Here at NERW Central, we were paying only a little attention to the charges independent candidate Andy Martin was making about Clear Channel's contests. If you haven't been reading the national trades all week, they boil down to this: not only is Clear Channel trying to pass off national contests as local ones, but the company is also rigging those contests to favor certain markets. Florida's attorney general already reached a settlement with Clear Channel on the former allegation, of course, but Martin claims the company isn't running the required disclaimers as promised.
Clear Channel, of course, denies the allegations. But in doing so, the company mentioned in passing that "Andy Martin" is also known as...Anthony Martin-Trigona.
That's a name we do recognize: Martin-Trigona bought WHET (1330 Waltham) in the late 1970s and flipped it to country as WDLW, the calls it would use for more than a decade (and which calls supposedly refer to the initials of an ex-girlfriend of Martin-Trigona's!)
By whichever name you call him, it seems Martin-Trigona has had a colorful career since selling WDLW in the early 80s, including real estate deals and politics in Illinois, and several run-ins with the Florida court system for filing frivolous lawsuits and such.
Martin's official campaign website makes no mention of WDLW or of the "-Trigona" part of the name, but it certainly appears that we have an interesting answer to at least one Boston radio "where are they now" question.
Out west, the folks at Saga checked in to let us know their intentions for the WHMP (1400 Northampton) simulcast on East Longmeadow's 1600, lately WPNT. The goal for the new station, which will become WHNP, is to bring WHMP's programming to commuters from Northampton and Amherst who now lose the signal when they drive in to Springfield, says PD Ted Baker. As for competing with the big boys, WHYN and WNNZ, "that's not the plan right now," he tells NERW.
Some good news from the high school radio front: We heard this week from Lt. Paul Macone of the Concord Police Department, who wanted to let us -- and all of you -- know that WIQH (88.3) at Concord-Carlisle High School is alive, well, and stronger than ever. About a year ago, Macone and several other community members banded together as "Friends of WIQH" to help save the station from extinction. It's now moved out of its old trailer behind the school and into new studios within the school building. Engineer Ned Roos is working fulltime as WIQH's station manager and student advisor, and best of all, 97 students from Concord-Carlisle are working to keep 88.3 humming with local programming. Three big NERW cheers...and keep up the good work!
Web Watch: Independent WHUB-TV (Channel 66) is now on the Web; find them at <http://whub.citysearch.com>.
Daniel Priestley has officially filed for those three AMs we mentioned a few weeks back: 1340 and 1400 in Veazie, just north of Bangor, and 1230 in Hermon, just west of Bangor.
A familiar face will return to the Nutmeg State's TV screens election night, when Pat Sheehan shows up to help out with WTNH-TV (Channel 8)'s coverage. Sheehan, a veteran of WTNH and WFSB, was most recently seen as the longtime anchor at WTIC-TV (Channel 61) until his departure this past spring.
Dana Whelan leaves WTNH, meanwhile, to return to WTIC (1080 Hartford) as news director.
WLVG (96.1 Center Moriches) wants to move to WRCN's tower on Rock Hill, by the way. The station has submitted an application to drop power a bit (3 kW to 2.65 kW) but raise its antenna (from 100 m to 150 m) as part of the move from its current site just south of the LIE on Bald Hill a couple of miles away.
The big news in the Big Apple this week was the death of Frankie Crocker at age 63. Crocker spent almost two decades as program director and afternoon jock at WBLS (107.5), in two separate stints at the station. His resume also included stops at WWRL and WMCA, and most recently at WRKS. Crocker died last Saturday (10/21) in Miami.
No sooner had WCBS (880) completed its move from Black Rock to the Broadcast Center last week (Friday 10/20, to be precise) than new competition was on the way in the city's all-news marketplace. Bloomberg's WBBR (1130) says it's moving away from its business focus after six years, and aiming for the same general all-news audience currently shared by Infinity's WCBS and WINS (1010).
Upstate, an update on the format of religious WJIV (101.9 Cherry Valley). New owner Jon Yinger checked in to let us know that the rumors of a shift to a music-oriented format are just plain false -- and that WJIV ("Victory 102") will remain centered on the preaching and teaching programs it's run for decades.
Michael Sleezer has applied for that 1440 in Gloversville. The new station would use 800 watts day, 500 watts at night, directional from a two-tower array on South Street on the city's south side.
Here in Rochester, we hear the new morning show on WBBF (98.9) will debut on November 13 -- and that Tom George, the market veteran most recently heard pulling traffic duty, will be the host. PD Bobby Hatfield moves from mornings to afternoons at "99BBF" when the shifts take effect.
WMJQ (105.5 Brockport) has apparently found a permanent tower site. The station has been operating from a low antenna on the array of former sister WASB (1590) for the last couple of years; now it's applying for a full 6kw at 100 meters from the southwest corner of Brick Schoolhouse and Wiler Roads in the town of Hamlin, some 20 miles west of downtown Rochester. (Guess where the NERW-mobile's heading later this week...)
From Buffalo comes word that Niagara Mohawk, the power utility, has agreed to a settlement of more than $1 million in connection with the 1993 helicopter crash that killed WGR (550) traffic reporter Mike Roszman and his pilot. Rozsman's family sued the utility, contending that the power lines the chopper hit weren't properly marked. NiMo says the towers in North Tonawanda date back to 1922, and are thus grandfathered from the current tower-lighting standards.
The new calls for 106.9 Lakewood, in the Jamestown market? WKZA, as it turns out, not "WKSQ" as the FCC had erroneously reported a few weeks back. The latter calls remain in Maine...
Up the St. Lawrence in Donnacona, CKNU (100.9) has been denied a tower move to Val Belair, which would have put the station in the Quebec City market.
Out in New Brunswick, we heard from the folks at Sussex's CJCW (590), who tell us the station is ending its partial (nights and weekends) simulcast with Moncton's CKCW (1220) and going local full-time with "Favourites 590" programming.
Back in Ontario, CJET-FM (92.3 Smiths Falls) ended its test period and began regular broadcasts Friday (10/27) as "Country 92.3." The AM on 630 is now simulcasting the FM for a period of no more than three months.
And we're told that the calls on 103.1 and 103.9 in the London market didn't change when the formats switched a few months back -- so "Energy 103.1" is still CFHK, while "The Hawk" at 103.9 is CKDK.
That's it for this week. Be sure to join us next week for some major announcements about the future of this column and your humble editor -- you won't want to miss it!
| NERW's Northeast Television Index | 91.47 |