We'll start with struggling hot AC WMWX (95.7), which brought familiar Philly voice Glenn Kalina to its morning airwaves this week. Mix also brought Brian Murphy (a Philly vet most recently heard on Boston's WODS) to middays, displacing Lauren Valle, and moved former morning guy Joe Mama to afternoons, replacing Rick Stacy. Just to complete the shuffle, the station won't be carrying Delilah's syndicated nighttime show any longer; her replacement on Mix has yet to be announced.
Down the hall at WMMR (93.3), Paul Barsky's latest Philadelphia gig has come to an end. With Barsky's contract not being renewed, 'MMR is using sports guy "Vinnie the Crumb" and former WHFS Washington jock Graeme to handle mornings until a permanent replacement is named.
Meanwhile on TV, say goodbye to the Westinghouse-style "3" logo at KYW-TV; it's now "CBS 3" with a new on-air look.
Moving north into the Lehigh Valley, it wasn't a very happy New Year at WYNS (1160 Lehighton). The little AM station north of Allentown went silent for a day after owner Ragan Henry pulled the plug, saying the station was losing money and would be put on the block. But while WYNS' oldies format is history, the signal itself is back on the air, under LMA to Nassau and running ESPN sports for the moment. (Useless NERW trivia: Henry made broadcasting history nearly a quarter-century ago here in Rochester, when his purchase of WHEC-TV from Gannett made him the first minority owner of a network affiliate anywhere in the country.)
Over in the Williamsport market, Backyard Broadcasting started the new year with a new set of call letters on WSFT (107.9), which relaunches with hotter AC as WRVH, "the River". (NERW notes that Nassau was slapped with a cease-and-desist from Clear Channel after launching a "River" in Easton last year; this one is even closer to WRVV in Harrisburg, as it happens.)
And the FCC approved three new Pennsylvania LPFMs last week: 99.5 Brookville, from the Brookville schools; 100.3 Carlisle, from the Fiat Educational Radio Association (and you thought they just made little cars!) and 107.7 Altoona, from the Lay Stewardship Educational Association.
Syracuse's new "Dog" (WWDG 105.1 DeRuyter) hired its first jock, bringing "Scorch" over from competitor WKRL (100.9 North Syracuse)/WKRH (106.5 Minetto). Scorch had been doing mornings at Galaxy's K-Rock; he'll be doing the 2-7 PM shift for Clear Channel's new rocker.
South of Syracuse, oldies fans in the Cortland area have a station to call their own again. A few months after WKRT (920 Cortland) switched from oldies to talk, locally-owned WXHC (101.5 Homer) has dropped its AC format to become "Oldies 101.5."
Former WTVH (Channel 5) GM Gary Wordlaw has been in the headlines in Seattle; he's taking over as GM of Viacom's KSTW (Channel 11) out there, and this week he announced that he'll restore news to that station through an alliance with Belo's KIRO-TV (Channel 7), which will produce a 10 PM newscast for the UPN affiliate. (It's an interesting pairing; KSTW and KIRO have passed the CBS affiliation back and forth between them over the decades, most recently in the late 90s when CBS left KIRO for KSTW, only to return a few years later.)
An old familiar callsign is back on the airwaves in Albany. WABY was the call on AM 1400 there for decades, but disappeared last year when that frequency became WHTR, the AM simulcast of Galaxy's ill-fated FM talk format. Now the WABY calls are back on the air, this time on Ernie Anastos' "Moon 1160," the former WMVI in Mechanicville. (NERW wonders if the AM 1400 tower alongside I-90 in Albany still displays the WABY calls...)
And up in the Saratoga market, Vox's WNYQ (105.7 Queensbury) has relaunched for the new year as "Q105.7"; no major changes to its hot AC format, though.
Down in the New York market, the end appears to be very near for "Rumba 107," the latest format on the Big City quadcast at 107.1 (WYNY Briarcliff Manor NY, WWXY Hampton Bays NY, WWYY Belvidere NJ, WWZY Long Branch NJ). With the stations changing hands to Nassau soon (for a reported $43 million), the Rumba Web site is already down and we hear the jocks at the Spanish-English hybrid CHR are out of work. We'll be spending some time in the New York market later this month, so stay tuned for the latest on this one.
Fans of "Hillbilly at Harvard" host Brian Sinclair will want to mark January 24 on their calendars; that's when a memorial service will be held for the WHRB (95.3 Cambridge) host, who did the weekend bluegrass show for 36 years, until his death December 30 at age 62. The service will start at 3 PM at Harvard's Memorial Church.