Jeff Derderian is a familiar name and face to TV viewers in eastern New England. Your editor remembers him from his early-nineties days behind the scenes at WBZ-TV (Channel 4) in Boston (when yours truly was toiling, equally behind the scenes, across the building at WBZ radio); later, he would work for WLNE (Channel 6) in the Providence market and then for five years as a reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV (Channel 7).
And, as the whole world knows by now, Jeff had just departed WHDH for a job closer to his Rhode Island home, starting just weeks ago at WPRI (Channel 12) in Providence. He's been off the air there since Thursday night (when, ironically, he was working on a WPRI story about nightclub safety, using his own club as a source of B-roll video), and we wonder whether he'll ever be able to work in the region again -- assuming, of course, that he and his brother don't end up facing criminal charges for the fire. More on this in the next few weeks, we're sure.
As we go to press Monday afternoon, meanwhile, among the dozens of people missing and presumed dead is Michael Gonsalves, the WHJY (94.1 Providence) overnight jock known on air as "The Doctor."
The Clear Channel rocker was promoting the Great White show at Derderian's Station nightclub. In addition to Gonsalves, who introduced the band just minutes before the pyrotechnics went off, several WHJY promotions staffers were inside the building but escaped safely.
WHJY simulcast sister station WHJJ (920 Providence)'s news coverage of the tragedy for much of Friday, then resumed its own programming with live airshifts all weekend to allow listeners to call in and share their grief and concern.
Two other concertgoers who were confirmed dead over the weekend had broadcast ties as well. Dale Latulippe, whose name was among the first to be announced Saturday, was the son of former WRKO newsman Don Latulippe. Dale Latulippe was a drummer and a father of a seven year old; he was 46 years old. Also among the dead was 21 year old James Gehan of Falmouth, Mass., a DJ at Nichols College campus station WNRC (95.1 Dudley, Mass.).
TUESDAY UPDATE: WHJY is now reporting that Gonsalves' body has now been identified as being among the dead; our deepest condolences go out to his co-workers and family. And we send our best wishes as well to Don Latulippe, who was hospitalized after suffering an angina attack early this morning, but hopes to be out of the hospital in time for his son's funeral on Friday.
At the other end of the dial, WWZN (1510 Boston) ditched the Mike Adams morning show after just three months; the station is back to Sporting News Radio in that daypart (pulling Adams off the air one hour into his show when the news broke in the Boston Herald last Tuesday) while negotiating with Mike Andelman (son of Eddie) to take over wakeups there. As for Adams' planned on-air wedding in April? We'll keep you posted....
On the TV side, the FCC granted a license to cover this week for WHDN-LP (Channel 26), a new Boston LPTV licensed to one Guenter Marksteiner of Florida. WHDN-LP was formerly W26CM and before that W23AM, licensed to Laconia NH. It looks as though WHDN-LP will be transmitting from a building near the Fleet Center in the old West End -- possibly the roof of the Tip O'Neill Federal Building -- with 8200 watts into a directional antenna.
NERW was in New York over the weekend, and we noticed one station missing from the dial at our usual Rockland County listening post: W232AL (94.3 Pomona), the Rockland link in the now-defunct "Jukebox Radio" chain, appears to have gone silent for now. W276AQ (103.1 Fort Lee NJ) is still simulcasting Cox oldies outlet WKHL (96.7 Stamford), just as it was doing the last time we were down that way a month or so ago.
Up in Westchester, Radio & Records is reporting that Nassau is spinning newly-acquired WYNY (107.1 Briarcliff Manor) to Pamal, which will use it as a simulcast to extend the reach of Poughkeepsie CHR WSPK (104.7) to the south. More on this next week....
Way out on Long Island, one Isabel Sepulveda has asked the FCC to allocate 103.3 to Water Mill as a class A channel. NERW notes that this would knock out WSHU translator W277AB in Noyock; we also note that there are still two unbuilt class A channels on the East End -- 92.9 Southampton, for which AAA has a CP as WCSO, and 94.9 Montauk, for which the old CP as WVZC expired a few years back.
Heading upstate, we can put a price on Concord's sale of WBPM (94.3 Kingston) to Cumulus: $3.5 million was the pricetag for the oldies outlet.
Rochester's WHAM (1180) shifted its schedule last week, extending the syndicated Michael Savage show to 11 PM and wiping out Curt Smith's hour of local talk from 10-11.
Niagara Falls' WJJL (1440) is having a bad week; the station's parent company, M.J. Phillips Communications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing debts of over $180,000 and assets of just $67,000.
One other bit of western New York news (we're too buried in snow here to generate much more!) comes from the Buffalo TV scene, where little WNGS (Channel 67) in Springville, having already lost its UPN affiliation, has now had its latest application for a power boost dismissed. The station held a CP to go from its present flea power (just enough to get to a receiver south of Buffalo that feeds area cable systems by fiber) to a full 5 megawatts; that CP expired at the end of 2002. The latest application would have put WNGS on a directional antenna mounted on the Colden tower of WKBW-TV (Channel 7).
And we're sorry to report the passing last Monday (Feb. 17) of Jim Gordon, one of the best-known news voices in New York City for decades. Gordon was the news director at WINS (1010) when it switched to an all-news format in 1965 (and the first voice heard on WINS as an all-news station) and was later the news director at WNEW (1130) for many years. From 1977 until 1994, Gordon was the radio voice of the New York Giants, just one of many sports for which he did play-by-play over the years. Gordon was 76.
The FCC approved four new LPFMs in the Keystone State: 102.9 Chambersburg, to "Dack Inc.," 103.5 La Plume, to Keystone College; 103.7 Indiana, to "Godstock" and 104.9 Shawnee-on-Delaware, to Shawnee Presbyterian Church.
In Pittsburgh, John Cline is back on the air, but not at WBZZ (93.7); instead, the longtime B94 morning jock moves down the hall to do mornings at Infinity hot AC WZPT (100.7 New Kensington).
Right on the Ohio state line, WPAO (1470 Farrell) has changed calls to WLOA, the old call on 1550 in Braddock (today's WURP); we don't know what other changes might accompany the call shift at the Youngstown-market outlet.
Speaking of Youngstown, WHKW (1440 Warren) has dropped its simulcast of sister WHK (1220 Cleveland), switching instead to a simulcast of another Salem outlet, WCCD (1000 Parma), which has just flipped to a secular talk format as "the Voice."
That's it for this week; back in seven days with more!