekend talk shows that once were heard on WABY (1400 Albany) have migrated to "The Moon," WUAM (900 Saratoga Springs) and WVKZ (1240 Schenectady). Now on the LPTV airwaves in the Capital District: W58CX Saratoga Springs, with 3 Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) religion. And WKBE (100.3 Warrensburg) has been heard breaking simulcast from WCPT (100.9 Albany), running jockless as "100.3 the Point."
Way upstate: The FCC has dismissed WSLK (106.3 Saranac Lake)'s application for an on-channel booster in Lake Placid.
Don Imus has added two affiliates in the Finger Lakes. WELM (1410 Elmira) and WPIE (1160 Trumansburg) are now carrying the I-Man in addition to their One-on-One Sports formats.
New name: Rochester UPN affiliate "Big TV" (WBGT-LP 40 and W26BZ) transfers from David and Molly Grant to "Mike Victor Broadcasting." We haven't seen any other changes through the static, yet...
WHAM (1180) talker Bob Lonsberry is adding yet another gig (just in case hosting mornings in Salt Lake by ISDN, reporting for the local Fox affiliate, writing a daily column on the Web, and shilling for burger joints and gun shops wasn't enough) -- he'll be one of the rotating replacements for Art Bell's Saturday night show when Bell retires at the end of the month. Mike Siegel will replace Bell weeknights. We hope to know more in the next few weeks about which of Bell's Northeast affiliates will stay with Premiere's new offerings, and which will be heading elsewhere.
That's it for another week; back in seven days with more!