North East RadioWatch: January 1, 1998

Shakeup at WTSN

by Scott Fybush

Welcome to a new year of NERW! We'll get to part two of our 1997 Year in Review in just a few moments...first our check of the week's (meager) news items:

• The only big programming change of the week comes from the NEW HAMPSHIRE seacoast, where WTSN (1270) in Dover has cut much of its local weekday talk lineup. Gone is the last hour of the 5-9 AM news, replaced with a new local talk hour hosted by Mark Miller and Susan Smith. The Open Mike show that was a longtime fixture from 9 till noon has been replaced with Dr. Laura Schlessinger. And the 5PM news hour has been displaced as well, as WTSN picks up Howie Carr from WRKO (680) in Boston. Mike Pomp's local talk show remains in place from 6:05 till 7 PM.

  Remember our mention a few weeks back that WKBR (1250) in Manchester was running WRKO's "Two Chicks Dishing" show? Must have been a fluke..since it hasn't been heard since, and the folks at WRKO know nothing about the simulcast.

  In Nashua, Maury Parent has returned to the airwaves after being dismissed as general manager of WSMN (1590). His Saturday morning oldies show and Sunday French show have moved to WMVU (900), which, ironically enough, is the descendant of the old WOTW, which Parent used to manage.

• Down to MASSACHUSETTS...where beleaguered CBS O&O WBZ-TV (Channel 4) is about to take on yet another new news identity. The new set and music will debut Sunday night, with a new morning show to make its premiere on Monday, January 5. And if you've noticed a lack of new material at their Web site, it's because the web site is also getting an overhaul, due to début January 15.

  J.J. Wright has found a new gig, just days after being fired from WXKS-FM (107.9 Medford). Wright spent 18 years at "Kiss 108." Now he's doing fill-in work at Greater Media's WROR (105.7 Framingham).

  Thanks to Dean Johnson of the Boston Herald for getting to the bottom of the simulcast mix-up a few weeks ago on WNFT (1150). Johnson reports that the sudden change from WAAF (107.3 Worcester) to WJMN (94.5, owned by competitor Evergreen) was caused by the maintenance crew cleaning the transmitter site in Lexington. Seems the workers didn't want to listen to hard rock -- so they switched the dial to their favorite station, never realizing they were also giving WNFT listeners (if there were any) a dial twist as well. We'd have locked the radio up if we were running the place...

• MAINE broadcaster Allan Weiner got a nice New Year's gift from the FCC: They've approved his application for a new shortwave station in Monticello. No word on when the station might be built, or what Weiner will program. He's well known in the radio community for his long history as a pirate, from small stations near New York in the late 60s all the way to Radio Newyork International a few years back.

  Stick an asterisk next to WHMX (105.7) Lincoln; the station has been granted noncommercial status. It's already been running noncommercially ever since being returned from the dead as a simulcast of religious WHCF (88.5) Bangor.

• VERMONT's WVAY (100.7 Marlboro) has returned to live, local operation part-time during ski season. 'VAY breaks away from the AAA format of sister station WRSI (95.3 Greenfield MA) on Friday nights and Saturdays, to allow for remotes from southern Vermont's ski country.

  WJSC (90.7) at Johnson State College has applied to increase power from 160 to 200 watts.

• In CONNECTICUT, there's a format change on the way at Yale's student station. WYBC (94.3) New Haven will drop most of its specialty programming, including folk, blues, industrial, and techno music, as the result of a vote by the station's governing board. The music will be replaced by a "more homogenous" format, possibly the urban AC that already runs on 'YBC during the hours that it's operated under an LMA with SFX's WPLR (99.1 New Haven). WYBC says it's seeking a way to program a second station with the more diverse music being dropped from 94.3. The student and community DJs whose shows are being cancelled will be allowed to stay on the air -- if they agree to work within the confines of WYBC's new format.

  On the TV side, NBC O&O WVIT (Channel 30) New Britain-Hartford has a new news director. Liz Grey returns to Connecticut after two years as assistant news director at WABC-TV (Channel 7) in New York City. As Liz Crane, she ran the newsroom at WTNH (Channel 8) in New Haven from 1990 until 1995.

• RHODE ISLAND? Not this week...

• There could be a new FM station in upstate NEW YORK within a few years. The latest FM allocation opened by the FCC is a class A on 106.7 in Windsor, east of Binghamton in the sparsely-populated area already served by an established AM-FM combo in Walton (WDLA 1270/92.1) and by two more recent drop-ins (WIYN 94.7 Deposit and WDHI 100.3 Delhi). NERW suspects this one will end up as another rimshotter in the already-overbuilt Binghamton market.

  Pilot Communications is moving south from its base in Syracuse, where it owns CHR WNTQ (93.1), news WNSS (1260), AC WLTI (105.9), and classic rock WAQX (95.7 Manlius). Pilot's latest acquisitions are Cortland's WKRT (920), which runs satellite oldies, and WIII (99.9), another classic rocker, which aims at the Ithaca market, where it has translator W262AD (100.3). WIII also holds an unbuilt CP for a booster, WIII-FM-1, in DeWitt (actually to be on the WSYT-TV tower in Otisco), serving the Syracuse area. No purchase price has been announced.

  Still looking for that perfect 1998 calendar? The Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers have collected 13 historic photos of Buffalo radio in their first calendar. It's $8.75 including tax and postage; proceeds benefit the Pioneers. You can reach them at 3380 Sheridan Drive, Suite 350, Amherst NY 14226.

See also part 2 of NERW's 1997 Year in Review.