Now the network is adding its first AM signal, as it pays Ed Levine's Galaxy Communications $500,000 for WHTR (1400 Albany), a 1 kilowatt facility that's spent the last few years simulcasting other stations in Levine's cluster (most recently, modern rock WKRD 93.7 Scotia), but which has a proud history under the WABY calls which still adorn its tower on Braintree Street in Albany.
WAMC head honcho Alan Chartock tells the Albany Times Union that the AM 1400 signal will fill some holes in the main WAMC signal within city limits; the big FM signal comes from across the state line on Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts and has some multipath problems in parts of Albany.
Expect 1400 to change calls to WAMC(AM) and begin simulcasting the WAMC-FM signal within the next couple of months, we hear....
Moving down the Hudson Valley, Albany's Pamal group is wasting no time in its takeover of WYNY (107.1 Briarcliff Manor) from Nassau; it will LMA the station and begin a simulcast of CHR WSPK (104.7 Poughkeepsie) within the next few weeks. And another part of the 107.1 quadcast could soon be sold; our colleague Tom Taylor reported a rumor in Inside Radio last week that Jarad, owner of Long Island's WLIR (92.7 Garden City), WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) and WXXP (105.3 Calverton-Roanoke), is looking to buy WWXY (107.1 Hampton Bays) to add to its cluster out there. That would leave Nassau with WWYY (107.1 Belvidere NJ) and WWZY (107.1 Long Branch NJ), closer to its core of stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
A New York City rock institution has found a new home: Eddie Trunk is moving his metal show from WNEW (102.7), where it was the last music show on the schedule before the current long-term CHR stunting began there last month, to Clear Channel classic rocker WAXQ (104.3). He'll be heard on Q104 on Friday nights from 11 PM until 2 AM.
In Binghamton, plenty of Radio People on the Move at Citadel CHR WWYL (104.1 Chenango Bridge), as Kate Kelly replaces Amber on the morning show at "Wild 104," with Amber moving to the sales department. Middayer Christine Fox and night guy Jerry Kidd are also out; Kelly will handle the 10-1 portion of Fox's shift for now.
Ithaca's new WNYI (Channel 52) is changing ownership, as Bill Smith takes control of the station from former partner Kevin O'Keefe. Smith and his wife Caroline Powley own independent WNGS (Channel 67) in Springville, south of Buffalo.
Kevin White is the new general manager at the Backyard Broadcasting cluster (the old Sabre group) in Elmira/Corning.
And in Buffalo, WNSA (107.7 Wethersfield) makes a solid hire from sports competitor WGR (550), as Bills beat reporter Chris Browne moves over to the FM sports talker.
Over at the Infinity cluster, Kenny O'Keefe takes on a new responsibility -- he's now VP/market manager for the group, which includes news-talk WBZ (1030), modern AC WBMX (98.5), classic rock WZLX (100.7), oldies WODS (103.3) and modern rock WBCN (104.1).
Speaking of WBCN, it's losing one of its last links to its long rock radio heritage, as Bill Abbate hangs up the headphones to close out exactly 20 years as a jock on the station. Abbate, who was doing the 2-6 AM shift at WBCN, will continue his work on WBCN's Patriots broadcasts.
And out in Shutesbury, the FCC has granted a CP to the "Sirius Community" for a new LPFM on 100.3. We can only assume that this is a commune full of satellite radio listeners... and don't you dare spoil our fun by telling us otherwise!
Up in Madison, the FCC has dismissed Fairleigh Dickinson University's application for an LPFM at 88.1; it seemed awfully close to Newark's WBGO (88.3), didn't it?
Just south of Pittsburgh, Washington and Jefferson College's WNJR is powering up. Formerly a class D station with just 13 watts on 92.1, WNJR has made the move to class A status and 91.7 on the dial. Its new 950-watt signal now carries almost to Pittsburgh from its base in Washington, PA.
And there's a void this week in the hearts of all of us of a certain age, with news of the death on Thursday (Feb. 27) of Mister Rogers. Fred McFeely Rogers was part of Pittsburgh's WQED-TV (Channel 13) beginning in 1953, even before the station went on the air; in 1966, WQED became the home base for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," and the show has been a PBS staple ever since, even though production of new shows ended several years ago.
Upon word of Rogers' death (he was 74 and was suffering from stomach cancer), WQED preempted its full evening of programming to devote four hours to remembering the station's most famous personality.
Up in Ville-Marie, Quebec, the CRTC is trying to sort out a long-running problem with CKVM (710), which has been running without a valid operating license ever since a 1998 study showed that the station may be causing interference to WOR (710 New York). (NERW notes that CKVM has shared the 710 channel with WOR since the fifties, so we're not quite sure why this didn't become a problem until 1998....)
In any case, CKVM applied to move to the FM dial (with 18.4 kW at 93.1) a few months back, and now the CRTC has approved the application -- but with an additional condition. CKVM said in its application that it would carry four hours of weekend programming from Radio-Canada (it was one of the last privately-owned affiliates of the network), but Radio-Canada tells the CRTC it never agreed to provide that programming. Once the confusion is sorted out, expect AM 710 to go silent up there, probably within a few months' time.